CHIEF FRIENDS; GOOD MEN

See CHIEF FRIENDS; GOOD, CHIEF; CHIEF.

FRIENDS; CHIEF FRIENDS

(hoi philoi proton): Expressions used in 1 and 2 Maccabees to designate the favored courtiers of the Antiochi. Mattathias is promised enrollment among the king's Friends, to tempt him to apostatize (1 Maccabees 2:18); Alexander Balas writes Jonathan among his Chief Friends (1 Maccabees 10:65). Compare also 1 Maccabees 3:38; 6:10, 14; 0.458333333; 11:26, 27; 2 Maccabees 8:9.