Intertestamental History

Just as the Ptolemies created a large Jewish Diaspora in Egypt and across North Africa, Antiochus III initiated a pattern of Jewish emigration to and settlement in Asia Minor. According to Lawrence Shiffman, Antiochus took two thousand Jewish families who were living in Babylonia and settled them in Lydia and Phrygia as military colonists around 210-205 BC. The exact location of and number of persons in each settlement is unknown. Creating these kinds of colonies was designed to pacify the region, defend frontiers, and protect trade routes and lines of communication. Antiochus had a high level of confidence that these families would be loyal to his interests in Asia Minor. These families—descendants of those who had been taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar—had grown up outside Palestine. Their forbearers had assimilated with Gentile cultures, while maintaining some of the essentials of their faith.

Greek coin weighing eight drachmas and bearing the likeness of Antiochus III, king of the Seleucid Empire

Jews from these and other provinces in the northern tier of the Mediterranean Basin were at the Feast of Pentecost in AD 33 and heard Peter’s witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus and the invitation to repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. From a Jewish community in the Roman province of Cilicia came one of Christianity’s most important interpreters, Saul of Tarsus.

While many Judeans welcomed Seleucid rule, the situation changed after Antiochus was defeated by the Romans in the battle of Magnesia, 190 BC. Antiochus had supported Hannibal of North Africa, Rome’s arch enemy. As a result, Antiochus had to give up all of his territory except the province of Cilicia. He had to pay a large sum of money to the Romans for a period of years and surrender his navy and elephants. To guarantee his compliance, one of his sons was kept in Rome as a hostage. So the tax burden of the Jews increased, as did pressure to hellenize, that is, to adopt Greek language and culture.

Antiochus was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV, 187-175 BC. When he was murdered, his younger brother became ruler. Antiochus IV, 175-163 BC, was called Epiphanes (“manifest” or “splendid”), though some called him Epimanes (“mad”). He was the son who had been a hostage in Rome. During the early years of his reign, the situation of the Jews became worse. They were divided over the issue of hellenization. Some Jewish leaders, especially the priests, encouraged hellenization, while others strongly opposed it.

Up to the time of Antiochus IV, the office of high priest had been hereditary and held for life. However, Jason, the brother of the high priest, offered Antiochus a large sum of money to be appointed high priest. Antiochus needed the money and made the appointment. Jason offered an additional sum to receive permission to build a gymnasium near the temple. Within a few years, Menelaus, a priest but not of the high priestly line, offered the king more money to be named high priest in place of Jason. He stole vessels from the temple to pay what he had promised.

To keep the Ptolemies in check, Antiochus invaded Egypt and took control of most of the country with the exception of Alexandria, the capital. This action displeased the Roman Senate that dispatched an ambassador, Gaius Popillius Laenas, to confront Antiochus and force him to decide whether he would advance on Alexandria or withdraw from Egypt. Not wanting a direct conflict with Rome, he withdrew.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria

When Antiochus reached Jerusalem, he found that Jason had driven Menelaus out of the city. Antiochus viewed this as full revolt. He invaded the city and allowed his troops to kill many of its residents. Determined to put an end to the Jewish religion, he sacrificed a pig on the altar of the temple. Parents were forbidden to circumcise their sons, the Sabbath observance was prohibited, and all copies of the law were to be burned. It was a capital offense to be found with a copy of the law. The zeal of Antiochus to destroy Judaism was a major catalyst in the Maccabean revolt.

Part of a Hasmonean era coffin uncovered during archaeological excavations outside the city of Modein

Resistance was passive at first, but when the Seleucids sent officers throughout the land to compel leading citizens to offer sacrifices to Zeus, open conflict flared. It broke out first at the village of Modein, about halfway between Jerusalem and Joppa. An aged priest named Mattathias was chosen to offer the sacrifice. He refused, but a young Jew volunteered to do it. This angered Mattathias, and he killed both the young Jew and the officer who ordered the sacrifice. Mattathias then fled to the hills with his five sons and others who supported his action. The revolt had begun.

