When
Alexander the Great and his army approached Jerusalem… Alexander had commanded Jaddus the high-priest to send provisions from
Jerusalem for his siege of Tire. But Jaddus told him that he had sworn faithfulness
to Darius, the king of Persia, and with good conscience could not break his
oath. Josephus said, “Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go
up to Jerusalem; and Jaddus the high-priest, when he heard that, was in an
agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians,
since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore
ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in
offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to
deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned
him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should
take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest should
appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in
the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences,
which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his
sleep, he greatly rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received
from God. According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the
coming of the king.
And when Jaddus understood that Alexander
was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the
multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it
different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha, which
name, translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a
prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple. And when the Phoenicians and the
Samarians that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the
city, and torment the high-priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly
promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the
multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed
with fine linen, and the high-priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his
mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was
engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the
high-priest.
And when he had said this to Parmenion, and had given the high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high-priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high-priest and the priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. [3] And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present.
The Jews also did all
together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon
the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and
supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Parmenion alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass
that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high-priest of the Jews? To
whom he replied, 'I did not adore him, but that God who has honored him with
his high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit,
when I was at Dion in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I
might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to
pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me
the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other in that
habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the
exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the
Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of
the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own
mind.”
