Editing Hasmonean dynasty (section)

===Judas leads the revolt (166–160 BC)===
Eventually the use of [[guerrilla warfare]] practices by Judah over several years gave control of the country to the Maccabees:
<blockquote>It was now, in the fall of 165, that Judah's successes began to disturb the central government. He appears to have controlled the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and thus to have cut off the royal party in Acra from direct communication with the sea and thus with the government. It is significant that this time the Syrian troops, under the leadership of the governor-general Lysias, took the southerly route, by way of Idumea.<ref>Bickerman, Elias J. ''Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees''. Schocken, 1962. Via [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/maccabee.htm#Bickerman]</ref></blockquote>

Towards the end of 164, after reaching a compromise with [[Lysias (Syrian chancellor)|Lysias]] (who retreated to [[Antioch]] perhaps for political reasons following the death of Antiochus IV who died while campaigning against the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]]),{{sfn|Morkholm|2008|pp=287-90}} Judas entered Jerusalem and re-established the formal religious worship of Yahweh. The feast of [[Hanukkah]] was instituted to commemorate the recovery of the temple.{{sfn|Morkholm|2008|p=290}}

[[File:Death of Eleazer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Battle of Beth Zechariah]] in 162 BC, where the Maccabean rebels suffered a temporary setback. Illustration by [[Gustave Doré]] in 1866.]]

Around April 162 Judas laid siege to [[Acra (fortress)|Acra]], which had remained under Seleucids control, as a response Lysias returned to fight the jews in the [[Battle of Beth Zechariah]], but despite the positive outcome of the battle, the resistance of the Maccabees in the mountains of Aphairema (near the original center of the revolt)<ref name="barkochva334" /> and troubles in his own home country, prompted by the political situation surrounding the young [[Antiochus V Eupator]] successor of Antiochus IV, forced Lysias to once again negotiate peace with the Maccabees, renouncing to his siege of Jerusalem in exchange for the Maccabean siege to [[Acra (fortress)|Acra]].{{refn| group=note |Some scholars believe that Lysias only made a single expedition to Judea, as 2 Maccabees suggests the Battle of Beth Zur happened after the cleansing of the temple, and that Lysias's expedition happened in 149 SE by the Macedonian version of the year count (rather than 150 SE by the Babylonian version).  In this scenario, the events of the first expedition happen immediately before the Battle of Beth Zechariah.  Still, most scholars favor the 1 Maccabees version of two expeditions separated by two years.<ref name="barkochva275">Bar-Kochva 1989, p.275&ndash;282</ref>}}

In 161, while on his way to assume governorship [[Nicanor (Seleucid general)|Nicanor]], the newly appointed [[strategos]] of the region, won a skirmish against Simon, and while in Jerusalem, despite 2 Maccabees describing good initial relations between him and Judas(including the appointment to an official position), he eventually tried of have the latter arrested. Judas was however able to flee to the countryside and, after defeating Nicanor and the small contingent under him that was giving chase, he later managed to win a decisive battle at [[Battle of Adasa|Adasa]] where Nicanor was killed (ib. 7:26&ndash;50), granting Judas once again control over Jerusalem. At this point, strong of his multiple wins over the Seleucids, he sent Eupolemus the son of Johanan and Jason the son of [[Eleazar Maccabeus|Eleazar]] as a diplomatic party "to make a league of amity and confederacy with the Romans."<ref>{{Bibleverse|1|Maccabees|7:7|NRSV}}, via Bentwich, Norman. ''Josephus'', The Jewish Publication Society of America. Philadelphia, 1914.</ref>

However on the same year, Antiochus V was soon succeeded by his cousin [[Demetrius I Soter]], whose throne his father had usurped. Demetrius, after getting rid of Antiochus and Lysas, sent the general [[Bacchides (general)|Bacchides]] to Israel with a large army, in order to install [[Alcimus]] to the office of high priest.
After Bacchides carried out a massacre in Galilee and Alcimus thus claimed to be in a better position than Judas to protect the Hebrew population, the Hasmonean leader prepared to meet the Seleucid general in battle; the unorthodox route Bacchides took however (through Mount [[Bethel|Beth El]]) may have surprised Judas's forces, two thirds of which, finding themselves greatly outnumbered in an open field battle, didn't actually fight. In what is known as the [[Battle of Elasa]] (Laisa), Judas choose to fight against all odds and aimed to win by charging the right flank where Bacchides would be located and decapitate the Seleucid army as he did with Nicanor's. After what the sources describe as a battle that lasted 'from morning to evening', the Seleucid cavalry was able to cut off Judas, and it ultimately was the Jewish army who was dispersed after the loss of their leader.