The sect of the Asidaeans also intrusted itself to their
warlike protection (1Maccabees ii. 42).
Mattathias soon died and left his leadership to Judas Maccabaeus,
by whom the struggle was carried on in the first instance after
the old fashion; soon, however, it assumed larger dimensions, when
regular armies were sent out against the insurgents. First
Apollonius, the governor of Judaea, took the field; but he was
defeated and fell in battle. Next came Seron, governor of
Ccelesyria, who also was routed near Bethhoron (I66). Upon this
Lysias, the regent to whom Antiochus IV., who was busied in the far
east, had intrusted the government of Syria and the charge of his
son, Antiochus Philopator, a minor, sent a strong force under the
command of three generals. Approaching from the west, it was their
design to advance separately upon Jerusalem, but Judas anticipated
their plan and compelled them to quit the field (166). The regent
now felt himself called on to interpose in person. Invading Judaea
from the south, he encountered the Jews at Bethsur, who, however,
offered an opposition that was not easily overcome; he was
prevented from resorting to the last measures by the intelligence
which reached him of the death of the king in Elymais (165).
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