“Thus says Yahweh God!
I will bring against Tyre,
From the north,
King Nebuchadnezzar
Of Babylon,
King of kings.
He will come together
With horses,
With chariots,
With a cavalry,
With a great number
Of soldiers,
With a great army.”
Yahweh was going to send the king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, to attack Tyre from the north. This Babylonian king was also called the king of kings. He would come with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a large army of soldiers.
“But the new king
Rebelled against him.
He sent ambassadors
To Egypt.
He hoped
That they might
Give him
Horses
With a large army.
Will he succeed?
Can one escape
Who does such things?
Can he break the covenant?
Can he yet escape?
As I live,
Says Yahweh God!
‘Surely in the place
Where the king resides,
Who made him king,
Whose oath he despised,
Whose covenant
With him
He broke,
He shall die
In Babylon.’”
The explanation of the riddle of the eagles continued with the assertion that the second eagle was Egypt. This new king, King Zedekiah, rebelled against the king of Babylon. King Zedekiah sent ambassadors to Egypt in order to get horses and a large army. Would he succeed? What happens to people who do things like this? Would he be able to break the covenant and escape? Yahweh had a different idea. The king of Judah had broken his agreement with the king of Babylon, the same one who put him on the throne. The result was that the king of Judah would die in Babylon.
“Jonathan went out to meet Trypho with forty thousand picked warriors. He came to Beth-shan. When Trypho saw that he had come with a large army, he was afraid to raise his hand against him. So he received him with honor and commended him to all his friends. He gave him gifts. He commanded his friends and his troops to obey him as they would himself. Then he said to Jonathan.
‘Why have you put all these people
To such trouble
When we are not at war?
Dismiss them now to their homes.
Choose for yourself a few men to stay with you.
Come with me to Ptolemais.
I will hand it over to you
As well as the other strongholds
And the remaining troops
And all the officials.
I will turn around and go home.
That is why I am here.’”
Jonathan now had a large force of 40,000 warriors. When he met Trypho at Beth-shan, Trypho was actually afraid. He did not want to fight such a large army. Instead, he said that he wanted to honor Jonathan as he gave him gifts. He told his whole army to listen and obey whatever Jonathan said. He wanted Jonathan to take a few troops to Ptolemais, where he would give him that city. He told Jonathan to dismiss most of his troops since they were not needed. They were not at war. He was going to hand everything over to Jonathan so that he could go home. He said that was the reason that he had come to this place. It is hard to tell whether Jonathan believed him or not, but we shall see.
“Then Jonathan heard that the officers of King Demetrius had come to Kadesh in Galilee with a large army, intending to remove him from office. He went to meet them, but he left his brother Simon in the country. Simon encamped before Beth-zur. He fought against the town for many days until he had hemmed it in. Then they asked him to grant them terms of peace. He did so, but he removed them from there. He took possession of the town and set a garrison over it.”
While Jonathan set out to meet the officers of the army of the deposed King Demetrius II at Kedesh in the Galilee area, his brother Simon was left in the country. Simon went to Beth-zur and made the people there settle for a peace treaty when he took possession of the town with a garrison of troops.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 