Judah Maccabee – Part 2: Against the Gods of Greece

Chronicles of the Watchers
Book 5

By Brian Godawa

Judah Maccabee: Part 2 – Against the Gods of Greece

Chronicles of the Watchers, Book 5
1st Edition

Copyright © 2025 Brian Godawa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.

Warrior Poet Publishing
www.warriorpoetpublishing.com

ISBN: 978-1-963000-64-1 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-963000-66-5 (hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-963000-65-8 (eBook)

ISBN: 978-1-963000-67-2 (Large Print)

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.

CHAPTER 41

(Continuing from Judah Maccabee – Part One: Abomination of Desolation)

Kidron River Valley
Samaria
Two months after the Abomination of Desolation

General Apollonius sat on his warhorse across the Kidron River, watching and waiting. He had led three hundred Mysian mercenaries on a hunting expedition twenty miles north of Jerusalem. His prey: Jews who had fled the city and hid in the wilderness to observe Sabbath, circumcision, and dietary laws in defiance of Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The king’s recent Edict of Unity in Judea had established a new altar to Zeus in the Jewish temple and forced suppression of all exclusivist Jewish customs under pain of death. The king would tolerate their anti-Hellenist ways no longer. 

Normally, a captain commanded the Seleucid companies of soldiers. But the general himself so thoroughly enjoyed killing Jews that he took the lead to participate in the task. He had recently received intelligence from the high priest Menelaus of a large community of a thousand Jews—men, women, children, and their cattle—who had managed to escape detection by living in caves near the Kidron River. The cattle were sequestered in a nearby isolated valley. 

Menelaus had told Apollonius that even though these Jews were his people, they were criminals in defying the law of the king. The high priest had felt that his conscience dictated he follow a higher law than his love for his people. Apollonius remembered acutely the duplicitous Jew’s lying face looking at him as he said, “I am a man of principle and conviction over personal interest.” 

As far as Apollonius was concerned, as long as he got to kill Jews, he didn’t mind relying on one of their own to rat them out. He was, after all, a man of practicality and power. Apollonius laughed until he noticed one of his soldiers watching him with a curious look.

A scout had captured one of the Jewish lookouts, and they had tortured him to discover the whereabouts of the caves and livestock. The problem was that there were many caves. These operated as small decentralized fortresses. If the Jews fought back within those caves, they could do significant damage to Apollonius’s forces, perhaps even achieve a victory. That was a level of uncertainty he did not want to test to find out.

Apollonius devised a plan as his forces marched to the location of the hideout. It was mid-day in spring. He had waited until the afternoon before the Sabbath to announce his presence across the Kidron River, at this point shallow and narrow enough to cross on foot. But with the melting snows in the north, the water level was slowly rising. 

Apollonius had a cavalry unit of fifty horsemen with him and made sure his three hundred elite infantry soldiers were visible behind him. The Jewish leader had his own much less impressive assembly of a couple hundred armed men with him. How many more might be in hiding, was not apparent.

“I am Apollonius of Samaria, Mysarch and general of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes! To whom am I speaking?”

“I am David ben Joseph. We are no brigands or bandits. We are a peaceful community seeking to live in the wilderness.”

“How many are you?”

“Several thousand, men, women, and children.”

“Is that so?” Apollonius knew the Jew was lying, trying to demoralize him with exaggerated numbers. The general waved behind him. Two Mysian soldiers carried forward the Jewish captive, broken, bloody, and barely alive. Apollonius saw fear cross the face of his opponent. 

The general said, “We have one of your watchmen here who has told us differently. He has said you have a thousand people with a total of two hundred and fifty men to defend you. And he told us where your cattle are. A squad of my soldiers are currently herding them to my camp, where I will feed my men.”

The Jewish leader counseled with his men. They all displayed agitated surprise.

“Let us get to the point,” Apollonius continued. “I have come to enforce the king’s Edict of Unity. My new friend here has told me where you are hiding in caves and that you are still circumcising your male infants as well as observing your Sabbath among other crimes. So I call upon you now, engage in a sacrifice to Zeus, cease from observing your Sabbath this evening, and you will be allowed to live. If you do not, I am authorized to kill every one of you, man, woman, and child.”

The Jewish leader replied, “I will need time to discuss this with the elders of our community.”

“You have until sunrise to tell me your decision.”

