Josippon

In those days, Seleucus ruled over the nation of Makedon; he was a merciful man who governed peacefully over the people of Judah, and the land was quiet all his days. Yerushalem (Jerusalem) was quiet and deep in peace; all her pious sons, the Hasidim, served God and obeyed His laws and commandments at the behest of Onias, the high priest, who guided them in every matter and in every custom. There lived then a scoundrel from among outlaws of our people named Shimon of the tribe of Benjamin. Shimon went to Aram, to Apollonius, who had been appointed over all Aram, and said to him: "I have come to you to tell you about the wealth of the Temple in Jerusalem, in the treasury of the house that is in it, for there is no end to the quantity of gold and precious stones that is in Jerusalem's treasury; and it is fitting that all this should be in the treasury of Seleucus." When Apollonius heard this, he went to Makedonia and told the king all that Shimon had said to him and tempted the king to take the gold of the Temple of God. King Seleucus sent Eliodorus (Heliodorus), his army chief, to Jerusalem with a strong army and ordered him to take the gold of which he had been told.

Heliodorus made the journey, and when he arrived in Jerusalem with all his officers and troops, Onias the priest said to him: "Why does my lord come to his servants?" Heliodorus answered, saying: "On account of your wealth, the gold and precious stones that are in the treasury of your Temple, as the king was told." The priest answered, saying: "There is no gold in the treasury save for the gold that King Seleucus and other kings gave to the treasury of our God for the relief of orphans and widows, in return for which we pray to our God for the well-being of the king and his sons." Heliodorus did not listen to the priest and set guards around the Temple until the following day.

The city was in tumult, and there was much wailing and an exceedingly bitter outcry; the priests called out to God, and the elders and their wives and the chiefs and their wives threw themselves in the dust and afflicted themselves with fasting and withheld bread from the children, even milk from the nurslings. They cried out to God to protect His treasury and the pledge deposited in His House. Even the virgins, who live secluded within their father's houses, stretched out their hands heavenward toward the window of their houses and cried out unto God. And what shall we say about Onias the priest? He tormented his soul, he cried and mourned, he removed the clothes of his splendor and donned sackcloth and ashes. Everyone cried and wept for him; for the man was distressed, and the look on his face betrayed the anxiety within his heart.

On the following day, Heliodorus came with all his troops and, marching into the Temple of our God, entered the Sanctuary. God caused him and the men accompanying him to hear a sound of thunder and noise, a powerful roar, a fearsome sound that splits mountains and shatters rocks. All Heliodorus's troops ran out and hid wherever they could, and he remained alone. He lifted his eyes and saw a terrifying man dressed in golden clothes, shining with precious stones and girt with weapons made of gold, and riding a great horse leaping and prancing into the Sanctuary. The horseman ran to Heliodorus, and the horse kicked him with its hoof. It knocked him down and stood over him. He commanded two young men dressed in linen, whips in their hands, to lash Heliodorus violently. These two lads stood over Heliodorus, one on each side, and lashed him mercilessly with whips. The man was struck dumb and hovered between life and death. The young priests entered and bore him on their shoulders out of the Sanctuary and handed him over to his troops; they led him to his tent, where he fell upon the bed and lay dumb, not opening his mouth either to speak or to drink.

The elders of Makedonia went to Onias the priest. They wept and pleaded with him and said: "Please, my lord, pray for your servant Heliodorus and for all of us, your servants who came with him, that we shall live and not die; for we know that there is no god save your God, for all the gods of the nations are vanity and emptiness, but your God is the one who made the world, and the soul of every living creature is in His hand." The priest prayed to God and offered holocausts and sacrifices; and the two young men, the ones who had beaten him in the Sanctuary, appeared again before him and said to him: "Rise and go to Onias the priest and prostrate yourself at his feet, for it was on his account that God was merciful to you." Heliodorus rose and went to the priest and, prostrating himself before him, blessed God and the priest and gave gold and silver to the treasury of the House of God. He quickly fled, going to Makedonia to King Seleucus. The king said to him: "What happened to you in Jerusalem?" To which Heliodorus replied: "Do you have any enemies who seek your life? Send them to Jerusalem and let them enter the Temple, and there they shall die, for a great and terrible God reigns in that place, and He destroys all the enemies of Jerusalem and Judah." He told the king all that he had seen, so Seleucus would no longer send anyone else to Jerusalem to do her harm, and he sent an annual gift to Jerusalem all the days of his life. The kings of the world loved to send gifts and to honor the Sanctuary that is in Jerusalem.