Leadership fell to Judas, the third son of Mattathias. He was nicknamed Maccabeus, the hammerer. He probably received this title because of his skill as a warrior. He was the ideal guerrilla leader, fighting successful battles against much larger forces. A group called the Hasidim made up the major part of his army. These men were devoutly committed to the worship of God, the law of God, and to religious freedom.

Shortly before the revolt of Judas Maccabeus (2Macc 8), Antiochus IV Epiphanes arrested a mother and her seven sons, and tried to force them to eat pork. When they refused, he tortured and killed the sons one by one. The narrator mentions that the mother “was the most remarkable of all, and deserves to be remembered with special honour. She watched her seven sons die in the space of a single day, yet she bore it bravely because she put her trust in the Lord” (2Macc 7:20, NEB). The narrator ends by saying that the mother died. He did not say whether she was executed or died in some other way.

Antiochus IV was more concerned with affairs in the eastern part of his empire than with what was taking place in Palestine. Therefore, he did not commit many troops to the revolt at first. Judas was able to gain control of Jerusalem within three years. The temple was cleansed and rededicated exactly three years after it had been polluted by Antiochus (ca 164 BC). This event is still commemorated by the Jewish feast of Hanukkah or the feast of Dedication (Jn 10:22-23). The Hasidim had gained what they were seeking—religious freedom—and so they put down their arms, but Judas had a larger goal in mind—an independent Jewish state. He rescued mistreated Jews from Galilee and Gilead and made a treaty of friendship and mutual support with Rome. In 160 BC at Elasa near modern day Ramallah, with a force of eight hundred men, he fought a vastly superior Seleucid army and was killed.

Judas Maccabeus before the army of the Syrian general, Nicanor

Jonathan, another son of Mattathias, took the lead in the quest for independence. He did not have the military skills of Judas, but he excelled at diplomacy. Jonathan was appointed high priest and so Jewish religious and civil rule were centered in one person. Jonathan was taken prisoner and killed in 143 BC.

Simon, the last surviving son of Mattathias, conquered strategic military strongholds, secured freedom from taxation for the Jews, and won other concessions from Seleucid rulers that led to an independent Jewish state in 142 BC. Simon was acclaimed by the people as their leader and high priest. The high priesthood was made hereditary with him and his descendants. He ruled until 134 BC when he was murdered by his son-in-law in a coup.

This independent Jewish state lasted until 63 BC, governed by Simon and his descendants. This period is called the Hasmonean Dynasty, named after Mattathias’s great-grandfather Asamoneus. When Simon was assassinated, his son John Hyrcanus became the high priest and civil ruler from 134-104 BC. The oldest son of Hyrcanus, Aristobulus I (104-103 BC), succeeded him and imprisoned all of his brothers and his mother, who later starved to death. When Aristobulus died, the eldest of his imprisoned brothers, Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC), succeeded him. Jannaeus took his brother’s widow, Salome Alexandra, in marriage. He was an ambitious warrior and conducted campaigns by which he enlarged his kingdom to about the size of King David’s, including territory in Cisjordan and Transjordan from Upper Galilee to the Dead Sea. However, his rule was characterized by internal strife to the point of civil war. According to Josephus (J.W. 1.97; Ant. 13.380), Jannaeus crucified eight hundred of his Pharisee antagonists and had their families executed before their eyes.

Alexandra succeeded Jannaeus as ruler (76-67 BC). Since she could not serve as high priest, the two functions were separated. Her oldest son, Hyrcanus II, became high priest. When Alexandra died, civil war broke out and lasted until 63 BC. Her younger son, Aristobulus II, easily defeated Hyrcanus, who was content to retire. This might have been the end of the story were it not for Antipater, an Idumean and father of Herod the Great. He persuaded Hyrcanus to seek the help of Aretas III of Nabatea to regain his position. Aretas and his Nabatean Arabs invaded Palestine and besieged Jerusalem with Aristobulus inside. This conflict between Alexandra’s sons provoked Rome’s intervention. Both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus appealed to Scaurus, Pompey’s military tribune charged with the administration of Palestine. When the Roman general Pompey arrived later, both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus made their cases to him.