Apollonius saw the leader hesitate. Sunrise would be right in the middle of their Sabbath rest, which would not be over until sundown that next day.

“I need more time than that,” the Jewish leader said.

Apollonius remained stern. “Tomorrow, sunrise.” 

Turning his horse, he headed back to camp with his men. Apollonius had been told by Menelaus back in Jerusalem that the community here was hasidim and adhered strictly to their religious rules. Their Scriptures commanded them to do no work on the Sabbath. Many of the hasidim believed this meant that they could not on the sacred day engage in the profanity of war. They were not even allowed to wear their weapons. 

Apollonius scoffed at such a belief. He had told Menelaus, “How have you people managed to survive this long in the world with such absurd interpretations?”

Apollonius had begun to wonder why his people the Samaritans had ever wanted to become united with the Jews. He was glad his family had been turned away from Jerusalem when his father sought to live there. It had bred the hatred that filled his father—who had taught Apollonius everything he knew.

Menelaus had explained that the Jews believed God would protect them if they obeyed him. This was confirmed by their captive’s defiance despite brutal torture.

“God will fight on our behalf,” the captive had said through broken teeth, “as he did for Moses against the Egyptians.”

Still, these Jews were a scheming people. Apollonius didn’t know how much of what he’d been told by Menelaus or the captive was true and how much a lie. They had beaten much out of this watchman, but Jews were also cunning. 

Apollonius concluded that if the general of the Jewish community returned with warriors who wore armor and carried weapons, then they would most likely fight on their sacred day. If they showed up without weapons, or if they didn’t show up at all, then Menelaus was right. They would not fight on the Sabbath, and Apollonius would have an easy victory over them.

At sunrise, Apollonius stood waiting again with his entourage. But the Jews did not show up. He gave them about a quarter hour before he concluded they were not coming. He knew they hadn’t tried to escape in the night because his scouts had kept watch in the surrounding hillsides. It was very likely they had used the time to hole up in their secret caves and plan traps and ambushes for Apollonius and his soldiers. He wasn’t concerned in the slightest. He had well-trained and experienced soldiers against their equal number of ill-equipped and inexperienced peasants. 

And thanks to the tortured watchman, he knew where their hideouts were. Turning, Apollonius raised his sword and ordered his men, “Forward to the caves! And kill them all!”

He and his cavalry advanced easily through the calf-high water. The Mysian elite infantry followed through the brush and foliage a quarter mile to the wooded hillside.

The Mysarch had split his force into six squads of fifty men. Four squads entered caves to hunt the Jews while two squads stayed outside for reinforcements and capturing escapees.

Apollonius entered the first cave, leading his squad of fifty. They held their shields tightly with swords in hand, carefully negotiating the pathway, prepared for ambush. Torchlight danced on the rock around them like phantom warnings. The deeper in they went, the more they were removed from reinforcements and more vulnerable to attack.

But Apollonius was surprised to find no ambush awaiting them. Instead, he found a hundred or so men, women, and children praying around a small fire. The captive watchman had been right. The men were refusing to fight on this holy day of theirs. Instead, they implored their deity for protection.

But you received me as your answer, the god of destruction, thought Apollonius. 

His men had an easy time slaying them all. It was like a butcher slaughtering sheep. Some women tried to run with their infants in their arms. These were cut down by the men stationed at the cave entrance. Some were raped before being slain.

But all were slain: men, women, and children just as the king had ordered. Just as Apollonius gleefully obeyed.

It was a bloodbath. The screams of women, the cries of children, all cut short by swords and axes in the hands of ruthless mercenaries. At first, Apollonius felt the frenzy of bloodlust fill him like a demon as he became drenched in the blood and gore of his victims. But then it became anticlimactic. 

It was too easy, even boring, chopping up people who did not fight back. 

The night before, he had instructed his men not to see the Jews as human but as filthy, diseased rodents or insects whose survival would ensure the spread of a plague that would ultimately kill their own families. This plague of their religion was treason to the pantheon of gods whose myths were the very foundation of their civilization. The Jewish god was a tyrant who would enslave all the world with his oppressive jealousy. And no Jew was innocent, not even their women or children. For if their women survived, they would simply breed more of their wicked offspring. And if their children survived, they would grow up to wreak vengeance on the children and grandchildren of the Greeks. 

So all Jews were guilty and deserving of justice.

