In the winter of 164 b.c., after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes and Lysias’ retreat from Beth Zur, Judas Maccabaeus gained control of Jerusalem. The Temple was purified and the Hasmonaean brothers were now able to help the Jews scattered outside the Judaean Hills region, who were being pressed by their neighbours, the Idumaeans, the Samaritans and the Hellenized settlements in Transjordania and the coastal plain (I Macc. 5). The Seleucid crown passed to Antiochus V Eupator, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was just nine years old. The real power at Antioch, however, was wielded by the regent Lysias. That situation made the stability and continuity of the dynasty doubtful, for it was clear that Lysias aspired to the throne. Judas Maccabaeus’ great successes in the expeditions against the neighbours, and the development of his military power on the one hand, and on the other the internal crisis in the Seleucid kingdom, encouraged the Jews to lay siege to the Jerusalem citadel, some time around April 162 b.c. (see the chronological discussion in Appendix K, pp. 543ff.). That step, designed to eradicate the last real symbol of Seleucid power in Judaea, immediately elicited a strong Seleucid reaction, surpassing in quantity and quality all the previous battles against the Hasmonaean brothers.

The Seleucid army invaded the country from the south-west, through Mt Hebron, as had Lysias on his first expedition. They laid siege to Beth Zur, and when it surrendered they proceeded northward toward Jerusalem.