Battle of Adasa
The battle came after a period of political maneuvering over several months where the peace deal established a year earlier by Lysias was tested by the new High Priest Alcimus, the new military governor Nicanor, and the Maccabee leader Judas Maccabeus.
[2] In 162 BC, Regent Lysias led an expedition to restore government control of Judea and relieve a siege of the Acra citadel in Jerusalem.
Despite fending off a challenge from a Seleucid leader called Philip, a far greater threat arrived soon after: Demetrius I Soter, who escaped from captivity in Rome with the help of the Greek historian Polybius and returned to Syria.
Demetrius successfully swayed the Greek leaders of Antioch to his side, took the throne, and ordered the arrest and execution of Antiochus V and Lysias.
Nicanor had previously been a commander of Seleucid war elephants, and had taken part in the Battle of Emmaus four years earlier.
Judas was even given an official government role (diadokhos, "deputy" or "representative"), and would tentatively be involved in the administration and management of Judea.
[5] Nicanor rode out again and camped in the region of Beth-horon, northwest of Jerusalem, to meet up with Seleucid reinforcements traveling from Samaria.
Hellenistic commanders typically fought in the cavalry on the right wing and the force was comparatively small, so Nicanor would likely have been easy to find had Judas planned on attacking him directly.
Scholars who favor 1 Maccabees believe that the depiction of Nicanor as initially sincere and a friend of Judas is done solely for literary purposes to make a better "tragic" story of downfall, and thus cannot be trusted to be historical.
Historian Bezalel Bar-Kochva believes that these estimates for the size of the Judean army are too low - Judas appeared to be an able military commander who confidently chose this battle as a winnable one.
[1] Eduard Meyer is skeptical of Josephus's estimate, suggesting that Nicanor had a few thousand men at most, hence 2 Maccabees reporting he had impressed local Jews into the army to bolster its numbers.
[9] 2 Maccabees also reports enemy casualties of 35,000, a grossly inflated number discounted as myth-making to make Judas's victory seem more impressive.
[10] The story of Jeremiah bestowing a divine sword to Judas as a sign of God's favor may possibly be influenced by a synthesis of Egyptian cultural beliefs and the Jewish religion.
The epitomist of 2 Maccabees was an Egyptian Jew, and a common motif of authority was to show the pharaoh holding or about to wield a royal sword.
This story would be bolstering Judas's king-like authority as leader, albeit with a Jewish spin in using the famous prophet Jeremiah.
Later rabbinical writings, such as in the Ta'anit tractate of the Talmud, focus more on Nicanor's arrogance and threats backfiring on him, and omit mention of Judas Maccabeus.