Apollonius saw some of his soldiers throwing infants in the air to impale them on their swords like a game. For a moment, he felt the pang of guilt prick his heart. Until his own words came back to him. “If a single Jew survives, that Jew becomes the leader of the next generation of Jews who will kill all our women and children.”

Yes, this was a necessary evil. It was necessary to kill their women and children. In fact, it might even be the event that stopped more killing, because other Jews would see that their lawlessness only led to their own extermination. They were the ones responsible for the consequences.

No, this was not a necessary evil. It was a necessary good.

CHAPTER 42

Judean Hills of Gophna

Judah sat in counsel with Mattathiah, his brothers, and five other leaders of their growing guerilla forces. They had commandeered caves in the Judean hills near Samaria for their hideout. Their initial revolt in Modein a month ago had garnered a hundred hasidim to their side from their village and surrounding towns. Since then, the word had gotten out and more Jews were recruited to their cause, growing their forces to over a thousand men. These were spread out in a network of small units of fifties and hundreds throughout the cities and towns of Judea. Two hundred of them were stationed with the Hasmonean family in the Gophna hills.

Mattathiah had been universally recognized as their general. His single act of defiance had inspired the resistance. He had appointed commanders of one hundred, including Judah and his brothers. Their numbers were small, but they were developing guerilla tactics to strike at Seleucid weaknesses: arson, night raids, attack and withdrawal, stealing Seleucid supply trains.

Many still scoffed at them in the face of an enemy whose numbers were like the sand on the seashore. And the Jewish forces had begun with tools as their only weapons: pickaxes, shovels, and hammers. To arm themselves properly, they would have to confiscate weapons of their defeated enemies. But how could they defeat them without proper arms in the first place?

Part of their strategy included the creation of a network of spies and communication throughout all of Judea for an advantage of intelligence gathering. 

A messenger had just returned from Modein to relay the information that a company of a hundred Seleucid soldiers had arrived at the city searching for the missing military unit of Commander Apellas. His was the platoon that had been struck down by Mattathiah’s original uprising. The Modein elders had successfully convinced the search party that the hasidim had refused to obey the king and had fled into the hills of Gophna. And that Apellas’s platoon had gone after them.

The search party had dutifully followed the trail of evidence Mattathiah had left for them. Faux camps with fire sites and tent settings were replicated from Judah’s knowledge of Greek military behavior. With several hundred hasidim, it had been easy to overwhelm the mere hundred Seleucids in a deep ravine pass.

There were now two missing Seleucid military units but still no revelation as to why. Mattathiah was buying time to build his guerilla forces.

But today, the new messenger had come from the Kidron River valley with a horrifying description of the grisly atrocity that had occurred there. They were now discussing the reality that an entire hasidim community had been deliberately attacked on the Sabbath because the king’s forces knew they would not fight back on their holy day. All one thousand Jews had been butchered; men, women, and children.

Judah’s younger brother Eleazar became defensive. “Those brothers and sisters remained true in their obedience to Ha Shem.”

“And look where it got them,” said another of the leaders, Samuel, a young, lean fighter who had previously repented of his own Hellenism. “These Seleucid generals are not stupid. Seeing such resounding victory, why would they not plan all their battles for the Sabbath?”

Judah watched his father considering each of the arguments as they were made. This would be a difficult decision for a man who had a deep conviction of obedience to Torah.

“Where is your faith?” Eleazar demanded. “Do you not believe Ha Shem will protect his people when they obey his Sabbath?”

“Where is your reason?” responded Samuel heatedly. “Ha Shem will not have a people to obey Sabbath if these massacres continue.”

One of the other leaders spoke up. “The martyrs are inspiration to others in their self-sacrifice.”

“Yes, they are,” said Samuel. “They are an inspiration to fight so that more will not die.”

Though the youngest son of Mattathiah, Jonathan was sharpest in his ability to negotiate disagreements. He said, “Eleazar, consider this. If you had an ox or an ass fall into a pit on the Sabbath, would you pull them out or leave them to the wolves?”

“I would pull them out,” Eleazar responded quickly.

“And so would I,” Jonathan agreed. “And if one of our family were wounded in an accident on the Sabbath, would you let them bleed out and die?”

“Of course not,” snapped Eleazar. “I would work to save their life. That is not the same as fighting.”

“Oh?” queried his younger brother. “Is not self-defense saving your life? Is not saving women and children from being murdered without mercy saving their lives?”

Finally, Eleazar stopped talking. Judah saw his father sporting a subtle smile. 

