I The End of The Persian Empire

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I The End of The Persian Empire

• Artaxerxes II. His brother (Cyrus the younger)
  plotted against him, raised an army (including
  10,000 Greeks), and almost won. Cyrus was killed
• Egypt declared its independence at the accession
  of Artaxerxes and had never been re-conquered.
  Cyprus, Phoenicia and Syria also took advantage
  of this weakness to revolt. The western
  satrapies left Persian rule

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After Artaxerxes III, Darius III (336 BC)

• That same year, Alexander (age 20) ascended the
  throne with a commission from his father to fight
  Persia (336-323)
• Alexander the Great, a Macedonian by nationality,
  was a Greek in culture educated by Aristotle

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Darius III did not take Alexander
seriously

• He ordered Alexander seized and brought to Susa
• Alexander defeated the Persians
• Again (in fall of 333 B.C.) Alexander met a
  Persian army size estimated between 100,000 to
  300,000 men
• Alexander won the battle of Issus by superior
  tactics
• Dn.85, 20-21 113

4
Alexanders Mortality

• After conquering Tyre, he entered Egypt where he
  was welcomed as a liberator
• Jewish traditions show Alexander in a friendly
  light
• Josephus And when the Book of Daniel was
  showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of
  the Greeks should destroy the empire of the
  Persians, he supposed that himself was the person
  intended
• Dn.76 83-8, 20-22 113 Mt.2415
• On his deathbed (June, 323 BC, age 32) when asked
  who should inherit the throne, he said, the
  strongest

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II The Ptolemies of Egypt

• The Ptolemies permitted Jews to live in peace and
  to continue their religious and cultural
  traditions
• They paid tribute to the Egyptian governments,
  but High Priests administered local affairs they
  had been entrusted with responsibility for the
  government of the Jews since Persian times

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III The Jews Under The Seleucids

• When Antiochus III invaded Greece, Roman forces
  moved into Greece, defeated him, and forced his
  retreat to Asia Minor
• His younger son, later known as Antiochus
  Epiphanes, was taken to Rome for 12 years as
  hostage (insurance)
• This gave him a healthy respect for Roman power
  and procedures

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Antiochus IV Ephiphanes

• Antiochus IV wore the surname Epiphanes (the
  illustrious)
• Jews nicknamed him Epimanes (the madman)
• Popilius Laenus, a Roman ambassador, ordered him
  not to attack Egypt
• He returned home through Palestine and took out
  his frustration on Jews

8
The Hellenization of Palestine

• Antiochus set up a bearded image of Jupiter on
  the temple altar
• Greek soldiers and their lovers performed
  licentious heathen rites in temple courts
• They sacrificed swine on the altar
• The drunken orgy associated with Bacchus worship
  became compulsory

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Jews were forbidden, under penalty of death

• To practice circumcision
• Observe Sabbath, or feasts
• To read Scriptures. Copies were destroyed
• 2 Maccabees 618-31 Hb.1135
• 2 Maccabees 7 Hb.1136-37 1
  Mac.153 2 Mac.527
• But, the Hellenizers had gone too far

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IV The Maccabees

• 1. Mattathias, aged priest of Modin
• An officer of Antiochus erected a pagan altar at
  Modin, asked Jews to show their loyalty to the
  government by sacrificing at the pagan altar
• Mattathias, was asked to set a good example for
  the others. He refused
• When a timid Jew approached the altar to
  sacrifice, Mattathias slew both him and the
  officer

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The resistance movement begins

• Mattathias and his five sons (John, Simon, Judas,
  Eleazar, Jonathan) destroyed the altar and fled
  to the hills. Others joined them
• At first, the Syrians attacked the Jews on the
  Sabbath, knowing they would not fight
• In early days, Jews practiced guerilla warfare
• Soon afterward, Mattathias died

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2. Judas Maccabaeus (hammer)

• In the early days of the revolt, the Syrians
  thought the revolt was a minor skirmish, and sent
  inferior generals and small detachments into the
  field
• The Maccabees defeated one after another
• Antiochus fought a two-front war (Palestine,
  Parthia)
• Antiochus left his general, Lysias, in charge of
  Judea

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Lysias

• Judas easily defeated Lysias in a night attack,
  then moved his army toward Jerusalem
• They entered the temple and removed all the signs
  of paganism
• They ground the statue of Zeus-Antiochus to dust
  
• Beginning with the 25th of Kislev (December, 165
  BC) they observed an eight-day Feast of
  Dedication (Hanukkah Festival of Lights).
  Jn.1022

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3. Jonathan (tricked by Trypho)

• 4. Simon (a period of peace)
• During this time, leaders in Israel named Simon
  leader and High Priest
• This act legitimized a new dynasty known in
  history as the Hasmoneans
• Simon was the last of the sons of Mattathias
• Under him, the concept of a hereditary high
  priesthood was accepted

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5. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon

