tradition rather than of contemporary history. Its basis is apparently an
old Babylonian tradition of a great victory of the Babylonians over their
ancient foes, the Elamites. Mordecai is a modification of the name of the
Babylonian god Marduk. Estra, which appears in the Hebrew Esther, was the
late Babylonian form of the name of the Semitic goddess Ishtar. Vashti
and Hamman, the biblical Haman, were names of Elamite deities. Like
the story of creation, this tale has been Hebraized and adapted to the
story-teller's purpose. His aim is evidently to trace the origin of the
late Jewish feast of Purim. It is probable that this feast was an
adaptation of the Babylonian New-Year's feast which commemorated the
ancient victory. The story in its present form is strongly Jewish. It
exalts loyalty to the race, but its morality is far removed from that of
Amos and Isaiah. Its exultation over the slaughter of thousands of the
heathen is displeasing even in a romance, although it can easily be
understood in the light of the Maccabean age in which it was written.

III. Campaigns against the Neighboring Peoples. The first book of
Maccabees records in detail the repeated blows that Judas struck against
his heathen foes. At Akrabattine, probably identical with the Scorpion
Pass at the southwestern end of the Dead Sea, he fought and won a signal
victory over his hereditary foes, the Idumeans. His chief enemy on the
east was Timotheus, the leader of the Ammonites against whom Judas was
successful in the preliminary skirmishes. Angered by these defeats, the
heathen east of the Jordan attacked the resident Jews, who fled to one of
the towns, where they were besieged. Judas, assembling six thousand of his
picked warriors, made a rapid march of three days out into the wilderness.
He apparently carried few supplies, but depended rather upon the spoil of
the captured towns for support. Bosra, far out on the borders of the
desert, was seized and looted. Thence returning westward, he rescued the
Jews from the town of Damethah, or, as it appears in the Syriac, Rametha.