Simon spoke up. “When Joshua purged the Promised Land of the Seed of the Serpent, I do not think that the Anakim giants stopped fighting on the Sabbath to accommodate the Jews. Nor is there any indication that Joshua withdrew on the Sabbath from all his multitude of battles.”

Mattathiah sighed and said to the group, “This is a serious decision we are contemplating. Make no mistake, our God is not a pragmatist to ignore his laws for mere convenience.” 

Eleazar and a few others mumbled in agreement. 

“Nor are his rules without exceptions.” 

Simon and the others now agreed. 

Mattathiah continued, “Rahab of Jericho was honored for lying and deceiving to protect lives. Joshua’s priests marched around Jericho for seven days. On the seventh, the walls fell down by God’s hand, and they captured the city.”

Judah added his support. “One of those days was a Sabbath.”

Mattathiah nodded. “And the siege of Jerusalem by David extended over at least one Sabbath. As did the sieges of that city when defended against Pharaoh Sishak, against Assyrian King Sennacherib, and against Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.”

Those historical examples from Scripture had the impact of silencing everyone there. Mattathiah asked, “Who would agree with me that self-defense is an exception to the Sabbath in God’s Word?”

Everyone but Eleazar and the one leader raised their hands. Judah did not because his mind had wandered again to the innocents who had been massacred in the Kidron Valley. He then raised his hand and said, “I will fight King Antiochus unto death—without rest.”

All eyes glanced around the room. Eleazar reluctantly raised his hand as did the other holdout.

Simon cautioned them. “My brother is heroic in his conviction. But we will not win by running heroically into a swinging scythe blade. We must be strategic. We must focus on building our forces and attacking targets we can win.”

“You are correct, brother,” replied Judah. “That is why our first campaigns need to be against our own people.”

Everyone expressed shock at the statement. Everyone except smiling Jonathan, who understood. Judah turned to Mattathiah.

“Father, I would recommend that we travel to all the Jewish towns and villages in Judea and execute the idolaters in our midst who have bowed the knee to this false god of the Greeks. Torah commands it. Israel’s unfaithfulness to the true living God is the ultimate cause of our desolation, the abandonment of our nation by Ha Shem. Our first task is national repentance and renewal of the covenant—before attacking the Gentile tyrant.”

Eyes began to show dawning understanding. Judah continued, “That will purge our land of traitors and draw to our side the faithful patriots from those same towns and villages. Once we have the numbers, we will invade Jerusalem, destroy the Abomination of Desolation in the temple, and rout the apostate Jewish priesthood. Only then will Ha Shem return and set up Messiah’s rule.”

“A Phineas army,” Jonathan muttered. Judah saw Big John, Eleazar, and Simon nod in agreement.

“That is a bold and dangerous suggestion,” said Mattathiah. 

Someone challenged him. “Well, what are your orders?”

Mattathiah recited Scripture from the scroll of Deuteronomy. “Thus saith the Lord, ‘If your brother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your friend who is as your own soul entices you, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death. So, you shall purge the evil from your midst.’”

A solemn silence descended upon them all. They knew this was the very Word of God from their Torah. They both dreaded what they had to do and dreaded what God would do to their nation if they did not.

Mattathiah got down onto the ground, prostrate. The others followed to their knees or their faces. He led them in an anguished prayer of confession and repentance before the God of hosts who was holy, holy, holy. 

CHAPTER 43

Jerusalem

Zeus sat on his heavenly throne in the Holy of Holies drinking from a chalice of sacrificial bull’s blood. The male gods were all there, Poseidon and Hades beside him, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Ares before him. Apollo and Hermes had just returned from their missions of reconnaissance.

Apollo spoke first. “I found them. Hera and her bitch goddesses are on Mount Hermon of all places. After we left the assembly there, they circled back and set up headquarters in El’s temple.”

“The nerve,” said Ares.

Zeus laughed. “On the contrary, my good warmonger, it’s brilliant. You must give Hera her due. It’s the original cosmic mountain, the gods haven’t used it in centuries, and it’s less desirable to me than Zaphon.”

Ares was not as impressed. “Should we plan for an assault? I have been waiting forever to give it to that Athena.”

“No, no, no, no,” commanded Zeus. “Leave them be. Let Hera cool off, and she’ll eventually see she needs me more than I need her.”

“But what about her mutiny?” complained Ares.

