Nicanor

One of the seven first deacons in the church of Christ after the descent of the Holy Ghost. (Acts vi. 5.) The name is taken from the Greek, and means to conquer.

One of the first seven deacons, who were chosen and appointed at Jerusalem soon after the Pentecostal descent of the Holy Ghost, Mal 6:1-6 .\par

Nica’nor. (conqueror).

1. Son of Patroclus, 2Ma 8:9, a general, who was engaged in the Jewish wars, under Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius I. 1Ma 3:38; 1 Maccabees_4; 1Ma 7:26; 1Ma 7:49. (B.C. 160).

2. One of the first seven deacons. Act 6:5.

One of the seven ordained for ministration of alms. "of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom," but also preachers of the gospel (Act 6:1-10; Act 8:5).

[Nica’nor]

One of the seven chosen to look after the poor saints at Jerusalem. Act 6:5.

By: Richard Gottheil, Samuel Krauss

Son of Patroclus, and general and friend of Antiochus Epiphanes, who in 165 B.C. sent him and Gorgias with an army against the Jews (I Macc. iii. 38; II Macc. viii. 9). In anticipation of an easy victory, he had brought 1,000 slave-dealers into the camp, to whom he intended to sell the captive Jews; but when Gorgias was defeated by Judas Maccabeus, Nicanor was obliged to flee in disguise to Antioch (II Macc. viii. 34-36). He is identical with the Nicanor whom Josephus ("Ant." xii. 5, § 5) calls governor of Samaria. He may also be the Nicanor who was master of the elephants (II Macc. xiv. 12) and who was sent four years later by King Demetrius I. against the Jews, whom he is said to have hated (I Macc. vii. 26).

The battles of this Nicanor are related differently in the three sources, I and II Maccabees and Josephus. Although there is complete agreement in the statement that Nicanor approached Judas in a friendly way, he, according to I Macc. vii. 27, sought thereby to vanquish his opponent by treachery, whereas, according to II Macc. xiv. 28, he marched against Judas unwillingly and only at the king's command. The latter passage gives a detailed account of his threat to destroy Jerusalem and to turn the sanctuary into a temple of Dionysus unless Judas were delivered to him by the priests, who declared under oath, however, that they were ignorant of his hiding-place (comp. I. Macc. vii. 33-38). According to II Macc. xiv. 17, Nicanor also joined battle with Simon, the brother of Judas, but this whole narrative (ib. xiv. 12-30) seems unhistorical except for the statement that he was defeated at Capharsalama by Judas (I Macc. vii. 32). The contrary assertion of Josephus ("Ant." xii. 10, § 4), that Judas was defeated at Capharsalama and fled to the castle at Jerusalem, is shown to be incorrect by the mere fact that the citadel was then in possession of the Syrians, and could not, therefore, have served as a refuge for the Jews.

With new reenforcements from Syria, Nicanor advanced from Jerusalem upon Beth-horon, while Judas encamped opposite him at Adasa. There a decisive battle was fought on the 13th of Adar, 161, in which Nicanor was totally defeated; he himself was slain and every man in his army was killed. In celebration of this complete victory the Jews instituted the 13th of Adar as a holiday (I Macc. vii. 39-50; II Macc. xv. 1-36; Josephus, l.c. xii. 10, § 5). With this important event the author of II Maccabees closes his book.

"Nicanor Day" is also mentioned in the rabbinical sources (Meg. Ta'an. xii.; Ta'an. 18b; Yer. Ta'an. ii. 13 et seq., 66a), which give an amplified and highly colored account of the mutilation of Nicanor's body; this is likewise mentioned in both books of the Maccabees, but not in Josephus. According to II Macc. xv. 36, Nicanor Day is one day before Mordecai Day, or Purim. Since this day was the fast-day of Esther, and therefore the direct opposite of a feast-day, the Palestinian teachers effected a compromise by placing the fast-day of Esther after Purim, while Nicanor Day was celebrated as appointed (Soferim 17). There is no trace of its celebration later than the seventh century.

Later rabbinical sources are very confused in regard to Nicanor. According to the "Megillat Antiochus" (in Jellinek, "B. H." v.), he was slain by Johanan, the son of Mattathias. The Hebrew "Yosippon" (ch. xxiv.) confuses the general Nicanor with the alabarch Nicanor, after whom a gate of Jerusalem was named.

Bibliography:

Derenbourg, Hist. p. 63;

Grätz, Gesch. 4th ed., iii. 564;

Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 218.

