Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

one of the people or of the priests to abrogate any of these things or to

oppose things said by him or to convene an assembly in the country

without him or to wear purple or to put on a golden buckle, and who-

ever acts contrary to these things or abrogates any of them shall be liable

for punishment. (1 Macc. 14:41-45)

The pro-Maccabean narrative in which this decree is embedded pre-

sents it as a spontaneous, voluntary, unanimous expression of the popular

will. The dictatorial character of the privileges bestowed upon Simon belie

that image, indicating the presence (or prospect) of significant internal

challenges to his leadership. Simon’s death at the hands of a would-be

usurper half a decade later lends weight to this interpretation, as does the

extradition clause in a Roman diplomatic missive penned on his behalf

(1 Macc. 15:16-21). The Simon decree signals a shift in the orientation of the

Maccabean movement towardde factomonarchy.

Beyond the cleansing of the Temple, the repeal of Antiochus IV’s de-

crees, and the removal of the Akra garrison, it is notoriously difficult to

discern what the ultimate aims of the Maccabean revolt actually were. Re-

sistance to Seleucid authority cannot be disentangled from the Maccabees’

struggles against native rivals who enjoyed Seleucid support. Once the

possibility of negotiation with the Macedonian overlord had become a via-

ble option, Judas and his brothers embraced it wholeheartedly as a tool of

entrenchment against their Jewish adversaries. In time, the descendants of

Simon would achieve enduring political independence from Seleucid su-

zerainty; but this achievement was ultimately a function of Seleucid weak-

ness, not of Hasmonean strength.

The Oniads in Egypt

Another Jewish family narrative surfaces during the latter half of the sec-

ond century. Excluded from office by the upheavals of the Seleucid-backed

high priesthood, Onias IV, son of the murdered high priest of the same

name, fled to Egypt. There he obtained a land grant and permission from

the reigning monarchs (Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II) to erect a temple

modeled on that of Jerusalem in the eastern Nile Delta. Conflicting sources

obscure the precise timing and intent of this undertaking, but it is evident

that (as so often with Jewish settlement in the Hellenistic age) the Oniad

district and its temple functioned as a military colony, providing internal

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Jewish History from Alexander to Hadrian

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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