“I don’t really think it was mutiny,” answered Zeus. “I was speaking from my rage.”

“She’s a calculating schemer,” said Poseidon.

Zeus laughed. “Ha! Yes. And that is why she will soon realize they cannot overthrow the gods. And they cannot rule without me.”

Hermes said, “On my way back from Hermon, I decided to run through the entire land of Galilee and Samaria. I wanted to check out their cities for any sign of archangels. Just in case. I saw nothing but howling silence.”

“Interesting,” remarked Zeus. “If Judea is the obvious source of the messianic seed, it would make sense to hide outside of Judea.” 

The others murmured in agreement.

“In fact, now that you say so, I think we will need to start exploring the least likely places of all for the Messianic branch to grow. Let’s start with Philistia. Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron.”

Apollo spoke up. “Your majesty, on my way back I came upon the Mysian forces of Apollonius.”

Apollo’s gaze turned accusing as he continued, “The general has a superior fighting force that is quite effective. Shall we discuss the secret weapon he has recently acquired?”

Caught! Zeus saw the others look at him in confusion. Well, he was going to have to admit it eventually. It might as well be now.

“Ahem, uh, what Apollo is referring to is, uh … well, Apollonius has a gibborim soldier who just joined his army as a mercenary.” Gibborim was a term that meant the mightiest of warriors.

“But not just any gibborim soldier,” goaded Apollo. He let Zeus confess.

“He is another Heracles.”

The gods were aghast.

Poseidon exclaimed, “Have you created the Nephilim army all along?”

“No, no, no, no, no. There are no other Nephilim. Only this one.” Zeus looked around guiltily, trying to find an ally, finding none. 

Apollo chided him. “That’s what you said about the other Heracles.”

Zeus scrambled, trying to explain. “I originally replicated two of them at the same time just in case I lost one. That was all.” He thought to shift the blame. “And I was right, wasn’t I? Hera, that unsubmissive …” Zeus wanted to cuss her out. But he thought better of overdoing it.

“So you only revealed the one to us,” clarified Hades.

“Please don’t lie to us, brother,” said Poseidon. “Do you have a hidden army of Nephilim somewhere?”

Hades said, “If we wake up in Tartarus because of this, it will not go well for you.”

Zeus became indignant. “Where would I be able to hide an army and train them without you finding out? Two maybe, but not an army. Come on, be rational.”

He saw them weighing his words, reading his body language, to decide if he was lying this time as well. Now that he was telling the truth, he wished he had let them in on it sooner.

“I swear to you on my own honor,” proclaimed Zeus, “I have not replicated any other Nephilim.”

“Your honor is not worth much these days,” said Poseidon. 

Zeus said, “I deserve that. But I’m still king of the gods.”

He was pushing it with that one. If they ganged up on him, they could overthrow him as they had done the Titans in their myth.

Poseidon turned to the others. “But he does have a point. The only place he could hide numbers like that would be underground.” He looked at Hades. “And that would not escape your notice.”

Hades shrugged. True enough.

Poseidon added, “And besides, we haven’t woken up in Tartarus yet, so …”

Zeus added, “There will be no Nephilim army. He’s one Naphil. A surgical strike force to tip the balances in favor of Antiochus. Which balances in favor of us.”

 “And that is all?” Poseidon demanded.

Zeus placed his hand on his heart and raised his right hand in an oath. “And that is all.”

Ares quipped, “Then let’s see what this little bastard can do to the Jews.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Godawa is a respected Christian writer and best-selling author of novels and biblical theology. His supernatural Bible epic novels combine creative imagination with orthodox Christian theology in a way that transcends both entertainment and preachiness.

His love for Jesus and storytelling was forged in the crucible of worldview apologetics and Hollywood screenwriting, as he began a career in movies and eventually expanded into the world of novels.

His first novel series, Chronicles of the Nephilim, has been in the Top 10 of Biblical Fiction on Amazon for more than a decade, selling over 400,000 books. His popular book Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment is used as a textbook in Christian film schools around the country. His movies To End All Wars and Allegedhave won multiple movie awards such as Cannes Film Festival and the Heartland International Film Festival.

He lives in Texas with the most amazing wife a man could ever pray for and is accountable to a local church. He reads too many books and watches too many movies. He knows, he knows, he should get out more.

Find out more about his blog and his other books, lectures, and online courses for sale at his website, www.godawa.com.