II.--GREEK DOMINATION

25. _Alexander the Great._--The second great period of the history of

the Jews begins with the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great,

disciple of Aristotle, king of Macedon and captain-general of the

Greeks. It ends with the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of the

Roman Empire, which was, like Alexander, at once the masterful pupil and

the docile patron of Hellenism. The destruction of Jerusalem might be

regarded as an event of merely domestic importance; for the Roman

cosmopolitan it was only the removal of the titular metropolis of a

national and an Oriental religion. But, since a derivative of that

religion has come to be a power in the world at large, this event has to

be regarded in a different light. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.

70 concludes the period of four centuries, during which the Jews as a

nation were in contact with the Greeks and exposed to the influence of

Hellenism, not wholly of their own will nor yet against it. Whether the

master of the provinces, in which there were Jews, be an Alexander, a

Ptolemy, a Seleucid or a Roman, the force by which he rules is the force

of Greek culture. These four centuries are the Greek period of Jewish

history.

The ancient historians, who together cover this period, are strangely

indifferent to the importance of the Jews, upon which Josephus is at

pains to insist. When Alexander invaded the interior of the Eastern

world, which had hitherto remained inviolable, he came as the champion

of Hellenism. His death prevented the achievement of his designs; but he

had broken down the barrier, he had planted the seed of the Greek's

influence in the four quarters of the Persian Empire. His successors,

the Diadochi, carried on his work, but Antiochus Epiphanes was the first

who deliberately took in hand to deal with the Jews. Daniel (viii. 8)

describes the interval between Alexander and Antiochus thus: "The

he-goat (the king of Greece) did very greatly: and when he was strong

the great horn (Alexander) was broken; and instead of it came up four

other ones--four kingdoms shall stand up out of his nation but not with

his power. And out of one of them came forth a little horn (Antiochus

Epiphanes) which waxed exceeding great towards the south (Egypt) and

towards the East (Babylon) and towards the beauteous land (the land of

Israel)." The insignificance of the Jewish community in Palestine was

their salvation. The reforms of Nehemiah were directed towards the

establishment of a religious community at Jerusalem, in which the rigour

of the law should be observed. As a part of the Persian Empire the

community was obscure and unimportant. But the race whose chief

sanctuary it guarded and maintained was the heir of great traditions and

ideals. In Egypt, moreover, in Babylon and in Persia individual Jews had

responded to the influences of their environment and won the respect of

the aliens whom they despised. The law which they cherished as their

standard and guide kept them united and conscious of their unity. And

the individuals, who acquired power or wisdom among those outside

Palestine shed a reflected glory upon the nation and its Temple.

In connexion with Alexander's march through Palestine Josephus gives a

tradition of his visit to Jerusalem. In Arrian's narrative of

Alexander's exploits, whose fame had already faded before the greater

glory of Rome, there is no mention of the visit or the city or the

Jews. Only Tyre and Gaza barred the way to Egypt. He took, presumably,

the coast-road in order to establish and retain his command of the

sea. The rest of Palestine, which is called Coele-Syria, made its

submission and furnished supplies. Seven days after the capture of

Gaza Alexander was at Pelusium. According to the tradition which

Josephus has preserved the high priest refused to transfer his

allegiance and Alexander marched against Jerusalem after the capture

of Gaza. The high priest dressed in his robes went out to meet him,

and at the sight Alexander remembered a dream, in which such a man had

appeared to him as the appointed leader of his expedition. So the

danger was averted: Alexander offered sacrifice and was shown the

prophecy of Daniel, which spoke of him. It is alleged, further, that

at this time certain Jews who could not refrain from intermarriage

with the heathen set up a temple on Mt Gerizim and became the

Samaritan schism (§ 21 above). The combination is certainly artificial

and not historical. But it has a value of its own inasmuch as it

illustrates the permanent tendencies which mould the history of the

Jews. It is true that Alexander was subject to dreams and visited

shrines in order to assure himself or his followers of victory. But it

is not clear that he had such need of the Jews or such regard for the

Temple of Jerusalem that he should turn aside on his way to Egypt for

such a purpose.

However this may be, Alexander's tutor had been in Asia and had met a

Jew there, if his disciple Clearchus of Soli is to be trusted. "The

man," Aristotle says, "was by race a Jew out of Coele-Syria. His

people are descendants of the Indian philosophers. It is reported that

philosophers are called Calani among the Indians and Jews among the

Syrians. The Jews take their name from their place of abode, which is

called Judaea. The name of their city is very difficult; they call it

Hierusaleme. This man, then, having been a guest in many homes and

having come down gradually from the highlands to the sea-coast, was

Hellenic not only in speech but also in soul. And as we were staying

in Asia at the time, the man cast up at the same place and interviewed

us and other scholars, making trial of their wisdom. But inasmuch as

he had come to be at home with many cultured persons he imparted more

than he got." The date of this interview is probably determined by the

fact that Aristotle visited his friend Hermias, tyrant of Atarneus, in

347-345 B.C. There is no reason to doubt the probability or even the

accuracy of the narrative. Megasthenes also describes the Jews as the

philosophers of Syria and couples them with the Brahmins of India.

This hellenized Jew who descended from the hills to the coast is a

figure typical of the period.

26. _The Ptolemies._--After the death of Alexander Palestine fell in the

end to Ptolemy (301 B.C.) and remained an Egyptian province until 198

B.C. For a century the Jews in Palestine and in Alexandria had no

history--or none that Josephus knew. But two individuals exemplify the

different attitudes which the nation adopted towards its new environment

and its wider opportunities, Joseph the tax-farmer and Jesus the sage.

The wisdom of Jesus ben Sira (Sirach) is contained in the book

commonly called _Ecclesiasticus_ (q.v.). At a time when men were

attracted by the wisdom and science of the Greeks, he taught that all

wisdom came from Yahweh who had chosen Israel to receive it in trust.

He discouraged inquiries into the nature and purpose of things: it was

enough for him that Yahweh had created and ruled the universe. If a

man had leisure to be wise--and this is not for many--he should study

the Scriptures which had come down, and so become a scribe. For the

scribe, as for the man at the plough-tail, the Law was the rule of

life. All, however much or little preoccupied with worldly business,

must fear God, from whom come good things and evil, life, death,

poverty and riches. It was not for men to meddle with secrets which

are beyond human intelligence. Enough that the individual did his duty

in the state of life in which he was set and left behind him a good

name at his death. The race survives--"the days of Israel are

unnumbered." Every member of the congregation of Israel must labour,

as God has appointed, at some handicraft or profession to provide for

his home. It is his sacred duty and his private interest to beget

children and to train them to take his place. The scholar is apt to

pity the smith, the potter, the carpenter and the farmer: with better

reason he is apt to condemn the trader who becomes absorbed in greed

of gain and so deserts the way of righteousness and fair dealing. As a

teacher Jesus gave his own services freely. For the soldier he had no

commendation. There were physicians who understood the use of herbs,

and must be rewarded when their help was invited. But, whatever means

each head of a family adopted to get a livelihood, he must pay the

priest's dues. The centre of the life of Israel was the Temple, over

which the high priest presided and which was inhabited by Yahweh, the

God of Israel. The scribe could train the individual in morals and in

manners; but the high priest was the ruler of the nation.

As ruler of the nation the high priest paid its tribute to Egypt, its

overlord. But Josephus reports of one Onias that for avarice he

withheld it. The sequel shows how a Jew might rise to power in the

civil service of the Egyptian Empire and yet remain a hero to some of

the Jews--provided that he did not intermarry with a Gentile. For

Joseph, the son of Tobiah and nephew of Onias, went to court and

secured the taxes of Palestine, when they were put up to auction. As

tax-farmer he oppressed the non-Jewish cities and so won the

admiration of Josephus.

