Chapter 4

Independence

The Independent Kingdom of Judah

Artist depiction of Jonathan Maccabee being recognized as high priest and leader of Judah

Judas’s brother Jonathan Maccabee carried on the fight, leading the battle against the Seleucids who were now almost entirely distracted by both civil war and the Parthian invasion, and could devote very few resources to suppressing the Jews. As a result, a round of peace talks ended favorably for Jonathan who was now recognized by the Seleucids as high priest of the Jews in 153 BCE.¹

Artist depiction of Maccabean forces destroying the sacred Temple of Dagon

He then immediately undertook a more thorough campaign to root out the “godless and apostates” from the land of Judah. In addition, he ordered his forces to visit destruction on the Temple of the god Dagon in the neighboring and longtime rival city Ashkelon.²

Six years later, however, with a switch of leadership among the Seleucids, war broke out again. In 145 BCE, the Seleucids invited Jonathan to another peace conference, but it was a trap. Though Jonathan arrived protected by 1,000 bodyguards, they were all slaughtered, and Jonathan was taken prisoner, used as a bargaining chip, and eventually executed.³

Territory of Judah at the time it became an independent state

His brother Simon then assumed the high priesthood and leadership of the Judahites under the stipulation “until there should arise a faithful prophet”⁴—a phrase expressing the imminent expectation of a holy messiah to lead the people. Though his reign was brief, Simon Maccabee successfully established the first independent Judahite monarchy in over 400 years. After a delegation was sent to Rome, the Republic—whose control over the Mediterranean now additionally spread to Southern Greece as well as Carthage in North Africa—voted to recognize the legitimacy of the new dynasty.⁵

Map showing the extent of the rapidly expanding Roman Republic at the time Judah won its independence

Artist depiction of the forced circumcision of the Idumaeans

The agenda of the Maccabean rebels in their struggles against the Seleucids should not be mistaken for such modern notions as “religious freedom” or “an end to tyranny”. The Maccabees regularly used terror tactics against their own people, rooting out religious moderates and those who would adopt Greek ways.⁶ Over the next century, the Maccabean kings waged continuous campaigns of conquest, expanding the borders of the kingdom to incorporate Galilee in the north—whose population at the time was only minority Jewish—Idumea in the south, and several lands across the Jordan River to the east and north. The inhabitants of these areas were often subject to slaughter, being sold into slavery, or forced conversion to Judaism, including forced circumcision of all males. In their campaign against the Samaritan Israelites, their capital city of Samaria was burned, and the Temple of Yahweh they had constructed atop the holy mountain of Gerizim was assaulted and razed to the ground.⁷

Artist depiction of the martyrdom of the mother with seven sons

The books of 1 and 2 Maccabees were composed during this time, each telling the history of the rebellion against the Seleucids from a different viewpoint. Whereas 1 Maccabees is a notably secular account that does not even mention God,⁸ 2 Maccabees was composed so as to glorify Judas and his brothers, and justify Simon and his successor’s unprecedented dual role as both king and high priest.⁹ The latter book also presents the first known glorifications of religious martyrdom. Most memorably, a story is recounted of a mother who is forced by the Seleucids to watch as, one by one, seven of her sons are fried to death in oil. Each son, before his execution, declares his allegiance to God, willingness to die, and an unshakable belief in the coming resurrection of the dead. Likewise, the mother encourages each son to suffer being tortured to death rather than capitulate and blaspheme Yahweh.¹⁰

Religious Sects: The Zadokites

Artist depiction of Zadok anointing his sons, beginning the long line of Zadokite priests

Three major religious sects among the Jews came to prominence during the reign of the Maccabees. One which has already been mentioned are the Zadokite priests and their supporters. Though they surely wished for the restoration of their family’s exclusive right to the high priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple, this position was now firmly in the hands of their allies, the Maccabees. Additionally, the next rightful Zadokite would-be heir, Onias IV had left Judah and established a new temple and high priesthood at the Egyptian city of Leontopolis, home to a significant Jewish refugee population. Back in Jerusalem, it would seem that the rest of the Zadokite faction came to some sort of arrangement with the Maccabees. Most likely, in exchange for giving up their claim over the high priesthood and their continuing support for the Maccabean rulers, they were guaranteed dominance of the lower priesthood in the Jerusalem Temple and significant influence as advisors to the king.¹¹

Coins like this one from 131 BCE which were minted by Maccabean leaders allied with the Zadokites lack any images of living creatures

