Lampe on Church History: The Church from the Principate of the Maccabees to the Birth of Christ

Judas Maccabeus

I.  To this period we assign about one hundred and sixty-four years.  For, the Principate of Judas Maccabeus begins in the one hundred and forty-sixth year of the Seleucids, or, if you number from the cleansed temple, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year.  Thence Josephus begins to number, who assigns to the Principate, in which the Hasmoneans engaged, one hundred and twenty-six years.  Hence to the kingdom of Herod[1] the same exceeds by thirty-seven years, which it is nevertheless probable are to be understood as only begun.  And thus with little effort the four hundred and ninety years of Daniel, which, beginning from the twenty-first year of Artaxerxes, end in the week of years after the death of Christ, are reckoned as it is evident by this chart:

The Years of the Monarchy of the Persians:  one hundred and eighteen.

Of Alexander and Seleucus unto the beginning of the era of the Seleucids:  twenty.

Of the era of the Seleucids:  one hundred and forty-eight.

Thence unto the birth of Christ:  one hundred and sixty-four.

To these are added after Christ:  forty.

Total:  four hundred and ninety years.

Neither does the era of Nabonassar,[2] upon the five hundred and eighty-first year of which happen the beginnings of Judas Maccabeus,[3] differ, and upon the seven hundred and forty-fifth year the twenty-eighth year after the Battle of Actium,[4] which is the year of Herod’s death.

II.  The principal part of this time passed under the Hasmoneans (as if you should say חשמנים, Nobles, Princes).  The first of these was Mattathias, born of a priestly family, the first to take up arms against the madness of Antiochus Epiphanes.  But he, having died, was succeeded in these noble deeds by his son Judas, whose surname Maccabeus is uncertain with respect to origin, which then adhered also to the others of his family.  He, after he put diverse armies of enemies to flight, cleansed the temple, and restored the worship of the Deity, when also by his own, who were considered Alcimus as an illegitimate Officiant of sacred rites,[5] appears to have been constituted High Priest.  But this is certain, that after his death, and that of Alcimus, the Sacerdotal crown was not taken up for seven whole years, but then was joined with the Principate in the house of the Hasmoneans until Herod the Great.  Yet there is one thing in Judas that is not to be commended, that he, although enjoying the present help of God, chose to enter into a covenant with the Romans.  In any event, not long after legates were sent to Rome, he, having been defeated in battle,[6] died.

III.  Judas was succeeded by his brother Jonathan,[7] who for a short while enjoyed more peaceful affairs.  Wherefore it appears that in his times the Great Sanhedrin or Seventy Men was constituted.  For, while no mention of this illustrious council is found before this, and various arguments prevent its greater antiquity; that Jonathan first sent letters to the Spartans in his own name, and in that of the Senate, we discover in 1 Maccabees 12:6.[8]  Whence the name of the council was taken from the Greeks.[9]  The end of Jonathan was unhappy.  For, he, captured by treachery and put in bonds by Tryphon, grasping after the kingdom of Syria,[10] in whom he was placing too much confidence, was deprived of his life and liberty at the same time.[11]

IV.  Simon, the brother of Jonathan, having come into his brother’s place,[12] entered into a covenant with Demetrius Nicator against Tryphon, so that the Jews might no longer be compelled to pay annual tribute to the Kings of Syria.  Thus liberty was restored to the Jews, an indication of which the coins have, bearing upon them Samaritan inscriptions, which coins have been hitherto preserved.  This liberty Simon, with Gazara[13] conquered and the citadel of Jerusalem received through the surrender of its guards, confirmed in an eminent manner.  But he was killed with his two sons, Mattathias and Judah, by Ptolemy, his son-in-law, at a banquet.

V.  Nevertheless, another son of Simon, John, called Hyrcanus,[14] escaped the plot.  He was a magnanimous and pious Prince, indeed, furnished with the gift of prophecy according to some; initially his principate was not a very happy one, but then he, making use of the agitations in Syria, occupied a number cities of Syria, completely overthrew the temple of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim, forced the Idumeans to receive circumcision, and recovered all things taken by Antiochus,[15] in such a way that the state of the Republic under his administration proved to be quite happy.

VI.  But, after the death of John, Aristobulus, the eldest of John’s sons, came on the scene as his Successor,[16] bring deep agitation with him; he was the first to take the name and insignia of King.  He compelled the Ituræans, the progeny of the Ishmaelites, to receive circumcision and the rites of the Jewish nation.  Moreover, this incredibly cruel Prince starved his mother to death, put his three brothers in bonds, and commanded one of them, Antigonus, to be killed by his attendants.  But, wretchedly torn to pieces by pricks of conscience, he died after one year’s rule, and left the kingdom to his brother, Alexander Jannæus,[17] likewise a cruel Prince, a fratricide, and especially hateful to his own people, against whom he raged in extraordinary ways.  His wife, Alexandra, administrating the kingdom for nine years, and greatly favoring the Pharisees, left a pacified kingdom[18] to her sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus.