But while such men went out into the world and brought back wealth of

one kind or another to Palestine, other Jews were content to make their

homes in foreign parts. At Alexandria in particular Alexander provided

for a Jewish colony which soon became Hellenic enough in speech to

require a translation of the Law. It is probable that, as in Palestine

an Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew text was found to be necessary, so

in Alexandria the Septuagint grew up gradually, as need arose. The

legendary tradition which even Philo accepts gives it a formal nativity,

a royal patron and inspired authors. From the text which Philo uses, it

is probable that the translation had been transmitted in writing; and

his legend probably fixes the date of the commencement of the

undertaking for the reign of Ptolemy Lagus.

The apology for the necessary defects of a translation put forward by

the translator of _Ecclesiasticus_ in his Prologue shows that the work

was carried on beyond the limits of the Law. Apparently it was in

progress at the time of his coming to Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy

Euergetes I. or II. He seems to regard this body of literature as the

answer to the charge that the Jews had contributed nothing useful for

human life. Once translated into Greek, the Scriptures became a bond

of union for the Jews of the dispersion and were at least capable of

being used as an instrument for the conversion of the world to

Judaism. So far as the latter function is concerned Philo confesses

that the Law in his day shared the obscurity of the people, and seems

to imply that the proselytes adopted little more than the monotheistic

principle and the observance of the Sabbath. According to Juvenal the

sons of such proselytes were apt to go farther and to substitute the

Jewish Law for the Roman--

Romanas autem soliti contemnere leges;

Judaicum ediscunt et servant ac metuunt ius

Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moyses.

27. _The Seleucids._--Toward the end of the 3rd century the Palestinian

Jews became involved in the struggle between Egypt and Syria. In

Jerusalem there were partisans of both the combatants. The more orthodox

or conservative Jews preferred the tolerant rule of the Ptolemies: the

rest, who chafed at the isolation of the nation, looked to the

Seleucids, who inherited Alexander's ideal of a united empire based on a

universal adoption of Hellenism. At this point Josephus cites the

testimony of Polybius:--"Scopas, the general of Ptolemy, advanced into

the highlands and subdued the nation of the Jews in the winter. After

the defeat of Scopas, Antiochus gained Batanaea and Samaria and Abila

and Gadara, and a little later those of the Jews who live round the

Temple called Jerusalem adhered to him." From this it appears that the

pro-Syrian faction of the Jews had been strong and active enough to

bring an Egyptian army upon them (199-198 B.C.). Josephus adds that an

Egyptian garrison was left in Jerusalem. This act of oppression

presumably strengthened the Syrian faction of the Jews and led to the

transference of the nation's allegiance. The language of Polybius

suggests that he was acquainted with other Jewish communities and with

the fame of the Temple: in his view they are not an organized state.

They were not even a pawn in the game which Antiochus proposed to play

with Rome for the possession of Greece and Asia Minor. His defeat left

the resources of his kingdom exhausted and its extent diminished; and so

the Jews became important to his successors for the sake of their wealth

and their position on the frontier. To pay his debt to Rome he was

compelled to resort to extraordinary methods of raising money; he

actually met his death (187 B.C.) in an attempt to loot the temple of

Elymais.

The pro-Syrian faction of the Palestinian Jews found their opportunity

in this emergency and informed the governor of Coele-Syria that the

treasury in Jerusalem contained untold sums of money. Heliodorus, prime

minister of Seleucus Philopator, who succeeded Antiochus, arrived at

Jerusalem in his progress through Coele-Syria and Phoenicia and declared

the treasure confiscate to the royal exchequer. According to the Jewish

legend Heliodorus was attacked when he entered the Temple by a horse

with a terrible rider and by two young men. He was scourged and only

escaped with his life at the intercession of Onias the high priest, who

had pleaded with him vainly that the treasure included the deposits of

widows and orphans and also some belonging to Hyrcanus, "a man in very

high position." Onias was accused by his enemies of having given the

information which led to this outrage and when, relying upon the support

of the provincial governor, they proceeded to attempt assassination, he

fled to Antioch and appealed to the king.

When Seleucus was assassinated by Heliodorus, Antiochus IV., his

brother, who had been chief magistrate at Athens, came back secretly

"to seize the kingdom by guile" (Dan. xi. 21 seq.). On his accession he

appointed Jesus, the brother of Onias, to the high-priesthood, and

sanctioned his proposals for the conversion of Jerusalem into a Greek

city. The high priest changed his name to Jason and made a gymnasium

near the citadel. The principle of separation was abandoned. The priests

deserted the Temple for the palaestra and the young nobles wore the

Greek cap. The Jews of Jerusalem were enrolled as citizens of Antioch.

Jason sent money for a sacrifice to Heracles at Tyre; and the only

recorded opposition to his policy came from his envoys, who pleaded that

the money might be applied to naval expenditure. Thus Jason stripped the

high-priesthood of its sacred character and did what he could to stamp

out Judaism.

Menelaus supplanted Jason, obtaining his appointment from the king by

the promise of a larger contribution. In order to secure his position,

he contrived the murder of Onias, who had taken sanctuary at Daphne.

This outrage, coupled with his appropriation of temple vessels, which he

used as bribes, raised against Menelaus the senate and the people of

Jerusalem. His brother and deputy was killed in a serious riot, and an

accusation was laid against Menelaus before Antiochus. At the inquiry he

bought his acquittal from a courtier and his accusers were executed.

Antiochus required peace in Jerusalem and probably regarded Onias as the

representative of the pro-Egyptian faction, the allies of his enemy.

During his second Egyptian campaign a rumour came that Antiochus was

dead, and Jason made a raid upon Jerusalem. Menelaus held the citadel

and Jason was unable to establish himself in the city. The people were

presumably out of sympathy with Hellenizers, whether they belonged to

the house of Onias or that of Tobiah. When Antiochus finally evacuated

Egypt in obedience to the decree of Rome, he thought that Judaea was in

revolt. Though Jason had fled, it was necessary to storm the city; the

drastic measures which Menelaus advised seem to indicate that the poorer

classes had been roused to defend the Temple from further sacrilege. A

massacre took place, and Antiochus braved the anger of Yahweh by

entering and pillaging the Temple with impunity. The author of 2

Maccabees infers from his success that the nation had forfeited all

right to divine protection for the time (2 Macc. v. 18-20).

The policy which Antiochus thus inaugurated he carried on rigorously and

systematically. His whole kingdom was to be unified; Judaism was an

eccentricity and as such doomed to extinction. The Temple of Jerusalem

was made over to Zeus Olympius: the temple of Gerizim to Zeus Xenius.

All the religious rites of Judaism were proscribed and the neighbouring

Greek cities were requested to enforce the prohibition upon their Jewish

citizens. Jerusalem was occupied by an army which took advantage of the

Sabbath and proceeded to suppress its observance. An Athenian came to be

the missionary of Hellenism and to direct its ceremonies, which were

established by force up and down the country.

28. _The Maccabees._--Jerusalem and Gerizim were purged and converted to

the state religion with some ease. Elsewhere, as there, some conformed

and some became martyrs for the faith. And the passive resistance of

those who refused to conform at length gave rise to active opposition.

"The king's officers who were enforcing the apostasy came into the city

of Modein to sacrifice, and many of Israel went over to them, but

Mattathias ... slew a Jew who came to sacrifice and the king's officer

and pulled down the altar" (1 Macc. ii. 15 sqq.). Whether led by this

Mattathias or not, certain Jews fled into the wilderness and found a

leader in Judas Maccabaeus his reputed son, the first of the five

Asmonean (Hasmonean) brethren. The warfare which followed was like that

which Saul and David waged against the Philistines. Antiochus was

occupied with his Parthian campaign and trusted that the Hellenized Jews

would maintain their ascendancy with the aid of the provincial troops.