By way of clarification: the word for “Zadokites” and the word for “Sadducees” is the same in Hebrew, so context must be used to determine which group is referred to in ancient texts. It’s an important point because the groups stand diametrically opposed politically and religiously. Whereas the Sadducees—famous for their role in New Testament times—are aristocrats open to foreign influence and who reject the notions of the resurrection, last judgment, coming messiah, etc; the Zadokites are—like the Maccabees—militantly anti-foreign influence and are fanatical believers in all of the various aspects of theology imported into Judaism from Zoroastrianism. Despite it being the traditional modern historical consensus to read the Hebrew word “tsedoqim” as “Sadducees” in Maccabean times, it beggars belief that a faction of that worldview could have been the close allies and influencers of the Maccabean rulers as described in ancient texts.¹²

Religious Sects: The Essenes

Of the various sects that rose to prominence during the Maccabean era, we know the most about a group called The Essenes (“The Pious”)¹³ because they were written about at length by multiple ancient authors. The Essenes are known today as the community behind the Dead Sea Scrolls, and indeed they seem to have started as communities of exiled Zadokites—or were an offshoot of them.¹⁴

Some of the most salient things we are told about The Essenes—a startling number of which are shared in common with the very earliest Christians, as we will come to see—are:

They lived in communities that strived to maintain the highest levels of holiness and purity, such that they would not offend the angels they believed lived amongst them.
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They believed that God is responsible for all that is good in the world, but not that which is evil.
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Their writings speak of a leader of the evil demon forces named Belial (sometimes Beliar) an equivalent of the Devil or Satan.
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They rejected pleasure as evil, esteeming charity instead and the suppression of the passions. They sought to restrain all anger, and would not raise their voices toward one another.
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They did not admit women, and rejected marriage so as to guard against the lustful behavior of women who, they believed, never keep their vows of fidelity.
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They showed supreme respect for Moses and the Law he gave the Jews. Anyone among them who blasphemed Moses was to be executed.
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They had a simple diet they considered conducive to good health, sobriety, and long life, with some or all of the sect adopting vegetarianism.
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Members vowed to never reveal secret Essene doctrines to any outsiders—even to save their own lives by doing so.
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They thought little of life’s miseries, and would overcome bodily pain through strength of mind.
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They would neither blaspheme Moses or eat forbidden food even if tortured, maimed, burned alive, or ripped to pieces; they were known to even laugh in scorn at their tormentors knowing they would be resurrected after their death into eternal paradise.
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They believed in all the doctrines adopted into Judaism from Zoroastrianism: an imminent messiah to usher in the End Times, the Last Judgment, Heaven, Hell, named angels and demons, etc. They treated The Book of Watchers, Jubilees, and Enoch’s other apocalypses as holy scriptures on the same level as the books that were later incorporated into the Hebrew Bible.
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Initiates were required to sell all their possessions and give the money to the community’s treasurer, to be redistributed according to need.
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They despised wealth and spoke out against its accumulation, sometimes referring to themselves collectively as Ebionites (“The Poor”).
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They bought and sold nothing, keeping no personal property, sharing all things in common, preventing any temptation of covetousness.
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They did not own extra sets of clothing or shoes, but would wear their only pair until they fell apart.

They carried nothing when they traveled, knowing their needs would be supplied by other Essenes at their destination, even if they were total strangers.
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Each community was overseen by a bishop who dressed all in white.
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Essenes did not live in a single city or town, but they were found in all cities and towns.
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They used prophecy to foretell the future and had a reputation for great accuracy in this regard.
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They studied the scriptures closely, interpreting them as holding vital information related to the present time, the near future, the coming messiah, and the End Times.
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They would not swear oaths, and avoided all falsehood in speech.
They took a ritual cold bath daily while remaining clothed.
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They washed their hands after any contact with a foreigner, or even the junior members of their sect.
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They had a ritual communal meal run by priests each day in which all members were given bread and a priest prayed over the food, and at the end they praised God with hymns.
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They were more strict than other Jews in their observance of the Sabbath, and would not even move a utensil or defecate. The day was reserved for reading the scriptures and the sect’s own writings, and teaching their interpretations of them.
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Forsaking procreation, they instead adopted other people’s children who they thought to be adequately pliable and capable of being educated, raising them in the Essene lifestyle.
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Outsiders who wished to join their sect had to endure a harsh 3-year initiation period before being accepted into the community, allowed to participate in the communal meal, and told the sect’s secret doctrines.
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They used water baptism as an initiation rite.
Initiates vowed that they would always aid the just, and not hate anyone who injures him, but would pray for them instead.
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They vowed to respect those in authority as they were put there by God.
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They vowed never to teach someone else the doctrines of the Essenes in any way different than how they received them.
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Those who committed heinous sin were cast out of the community and might starve to death for they could not eat the foods of outsiders. Sometimes this starvation torture was seen as sufficient penalty, and pity was shown through readmittance to the group.¹⁵