VII.  But between these sons broke out a civil war, which gave a most welcome occasion to the Romans, already called into covenant with the Jews more than once, of subjugating the nation by degrees.  For Hyrcanus, cast out by Aristobulus, but helped by the troops of Aretas, Ruler of the Arabs,[19] besieged Jerusalem.  Aristobulus called Æmilius Scaurus, the deputy of Pompey[20] in the East, to help, who ended the siege and struck Hyrcanus with a grievous defeat.  With the case transferred to Pompey himself, Hyrcanus arose as the superior; Aristobulus, refusing to yield, with the temple plundered and profaned, was sent bound to Rome with his children.  Escaping again from prison, he, after various commotions, perished by poison given to him by the men of Pompey’s party.[21]

VIII.  At this time, Antipater, the Father of Herod the Great, rose to prominence; he was an Idumean, who had vigorously assisted the party of Hyrcanus.  He, after the death of Pompey, with the favor of Cæsar obtained, to whose people he brought help in the war in Egypt, accomplished this, that he himself was made Procurator of Judea,[22] and the dignity of the High Priesthood was confirmed to Hyrcanus.  But of his sons he placed Phasael in charge of Jerusalem, and Herod, although yet a youth, in charge of Galilee; but he himself was soon poisoned by a certain Malichus.  Herod entered into marriage with Mariamne, who had Aristobulus as her paternal grandfather, but Hyrcanus as her maternal grandfather; and thus she was received into affinity with the family of the Hasmoneans.  Now, Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, with Jerusalem seized with the help of the Parthians, and with Hyrcanus and Phasael, the brother of Herod, put in chains, again occupied the Kingdom and Priesthood,[23] and commanded the amputation of Hyrcanus’ ears, so that he might not be able to enter again upon the High Priesthood thereafter.  Phasael, with his head dashed against a wall, put an end to his life.  Herod, barely escaping, and fleeing to Rome, so drew to his interests, not only Mark Antony, but also Augustus, that he was declared King of the Jews by the Senate.[24]  Hence war was brought against Antigonus, and waged with various results, until finally, with the city of Jerusalem occupied, King Antigonus fell to the power of his enemies, beheaded by Antony at Antioch.  With him removed, Herod enticed Hyrcanus, mercifully held by the Parthians, to Jerusalem, and killed him, who in the hope of recovering his kingdom was planning an escape to the Arabs; and thus he completely annihilated the whole family of the Hasmoneans one-by-one.  He was so distressed and whipped into a fury by the intestine quarrels of his own house, that he spared neither his wife, nor his mother-in-law, nor finally his sons, Alexander and Aristobulus.

IX.  Although the Jewish Republic was shaken and tossed by these many, and all but perpetual, commotions, the seeds of true doctrine were nevertheless preserved among a few remnants of pious confessors.  These from the beginning of the Maccabees were distinguished by the name of Hasideans:  which nevertheless in the process of time because the denomination of a sect, whence the distinction arose between the חסידים/Hasideans/Pious, the צדקים/Tsadakim/ Righteous, and the רשעים/Rashaim/Wicked.  And the sadder the times became, the more ardently was the restitution of the Israelite kingdom through Messiah expected by the surviving saints.  Of the number of which was Zacharias and Elisabeth, the parents of John the Baptist;[25] and also Simeon,[26] thought by some to be a son of Hillel;[27] and Hanna the Prophetess:[28]  all reading the times of our Savior, in which the gift of Prophecy began to revive.  For the preservation and understanding of the Sacred Codex no slight effort brought forth the works of the Scribes, whose office was to read aloud, to interpret, and to teach the Law, and also to identify for recovery, and to copy or to arrange for copying, the Sacred Books, against which Antiochus had raged, with the exemplars diligently sought out and destroyed.  Under the guidance of these authorities especially appears to have arisen the distinction of the Old Testament Books into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms or Writings;[29] and also the division of the Pentateuch into פרשות/Parashot[30] and of the Prophets into Haphtaroth.[31]  The Books of the Maccabees are thought to have been composed at this time, and the Chaldean Paraphrases to have been put together.  According to some, a certain Philo the Elder flourished at this time, whom many regard as the author of Ecclesiasticus.

X.  Public worship was continued in the Temple:  which, having been plundered by Crassus,[32] and was then restored and magnificently adorned by Herod.  The Priest and Levites were discharging their offices by their divisions.  Sacrifices, when it was allowed by the vexations of enemies, were offered in the accustomed manner, and the feast days were celebrated more studiously than under the former temple, with certain new things added in memory of new blessings.  There were also famous Schools and Academies, not only in Judea, but also in other lands.

