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Setting the Stage 

Following the conquests of Alexander the Great and his early death in 323 B.C., his empire was divided by four of his generals.  Palestine initially fell under the rule of Seleucus, who held authority over Syria, but soon passed to Ptolemy, who had gained authority over Egypt.  This period under the “Ptolemies” from 301 to 198 B.C. was generally one of peace for the Jews.  However, in 198 B.C. the Seleucid king Antiochus III, also known as Antiochus the Great, re-conquered Palestine.  At the death of Antiochus III, his son Seleucus IV took the Syrian throne for twelve years after which another son of Antiochus III, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (illustrious) rose to power in 175 B.C.

Besides believing strongly in the superiority of the Greek culture, having lived the past fifteen years as a hostage in Rome as part of a treaty made by his father, Antiochus Epiphanes had developed a taste for conquest.  He detested anything Jewish and set out to destroy anything associated with the Hebrew religion.  Besides massacring forty thousand of the residents of Jerusalem, Antiochus Epiphanes stripped the temple of its treasures and erected a statue of Jupiter in the Holy Place.  He ordered the offering of swine as sacrifices and prohibited the practice of circumcision.  Along with this he made every effort to find and destroy all copies of Scripture. 

The Maccabean Period 

During this time, some time in 167 B.C., an officer of Antiochus Epiphanes named Bacchides[1] came to the village of Modin to impose upon the residents the decrees of Antiochus.  An elderly priest of the clan of Hasmon by the name of Mattathias stabbed Bacchides to death and fled with his fives sons (John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan) to the mountains.  Many others joined them in the mountains to form a resistance movement that would eventually lead to Jewish independence.  Among those joining were the Hasidim[2] who had fervently resisted outside cultural influences in order to remain faithful to the Torah.

Mattathias died in 166 B.C. and the leadership of the rebellion he had begun fell to his son Judas (called Maccabeus, the “hammer,” hence the name Maccabean for the entire period under the leadership of the descendents of Mattathias).  Judas proved to be an able man of war, for after a series of victories he reopened, cleansed and rededicated the temple in 164 B.C., re-establishing the daily sacrifice.  This rededication is commemorated to this day with the celebration of Hanukkah, also called the Feast of Dedication, and was celebrated at the time of Christ as is recorded in John 10:22.  Since such a celebration would be a time of great patriotism one can well assume what the messianic expectations must have been when the Jews came to Jesus on that day asking if He was the Christ, as described in John 10:24.[3]

Though having succeeded in his fight for religious freedom, Judas Maccabeus continued to fight for political freedom.  He met his death in battle in 161 B.C. and the leadership passed to his brother Jonathan.  Their brother Eleazar had already died in battle, reported by Josephus as being crushed by an elephant that he stabbed with his weapon while mistakenly thinking Antiochus Eupator (the son of Antiochus Epiphanes and who reigned in Syria for two years following the death of Antiochus Epiphanes) to be mounted on said elephant.[4]

Jonathan gained great advantage in that there was a dispute going on over the throne of Syria at the time of his rise to leadership.  Demetrius (who was the nephew of Antiochus Epiphanes) and Alexander Balas (who claimed to be Antiochus’s illegitimate son)[5] both sought the support of Jonathan by giving him concessions.  Demetrius allowed Jonathan to freely march his army into Jerusalem, while Alexander promised him the High Priesthood.  Jonathan threw his support to Alexander and from that time on the High Priest was a Hasmonean.  Fiensy observes that this was probably the time that marks the beginning of the Essene sect since many of the orthodox Jews were infuriated that the Hasmoneans, who were not of High Priestly lineage, would hold the office.[6]  Jonathan was successful in forming treaties with Sparta and Rome and in reinforcing the wall of Jerusalem.  Nevertheless, in 142 B.C. he was captured and killed by Tryphon, a Syrian general who also coveted Syria’s throne.

Simon, the remaining son of Mattathias (John having also died in battle shortly before this time) ascended to power.  Simon made a treaty with Demetrius II who was contending with Tryphon for Syria.  Through this treaty Simon procured political independence for Judea for the first time since the Babylonian exile.  As was Jonathan, Simon also became the High Priest.

In 134 B.C. Simon was assassinated by his son-in-law Ptolemy, who also imprisoned and eventually killed Simon’s wife and two of his sons.  Despite the efforts of Ptolemy to assassinate him also, another son, John Hyrcanus entered the power void left by Simon.  As well as being High Priest, John made political gains by conquering Samaria and destroying the temple built on Mount Gerizim.  John also succeeded in conquering and converting the Idumeans who in years to come would become the most patriotic of the Jews.[7]  During this time his politics alienated him from the Pharisees and he began to align himself with the Sadducees, who favored the efforts toward Hellenization.

Upon the death of John Hyrcanus in 105 B.C., his son Aristobulus came to power, assuming the title of king for the first time since before the Babylonian exile.  Ambitious and without scruples, Aristobulus starved his own mother to death in prison and killed one of his brothers.  Though he was able to increase his influence with the annexation of Galilee, Aristobulus only reigned a year before dying of disease.

