Baskama Explained

Baskama is the place where Jonathan Apphus, the Hasmonean leader of the Judean forces in the Maccabean era from, was killed by Diodotus Tryphon according to the book 1 Maccabees (Maccabees 13:23).

The New American Bible Revised Edition suggests that it may lie northeast of the Sea of Galilee.^[1] Jewish historian Uriel Rappaport writes that it was "probably in the Golan (...) but identification is uncertain".^[2] A note in the Encyclopedia of the Bible states that "it is referred to as Basca by Josephus in his Antiquities, xiii. 6. 6. It is possibly to be identified with modern el-Jummeizeh, NE of the Sea of Galilee".^[3] This identification is also accepted by the Israeli historian Michael Avi-Yonah.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Maccabees 13:23

   NABRE, footnote b

2. Book: Rappaport, Uriel . Uriel Rappaport . 1 Maccabees . The Oxford Bible Commentary . John. Barton . John Barton (theologian) . John. Muddiman . John Muddiman . Oxford University Press . Online . 2001 . 9780191979897 . https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198755005.001.0001/acref-9780198755005-chapter-51 .
3. Encyclopedia of the Bible, Bascama, accessed 5 January 2021
4. Avi-Yonah . Michael . 1976 . Gazetteer of Roman Palestine . Qedem . 5 . 35 . 0333-5844.