ABSTRACT
. Short as was the rule of Simon, it was nevertheless marked by a brilliancy that completed the glory of the Maccabean house. Though his hair was gray when the full responsibilities of leadership were put into his hands, his glowing zeal, unremitting energy, and clever diplomacy succeeded in achieving the independence for which Jonathan and he had long toiled and fought. To be sure, Demetrius had given him rights and powers which seem of little value when one thinks of the giver as an exiled king; but Simon acted as though they had come to him from the throne itself and lost no time in securing their full actualization. The troubles of Syria itself left him free to attend to the needs of his own government. The first requirement was complete possession of his dominions. Gazara, at the foot of the mountains and commanding the road from Joppa to Jerusalem, Bethsur, menacing the road from the south, and the citadel in Jerusalem, were yet held by the Hellenists. In order to secure an open road to the coast and make most serviceable the port of Joppa, Simon turned his attention first to the siege of Gazara. By means of a movable tower the place was quickly brought to terms. After the inhabitants were driven out and the city purged of all traces of heathenism, Simon placed in charge “such men as would keep the law,” and strengthened its fortifications. Next Bethsur yielded, and then, at last, the citadel at Jerusalem, which had so long been closely besieged. By the help of the wall which Jonathan had built (sect. 67), the garrison was starved into surrender. It is not difficult to imagine the rejoicing in Jerusalem on that day in May, 142 B. c., when “with thanksgiving and branches of palm-trees, and with harps and cymbals, and with viols and hymns and songs” the festal procession entered the old fortress that for twenty-six years had disturbed the peace of the city. For a time the day of this triumph was annually kept as a festival (I. Mac. xiii. 43–48).
