Judas (son of Matthias)

Also known as: Judas / Judas Maccabeus · Family: Judean · Role: son of Matthias · First appears: Book I, Chapter 1

In Book I, Chapter 1, Matthias died and left the government to his eldest son, Judas. Judas took control of the temple, cleansed it, restored its sacred worship, and replaced the profaned vessels and altar. As an enemy of Antiochus Epiphanes (Seleucid king), he gathered an army, made a league with the Romans, drove Epiphanes from the country, and met him at Bethzacharis; his brother Eleazar was also present in the fighting.

After the king’s departure, Judas defeated Antiochus’s generals at Adasa, but was ultimately killed in battle. His brother John (brother of Judas) was later slain by Antiochus’s party, while his brother Jonathan succeeded him and acted with great circumspection toward his people.

Relationship record

Life events

• Matthias died, leaving the government to his eldest son Judas.(Book I, Chapter 1)
  • With: Matthias (son of Asamoneus)
  • “and then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.”
• Judas expelled the garrison and restored the temple’s sacred worship.(Book I, Chapter 1)
  • “He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed the whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and brought them into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another altar, and began to offer the sacrifices”
• Judas defeated Antiochus’s generals at Adasa but was ultimately killed in battle.(Book I, Chapter 1 · 📍 Adasa)
  • “and being too hard for his enemies in the battle, and killing a great number of them, he was at last himself slain also.”

Book I, Chapter 1

• parent: Matthias (son of Asamoneus) “So he came to the government by this his success, and became the prince of his own people by their own free consent, and then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.”
• enemies with Antiochus Epiphanes (Seleucid king) “Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gathered an army out of his own countrymen, and was the first that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the country”
• enemies with Antiochus “But at a place called Bethzacharis, where the passage was narrow, Judas met him with his army.”
• siblings with Eleazar (unresolved ch001) “Judas's brother Eleazar, seeing the very highest of the elephants adorned with a large tower”
• siblings with John (brother of Judas) “Nor was it many days afterward that his brother John had a plot laid against him by Antiochus's party, and was slain by them.”

Book I, Chapter 2

• siblings with Jonathan (brother of Judas) “When Jonathan, who was Judas's brother, succeeded him, he behaved himself with great circumspection in other respects, with relation to his own people;”

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Extracted from the original text of The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Made with Rho MD.