In his last illness he wrote to express his confidence in their loyalty.

But the rebels collected adherents from the villages; and, when they

resolved to violate the sabbath to the extent of resisting attack, they

were joined by the company of the Assideans (Hasidim). Such a breach of

the sabbath was necessary if the whole Law was to survive at all in

Palestine. But the transgression is enough to explain the disfavour into

which the Maccabees seem to fall in the judgment of later Judaism, as,

in that judgment, it is enough to account for the instability of their

dynasty. Unstable as it was, their dynasty was soon established. In the

country-side of Judaea, Judaism--and no longer Hellenism--was propagated

by force. Apollonius, the commander of the Syrian garrison in Jerusalem,

and Seron the commander of the army in Syria, came in turn against Judas

and his bands and were defeated. The revolt thus became important enough

to engage the attention of the governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, if

not of Lysias the regent himself. Nicanor was despatched with a large

army to put down the rebels and to pay the tribute due to Rome by

selling them as slaves. Judas was at Emmaus; "the men of the citadel"

guided a detachment of the Syrian troops to his encampment by night. The

rebels escaped in time, but not into the hills, as their enemies

surmised. At dawn they made an unexpected attack upon the main body and

routed it. Next year (165 B.C.) Lysias himself entered the Idumaean

country and laid siege to the fortress of Bethsura. Judas gathered what

men he could and joined battle. The siege was raised, more probably in

consequence of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes than because Judas had

gained any real victory. The proscription of the Jewish religion was

withdrawn and the Temple restored to them. But it was Menelaus who was

sent by the king "to encourage" (2 Macc. xi. 32) the Jews, and in the

official letters no reference is made to Judas. Such hints as these

indicate the impossibility of recovering a complete picture of the Jews

during the sovereignty of the Greeks, which the Talmudists regard as the

dark age, best left in oblivion.

Judas entered Jerusalem, the citadel of which was still occupied by a

Syrian garrison, and the Temple was re-dedicated on the 25th of Kislev

(164 B.C.). So "the Pious" achieved the object for which presumably they

took up arms. The re-establishment of Judaism, which alone of current

religions was intolerant of a rival, seems to have excited the jealousy

of their neighbours who had embraced the Greek way of life. The

hellenizers had not lost all hope of converting the nation and were

indisposed to acquiesce in the concordat. Judas and his zealots were

thus able to maintain their prominence and gradually to increase their

power. At Joppa, for example, the Jewish settlers--two hundred in

all--"were invited to go into boats provided in accordance with the

common decree of the city." They accepted the invitation and were

drowned. Judas avenged them by burning the harbour and the shipping, and

set to work to bring into Judaea all such communities of Jews who had

kept themselves separate from their heathen neighbours. In this way he

became strong enough to deal with the apostates of Judaea.

In 163 Lysias led another expedition against these disturbers of the

king's peace and defeated Judas at Bethzachariah. But while the forces

were besieging Bethzur and the fortress on Mount Zion, a pretender arose

in Antioch, and Lysias was compelled to come to terms--and now with

Judas. The Jewish refugees had turned the balance, and so Judas became

strategus of Judaea, whilst Menelaus was put to death.

In 162 Demetrius escaped from Rome and got possession of the kingdom of

Syria. Jakim, whose name outside religion was Alcimus, waited upon the

new king on behalf of the loyal Jews who had hellenized. He himself was

qualified to be the legitimate head of a united state, for he was of the

tribe of Aaron. Judas and the Asmoneans were usurpers, who owed their

title to Lysias. So Alcimus-Jakim was made high priest and Bacchides

brought an army to instal him in his office. The Assideans made their

submission at once. Judas had won for them religious freedom: but the

Temple required a descendant of Aaron for priest and he was come. But

his first act was to seize and slay sixty of them: so it was clear to

Judas at any rate, if not also to the Assideans who survived, that

political independence was necessary if the religion was to be secure.

In face of his active opposition Alcimus could not maintain himself

without the support of Bacchides and was forced to retire to Antioch.

In response to his complaints Nicanor was appointed governor of Judaea

with power to treat with Judas. It appears that the two became friends

at first, but fresh orders from Antioch made Nicanor guilty of treachery

in the eyes of Judas's partisans. Warned by the change of his friend's

manner Judas fled. Nicanor threatened to destroy the Temple if the

priests would not deliver Judas into his hands. Soon it came to his

knowledge that Judas was in Samaria, whither he followed him on a

sabbath with Jews pressed into his service. The day was known afterwards

as Nicanor's day, for he was found dead on the field (Capharsalama) by

the victorious followers of Judas (13th of Adar, March 161 B.C.). After

this victory Judas made an alliance with the people of Rome, who had no

love for Demetrius his enemy, nor any intention of putting their

professions of friendship into practice. Bacchides and Alcimus returned

meanwhile into the land of Judah; at Elasa "Judas fell and the rest

fled" (1 Macc. ix. 18). Bacchides occupied Judaea and made a chain of

forts. Jonathan, who succeeded his brother Judas, was captain of a band

of fugitive outlaws. But on the death of Alcimus Bacchides retired and

Jonathan with his followers settled down beyond the range of the Syrian

garrisons. The Hellenizers still enjoyed the royal favour and Jonathan

made no attempt to dispossess them. After an interval of two years they

tried to capture him and failed. This failure seems to have convinced

Bacchides that it would be well to recognize Jonathan and to secure a

balance of parties. In 158 Jonathan began to rule as a judge in Michmash

and he destroyed the godless out of Israel--so far, that is, as his

power extended. In 153 Alexander Balas withdrew Jonathan from his

allegiance to Demetrius by the offer of the high-priesthood. He had

already made Jerusalem his capital and fortified the Temple mount: the

Syrian garrisons had already been withdrawn with the exception of those

of the Akra and Bethzur. In 147 Jonathan repaid his benefactor by

destroying the army of the governor of Coele-Syria, who had espoused the

cause of Demetrius. The fugitives took sanctuary in the temple of Dagon

at Azotus. "But Jonathan burned the temple of Dagon and those who fled

into it." After the death of Balas he laid siege to the Akra; and "the

apostates, who hated their own nation," appealed to Demetrius. Jonathan

was summoned to Antioch, made his peace and apparently relinquished his

attempt in return for the addition of three Samaritan districts to his

territory. Later, when the people of Antioch rose against the king,

Jonathan despatched a force of 3000 men who played a notable part in the

merciless suppression of the insurrection. 1 Maccabees credits them with

100,000 victims. Trypho, the regent of Antiochus VI., put even greater

political power into the hands of Jonathan and his brother Simon, but

finally seized Jonathan on the pretext of a conference. Simon was thus

left to consolidate what had been won in Palestine for the Jews and the

family whose head he had become. The weakness of the king enabled him to

demand and to secure immunity from taxation. The Jewish aristocracy

became peers of the Seleucid kingdom. Simon was declared high priest:

Rome and Sparta rejoiced in the elevation of their friend and ally. In

the hundred and seventieth year (142 B.C.) the yoke of the heathen was

taken away from Israel and the people began to date their legal

documents "in the first year of Simon the great high priest and

commander and leader of the Jews." The popular verdict received official

and formal sanction. Simon was declared by the Jews and the priests

their governor and high priest for ever, until there should arise a

faithful prophet. The garrison of the Akra had been starved by a close

blockade into submission, and beyond the boundaries of Judaea "he took

Joppa for a haven and made himself master of Gazara and Bethsura."