In 63 BC, Pompey seized control of Jerusalem, reinstated Hyrcanus as high priest, and sent Aristobulus to Rome as a prisoner. Hyrcanus (67-66; 63-40 BC) was permitted to remain as ethnarch, but under Roman oversight. This began the Roman occupation and control of Judea and the surrounding territories for the purpose of securing this strategic land bridge that permitted freedom of movement for their armies and protected their commercial interests to the east. Roman power was exercised through Antipater, who was eventually named governor of Judea by Julius Caesar in response to his support of Caesar’s efforts in Egypt. Hyrcanus continued to serve as high priest.

While Palestine was successively under the control of various Roman officials, Antipater was the stabilizing force. To his son, Phasael, he handed over the administration of Jerusalem; to his second son, Herod, he gave authority in Galilee. The latter quickly earned a reputation as a firm, at times brutal, ruler. He was able to bring order to his territory and evade any charges brought against him for his authoritarian ways. Antipater was murdered in 43 BC; shortly thereafter, Herod and Phasael were named tetrarchs over Galilee and Judea respectively by the new commander of the eastern Roman Empire, Mark Antony. In 40 BC, the Parthians invaded Palestine and made the Hasmonean Antigonus, the last surviving son of Aristobulus II, king of Palestine. His uncle, Hyrcanus II, was mutilated on the order of Antigonus so that he could no longer serve as high priest. Phasael was captured and committed suicide in prison. Herod barely escaped with his family whom he left with other loyalists atop the Judean Desert fortress, Masada, while he sailed to Rome to seek assistance. He had intended to seek rule over the region on behalf of his wife’s brother, Aristobulus III, who was of the Hasmonean line. However, the Roman Senate, at the urging of Antony and Octavian (Augustus), made Herod king in 40 BC. Upon his return, Herod secured himself in Galilee and retrieved his family from Masada. However, it took him three years to drive the Parthians out of the country and establish his rule. He was king until his death in 4 BC.

Model of the northern palace of Herod the Great at Masada

The years of Herod’s rule brought turmoil for the Jewish people. He was nobility but of Idumean descent. His ancestors had been forced to convert to Judaism under John Hyrcanus, but the Jewish people never accepted him as their ruler: He was viewed as the representative of a foreign power—Rome. Even his marriage to Mariamne, granddaughter of Aristobulus II, gave no legitimacy to his rule in the sight of the people. Herod had many problems that grew out of his jealousy and paranoia. He had Aristobulus III, his brother-in-law, executed. Later Mariamne, her mother, and his two sons by Mariamne were killed because Herod viewed their Hasmonean lineage as a threat. Furthermore, just days before his own death, Herod had his eldest son Antipater put to death. His relations with Rome were also sometimes troubled due to the unsettled conditions in the empire. Herod was a strong supporter of Antony, even though he could not tolerate Cleopatra, with whom Antony had become enamored. When Antony was defeated by Octavian in 31 BC, Herod went to Octavian and pledged his full support. This support was accepted, and Herod proved himself an efficient administrator on behalf of Rome. He kept the peace among a people who were difficult to govern. He also had an impressive building program, which he used to introduce western architectural elements across his kingdom. Herod constructed fortresses, palaces, aqueducts, stadiums, amphitheaters, and even entire urban areas. Of note are the Antonia Fortress, Masada, Herodium, and Machaerus; his palaces at Masada, Herodium, Jerusalem, and Jericho; and the cities of Sebaste in Samaria and the port city of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast, featuring extensive artificial breakwaters built to create the large harbor there. His most impressive construction, however, was the renovation of the temple mount and the Jerusalem temple. Though Herod was a cruel and merciless man, his elaborate building efforts, relatively peaceful rule, and occasional generosity provided stability and benefit to the regions under his rule. By the end of his life his reign extended from Idumea in the south to Iturea in the north and well into Transjordan, rivaling the Hasmonean state in wealth and territory at its largest extent under Alexander Jannaeus.