The Essenes were not monolithic in culture, and there also existed a subset of Essenes who were like the others in all regards except they practiced marriage and procreation. As Essenes, though, they disdained pleasure, and would not have sex for any reason besides producing children.¹⁶

Religious Sects: The Pharisees

The originally-Persian doctrine holding that the Temple of Jerusalem is the only legitimate temple of Yahweh had the effect of creating a void for Jews living more than a day’s journey from the holy city. During the Maccabean era, there were also a considerable number of Jews living abroad, making up minority populations in cities across Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and now Rome as well. For this reason, the institution known as the synagogue became popular in this period as a community building for Jews to gather to hear the scriptures read aloud and discussed. Members of a sect known as the Pharisees ran these synagogues and acted as community leaders, local judges, and more. Their name derives from the word for Persian, and likely held the meaning of Persianizer.¹⁷ While the Pharisees did not hold nearly as many Zoroastrian doctrines as the Essenes, they differentiated themselves from the Sadducees by accepting the notion of the immortality of the soul, a coming messiah, bodily resurrection after death, divine reward and punishment, and the existence of angels.¹⁸

Artist depiction of Moses receiving the Oral Law atop Mount Sinai

Self-styled experts on the Law of Moses, the Pharisees maintained their own particular and extensive set of legal interpretations which they referred to as the Oral Law, so-called because it was only passed on verbally, never encoded in writing. They taught that this Oral Law had been given to Moses from God on Mount Sinai at the same time as the Written Law, and had been faithfully passed down through the centuries by their forebears.¹⁹

The other Jewish sects thriving at this time held no particular reverence for the Oral Law of the Pharisees, and contended with this sect for influence in politics and religion while necessarily remaining mindful of the popularity the Pharisees enjoyed among the people.

Sectarian Strife

Though the earliest Maccabean rulers were more closely aligned with the Zadokites—who supported their wars of conquest and forced conversions of whole populations—they also tended to include Pharisees in their royal court as advisors and magistrates.²⁰

Artist depiction of Jonathan Maccabee pelted by citrus fruits

A rift occurred, however, during the reign of Simon Maccabee’s grandson Jonathan. When some leading Pharisees suggested that Jonathan was not fit to be king and high priest—due to a matter of ritual impurity concerning his mother—this greatly angered him. So on the next festival day, in his role as high priest at the Temple, Jonathan made a point of carrying out one of the rituals in a way so as to insult the Pharisees. For this, the king was pelted with citrus fruits and the people rioted.²¹

Jonathan had been the first Jewish leader to include mercenaries from other lands in his army, and he now called on them to violently suppress the riot. Thousands were killed. The Pharisees fled and then sought out assistance from the Seleucid Empire. The one-time enemy of the Jews now offered them enough troops to match the numbers of Jonathan’s army. Brief negotiations were held to see if civil war could be averted, but when the king sent a message asking what the Pharisee rebels wanted, they replied simply: “Your death.”²²

When the war ended in 88 BCE, Jonathan was victorious. He captured the rebel leaders, brought them back to Jerusalem and had hundreds of the Pharisees crucified while being forced to watch as their wives and children were butchered in front of them. Jonathan viewed the grisly spectacle while relaxing, drinking wine, and laying openly with his concubines. After these calamitous events, the king would side entirely with the Zadokites.²³

The punishment of crucifixion likely originated among the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, but its first mention in writing, and first systematic use was by the Persians in the 500s BCE. The practice was adopted by the conqueror Alexander of Macedon and then brought back to the Mediterranean where its use by the Phoenicians introduced it to the Romans who, like their predecessors, used it as a punishment for rebels.²⁴ Fifteen years after Jonathan took vengeance on the Pharisees, the Roman Republic faced a massive slave revolt lead by Spartacus. When it was finally suppressed, 6,000 of the rebels were crucified all along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome.²⁵

Artist depiction of crucifixions of rebel slaves along the Appian Way

When Jonathan died at age 49, he was succeeded by his wife Queen Salome Alexandra. The queen came from a family with strong connections to the Pharisees, and this faction dominated both politics and religion throughout her reign.²⁶ Comparing surviving coins minted during the reign of the various Maccabean rules show a stark contrast. Whereas all the kings who aligned with the Zadokites adopted their policy of strict aniconism and show no human faces of figures on any living creatures on their currency, the Queen’s coins display her visage in profile in the style of contemporary Greek-influenced nations. One of her late husband’s coins had featured an 8-pointed star on the back, a symbol of messianic hope.