• 134 B.C., an ambitious son-in-law murdered Simon
  and two of his sons. A third son, John Hyrcanus,
  escaped
• John Hyrcanus succeeded his father as hereditary
  head of the Jewish state
• Syria recognized Hyrcanus with conditions
  (subjection military aid)

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The Hellenistic party

• The ideals of the Hellenistic party lived on in
  the party of the Sadducees the Hasidim, in
  Pharisees
• The High Priesthood during this time became a
  secular office
• Hyrcanus died in 104 BC
• His personal life was above reproach
• His children had grown up in a palace, considered
  themselves aristocrats, were trained in Greek
  thought, and disdained Pharisees

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Posidonius, ancient historian

• The people of these cities are relieved by the
  fertility of their soil from a laborious struggle
  for existence. Life is a continuous series of
  social festivities. Their gymnasiums they use as
  baths where they anoint themselves w. costly oils
  and myrrhs. In the grammateia (such is the name
  they give to the public eating-halls) they
  practically live, filling themselves there for
  the better part of the day w. rich foods and
  wine much that they cannot eat they carry away
  home. They feast to the prevailing music of
  strings. The cities are filled from end to end
  w. the noise of harp-playing. Amos 61,
  3-6!

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6. Aristobulus

• Starved three of his brothers to death in prison.
  He reigned one yr.
• 7. Jannaeus, the one surviving brother, used
  foreign mercenaries to keep Pharisees in
  subjection
• Civil war broke out (six years)
• Pharisees invited king of Syria to help them

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8. Alexandra, widow of Aristobulus and
Jannaeus

• Sought peace between the factions
• During her reign, Pharisees sought revenge
  against Sadducees
• Hyrcanus II (brother of Aristobulus II)
• Aristobulus II
• Antipater persuaded Hyrcanus II to let
  Nabatean Arabs into Jerusalem to help him
  regain his throne from Aristobulus II

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Three parties in Palestine

• Supporters of Hyrcanus II
• Supporters of Aristobulus II
• Third party wanted to abolish the monarchy
• These battles gave Rome the opportunity to
  intervene
• Pompey (Roman general), entered Palestine,
  slaughtered 12,000 Jews, entered the Holy of
  Holies, made Jerusalem tributary to the Romans

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Judahs independent reign was over

• Since Judah could not govern itself, Rome made
  Antipater its procurator
• In 40 BC, Parthia invaded Palestine.
• Antipaters son, Herod, went to Rome, received an
  army, defeated an exhausted Parthian army (37 BC)
  
• Herod became King of the Jews (see Mt.22)

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Herod and Mariamne, daughter of Alexandra

• Herod married a Hasmonean (Alexandras daughter)
  to gain credibility
• He felt threatened by Aristobulus
• Herod had him drowned
• After Anthony died in the battle of Actium (Sept.
  2, 31 BC), Herod met Octavian and promised him
  the same loyalty he had shown Anthony

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Herods sons and hogs

• His sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus,
  were educated in Rome
• They boasted of what they would do to the former
  enemies of their mother
• Herod tried them, had them strangled
• Antipater, another son by his wife Doris, was
  later condemned for attempting to poison Herod
• Id rather be Herods hog (hus) than his son
  (huios)! Augustus

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Herods death, April 1, 4 BC

• He knew that no one would mourn his death
• He ordered the imprisonment and death of several
  leaders of the Jews that there might be mourning
  throughout the land
• The order was never carried out

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V The Septuagint

• Probably made at the urging of Alexandrian Jews
  who wanted their Greek-speaking children to be
  able to read the scriptures
• The Septuagint served as a means of acquainting
  non-Jews with OT
• NT mentions many God-fearers among the Gentiles

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VI Sects of The Jews

• 1. Pharisees
• The word means separated ones, probably because
  of their zeal for the law which involved
  separation from the influences of Hellenism
• In this sense they were the heirs of the Hasidim

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2. Sadducees

• The party of the Jerusalem aristocracy and the
  high priesthood
• They had made their peace with the political
  rulers and attained positions of wealth and
  influence
• The Sadducees held themselves aloof from the
  masses and were unpopular
• Only members of the high priestly and
  aristocratic families of Jerusalem could be
  Sadducees

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3. Essenes

• Essenes (and Pharisees) continued the philosophy
  of the Hasidim
• They seem to have lived for the most part in
  monastic communities, such as the one
  headquartered at Qumran
• They adopted young boys to perpetuate their
  ideals
• Josephus mentions an order of marrying Essenes

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4. Herodians

• Herodians believed that the best interests of
  Judaism lay in cooperation with the Romans
• Their name was taken from Herod the Great, who
  sought to Romanize the Palestine of his day
• They were a political party

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5. Zealots

• Most Jews hated Roman rule
• Pharisees viewed Roman rule as punishment visited
  upon Israel because of its sins
• Zealots refused to pay taxes
• Zealots considered it a sin to acknowledge
  loyalty to Caesar
• They ultimately won many converts
• Their defiance brought the destruction of
  Jerusalem (AD 70)