Alexander Jannaeus, brother of Aristobulus, assumed power and reigned until 77 B.C.  Though at one point the territory of Judea actually surpassed the ancient boundaries of the twelve tribes, Alexander’s rule was marked by violence, cruelty, and civil war.  While enjoying the support of the Sadducees, he was detested by the Pharisees.  During the civil conflict he had 800 of the principle Pharisees of Jerusalem crucified, executing their wives and children before their eyes as they hung on the crosses.[8]

When Alexander Janaeus died, his wife Alexandra assumed the throne.  During the reign of Alexandra from 78 to 69 B.C. the Pharisees gained considerable influence and began to hold such positions in the government that Josephus wrote that “the Pharisees governed her.”[9]

Already appointed High Priest by his mother, Hyrcanus II was Alexandra’s rightful heir at her death, but his younger brother Aristobulus II incited a civil war and seized power, which he held until 63 B.C. at the coming of the Roman general Pompey, who first defeated the Seleucids in Syria and then conquered Palestine with much bloodshed.  Both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus appealed to Pompey for arbitration in their quest for power.  Pompey sided with Hyrcanus, reinstalling him as High priest while leading Aristobulus away to Rome as a trophy of war.  Though High Priest, Hyrcanus was a mere puppet in the hands of his Idumean advisor Antipater.

The Reign of the Herods 

At the death of Pompey, Antipater proved himself a faithful supporter of Julius Caesar, who bestowed upon Antipater the title of procurator of Judea.  Two of Antipater’s sons, Phasael and Herod, were given authority over Jerusalem and Galilee respectively.  After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., Antipater and Herod gave aid to the forces of the conspirators Brutus and Cassius.  By 42 B.C. when Brutus and Cassius had been defeated by the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony, Antipater had died by poisoning.  Mark Antony conferred on Phasael and Herod the title of tetrarch along with responsibility of Jewish politics.  Antigonas, a surviving son of Aristobulus II managed to put this in a bad light and gained the support of the Parthians to lay siege to Jerusalem.  Phasael committed suicide before he could be taken, and upon capturing Jerusalem Antigonas cut off the ears of Hyrcanus (his uncle) so that he would no longer qualify as High Priest.  Herod managed to escape and sought out Antony in Alexandria.

In 37 B.C., three years after Antigonas had seized power, Herod retook Jerusalem with the support of the Romans.  Antigonas was executed, and Herod controlled of all of Palestine. 

Herod, also called Herod the Great, was known for great cruelty, even among his own family.  During the period of his reign he had ten wives.  The first was Mariamne, the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II.  Herod was always suspicious of the political ambitions of the surviving Hasmoneans, so one by one he had them murdered, including Mariamne.  As time went on he also murdered his two sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus IV.  Herod was being true to his character when he ordered the boy babies in Bethlehem killed as seen in the Gospel of Matthew.  Just prior to his death he gave orders for the most distinguished men of Jerusalem to be executed upon his death so that the nation would be in mourning upon his demise.  Fortunately, those orders were never carried out. 

Having ruined his popularity with the people through his own cruelty, Herod sought to gain political points through grandiose construction, in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine.  Most notable of these constructions was the temple.

Upon his death in 4 B.C., Herod left the majority of his kingdom to his three sons Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip.  Archelaus, also noted for his cruelty, ruled over Idumea, Judea, and Samaria.  He only ruled for two years before falling out of favor with the emperor, Octavian, and was banished to Gaul.  Roman procurators then ruled over the regions except for a short period when Agrippa I ruled.  The most notable of these was Pontius Pilate, the fifth procurator to hold authority.  As with procurators both before and after him, Pilate did much to cause the hostile feelings of the Jews toward Rome.

Antipas, the Herod who beheaded John the Baptist and before whom Jesus appeared before His crucifixion, was given the rule of Galilee and Perea.  Antipas, who was half Samaritan (his mother being Malthace, the Samaritan wife of Herod the Great)[10] and already looked upon with disdain by the Jews, further scandalized the Jews by divorcing his first wife and marrying Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip.  Herodias is characterized by one writer as being to Antipas what Jezebel was to Ahab.[11]  Her jealousie of her own half-brother, Agrippa I, would push her husband into a play for power that would finally lead to his banishment to Gaul in A.D. 39.

Philip, the third of Herod the Great’s sons to receive power was given authority over northeast Palestine.  He reigned until his death in A.D. 34.

Agrippa I, the son of Aristobulus IV who Herod the Great had put to death, was given the title of king over the territory formerly ruled by Philip at Philip’s death.  Herodias, whose husband Antipas was merely a tetrarch, prompted Antipas to seek a higher title, whereby he appealed to Emperor Caligula.  Agrippa I was a personal friend of Caligula and wrote a letter to Caligula accusing Antipas of having formed a secret alliance with the Parthians.[12]  At this word from Agrippa, Caligula banished Antipas to Gaul and Agrippa was given his territory.  In A.D. 41 Caligula also gave to Agrippa the territory that had once been ruled by Archelaus but had been under a Roman procurator from A.D. 6 to 41.  At his death in A.D. 44, Agrippa was ruling the same general area that Herod the Great had ruled.

At the death of Agrippa I, Palestine came under direct Roman rule, Judea being through the intermediary of a procurator.  In A.D. 53, Agrippa II, son of Agrippa I, was made king over Philip’s former territories.  Like others before him, Agrippa II caused great scandal by his moral debauchery, most notably the relationship he had with his sister Bernice.  It was before this Agrippa that the Apostle Paul presented his case in Acts 26.  Agrippa II died in A.D. 93 and was the last of the Herods to rule.

Closing Observations 

By the time of the arrival of Jesus Christ, Palestine was a land that was politically turbulent.  Besides the ancient celebration of liberation from Egypt at Passover, Hanukkah had been added as a reminder of a more recent liberation.  The country, once again being subservient to a foreign power, was ripe for insurrection.  Because of the expectations that a messiah would be of a militant nature, it becomes understandable why Jesus consistently ordered his disciples not to tell people who He was until after the resurrection.

The situation was further acerbated by the rivalry between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The Sadducees, holding the office of High Priest, appeared ready for any political compromise with the Romans.  The Pharisees, wanting to remain faithful to the Torah, by reaction were driven to an extreme legalism.

© 2006 David C. Carson. All rights reserved.