VI. The Death of Judas. Soon another Syrian army invaded the land. The
advance was from the northwest up over the pass of Bethhoron. A little
east of the road that ascends from Lower to Upper Bethhoron, near where he
won his first great battle and in sight of his home at Modein, the
intrepid Jewish champion fought his last battle. Terror at the approach of
the enemy had thinned his ranks until he was obliged to meet them with
only eight hundred men at his back. Even against these great odds he was
on the eve of victory when he was slain. At the sight of their fallen
leader his followers fled. This disastrous ending of his career as a
warrior obscured to a great extent the character and quality of Judas's
services for his people. In brief (1) he taught them to fight for their
rights; (2) he helped them to save their law and traditions; (3) he
secured for them religious freedom; (4) he restored many of the Jews of
the dispersion and thus prepared the way for the consolidated kingdom
which later rose with Jerusalem as the centre; (5) he inspired his
countrymen with ambitions for political independence; and (6) he set them
a noble example of courage, patriotism, and practical piety. While
measured by the higher standards of a later day Judas is not without his
faults, yet he is unquestionably one of the great heroes of Israel's
history and an example to all of unselfish and devoted patriotism.

VII. The Dissensions in the Syrian Court. The Jews ultimately attained
political independence not primarily through their own efforts, but
because the protracted contests between the rival claimants for the Syrian
throne gave them opportunities which they quickly improved. In 152 B.C. a
youth known as Alexander Balas, who claimed to be a son of Antiochus
Epiphanes, raised the standard of revolt against the reigning Syrian king,
Demetrius I. The kings of southwestern Asia and Egypt at first lent their
support to this impostor. By 150 B.C. he had succeeded in defeating and
putting to death Demetrius I. Two years later, however, Demetrius II, the