29. _John Hyrcanus and the Sadducees._--But in 138 B.C. Antiochus

Sidetes entered Seleucia and required the submission of all the petty

states, which had taken advantage of the weakness of preceding kings.

From Simon he demanded an indemnity of 1000 talents for his oppression

and invasion of non-Jewish territory: Simon offered 100 talents. At

length Antiochus appeared to enforce his demand in 134. Simon was dead

(135 B.C.) and John Hyrcanus had succeeded his father. The Jewish forces

were driven back upon Jerusalem and the city was closely invested. At

the feast of tabernacles of 132 Hyrcanus requested and Antiochus granted

a week's truce. The only hope of the Jews lay in the clemency of their

victorious suzerain, and it did not fail them. Some of his advisers

urged the demolition of the nation on the ground of their exclusiveness,

but he sent a sacrifice and won thereby the name of "Pious." In

subsequent negotiations he accepted the disarmament of the besieged and

a tribute as conditions of peace, and in response to their entreaty left

Jerusalem without a garrison. When he went on his last disastrous

campaign, Hyrcanus led a Jewish contingent to join his army, partly

perhaps a troop of mercenaries (for Hyrcanus was the first of the Jewish

kings to hire mercenaries, with the treasure found in David's tomb).

After his death Hyrcanus took advantage of the general confusion to

extend Jewish territory with the countenance of Rome. He destroyed the

temple of Gerizim and compelled the Idumaeans to submit to circumcision

and embrace the laws of the Jews on pain of deportation.

In Jerusalem and in the country, in Alexandria, Egypt and Cyprus, the

Jews were prosperous (Jos. _Ant._ xiii. 284). This prosperity and the

apparent security of Judaism led to a breach between Hyrcanus and his

spiritual directors, the Pharisees. His lineage was (in the opinion of

one of them at least) of doubtful purity; and so it was his duty to lay

down the high-priesthood and be content to rule the nation. That one man

should hold both offices was indeed against the example of Moses, and

could only be admitted as a temporary concession to necessity. Hyrcanus

could not entertain the proposal that he should resign the sacred office

to which he owed much of his authority. The allegation about his mother

was false: the Pharisee who retailed it was guilty of no small offence.

A Sadducean friend advised Hyrcanus to ask the whole body of the

Pharisees to prescribe the penalty. Their leniency, which was notorious,

alienated the king or probably furnished him with a pretext for breaking

with them. The Pharisees were troublesome counsellors and doubtful

allies for an ambitious prince. They were all-powerful with the people,

but Hyrcanus with his mercenaries was independent of the people, and the

wealthy belonged to the sect of the Sadducees. The suppression of the

Pharisaic ordinances and the punishment of those who observed them led

to some disturbance. But Hyrcanus "was judged worthy of the three great

privileges, the rule of the nation, the high-priestly dignity, and

prophecy." This verdict suggests that the Sadducees, with whom he allied

himself, had learned to affect some show of Judaism in Judaea. If the

poor were ardent nationalists who would not intermingle with the Greeks,

the rich had long outgrown and now could humour such prejudices; and the

title of their party was capable of recalling at any rate the sound of

the national ideal of righteousness, i.e. _Sadaqah_.

The successor of Hyrcanus (d. 105) was Judas Aristobulus, "the friend of

the Greeks," who first assumed the title of king. According to Strabo he

was a courteous man and in many ways useful to the Jews. His great

achievement was the conquest of a part of Ituraea, which he added to

Judaea and whose inhabitants he compelled to accept Judaism.

The Sadducean nobility continued in power under his brother and

successor Alexander Jannaeus (103-78); and the breach between the king

and the mass of the people widened. But Salome Alexandra, his brother's

widow, who released him from prison on the death of her husband and

married him, was connected with the Pharisees through her brother Simon

ben Shetach. If his influence or theirs dictated her policy, there is no

evidence of any objection to the union of the secular power with the

high-priesthood. The party may have thought that Jannaeus was likely to

bring the dynasty to an end. His first action was to besiege Ptolemais.

Its citizens appealed to Ptolemy Lathyrus, who had been driven from the

throne of Egypt by his mother Cleopatra and was reigning in Cyprus.

Alexander raised the siege, made peace with Ptolemy and secretly sent to

Cleopatra for help against her son. The result of this double-dealing

was that his army was destroyed by Ptolemy, who advanced into Egypt

leaving Palestine at the mercy of Cleopatra. But Cleopatra's generals

were Jews and by their protests prevented her from annexing it. Being

thus freed from fear on the side of Ptolemy, Alexander continued his

desultory campaigns across the Jordan and on the coast without any

apparent policy and with indifferent success. Finally, when he

officiated as high priest at the feast of tabernacles he roused the fury

of the people by a derisive breach of the Pharisaic ritual. They cried

out that he was unworthy of his office, and pelted him with the citrons

which they were carrying as the Law prescribed. Alexander summoned his

mercenaries, and 6000 Jews were killed before he set out on his

disastrous campaign against an Arabian king. He returned a fugitive to

find the nation in armed rebellion. After six years of civil war he

appealed to them to state the conditions under which they would lay

aside their hostility. They replied by demanding his death and called in

the Syrians. But when the Syrians chased him into the mountains, 6000

Jews went over to him and, with their aid, he put down the rebellion.

Eight hundred Jews who had held a fortress against him were crucified;

8000 Pharisees fled to Egypt and remained there. Offering an ineffectual

resistance to the passage of the Syrian troops, Alexander was driven

back by Aretas, king of Arabia, against whom they had marched. His later

years brought him small victories over isolated cities.

On his deathbed it is said that Alexander advised his wife to reverse

this policy and rely upon the Pharisees. According to the Talmud, he

warned her "to fear neither the Pharisees nor their opponents but the

hypocrites who do the deed of Zimri and claim the reward of Phinehas:"

the warning indicates his justification of his policy in the matter of

the crucifixions. In any case the Pharisees were predominant under

Alexandra, who became queen (78-69) under her husband's will. Hyrcanus

her elder son was only high priest, as the stricter Pharisees required.

All the Pharisaic ordinances which Hyrcanus had abolished were

reaffirmed as binding. Simon ben Shatach stood beside the queen: the

exiles were restored and among them his great colleague Jehudah ben

Tabai. The great saying of each of these rabbis is concerned with the

duties of a judge; the selection does justice to the importance of the

Sanhedrin, which was filled with Pharisees. The legal reforms which they

introduced tended for the most part to mercy, but the Talmud refers to

one case which is an exception: false witnesses were condemned to suffer

the penalty due to their victim, even if he escaped. This ruling may be

interpreted as part of a campaign directed against the counsellors of

Alexander or as an instance of their general principle that intention is

equivalent to commission in the eye of the Law. The queen interposed to

prevent the execution of those who had counselled the crucifixion of the

rebels and permitted them to withdraw with her younger son Aristobulus

to the fortresses outside Jerusalem. Against their natural desire for

revenge may be set the fact that the Pharisees did much to improve the

status of women among the Jews.

On the death of Alexandra (69 B.C.) Aristobulus disputed the succession

of Hyrcanus. When their forces met at Jericho, Hyrcanus, finding that

the bulk of his following deserted to Aristobulus, fled with those who

remained to the tower Antonia and seized Aristobulus's wife and children

as hostages for his own safety. Having this advantage, he was able to

abdicate in favour of Aristobulus and to retire into private life. But

he was not able to save his friends, who were also the enemies of the

reigning king. In fear of reprisals Antipas (or Antipater), the

Idumaean, his counsellor, played on the fears of Hyrcanus and persuaded

him to buy the aid of the Nabataean Arabs with promises. Aristobulus

could not withstand the army of Aretas: he was driven back upon

Jerusalem and there besieged. The Jews deserted to the victorious

Hyrcanus: only the priests remained loyal to their accepted king; many

fled to Egypt.

