[Sidenote:  I Macc. 6:42-47] Then Judas and his army approached for battle, and there fell of the king’s army six hundred men.  Now when Eleazar, who was called Avaran, saw one of the beasts armed with royal breastplates, which was higher than all the beasts, and it looked as though the king was upon it, he gave himself to save his people and to gain for himself an everlasting fame; and he ran upon him courageously in the midst of the phalanx and slew on the right hand and on the left, and they scattered from before him on either side.  Then he crept under the elephant, thrust him from beneath, and slew him.  And the elephant fell to the earth upon him, and he died there.  But when they saw the strength of the king and the fierce onset of the armies, they turned away from them.

[Sidenote:  I Macc. 6:48-54] But those who were in the king’s army went up to Jerusalem to meet them, and the king encamped for a struggle with Judea and Mount Zion.  And he made peace with those in Bethsura; for they surrendered the city, because they had no food there to endure the siege, because the land had a sabbath.  So the king took Bethsura and stationed a garrison there to keep it.  Then he encamped against the sanctuary for a long time; and he set there mounds from which to shoot and engines of war and instruments for casting stones and fire, and pieces to cast darts and slings.  And they also erected engines against those of the besiegers and fought for a long time.  But since there was no food in the sanctuary, because it was the seventh year and those who had fled for safety into Judea from among the heathen had eaten up what remained of the store of provisions, there were but a few left in the sanctuary, because the famine became so severe upon them, and they scattered, each man to his own home.

[Sidenote:  I Macc. 6:55-63] Now Lysias heard that Philip, whom Antiochus the king, had appointed during his lifetime to bring up his son Antiochus that he might be king, had returned from Persia and Media and with him the forces that went with the king, and that he was trying to get control of the government, he hastily decided to depart.  And he said to the king, and to the officers of the army and to the men, We are growing weaker every day, our supplies are scanty, and the place which we are besieging is strong, and the welfare of the kingdom depends upon us; now therefore let us give the right hand to these men and make peace with them and with all their nation, and covenant with them that they may live according to their own customs as formerly; for because of their laws, which we abolished, they were angered and did all these things.  This counsel pleased the king and the princes, and he sent to them to make peace.  They accepted it, and when the king and the princes took oath to them, they came out of the stronghold.  But when the king entered Mount Zion and saw the strength of the place, he broke the oath which he had sworn and gave orders to pull down the wall round about.  Then he set out in haste and returned to Antioch and found Philip master of the city; and he fought against him and took the city by force.