Bethsura and the sabbatical year

Bethsura surrenders because there was no food to withstand the siege, it being a sabbatical year (1 Maccabees 6:49); at 6:53 the same book gives that reason for the defenders of the sanctuary in Jerusalem.

In plain words

The fortress of Bethsura surrenders for lack of food because it was a sabbatical year, with the fields left fallow, and 1 Maccabees gives the same reason for the hunger of the Temple's defenders. The release is attested by what it cost: they kept it when keeping it lost them a fortress.

The mechanism

RELEASE, OBSERVED — the fallow is attested by its cost, which is the strongest form the evidence can take. They kept it when keeping it lost them a fortress.

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: COMMITTED; a release
• Letter eraTHE PROPHETS AND THE ROAD 776 BC to 4 BC
• Plate — Underwood & Underwood, 1913 · Library of Congress · Public domain · source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battlefield_of_Bethzur_(north_of_Hebron)_-_Palestine_LCCN2004672902.jpg
• SourcesSECULAR RECORD — 1 Maccabees 6:49, 53