30. _The Romans and the Idumaeans._--At this point the power of Rome

appeared upon the scene in the person of M. Aemilius Scaurus (stepson of

Sulla) who had been sent into Syria by Pompey (65 B.C.). Both brothers

appealed to this new tribunal and Aristobulus bought a verdict in his

favour. The siege was raised. Aretas retired from Judaea; and

Aristobulus pursued the retreating army. But, when Pompey himself

arrived at Damascus, Antipater, who pulled the strings and exploited the

claims of Hyrcanus, realized that Rome and not the Arabs, who were cowed

by the threats of Scaurus, was the ruler of the East. To Rome,

therefore, he must pay his court. Others shared this conviction: Strabo

speaks of embassies from Egypt and Judaea bearing presents--one

deposited in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus bore the inscription of

Alexander, the king of the Jews. From Judaea there were three embassies

pleading, for Aristobulus, for Hyrcanus, and for the nation, who would

have no king at all but their God.

Pompey deferred his decision until he should have inquired into the

state of the Nabataeans, who had shown themselves to be capable of

dominating the Jews in the absence of the Roman army. In the interval

Aristobulus provoked him by his display of a certain impatience. The

people had no responsible head, of whom Rome could take cognisance: so

Pompey decided in favour of Hyrcanus and humoured the people by

recognizing him, not as king, but as high priest. Antipater remained

secure, in power if not in place. The Roman supremacy was established:

the Jews were once more one of the subject states of Syria, now a Roman

province. Their national aspirations had received a contemptuous

acknowledgment, when their Temple had been desecrated by the entry of a

foreign conqueror.

Aristobulus himself had less resolution than his partisans. When he

repented of his attempted resistance and treated with Pompey for peace,

his followers threw themselves into Jerusalem, and, when the faction of

Hyrcanus resolved to open the gates, into the Temple. There they held

out for three months, succumbing finally because in obedience to the Law

(as interpreted since the time of Antiochus Epiphanes) they would only

defend themselves from actual assault upon the sabbath day. The Romans

profited by this inaction to push on the siege-works, without provoking

resistance by actual assaults until the very end. Pompey finally took

the stronghold by choosing the day of the fast, when the Jews abstain

from all work, that is the sabbath (Strabo). Dio Cassius calls it the

day of Cronos. On this bloody sabbath the priests showed a devotion to

their worship which matched the inaction of the fighting men. Though

they saw the enemy advancing upon them sword in hand they remained at

worship untroubled and were slaughtered as they poured libation and

burned incense, for they put their own safety second to the service of

God. And there were Jews among the murderers of the 12,000 Jews who

fell.

The Jews of Palestine thus became once more a subject state, stripped of

their conquests and confined to their own borders. Aristobulus and his

children were conveyed to Rome to grace their conqueror's triumphal

procession. But his son Alexander escaped during the journey, gathered

some force, and overran Judaea. The Pharisees decided that they could

not take action on either side, since the elder son of Alexandra was

directed by the Idumaean Antipater; and the people had an affection for

such Asmonean princes as dared to challenge the Roman domination of

their ancestral kingdom. The civil war was renewed; but Aulus Gabinius,

the proconsul, soon crushed the pretender and set up an aristocracy in

Judaea with Hyrcanus as guardian of the Temple. The country was divided

into five districts with five synods; and Josephus asserts that the

people welcomed the change from the monarchy. In spite of this,

Aristobulus (56 B.C.) and Alexander (55 B.C.) found loyalists to follow

them in their successive raids. But Antipater found supplies for the

army of Gabinius, who, despite Egyptian and Parthian distractions,

restored order according to the will of Antipater. M. Crassus, who

succeeded him, plundered the Temple of its gold and the treasure (54

B.C.) which the Jews of the dispersion had contributed for its

maintenance. It is said that Eleazar, the priest who guarded the

treasure, offered Crassus the golden beam as ransom for the whole,

knowing, what no one else knew, that it was mainly composed of wood. So

Crassus departed to Parthia and died. When the Parthians, elated by

their victory over Crassus (53 B.C.) advanced upon Syria, Cassius

opposed them. Some of the Jews, presumably the partisans of Aristobulus,

were ready to co-operate with the Parthians. At any rate Antipater was

ready to aid Cassius with advice; Taricheae was taken and 30,000 Jews

were sold into slavery (51 B.C.). In spite of this vigorous coercion

Cassius came to terms with Alexander, before he returned to the

Euphrates to hold it against the Parthians.

Two years later Julius Caesar made himself master of Rome and despatched

the captive Aristobulus with two legions to win Judaea (49 B.C.). But

Pompey's partisans were beforehand with him: he was taken off by poison

and got not so much as a burial in his fatherland. At the same time his

son Alexander was beheaded at Antioch by Pompey's order as an enemy of

Rome. After the defeat and death of Pompey (48 B.C.) Antipater

transferred his allegiance to Caesar and demonstrated its value during

Caesar's Egyptian campaign. He carried with him the Arabs and the

princes of Syria, and through Hyrcanus he was able to transform the

hostility of the Egyptian Jews into active friendliness. These services,

which incidentally illustrate the solidarity and unity of the Jewish

nation and the respect of the communities of the dispersion for the

metropolis, were recognized and rewarded. Before his assassination in 44

B.C. Julius Caesar had confirmed Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood and

added the title of ethnarch. Antipater had been made a Roman citizen and

procurator of the reunited Judaea. Further, as confederates of the

senate and people of Rome, the Jews had received accession of territory,

including the port of Joppa and, with other material privileges, the

right of observing their religious customs not only in Palestine but

also in Alexandria and elsewhere. Idumaean or Philistine of Ascalon,

Antipater had displayed the capacity of his adoptive or adopted nation

for his own profit and theirs. And when Caesar died Suetonius notes that

he was mourned by foreign nations, especially by the Jews (_Caes._ 84).

In the midst of all this civil strife the Pharisees and all who were

preoccupied with religion found it almost impossible to discern what

they should do to please God. The people whom they directed were called

out to fight, at the bidding of an alien, for this and that foreigner

who seemed most powerful and most likely to succeed. In Palestine few

could command leisure for meditation; as for opportunities of effective

intervention in affairs, they had none, it would seem, once Alexander

was dead.

There is a story of a priest named Onias preserved both by Josephus

and in the Talmud, which throws some light upon the indecision of the

religious in the period just reviewed. When Aretas intervened in the

interest of Hyrcanus and defeated Aristobulus, the usurper of his

brother's inheritance, the people accepted the verdict of battle,

sided with the victor's client, and joined in the siege of Jerusalem.

The most reputable of the Jews fled to Egypt; but Onias, a righteous

man and dear to God, who had hidden himself, was discovered by the

besiegers. He had a name for power in prayer; for once in a drought he

prayed for rain and God had heard his prayer. His captors now required

of him that he should put a curse upon Aristobulus and his faction. On

compulsion he stood in their midst and said: "O God, king of the

universe, since these who stand with me are thy people and the

besieged are thy priests, I pray thee that thou hearken not to those

against these, nor accomplish what these entreat against those." So he

prayed--and the wicked Jews stoned him.

