The Battle of Elasa

The intertestamental book of 1 Maccabees and some of the accounts of the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII) recount the early events of the Jewish struggle for independence from the Seleucids, led by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers. These events form some of the backdrop of the New Testament, including the establishment of the festival of Dedication (often called Hannukah), mentioned in John 10:22 (1 Maccabees 4:36-59). Judas was the first to lead Jews to rebel against Seleucid rule and progressively expanded the rebellion to other Jewish regions. After winning a decisive battle at Beth-horon and killing the Seleucid general Nicanor, Judas captured the attention of the growing Roman Republic and established an alliance with them (1 Maccabees 8:23-32). In spite of this, the Seleucid king Demetrius sent a leader named Bacchides to Judah with a large army. They went by the road that leads to Gilgal, and along the way they attacked Jewish forces at Mesaloth in Arbela, likely located near the caves of the cliffs of Arbel in Galilee. Then they camped outside Jerusalem but eventually marched off to Berea. Judas was camped at Elasa with a much smaller army, but he chose to attack the Seleucid forces anyway. Judas’s forces crushed the right wing of the Seleucid forces, but Judas himself was killed, with the battle resulting in significant losses for both sides. Many scholars regard the Roman camp Berea to be same as the ancient town of Beeroth, which participated in the Gibeonite deception during the era of the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 9). At the same time, many scholars incorrectly locate Berea at al-Bira, and this would erroneously suggest that Bethel could not be located at al-Bira, since both Berea and Bethel are both mentioned in 1 Maccabees 9. But Eusebius specifically locates Beeroth at a village at the foot of Gibeon at the seventh Roman milestone on the road to Nicopolis. Eusebius’s comments make it clear that he was speaking of the road from Jerusalem to Gibeon, which continues on to Emmaus Nicopolis. This makes it very unlikely that he was referring to al-Bira, which is located along the Central Ridge Route. Alternatively, this author has found that there is a small ruin called Khirbat Bi’r al-Bi’ar at the foot of Gibeon at the eighth Roman mile along the road from Jerusalem (see map). This is only one Roman mile off from Eusebius’s description, but the seventh milestone is not actually at the foot of Gibeon anyway, so perhaps Eusebius slightly miscalculated the distance. The name of the ruin also appears to reflect the name of the ancient town of Beeroth. Thus, it is very possible that Beeroth (which was likely the same as Berea) was located immediately northeast of Gibeon, as shown on this map, and not at al-Bira. This location for Beeroth also makes sense of the comment in 2 Samuel 4:2, which says that “Beeroth is considered to belong to Benjamin,” because Khirbat Bi’r al-Bi’ar sits technically just outside the border of Benjamin and would benefit from this clarifying statement that it belongs to Benjamin (rather than to Ephraim). Finally, placing Beeroth at Khirbat Bi’r al-Bi’ar leaves open the possibility that al-Bira is actually the location of Bethel, as indicated on this map. Also, while some scholars have argued for placing Elasa at Khirbat Ilasa between Upper and Lower Beth-horon, it seems more likely that it was located at Khirbat al-Ashi, just south of Bethel (al-Bira). Once Beeroth/Berea is correctly located at Khirbat Bi’r al-Bi’ar and Elasa at Khirbat al-Ashi, it becomes clear that the battle, which would likely have taken place somewhere between Elasa and Berea, must have taken place south of Elasa, perhaps on the plain where it is located on this map.