Some who had accompanied him went along to mark the way but couldn’t find it again.

But a certain Simon from the tribe of Benjamin, who had been appointed administrator of the temple, had a difference of opinion with the high priest about the management of the city market.

With his last breath he said, “You, who are marked out for vengeance, may take our present life, but the king of the universe for whose laws we die will resurrect us again to eternal life.”

They demolished the altars that the foreigners built near the marketplace, as well as the sacred precincts.

But the blow didn’t strike its mark because of the haste of the struggle and the surge of the mob through the doors. Running with honor out onto the wall, he courageously threw himself down into the mob.

Nicanor, holding his head high with all his boasting, decided to build a public monument marking the defeat of Judas’ forces.