Unrighteous Jews were in the ascendant. There were only Asmonean

princes, degenerate and barely titular sons of Levi, to serve as

judges of Israel--and they were at feud and both relied upon foreign

aid. The righteous could only flee or hide, and so wait dreaming of

the mercy of God past and to come. As yet our authorities do not

permit us to follow them to Egypt with any certainty, but the _Psalms

of Solomon_ express the mind of one who survived to see Pompey the

Great brought low. Although Pompey had spared the temple treasure, he

was the embodiment of the power of Rome, which was not always so

considerately exercised. And so the psalmist exults in his death and

dishonour (Ps. ii.): he prayed that the pride of the dragon might be

humbled and God shewed him the dead body lying upon the waves--and

there was none to bury it. As one of those who fear the Lord in truth

and in patience, he looks forward to the punishment of all sinners who

oppress the righteous and profane the sanctuary. For the sins of the

rulers God had rejected his people; but the remnant could not but

inherit the promises, which belong to the chosen people. For the Lord

is faithful unto those who walk in the righteousness of his

commandments (xiv. 1): in the exercise of their freewill and with

God's help they will attain salvation. As God's servant, Pompey

destroyed their rulers and every wise councillor: soon the righteous

and sinless king of David's house shall reign over them and over all

the nations (xvii.).

31. _Herod the Great._--After the departure of Caesar, Antipater warned

the adherents of Hyrcanus against taking part in any revolutionary

attempts, and his son Herod, who, in spite of his youth, had been

appointed governor of Galilee, dealt summarily with Hezekiah, the robber

captain who was overrunning the adjacent part of Syria. The gratitude of

the Syrians brought him to the knowledge of Sextus Caesar the governor

of Syria; but his action inspired the chief men of the Jews with

apprehension. Complaint was made to Hyrcanus that Herod had violated the

law which prohibited the execution of even an evil man, unless he had

been first condemned to death by the Sanhedrin. At the same time the

mothers of the murdered men came to the Temple to demand vengeance. So

Herod was summoned to stand his trial. He came in answer to the

summons--but attended by a bodyguard and protected by the word of

Sextus. Of all the Sanhedrin only Sameas "a righteous man and therefore

superior to fear" dared to speak. Being a Pharisee he faced the facts of

Herod's power and warned the tribunal of the event, just as later he

counselled the people to receive him, saying that for their sins they

could not escape him. Herod put his own profit above the Law, acting

after his kind, and he also was God's instrument. The effect of the

speech was to goad the Sanhedrin into condemning Herod: Hyrcanus

postponed their decision and persuaded him to flee. Sextus Caesar made

him lieutenant-governor of Coele Syria, and only his father restrained

him from returning to wreak his revenge upon Hyrcanus.

It is to be remembered that, in this and all narratives of the life of

Herod, Josephus was dependent upon the history of Herod's client,

Nicolaus of Damascus, and was himself a supporter of law and order.

The action of the Sanhedrin and the presence of the women suppliants

in the Temple suggest, if they do not prove, that this Hezekiah who

harassed the Syrians was a Jewish patriot, who could not acquiesce and

wait with Sameas.

Malichus also, the murderer or reputed murderer of Antipater, appears to

have been a partisan of Hyrcanus, who had a zeal for Judaism. When

Cassius demanded a tribute of 700 talents from Palestine, Antipater set

Herod, Phasael and this Malichus, his enemy, to collect it. Herod

thought it imprudent to secure the favour of Rome by the sufferings of

others. But some cities defaulted, and they were apparently among those

assigned to Malichus. If he had been lenient for their sakes or in the

hope of damaging Antipater, he was disappointed; for Cassius sold four

cities into slavery and Hyrcanus made up the deficit. Soon after this

(43 B.C.) Malichus succeeded, it is said, in poisoning Antipater as he

dined with Hyrcanus, and was assassinated by Herod's bravoes.

After the departure of Cassius, Antipater being dead, there was

confusion in Judaea. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, made a raid and

was with difficulty repulsed by Herod. The prince of Tyre occupied part

of Galilee. When Antony assumed the dominion of the East after the

defeat of Cassius at Philippi, an embassy of the Jews, amongst other

embassies, approached him in Bithynia and accused the sons of Antipater

as usurpers of the power which rightly belonged to Hyrcanus. Another

approached him at Antioch. But Hyrcanus was well content to forgo the

title to political power, which he could not exercise in practice, and

Antony had been a friend of Antipater. So Herod and Phasael continued to

be virtually kings of the Jews: Antony's court required large

remittances and Palestine was not exempt.

In 40 B.C. Antony was absent in Egypt or Italy; and the Parthians swept

down upon Syria with Antigonus in their train. Hyrcanus and Phasael were

trapped: Herod fled by way of Egypt to Rome. Hyrcanus, who was

Antigonus' only rival, was mutilated and carried to Parthia. So he could

no more be high priest, and his life was spared only at the

intercession of the Parthian Jews, who had a regard for the Asmonean

prince. Thus Antigonus succeeded his uncle as "King Antigonus" in the

Greek and "Mattathiah the high priest" in the Hebrew by grace of the

Parthians.

The senate of Rome under the influence of Antony and Octavian ratified

the claims of Herod, and after some delay lent him the armed force

necessary to make them good. In the hope of healing the breach, which

his success could only aggravate, and for love, he took to wife

Mariamne, grandniece of Hyrcanus. Galilee was pacified, Jerusalem taken

and Antigonus beheaded by the Romans. From this point to the end of the

period the Jews were dependents of Rome, free to attend to their own

affairs, so long as they paid taxes to the subordinate rulers, Herodian

or Roman, whom they detested equally. If some from time to time dared to

hope for political independence their futility was demonstrated. One by

one the descendants of the Asmoneans were removed. The national hope was

relegated to an indefinite future and to another sphere. At any rate the

Jews were free to worship their God and to study his law: their religion

was recognized by the state and indeed established.

This development of Judaism was eminently to the mind of the rulers; and

Herod did much to encourage it. More and more it became identified with

the synagogue, in which the Law was expounded: more and more it became a

matter for the individual and his private life. This was so even in

Palestine--the land which the Jews hoped to possess--and in Jerusalem

itself, the holy city, in which the Temple stood. Herod had put down

Jewish rebels and Herod appointed the high priests. In his appointments

he was careful to avoid or to suppress any person who, being popular,

might legitimize a rebellion by heading it. The Pharisees, who regarded

his rule as an inevitable penalty for the sins of the people, he

encouraged. Pollio the Pharisee and Sameas his disciple were in special

honour with him, Josephus says, when he re-entered Jerusalem and put to

death the leaders of the faction of Antigonus. How well their teaching

served his purpose is shown by the sayings of two rabbis who, if not

identical with these Pharisees, belong to their period and their party.

Shemaiah said, "Love work and hate lordship and make not thyself known

to the government." Abtalion said, "Ye wise, be guarded in your words:

perchance ye may incur the debt of exile." Precepts such as these could

hardly fall to effect some modification of the reckless zeal of the

Galileans in the pupils of the synagogue. Many if not all of the

professed rabbis had travelled outside Palestine: some were even members

of the dispersion, like Hillel the Babylonian, who with Shammai forms

the second of the pairs. Through them the experience of the dispersion

was brought to bear upon the Palestinian Jews. Herod's nominees were not

the men to extend the prestige of the high-priesthood at the expense of

these rabbis: even in Jerusalem the synagogue became of more importance

than the Temple. Hillel also inculcated the duty of making converts to

Judaism. He said, "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, and

pursuing peace, loving mankind and bringing them nigh to the Law." But

even he reckoned the books of Daniel and Esther as canonical, and these

were dangerous food for men who did not realize the full power of Rome.

So long as Herod lived there was no insurrection. Formally he was an

orthodox Jew and set his face against intermarriage with the

uncircumcised. He was also ready and able to protect the Jews of the

dispersion. But that ability was largely due to his whole-hearted

Hellenism, which was shown by the Greek cities which he founded in

Palestine and the buildings he erected in Jerusalem. In its material

embodiments Greek civilization became as much a part of Jewish life in

Palestine as it was in Alexandria or Antioch; and herein the rabbis

could not follow him.

