1. When the holy city was living in harmony, and people observed the laws rigorously because of Onias the high priest, who was devoted to God and hated evil,
2. the kings used to honor the place and glorify the temple by sending the best gifts.
3. Seleucus the king of Asia even supplied all expenses for the sacrificial service from his own revenues.
4. 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.
5. Since he wasn’t able to overcome Onias, he went to Thraseas’ son Apollonius, who was governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia at that time.
6. Simon told him that the treasury in Jerusalem was filled with untold riches and that it was full of uncounted cash, which didn’t belong to the accounts for the sacrifices, but potentially fell under the king’s authority.
7. Apollonius met with the king and told him about the funds.The king chose his chief administrator Heliodorus and sent him with orders to confiscate the funds in question.
8. Heliodorus immediately made the journey, supposedly to inspect the cities of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia but actually to put the king’s plan into effect.