NICANOR.—1. Son of Patroclus, a Syrian general who was engaged in the Jewish wars (1Ma 3:38). He was sent by Lysias in b.c. 166 against Judas Maccabæus, but was defeated. Five years later he was sent on the same errand by Demetrius; this time he endeavoured to win by strategy what he had failed to gain by force. Again he was compelled to fight, and was twice defeated, once at Capharsalama (1Ma 7:26-32) and again at Adasa, where he lost his life. The day of his death was ordained to be kept as a festival as ‘Nicanor’s Day. ‘The account in 2 Mac (esp. 2Ma 14:12-30) differs in several details. 2. One of the ‘Seven’ (Act 6:5).

T. A. Moxon.

nı̄-kā´nor, nı̄´kā-nôr (Νικάνωρ, Nikanōr): The son of Patroclus and one of the king’s “chief friends” (2 Macc 8:9), a Syrian general under Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius Soter. After the defeat of Seron by Judas, Epiphanes entrusted his chancellor Lysias with the reduction of Judea (1 Macc 3:34 ff). Nicanor was one of the three generals commissioned by Lysias - the others being Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, and Gorgias (1 Macc 3:38). The campaign began in 166 BC; the Syrians were defeated at Emmaus (1 Macc 3:57 ff), while Gorgias at a later stage gained a victory at Jamnia over a body of Jews who disobeyed Judas (1 Macc 5:58). The account given in 2 Macc differs considerably, both in omissions and in additions (2 Macc 8:9 ff). There Nicanor, not Gorgias, is the chief in command. The battle of Emmaus is not mentioned, but “the thrice-accursed Nicanor,” having in overweening pride invited a thousand slavedealers to accompany him to buy the Jewish captives, was humiliated, and his host was destroyed, he himself escaping “like a fugitive slave” to Antioch (2 Macc 8:34 f). After the death of Epiphanes, Eupator and Lysias (the last two at the hands of Demetrius (1 Macc 7:2)), Nicanor appears again under King Demetrius in the struggle between Alcimus and Judas. Alcimus, having been seated in the priesthood by Demetrius’ officer Bacchides, could not hold it against Judas and the patriots. He appealed again to Demetrius, who this time selected Nicanor, now governor of Cyprus (2 Macc 12:2) and known for his deadly hatred of the Jews, to settle the dispute and slay Judas (2 Macc 14:12 ff; 1 Macc 7:26 ff). Nicanor was appointed governor of Judea on this occasion. Again 1 and 2 Maccabees differ. According to 1 Maccabees, Nicanor sought in vain to seize Judas by treachery. Then followed the battle of Capharsalama (“village of peace”), in which the Syrians were defeated, though Josephus (Ant., XII, x, 5) says Judas was defeated. Nicanor retired to Jerusalem, insulted the priests and threatened the destruction of the temple unless they delivered up Judas. He then retired to Beth-horon to find Judas posted opposite him at Adasa (1 Macc 7:39 ff) 3 1/2 miles distant. Here on the 13th of the 12th month Adar (March), 161 BC, the Syrians sustained a crushing defeat, Nicanor himself being the first to fall. The Jews cut off his head and proud right hand and hanged them up beside Jerusalem. For a little while Adasa gave the land of Judah rest. The people ordained to keep this “day of great gladness” year by year - the 13th of Adar, “the day before the day of Mordecai” (Feast of Purim). 2 Maccabees mentions that Simon, Judas’ brother, was worsted in a first engagement (14:17), omits the battle of Capharsalama, and represents Nicanor, struck with the manliness of the Jews, as entering into friendly relations with Judas, urging him to marry and lead a quiet life, forgetful of the king’s command until Alcimus accused him to Demetrius. The latter peremptorily ordered Nicanor to bring Judas in all haste as prisoner to Antioch (14:27). The scene of the final conflict (Adasa) is given only as “in the region of Samaria” (15:1). According to this account, it was Judas who ordered the mutilation of Nicanor and in a more gruesome fashion (15:30 ff). It is possible that the Nicanor, the Cypriarch or governor of Cyprus of 2 Macc 12:2, is a different person from Nicanor, the son of Patroclus - a view not accepted in the above account.

The name is Greek, but was probably prevalent in Syria, as we find one of the generals of Antiochus Epiphanes called by it (2Ma_8:9). It is more than likely, therefore, that he was a Hellenist Jew of Syria. He is mentioned as one of the Seven in Act_6:5, a man of repute among the brethren, but we hear and know no more of him.

W. A. Spooner.