How does John survive both the campaign and the later plot?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

John leads the river crossing and defeats Cendebeus, then responds to a runner’s warning about Ptolemee’s attack.

Chapter breakdown

John comes from Gazara and tells Simon what Cendebeus has done. The edition explains that John was later called Hircanus and succeeded Simon as high priest and prince; it also describes later conquest of the Edomites, their enforced conformity with Jewish religion and destruction of the Samaritan temple it calls schismatical. These later facts belong to the note, not the present campaign. Mount Gerizim is not named here.

Simon summons his eldest sons Judas and John, recalling the family’s lifelong battles and repeated deliverance of Israel. Saying he is old, he asks them to fight in his and his brothers’ place, with help from heaven. Twenty thousand fighting men and horsemen are chosen; they rest at Modin, then enter the plain in the morning. A great opposing force of footmen and horsemen faces them across a running river. John, identified by the note as the subject, sees that his men fear crossing. He goes first, and they follow after seeing him. The method of crossing, water depth and speed are not specified. He divides the people with horsemen among footmen, while the enemy has very numerous horsemen.

Holy trumpets sound; Cendebeus’s army is put to flight, many fall wounded and the rest seek the stronghold. Trumpet material is not given, and the text does not make their sound alone the mechanism of victory. Judas is wounded; John pursues to Cedron. The note calls this Gedon, the city Cendebeus was fortifying. The enemy then flees to towers in Azotus’s fields, which John burns. Two thousand fall, and he returns to Judea in peace.

Ptolemee son of Abobus commands Jericho’s plain, has abundant silver and gold and is the high priest’s son-in-law. His proud heart plans mastery of the country and destruction of Simon and his sons. In year 177, month 11 or Sabath, Simon tours Judea’s cities for their good ordering and reaches Jericho with Mathathias and Judas. Ptolemee deceitfully receives them in his small fortress Doch, makes a great feast and conceals men. After Simon and his sons drink plentifully, Ptolemee and his men take weapons and enter the banqueting place, killing them and some servants. The account condemns this as treachery and evil for good.

Ptolemee writes to the king seeking an army in return for the country, cities and tribute; the king is not named in this sentence. He sends men to kill John at Gazara, offers tribunes silver, gold and gifts to come to him, and sends others to take Jerusalem and the temple mountain. A runner reaches John first with news of his father’s and brothers’ deaths and the planned attack on him. Greatly afraid and knowing the purpose, John apprehends the men and kills them. His defense of Jerusalem itself is not narrated. The closing passage refers readers to the book of his priesthood’s days for his remaining wars, worthy deeds and walls, from his accession after his father. It does not retell those later acts here.

The story inside

The troops hesitate at a running river with an enemy army opposite. John crosses first; the men follow after seeing him. The subsequent arrangement, trumpets, rout and pursuit are reported separately. This provides a particular sequence without proving that personal example always removes fear or that trumpet sounds alone win battles. Later a runner warns John of a different threat, the domestic plot.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The note’s Hircanus name and later religious conquest remain distinct from the current story.
2
River depth, wading and silver trumpets are absent; the text says John goes over first.
3
John apprehends his would-be killers after a warning; the chapter does not narrate his defense of Jerusalem.

Test your recall

What information does the runner bring to John in Gazara?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 107803–107841
16:2. And Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them: I and my brethren, and my father’s house, have fought against the enemies of Israel from our youth even to this day: and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel oftentimes. 16:3. And now I am old, but be you instead of me, and my brethren, and go out, and fight for our nation: and the help from heaven be with you. 16:4. Then he chose out of the country twenty thousand fighting men, and horsemen, and they went forth against Cendebeus: and they rested in Modin. 16:5. And they arose in the morning, and went into the plain: and behold a very great army of footmen and horsemen came against them, and there was a running river between them. 16:6. And he and his people pitched their camp over against them, and he saw that the people were afraid to go over the river, so he went over first: then the men seeing him, passed over after him. He.... Viz., John. 16:7. And he divided the people, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen: but the horsemen of the enemies were very numerous. 16:8. And they sounded the holy trumpets: and Cendebeus and his army were put to flight: and there fell many of them wounded, and the rest fled into the strong hold. 16:9. At that time, Judas, John’s brother, was wounded: but John pursued after them, till he came to Cedron, which he had built: Cedron.... Otherwise called Gedon, the city that Cendebeus was fortifying. 16:10. And they fled even to the towers that were in the fields of Azotus, and he burnt them with fire. And there fell of them two thousand men, and he returned into Judea in peace.
Lines 107870–107894
16:18. And Ptolemee wrote these things, and sent to the king that he should send him an army to aid him, and he would deliver him the country, and their cities, and tributes. 16:19. And he sent others to Gazara to kill John: and to the tribunes he sent letters to come to him, and that he would give them silver, and gold, and gifts. 16:20. And he sent others to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple. 16:21. Now one running before, told John in Gazara, that his father and his brethren were slain, and that he hath sent men to kill thee also. 16:22. But when he heard it, he was exceedingly afraid: and he apprehended the men that came to kill him, and he put them to death: for he knew that they sought to make him away. 16:23. And as concerning the rest of the acts of John, and his wars, and the worthy deeds, which he bravely achieved, and the building of the walls, which he made, and the things that he did: 16:24. Behold, these are written in the book of the days of his priesthood, from the time that he was made high priest after his father.