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Authors: Annesley Streane
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territorynorthward, now weakened in all probability by
the rising power of the Nabateans, who had spread from the south in their wake,
were unable to resist the Jewish attack. To them he gave the alternative of
exile or the embracing of Judaism. Many of them accepted the latter, and
thenceforward such were considered as Jews, but, as we see from Josephus, they
were liable to be looked on with some contempt by the Jewish aristocracy, who
considered Herod, for example, as only a “half Jew”. “For the first time the
Judeans under their leader, John Hyrcanus, practiced intolerance against other
faiths; but they soon found out, to their painful cost, how dangerous it is to
allow religious zeal to degenerate into the spirit of arbitrary conversion. The
enforced union of the sons of Edom with the sons of Jacob was fraught with
disaster to the latter. It was through the Idumeans and the Romans that the
Hasmonean dynasty was overthrown and the Judean nation destroyed!”.
In the Samaritan
territory, Shechem and the temple on Mount Gerizim had been already destroyed
by Hyrcanus. He now proceeded to plant Idumean settlers in the neighborhood of
Samaria. The colonists there received sorry handling. Hyrcanus besieged
Samaria, Cyzicenus, with some support from Egypt, vainly endeavoring to divert
his attention by ravaging the country around (An ineffective support only. It
came from Ptolemy Soter II (Lathyrus), who contributed a force of (6,000 men,
but did so in opposition to the policy of the powerful queen-mother, Cleopatra,
who had two distinguished Jews, Chelkias and Ananias, the sons of Onias of
Heliopolis, for her generals in Palestine, and these were doubtless acting in
the interest of the Jews against the Samaritans). After a year’s siege Samaria
fell (108 BC) and was completely demolished, the ground on which it stood being
cut up into ditches and canals. “When the sons of Hyrcanus [Aristobulus and
Antigonus] returned to Jerusalem, the boundary between their father’s kingdom
and that of the Syrians was substantially a line running from Mount Carmel on
the west to Scythopolis on the Jordan. The authority of the holy city extended
over a larger area than in any previous period since the Exile; and the country
was so administered that the people prospered, and the nations outside were
either jealous or respectful”.
A stage of advance in
the way of personal claims on the part of Hyrcanus was marked by the occurrence
of his own name on coins of this time: “Jochanan, high priest, and the
commonwealth of the Judeans”; in some even “Jochanan, high priest, and head of
the commonwealth of the Judeans”. Thus, while still claiming the priestly
character of the government of which he appeared as ecclesiastical head, a
distinct step forward was taken in the prominence given to his civil
prerogatives.
We now come face to
face with two parties destined to take an important position in Judaism.
Neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees are wholly out of relationship to views
which we have already noticed as held by important factors of the community.
But while they may thus remind us respectively of the Assideans and the
Hellenists of the earlier period, the distinctions are also obvious. Those who
from their natural bent of mind or from training took the narrowestview as to
the duty of exclusiveness, were henceforward known as Essenes. Practicing
strict asceticism, and in some cases at least forbidding marriage, these
exercised a comparatively slight influence upon the community, with which they
generally renounced all connection. The Pharisees, on the other hand, although
their rise is not clearly marked, had evidently in Hyrcanus’s day acquired the
position of the popular party. They were, however, a religions rather than a
political body. To the close study of the Law they added that of the
superim¬posed and elaborated traditions as to its meaning and extent of
application. Thus while inheriting the essential ideas of
the rising power of the Nabateans, who had spread from the south in their wake,
were unable to resist the Jewish attack. To them he gave the alternative of
exile or the embracing of Judaism. Many of them accepted the latter, and
thenceforward such were considered as Jews, but, as we see from Josephus, they
were liable to be looked on with some contempt by the Jewish aristocracy, who
considered Herod, for example, as only a “half Jew”. “For the first time the
Judeans under their leader, John Hyrcanus, practiced intolerance against other
faiths; but they soon found out, to their painful cost, how dangerous it is to
allow religious zeal to degenerate into the spirit of arbitrary conversion. The
enforced union of the sons of Edom with the sons of Jacob was fraught with
disaster to the latter. It was through the Idumeans and the Romans that the
Hasmonean dynasty was overthrown and the Judean nation destroyed!”.
In the Samaritan
territory, Shechem and the temple on Mount Gerizim had been already destroyed
by Hyrcanus. He now proceeded to plant Idumean settlers in the neighborhood of
Samaria. The colonists there received sorry handling. Hyrcanus besieged
Samaria, Cyzicenus, with some support from Egypt, vainly endeavoring to divert
his attention by ravaging the country around (An ineffective support only. It
came from Ptolemy Soter II (Lathyrus), who contributed a force of (6,000 men,
but did so in opposition to the policy of the powerful queen-mother, Cleopatra,
who had two distinguished Jews, Chelkias and Ananias, the sons of Onias of
Heliopolis, for her generals in Palestine, and these were doubtless acting in
the interest of the Jews against the Samaritans). After a year’s siege Samaria
fell (108 BC) and was completely demolished, the ground on which it stood being
cut up into ditches and canals. “When the sons of Hyrcanus [Aristobulus and
Antigonus] returned to Jerusalem, the boundary between their father’s kingdom
and that of the Syrians was substantially a line running from Mount Carmel on
the west to Scythopolis on the Jordan. The authority of the holy city extended
over a larger area than in any previous period since the Exile; and the country
was so administered that the people prospered, and the nations outside were
either jealous or respectful”.
A stage of advance in
the way of personal claims on the part of Hyrcanus was marked by the occurrence
of his own name on coins of this time: “Jochanan, high priest, and the
commonwealth of the Judeans”; in some even “Jochanan, high priest, and head of
the commonwealth of the Judeans”. Thus, while still claiming the priestly
character of the government of which he appeared as ecclesiastical head, a
distinct step forward was taken in the prominence given to his civil
prerogatives.
We now come face to
face with two parties destined to take an important position in Judaism.
Neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees are wholly out of relationship to views
which we have already noticed as held by important factors of the community.
But while they may thus remind us respectively of the Assideans and the
Hellenists of the earlier period, the distinctions are also obvious. Those who
from their natural bent of mind or from training took the narrowestview as to
the duty of exclusiveness, were henceforward known as Essenes. Practicing
strict asceticism, and in some cases at least forbidding marriage, these
exercised a comparatively slight influence upon the community, with which they
generally renounced all connection. The Pharisees, on the other hand, although
their rise is not clearly marked, had evidently in Hyrcanus’s day acquired the
position of the popular party. They were, however, a religions rather than a
political body. To the close study of the Law they added that of the
superim¬posed and elaborated traditions as to its meaning and extent of
application. Thus while inheriting the essential ideas of
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