When all the Jewish people swore to be loyal to Caesar and the king's

policy, the Pharisees--above 6000--refused to swear. The king imposed a

fine upon them, and the wife of Pheroras--Herod's brother--paid it on

their behalf. In return for her kindness, being entrusted with

foreknowledge by the visitation of God, they prophesied that God had

decreed an end of rule for Herod and his line and that the sovereignty

devolved upon her and Pheroras and their children.

From the sequel it appears that the prophecy was uttered by one Pharisee

only, and that it was in no way endorsed by the party. When it came to

the ears of the king he slew the most responsible of the Pharisees and

every member of his household who accepted what the Pharisee said. An

explanation of this unwarrantable generalization may be found in the

fact that the incident is derived from a source which was unfavourable

to the Pharisees: they are described as a Jewish section of men who

pretend to set great store by the exactitude of the ancestral tradition

and the laws in which the deity delights--as dominant over

women-folk--and as sudden and quick in quarrel.

Towards the end of Herod's life two rabbis attempted to uphold by

physical force the cardinal dogma of Judaism, which prohibited the use

of images. Their action is intelligible enough. Herod was stricken with

an incurable disease. He had sinned against the Law; and at last God had

punished him. At last the law-abiding Jews might and must assert the

majesty of the outraged Law. The most conspicuous of the many symbols

and signs of his transgression was the golden eagle which he had placed

over the great gate of the Temple; its destruction was the obvious means

to adopt for the quickening and assertion of Jewish principles.

By their labours in the education of the youth of the nation, these

rabbis, Judas and Matthias, had endeared themselves to the populace and

had gained influence over their disciples. A report that Herod was dead

co-operated with their exhortations to send the iconoclasts to their

appointed work. And so they went to earn the rewards of their practical

piety from the Law. If they died, death was inevitable, the rabbis said,

and no better death would they ever find. Moreover, their children and

kindred would benefit by the good name and fame belonging to those who

died for the Law. Such is the account which Josephus gives in the

_Antiquities_; in the _Jewish War_ he represents the rabbis and their

disciples as looking forward to greater happiness for themselves after

such a death. But Herod was not dead yet, and the instigators and the

agents of this sacrilege were burned alive.

32. _The Settlement of Augustus._--On the death of Herod in 4 B.C.

Archelaus kept open house for mourners as the Jewish custom, which

reduced many Jews to beggary, prescribed. The people petitioned for the

punishment of those who were responsible for the execution of Matthias

and his associates and for the removal of the high priest. Archelaus

temporized; the loyalty of the people no longer constituted a valid

title to the throne; his succession must first be sanctioned by

Augustus. Before he departed to Rome on this errand, which was itself an

insult to the nation, there were riots in Jerusalem at the Passover

which he needed all his soldiery to put down. When he presented himself

before the emperor--apart from rival claimants of his own family--there

was an embassy from the Jewish people who prayed to be rid of a monarchy

and rulers such as Herod. As part of the Roman province of Syria and

under its governors they would prove that they were not really

disaffected and rebellious. During the absence of Archelaus, who

would--the Jews feared--prove his legitimacy by emulating his father's

ferocity, and to whom their ambassadors preferred Antipas, the Jews of

Palestine gave the lie to their protestations of loyalty and

peaceableness. At the Passover the pilgrims attacked the Roman troops.

After hard fighting the procurator, whose cruelty provoked the attack,

captured the Temple and robbed the treasury. On this the insurgents were

joined by some of Herod's army and besieged the Romans in Herod's

palace. Elsewhere the occasion tempted many to play at being

king--Judas, son of Hezekiah, in Galilee; Simon, one of the king's

slaves, in Peraea. Most notable of all perhaps was the shepherd

Athronges, who assumed the pomp of royalty and employed his four

brothers as captains and satraps in the war which he waged upon Romans

and king's men alike--not even Jews escaped him unless they brought him

contributions. Order was restored by Varus the governor of Syria in a

campaign which Josephus describes as the most important war between that

of Pompey and that of Vespasian.

At length Augustus summoned the representatives of the nation and

Nicholaus of Damascus, who spoke for Archelaus, to plead before him in

the temple of Apollo. Augustus apportioned Herod's dominions among his

sons in accordance with the provisions of his latest will. Archelaus

received the lion's share: for ten years he was ethnarch of Idumaea,

Judaea and Samaria, with a yearly revenue of 600 talents. Antipas became

tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, with a revenue of 200 talents. Philip,

who had been left in charge of Palestine pending the decision and had

won the respect of Varus, became tetrarch of Batanaea, Trachonitis and

Auranitis, with 100 talents. His subjects included only a sprinkling of

Jews. Up to his death (A.D. 34) he did nothing to forfeit the favour of

Rome. His coins bore the heads of Augustus and Tiberius, and his

government was worthy of the best Roman traditions--he succeeded where

proconsuls had failed. His capital was Caesarea Philippi, where Pan had

been worshipped from ancient times, and where Augustus had a temple

built by Herod the Great.

33. _Archelaus._--Augustus had counselled Archelaus to deal gently with

his subjects. But there was an outstanding feud between him and them;

and his first act as ethnarch was to remove the high priest on the

ground of his sympathy with the rebels. In violation of the Law he

married a brother's widow, who had already borne children, and in

general he showed himself so fierce and tyrannical that the Jews joined

with the Samaritans to accuse him before the emperor. Archelaus was

summoned to Rome and banished to Gaul; his territory was entrusted to a

series of procurators (A.D. 6-41), among whom was an apostate Jew, but

none with any pretension even to a semi-legitimate authority. Each

procurator represented not David but Caesar. The Sanhedrin had its

police and powers to safeguard the Jewish religion; but the procurator

had the appointment of the high priests, and no capital sentence could

be executed without his sanction.

34. _The Procurators._--So the Jews of Judaea obtained the settlement

for which they had pleaded at the death of Herod; and some of them began

to regret it at once. The first procurator Coponius was accompanied by

P. Sulpicius Quirinius, legate of Syria, who came to organize the new

Roman province. As a necessary preliminary a census (A.D. 6-7) was taken

after the Roman method, which did not conform to the Jewish Law. The

people were affronted, but for the most part acquiesced, under the

influence of Joazar the high priest. But Judas the Galilean, with a

Pharisee named Sadduc (Sadduk), endeavoured to incite them to rebellion

in the name of religion. The result of this alliance between a

revolutionary and a Pharisee was the formation of the party of Zealots,

whose influence--according to Josephus--brought about the great revolt

and so led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70. So far as this

influence extended, the Jewish community was threatened with the danger

of suicide, and the distinction drawn by Josephus between the Pharisees

and the Zealots is a valid one. Not all Pharisees were prepared to take

such action, in order that Israel might "tread on the neck of the eagle"

(as is said in _The Assumption of Moses_). So long as the Law was not

deliberately outraged and so long as the worship was established, most

of the religious leaders of the Jews were content to wait.

It seems that the Zealots made more headway in Galilee than in

Judaea--so much so that the terms Galilean and Zealot are practically

interchangeable. In Galilee the Jews predominated over the heathen and

their ruler Herod Antipas had some sort of claim upon their allegiance.

