DATHEMA, or Dathman, a fortress in the land of Gilead, whither the Jews beyond Jordan retired, and maintained 1 Macc. v, &c. Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c. 11. 1 Macc. v. 9.themselves against the attacks of Timotheus, till Judas Maccabæus came to their relief.
The true situation of this fortress is not known to us; but this is nothing to the history of what passed there. Before the captivity of Babylon, and upon the declension of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the nations which inhabited the land of Gilead, that is to say, the Arabians, Ammonites, and Moabites, assembled together in order to extirpate the Jews out of their country; for after the Edict of Antiochus, obliging them to forsake their religion, all their neighbours and their enemies, thought themselves at liberty to treat them as they pleased, and even joined Antiochus’s troops to make war against them: but the Jews having intelligence of their design, retired into the fortress of Dathema, and immediately sent letters to Judas Maccabæus and his brethren, to acquaint them with the condition they were reduced to, and demand speedy succour from them. While they were reading these letters, news to the same purpose was brought them from the Jews of Galilee: Hereupon Judas convened all the people, to deliberate upon what was to be done in these conjunctures. It was resolved that Judas and his brother Jonathan should pass the Jordan, to go to their assistance who were in the land of Gilead; and that Simon their other brother should go into Galilee, to deliver their brethren, who were threatned there with entire destruction. They left Joseph and Azarias in Judæa, to guard the country, with express orders not to fight till their return.
Simon therefore being gone into Galilee, engaged the nations which were enemies to the Jews, in several battles; they were defeated and fled before him: he pursued them as far as the gates of Ptolemais, kill’d 1 Macc. v. 21, 22.three thousand of their men, and carried off a rich booty.
Judas Maccabæus on his side, and Jonathan his brother, having passed the Jordan, probably at Bethsan, marched three days into the wilderness; and the Nabathæans, people of Arabia, who were not in the plot with those who designed to massacre the Jews, came in a friendly manner to meet them, and being received by them with a peaceable spirit, related to them all that passed in Gilead, with respect to their brethren there, who were shut up in places of the greatest strength, that their enemies still continued to besiege them, and were resolved to march their army the next Ibid. ver. 27.day, in order to destroy them all at one time.
Judas having received this intelligence, immediately led his army against Bosor, surprized the city, burnt it, put all the males he found in it to the sword, and carried away all the booty. From thence he marched all night in order to reach the fortress of Dathema, and he arrived there just at break of day, in the very instant when the attack began with great cries on both sides, and the enemies were mounting to the assault, with their machines and ladders. Hereupon Judas divided his army into three bodies, advanced against the enemy in order of battle, and when he came within reach of them, his troops sounded their trumpets, and cried to heaven, invoking God’s assistance. Timotheus’s soldiers immediately discovered that it was Judas Maccabæus, they therefore quitted the attack of Dathema, and fled. Judas pursued them, made a great slaughter of them; and near eight thousand were that day left upon the spot.
Observations on the storming Dathema by Timotheus, and the succour of this fortress by Judas Maccabæus.The attacking cities by the way of scaling them, is, I believe, as ancient as their fortifications, and all the machines which industry could invent to get possession of them, were produced long afterwards. It is true, that at first, before there was any thought of scaling, people used to block them up, and they often proceeded no further, when at any time the walls of a town were secured by their extraordinary height, from enterprizes 1 Macc. v. 9, &c.of this kind. Attacks by onset and storm were generally made by the Hebrews all round the place invested; to these they sometimes added sapping, and breaking down of gates, in order to divert the enemy’s forces. The Greeks and Romans observed likewise this method; the whole army fell on at the same time, and the very cavalry had their share in the assault. As soon as the army was arrived before any place, the infantry encompassed it on all sides; the flingers and archers formed a second line behind the heavy-armed soldiers, who were commanded to the escalade, and the cavalry formed a third line, which surrounded the two others.
These three lines thus disposed at a certain distance, formed each a circle about the city, and in proportion as they made their approaches, the circle became continually less, so that there was no interval remaining as soon as they were lodged upon the borders of the ditch, which was to be dry for enterprizes of this nature; the archers and flingers poured a shower of stones and arrows upon those who appeared in defence of the walls, while ladders were distributed to the heavy-arm’d soldiers, who descended with great haste into the ditch, advanced to the foot of the walls, fastened their ladders to them, and endeavoured to get upon the top of them. The Romans called this way of attacking, coronâ capere; but certainly they were not the first, who carried on their attacks in this manner, no more than the Greeks: the people of Asia observed this method before they were known in the world. What they called Testudines, the Hebrews were acquainted with, and practised in their sudden attacks and onsets; that is to say, the soldiers covering themselves with their bucklers, which they raised over their heads, and closing their ranks and files, advanced to the foot of the walls without fearing the stones and fires which were cast down upon them from above, and run over them. M. de Brebeuf has very well explained this in his Lucan’s Pharsalia, book 3.Pharsalia: The Romans joining their shields by consent in the form of a tortoise, march under this cover to the very foot of the ramparts, and leave the stones and darts behind them. This Tortoise, or Testudo, is not so clearly explained in the sacred Books, but we may perceive sufficiently, that the Hebrews were not strangers to it. This seems to me enough to give the Reader a competent knowledge of these sorts of attacks. Let us come now to the action above mentioned, begun under the conduct of Judas Maccabæus.
This enterprize against Timotheus is worthy of so great a General as Judas was: He does not go in search of an enemy, disingaged from all incumbrances, and encamped only before a place; he chuses his opportunity more prudently, waits till Timotheus had fixed his ladders to the walls, and brought all his forces thither, and had nothing to oppose him, that he might the more effectually surprize him, and attack him immediately as soon as his army was divided, so as not to have leisure to unite again, and put themselves in order of battle to resist him. Judas was sensible, that his army was too weak to come openly to a general action; his industry therefore furnished him with an expedient which secured the success of his undertaking: the better to deceive his enemy, he ordered his army to march towards the wilderness of Bosora, and suddenly surprized the city. Timotheus, informed that Judas 1 Macc. v. 28.was drawing this way, believed without doubt that he had time remaining to take Dathema by assault, and proceed afterwards to the relief of Bosora, but he was mistaken; for this city was immediately taken. After this expedition, Judas marched his army all night with so much secrecy and diligence to succour Dathema, that he arrived there, and at break of day lifting up their eyes, says the Ibid. ver. 30.Author of the Book of Maccabees, they perceived an innumerable company of people bearing ladders and other engines of war, in order to get possession of the fortress, and take those within it. He arrived just at the lucky moment he wished, that is to say, when the attack was already begun: in such a surprize, people do not know what to go about, orders are to be issued out, an assault abandoned, the troops which lay round the city to be got together, and put in battle-array; all which is not to be done in an instant. Timotheus was under this perplexity, having the enemy upon his back, and in his very camp.
The Author describes the order wherein Ibid. ver. 33. Ibid. ver. 58.Judas engaged. He marched in three bodies behind the enemy; these at the same time sounded their trumpets and cried to God in their prayers. To the surprize of their enemies, they joined valour and good conduct, together with a recourse to him, who is the God of Hosts, and heard them; whereas Joseph and Azarias, who were left to guard the country, envying the happy success of their brethren, and, contrary to their orders, marching their troops towards Jamnia, were beaten by Gorgias, who went out of the city to meet them, and put them to flight. Thus their temerity and disobedience were justly punished, and shewed, that the success of holy wars does not depend on courage or numbers, but that God only is the Author of it, and does not approve the criminal dispositions of those, who undertake things for the service of Religion upon motives of vanity and glory.