Artist depiction of Queen Salome Alexandra

The Pharisees used their newfound powers in government to root out and kill all those they held responsible for the mass crucifixions of their brethren at the start of the civil war.²⁷

Hyrcanus vs Aristobulus

inline-img — Artist depiction of Queen Salome Alexandra

Because women were not allowed to be priests, at the start of her reign, Queen Salome Alexandra had selected her mild-mannered non-ambitious eldest son Hyrcanus II to fill that position—unwilling to trust it to her younger son, the hot-tempered Aristobulus II. While Hyrcanus, like his mother, enjoyed the support of the Pharisees, Aristobulus aligned himself with the Zadokites whom the queen had sent into exile. In 67 BCE, when the elderly queen fell ill, Aristobulus initiated a coup using an army of hired mercenaries to take control of the various fortresses of Judah. The brothers then avoided war by negotiating an agreement in which Hyrcanus retained the high priesthood, but—despite his being the rightful hereditary heir—relinquished the royal throne to the ambitious Aristobulus.²⁸

Artist depiction of the Nabataean army coming to Jerusalem to assist Hyrcanus

A wealthy and politically savvy member of the Idumean nobility named Antipater was Hyrcanus’s most trusted advisor. Fearing that his brother Aristobulus was untrustworthy and would soon take his vengeance on his brother and his supporters, Antipater convinced Hyrcanus to flee Judah and seek military assistance from the Arab kingdom of Nabataea to the southeast. Hyrcanus’s main supporters, the Pharisees, showed themselves again to be amenable to seeking foreign assistance to achieve their aims (something anathema to the Zadokites’ sensibilities). In exchange for ceding a large amount of Judah’s nearby conquered lands to the Nabateans, Hyrcanus was loaned a very large Arab army. They marched into Judah and easily bested Aristobulus’s forces, forcing him and his surviving supporters to hole up inside the Temple of Jerusalem, which, with its elevated position and high protective walls, on occasions such as this, could be pressed into use as a defensive fortress.²⁹

Artist depiction of Honi the Circle Drawer

During a three-month siege, Hyrcanus lost popularity among the people when he ordered the stoning of a revered holy man known as Honi the Circle Drawer. Honi had been credited with ending a long drought when he took a stick and drew a circle around himself, vowing not to leave the circle until God sent rain. He had been hiding out during the civil war, but Hyrcanus’s men found him and dragged him before Hyrcanus who commanded him to curse Aristobulus before the people. But Honi defiantly spoke against Hyrcanus for attacking the priests of God’s Temple, and prayed against the followers of both brothers.³⁰

When Passover was approaching, negotiations were made for Hyrcanus to supply Aristobulus and the Zadokites of the lower priesthood with unblemished lambs necessary to carry out the sacred rituals in the Temple. But after taking their payment for the sacraficial animals, Hyranus supplied them with nothing, enraging Aristobulus and his fanatical Zadokite supporters.³¹

Continue Reading:

Chapter 5: Roman Domination

Footnotes

1
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
2
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
3
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
4
1 Maccabees 14:41. The Bible Apocrypha. King James Version.
5
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
6
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
7
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
8
Schwartz, D.R. (2022). 1 Maccabees: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. The Anchor Yale Bible. Vol. 41B. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
9
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
10
2 Maccabees 7:1-42. The Bible Apocrypha. King James Version.
11
Eisenman, R. (2013). Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran. Grave Distractions Publications.
12
Eisenman, R. (2013). Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran. Grave Distractions Publications.
13
Eisenman, R. (2013). Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran. Grave Distractions Publications.
14
F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Paternoster Press, 1956.
15
Finkbeiner, D. (2007) A Synopsis on the Essenes from Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder. University of Pennsylvania. https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//courses/735/Historiography/EsseneSynopsis.htm
16
Finkbeiner, D. (2007) A Synopsis on the Essenes from Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder. University of Pennsylvania. https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//courses/735/Historiography/EsseneSynopsis.htm
17
Manson, Thomas Walter (1938). “Sadducee and Pharisee”. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 2: 144–159. https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/journals/bjrl/22/1/article-p144.xml
18
Holstein, J. (2022). Pharisees, scribes, and sadducees. Becker Bible Studies Library.
19
Neusner, J. (1973). From Mishnah to Scripture: The problem of the Pharisees’ authority. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
20
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
21
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
22
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
23
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
24
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
25
Strauss, B. The Spartacus War. (2009). Simon and Schuster.
26
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
27
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
28
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
29
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.
30
Whiston, W. (1999). The New Complete Works of Josephus. Kregel Publications.
31
Grainger J.D. (2012). The Wars of the Maccabees. Casemate Publishers.