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[19]
AFTER these promises had been given to Aretas, he made an expedition
against Aristobulus with an army of fifty thousand horse and foot, and
beat him in the battle. And when after that victory many went over to Hyrcanus
as deserters, Aristobulus was left desolate, and fled to Jerusalem; upon
which the king of Arabia took all his army, and made an assault upon the
temple, and besieged Aristobulus therein, the people still supporting Hyreanus,
and assisting him in the siege, while none but the priests continued with
Aristobulus. So Aretas united the forces of the Arabians and of the Jews
together, and pressed on the siege vigorously. As this happened at the
time when the feast of unleavened bread was celebrated, which we call the
passover, the principal men among the Jews left the country, and fled into
Egypt. Now there was one, whose name was Onias, a righteous man be was,
and beloved of God, who, in a certain drought, had prayed to God to put
an end to the intense heat, and whose prayers God had heard, and had sent
them rain. This man had hid himself, because he saw that this sedition
would last a great while. However, they brought him to the Jewish camp,
and desired, that as by his prayers he had once put an end to the drought,
so he would in like manner make imprecations on Aristobulus and those of
his faction. And when, upon his refusal, and the excuses that he made,
he was still by the multitude compelled to speak, he stood up in the midst
of them, and said, "O God, the King of the whole world! since those
that stand now with me are thy people, and those that are besieged are
also thy priests, I beseech thee, that thou wilt neither hearken to the
prayers of those against these, nor bring to effect what these pray against
those." Whereupon such wicked Jews as stood about him, as soon as
he had made this prayer, stoned him to death.
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