XI.  But the manners of most were quite degenerate.  They did indeed carefully abstain from grosser idolatry.  The calumnies concerning the worship of the head of an ass, or of Bacchus, leveled by those nations were altogether false.[33]  Whence also they most unworthily reported athletic contests and monuments raised by Herod for the honor of Cæsar, among which was the golden eagle hung above the greater gate of the Temple.  But they were prone to other vices, mutual slaughters, robbery, hypocrisy, the profaning of marriage, and especially magic.

XII.  Their Schism with the Samaritans continued, even after the destruction of their Temple, whom Epiphanius,[34] although not altogether trustworthy on the matter, distributed into four sects:  the Essenes, the Sebuæans, the Gorthenians, and the Dositheans.[35] But a new thing happened, through Onias IV, displaced by the affairs of the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes, fled into Egypt, since he had not hope of obtaining the High Priesthood in Judea, and obtained from Ptolemy Philometor[36] permission to build a Temple in Egypt[37] like the one at Jerusalem.  Consequently, that temple was built in the Heliopolite nome,[38] with the Jews in Palestine scarcely bearing this arrangement, although the Jews in Egypt were completely agreeing with the Palestinian Jews with respect to all the rest, and they did not cease to venerate the Jerusalem temple with gifts sent to it.

XIII.  At that time also, the sect of the Pharisees came into prominence, uncertain with respect to author.  They took their name from פרש or separating.  The peculiar doctrines ascribed to them are here summarized:  The Mosaic law and other sacred books are not sufficient, but the traditions of the Elders are to be added:  All things happen by Fate, with the exception of the human will, for free choice is applicable to this.  Some of them are thought also to have believed in the influx of the stars and Pythagorean metempsychosis.[39]  In Manners they had many peculiarities, winning an eminent pretense for wisdom, and the favor of the common people.

XIV.  A portion of the Pharisees appears to have been the νομικοὶ, experts in Law, whom the Hebrews were calling the חֲכָמִים/wise, a certain class of Scribes, but of those that were following the party of the Pharisees, and were versed in explaining their traditions.  Next were:  The Εὐζητηταὶ/דרשנים, Researchers/Interpreters of the Law, or Allegorical Doctors, excelling in the pursuit of the mystical sense of Scripture.  Whence the mysteries of the Kabbalists[40] arose.  Among the Pharisees Hillel and Shammai[41] were famous above all others, or, as they are called in the works of Josephus, Pollio and Sameas; of whom the latter was originally a disciple of the former, then a colleague and a rival; and they gave rise to a new division.

XV.  Diametrically opposed to the Pharisees are the Karaites, inveterately hostile enemies of traditions, who by the Jews are mentioned among the Sadducees, which appears to have been done out of hatred, and to brand them with shame.  More recent followers of this sect trace the origin of it to the time of John Hyrcanus and his son, Jannæus.

XVI.  Two sorts of Essenes are on record, the one τῶν πρακτικῶν, the Practical, the other τῶν θεωρητικῶν, the Theoretical.  Some of the Practical were joined in marriage; others were abstaining from wives.  The latter were offering no sacrifices, were honoring the Sun, whence flowed the name Samsæi, if not rather from the city Samsa, and were shunning oaths.  The Therapeutæ appear to have been a part of the Theoretical.  Their manner of life was situated in perpetual contemplation.  All their goods they, as if they were already dead, left to their relatives and children, and withdrew, with all things left behind, into solitary places.  They were individually dwelling in separate dwellings.  For six days apart, they, each in his own monastery, were philosophizing, and they were not going out the door, or even looking out from it.  On the seventh day all were coming into the common Semneion, where the others were hearing an oration of the most experienced.  No one was taking food or drink before the setting of the Sun, and there are more things of that stamp.

XVII.  The rise of so many sects is in great part to be ascribed to the joining of Greek Philosophy with the doctrine of the Hebrews.  The Pharisees were certainly approaching the Platonic Philosophy; the Sadducees, Epicureanism; the Essenes, the dogmas both of Pythagoras and of the Stoics.  The list of Heresies among the Jews is enlarged by Justin, Hegesippus,[42] and Epiphanius, among whose works are mentioned the Genistæ, Meristæ, Galilæi, Helleniani, Baptistæ, Hemerobaptistæ, Nazaræi, Masbothæ, etc., some quite obscure in name, others, if not all, obviously fictitious.

XVIII.  In this age, Rome became the chief seat of idolatry, into which flowed the gods of the Greeks, Egyptians, and other conquered peoples.  The gods of the Northern nations became better known, to which new names were imposed by the Romans, and a new face of worship was introduced.  But Philosophy and learning, migrating from Greece, crossed into Italy.  Meanwhile, the confidence in oracles was by degrees broken, and by the multiplication of the Jews among the nations a way was opened for their illumination, to such an extent that they appear to have perceived something of the coming of the Messiah in an obscure rumor.  To this, among other things, pertains that old and abiding opinion, as Josephus testifies, which was spread throughout the entire East, that it was fated, that at that time some from Judea would gain the mastery of affairs.

