=Judas's Character and Work.= There are many analogies between the character and work of Saul and of Judas. Both were devoted patriots and courageous warriors. Both laid the foundations for a kingdom, but fell on the battle-field before their task was completed. Both inspired their people with the ambition for independence and taught them how to fight effectively in securing it. Of the two, Judas appears to have been the more balanced and unselfish character. In view of the obstacles with which he contended, he was unquestionably the greatest general that Israel ever produced. The peculiar topography of Judea enabled him to contend successfully with strong armies, but in a prolonged struggle with the Syrian kingdom the advantages were all with the latter. The barren, limited territory of Judea was incapable of supporting a large people or of furnishing the resources for a protracted war. On the other hand, Antioch, which had as its base the great plain between the Lebanons, possessed almost unlimited resources and was the natural centre from which to rule both Syria and Palestine. Judas was able to win his victories not merely because of his dauntless courage and leadership, but because the Syrian kingdom was fatally weakened by the moral corruption and constant dissensions of its rulers. These two elements, courageous and able leadership on the side of the Jews and corruption and inefficiency in the Syrian kingdom, enabled Judas's followers in time to overcome geographical conditions and to build up, as in the days of David, a large and independent kingdom. XXII THE MACCABEAN AND HERODIAN AGE =Jonathan's Policy.= Jonathan, who succeeded his brother, Judas, in the leadership of the Jewish rebellion, combined great skill and energy with a certain craftiness, which enabled him to profit by every turn in the tortuous politics of Syria. It was an exceedingly corrupt age, and Jonathan adopted the standards and methods of his day. The secure hiding-places in Palestine enabled him to elude the Syrians and to recover from the shock which his cause had received as a result of the death of Judas. Jonathan and his followers took refuge first in the wilderness of Judea^{(24)} and the dry, barren wadies that lead down to the Dead Sea, and later in the jungle of the lower Jordan.^{(36)} Into this thicket of reeds and bushes the Syrian general pursued them. On this strange battle-field Jonathan and his followers were defeated, but by swimming across the Jordan succeeded in escaping pursuit. At another time he was shut up in the fortress of Beth-basi, which Josephus identifies with Beth-hoglah, in the midst of the Jordan valley, a little southeast of Jericho. It is more probably to be identified with some one of the many natural strongholds along the Wady el-Bassah, which leads through the eastern part of the wilderness of Tekoa down toward the Dead Sea.