[1] Herod the Great was the King of Judea, a client of the Romans, from circa 37 BC to circa 4 BC.

[2] Nabonassar was King of Babylon from 747 to 734 BC.

[3] Judas Maccabeus led the Jewish resistance to Seleucid rule from 166 to 160 BC.

[4] The naval Battle of Actium (31 BC) was the decisive engagement in the struggle between Octavian and Mark Antony (with Cleopatra).

[5] Alcimus was the Seleucid backed High Priest from 162 to 159 BC.

[6] That is, at the Battle of Elasa (160 BC).

[7] Jonathan Apphus was the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty from 160 to 143 BC.

[8] 1 Maccabees 12:6:  “Jonathan the high priest, and the elders of the nation, and the priests, and the other of the Jews, unto the Lacedemonians their brethren send greeting…”

[9] Συνέδριον/Synedrion can signify senate, or council.

[10] Diodotus Tryphon was King of the Seleucid Empire from 142 to 138 BC.  Before that, he was a general, leading a revolt against Demetrius II Nicator in 144 BC.  During the revolt, he came to control much of Syria.

[11] Jonathan supported Tryphon against Demetrius, but Tryphon, perhaps fearing Jonathan’s power, took him by treachery, and eventually executed him.

[12] Simon Thassi was the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty from 142 to 135 BC.

[13] Gazara was a Judean fortress, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

[14] John Hyrcanus served as High Priest, and was the Hasmonean leader from 134 to 104 BC.

[15] Antiochus VII Evergetes was the Seleucid King from 138 to 129 BC.

[16] Judah Aristobulus I served as High Priest, and was the Hasmonean leader from 104 to 103 BC.

[17] Alexander Jannæus served as High Priest, and was the Hasmonean leader from 103 to circa 76 BC.

[18] Salome Alexandra was regnant Queen of Judæa from circa 76 to 67 BC.  Her nine-year reign is sometimes characterized as a “Golden Age”.

[19] Aretas III ruled the Nabatæan Kingdom from 87 to 62 BC.

[20] Gnæus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC) was a Roman general and statesman.

[21] The conflict between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II lasted from circa 66 to 63 BC.

[22] Antipater served as the first Roman Procurator of Judea from 47 to 43 BC.

[23] Antigonus II Mattathias was the last Hasmonean King of Judea (40-37 BC).

[24] Herod the Great ruled from c. 36 to c. 1 BC.

[25] See Luke 1.

[26] See Luke 2:22-35.

[27] Hillel (died c. 10 AD) was a Jewish Rabbi and sage, associated with the development of the Mishnah, whose saying carried great weight and authority.  His lenient opinions are frequently presented in contrast with the greater strictness of Shammai (c. 50 BC-30 AD).

[28] See Luke 2:36-38.

[29] See Luke 24:44.

[30] פרש signifies to separate or divide.  There were fifty-three or fifty-four Parashot, so that the Pentateuch might be read in a year of Sabbath’s.

[31] The Haphtarah is a series of selections taken from the Prophetic Books read in public worship.  The Haphtarah is thematically related to the preceding legal Parashah.

[32] Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53 BC) was a member of the First Triumvirate with Cæsar and Pompey.  In 55 BC, Crassus was the governor of Roman Syria, and he looted the Jerusalem temple the following year.

[33] The charge that the Jews worshipped an ass persisted for centuries (second century BC to second century AD) among the Greeks and Romans.  It was reported that Antiochus Epiphanes found in the Temple the image of a man riding an ass, holding a book.  Some thought the image to be that of Moses, but others Bacchus, the ass being sacred to him.

[34] The profound erudition of Epiphanius (c. 310-403) led to his installation as Bishop of Salamis.  He was something of a heresy hunter, combating Apollinaris, the disciples of Origen, and even at one point Chrysostom.

[35] Little reliable information is available about these four sects.

[36] Ptolemy VI Philometor was the King of Ptolemaic Egypt from 180 to 145 BC.

[37] Circa 145 BC.

[38] The Heliopolite Nome was one of the eastern nomes of the Nile Delta.

[39] That is, the transmigration of souls.

[40] The Kabbalah is a set of secret, esoteric Rabbinic doctrines, handed down orally and based on a mystical interpretation of the Hebrew Scripture.

[41] Shammai (c. 50 BC-30AD) was a representative of Pharisaic Judaism, and an important figure in the Mishnah.  His strict opinions are quite frequently presented in contrast with the leniency of Hillel.

[42] Hegesippus was a second century Chronicler and preserver of the traditions of the early church.  His five-volume Hypomnemata is lost, save for the fragments preserved in Eusebius.