His marriage with the daughter of the Arabian king Aretas (which was at

any rate in accordance with the general policy of Augustus) seems to

have preserved his territory from the incursions of her people, so long

as he remained faithful to her. He conciliated his subjects by his

deference to the observances of Judaism, and--the case is probably

typical of his policy--he joined in protesting, when Pilate set up a

votive shield in the palace of Herod within the sacred city. He seems

to have served Tiberius as an official scrutineer of the imperial

officials and he commemorated his devotion by the foundation of the city

of Tiberias. But he repudiated the daughter of Aretas in order to marry

Herodias and so set the Arabians against him. Disaster overtook his

forces (A.D. 36) and Tiberius, his patron, died before the Roman power

was brought in full strength to his aid. Caligula was not predisposed to

favour the favourites of Tiberius; and Antipas, having petitioned him

for the title of king at the instigation of Herodias, was banished from

his tetrarchy and (apparently) was put to death in 39.

Antipas is chiefly known to history in connexion with John the Baptist,

who reproached him publicly for his marriage with Herodias. According to

the earliest authority, he seems to have imprisoned John to save him

from the vengeance of Herodias. But--whatever his motive--Antipas

certainly consented to John's death. If the Fourth Gospel is to be

trusted, John had already recognized and acclaimed Jesus of Nazareth as

the Messiah for whom the Jews were looking. By common consent of

Christendom, John was the forerunner of the founder of the Christian

Church. It was, therefore, during the reign of Antipas, and partly if

not wholly within his territory, that the Gospel was first preached by

the rabbi or prophet whom Christendom came to regard as the one true

Christ, the Messiah of the Jews. Josephus' history of the Jews contains

accounts of John the Baptist and Jesus, the authenticity of which has

been called in question for plausible but not entirely convincing

reasons. However this may be, the Jews who believed Jesus to be the

Christ play no great part in the history of the Jews before 70, as we

know it. Many religious teachers and many revolutionaries were crucified

within this period; and the early Christians were outwardly

distinguished from other Jews only by their scrupulous observance of

religious duties.

The crucifixion of Jesus was sanctioned by Pontius Pilate, who was

procurator of Judaea A.D. 26-36. Of the Jews under his predecessors

little enough is known. Speaking generally, they seem to have avoided

giving offence to their subjects. But Pilate so conducted affairs as to

attract the attention not only of Josephus but also of Philo, who

represents for us the Jewish community of Alexandria. Pilate inaugurated

his term of office by ordering his troops to enter Jerusalem at night

and to take their standards with them. There were standards and

standards in the Roman armies: those which bore the image of the

emperor, and therefore constituted a breach of the Jewish Law, had

hitherto been kept aloof from the holy city. On learning of this, the

Jews repaired to Caesarea and besought Pilate to remove these offensive

images. Pilate refused; and, when they persisted in their petition for

six days, he surrounded them with soldiers and threatened them with

instant death. They protested that they would rather die than dare to

transgress the wisdom of the laws; and Pilate yielded. But he proceeded

to expend the temple treasure upon an aqueduct for Jerusalem; and some

of the Jews regarded the devotion of sacred money to the service of man

as a desecration. Pilate came up to Jerusalem and dispersed the

petitioners by means of disguised soldiers armed with clubs. So the

revolt was put down, but the excessive zeal of the soldiers and Pilate's

obstinate adherence to his policy widened the breach between Rome and

the stricter Jews. But the death of Sejanus in 31 set Tiberius free from

prejudice against the Jews; and, when Pilate put up the votive shields

in Herod's palace at Jerusalem, the four sons of Herod came forward in

defence of Jewish principles and he was ordered to remove them. In 35 he

dispersed a number of Samaritans, who had assembled near Mt Gerizim at

the bidding of an impostor, in order to see the temple vessels buried

there by Moses. Complaint was made to Vitellius, then legate of Syria,

and Pilate was sent to Rome to answer for his shedding of innocent

blood. At the passover of 36 Vitellius came to Jerusalem and pacified

the Jews by two concessions: he remitted the taxes on fruit sold in the

city, and he restored to their custody the high priest's vestments,

which Herod Archelaus and the Romans had kept in the tower Antonia. The

vestments had been stored there since the time of the first high priest

named Hyrcanus, and Herod had taken them over along with the tower,

thinking that his possession of them would deter the Jews from rebellion

against his rule. At the same time Vitellius vindicated the Roman

supremacy by degrading Caiaphas from the high-priesthood, and appointing

a son of Annas in his place. The motive for this change does not appear,

and we are equally ignorant of the cause which prompted his transference

of the priesthood from his nominee to another son of Annas in 37. But it

is quite clear that Vitellius was concerned to reconcile the Jews to the

authority of Rome. When he marched against Aretas, his army with their

standards did not enter Judaea at all; but he himself went up to

Jerusalem for the feast and, on receipt of the news that Tiberius was

dead, administered to the Jews the oath of allegiance to Caligula.

35. _Caligula and Agrippa I._--The accession of Caligula (A.D. 37-41)

was hailed by his subjects generally as the beginning of the Golden Age.

The Jews in particular had a friend at court. Agrippa, the grandson of

Herod the Great, was an avowed partisan of the new emperor and had paid

penalty for a premature avowal of his preference. But Caligula's favour,

though lavished upon Agrippa, was not available for pious Jews. His

foible was omnipotence, and he aped the gods of Greece in turn. In the

provinces and even in Italy his subjects were ready to acknowledge his

divinity--with the sole exception of the Jews. So we learn something of

the Palestinian Jews and more of the Jewish community in Alexandria. The

great world (as we know it) took small note of Judaism even when Jews

converted its women to their faith; but now the Jews as a nation refused

to bow before the present god of the civilized world. The new

Catholicism was promulgated by authority and accepted with deference.

Only the Jews protested: they had a notion of the deity which Caligula

at all events did not fulfil.

The people of Alexandria seized the opportunity for an attack upon the

Jews. Images of Caligula were set up in the synagogues, an edict

deprived the Jews of their rights as citizens, and finally the governor

authorized the mob to sack the Jewish quarter, as if it had been a

conquered city (38). Jewesses were forced to eat pork and the elders

were scourged in the theatre. But Agrippa had influence with the emperor

and secured the degradation of the governor. The people and the Jews

remained in a state of civil war, until each side sent an embassy (40)

to wait upon the emperor. The Jewish embassy was headed by Philo, who

has described its fortunes in a tract dealing with the divine punishment

of the persecutors. Their opponents also had secured a friend at court

and seem to have prevented any effective measure of redress. While the

matter was still pending, news arrived that the emperor had commanded

Publius Petronius, the governor of Syria, to set up his statue in the

temple of Jerusalem. On the intervention of Agrippa the order was

countermanded, and the assassination of the emperor (41) effectually

stopped the desecration.

36. _Claudius and the Procurators._--Claudius, the new emperor, restored

the civic rights of the Alexandrian Jews and made Agrippa I. king over

all the territories of Herod the Great. So there was once more a king of

Judaea, and a king who observed the tradition of the Pharisees and

protected the Jewish religion. There is a tradition in the Talmud which

illustrates his popularity. As he was reading the Law at the feast of

tabernacles he burst into tears at the words "Thou mayest not set a

stranger over thee which is not thy brother"; and the people cried out,

"Fear not, Agrippa; thou art our brother." The fact that he began to

build a wall round Jerusalem may be taken as further proof of his

patriotism. But the fact that he summoned five vassal-kings of the

empire to a conference at Tiberias suggests rather a policy of

self-aggrandisement. Both projects were prohibited by the emperor on the

intervention of the legate. In 44 he died. The Christian records treat

his death as an act of divine vengeance upon the persecutor of the

Christian Church. The Jews prayed for his recovery and lamented him. The

Gentile soldiers exulted in the downfall of his dynasty, which they

signalized after their own fashion. Claudius intended that Agrippa's

young son should succeed to the kingdom; but he was overruled by his

advisers, and Judaea was taken over once more by Roman procurators. The

success of Agrippa's brief reign had revived the hopes of the Jewish

nationalists, and concessions only retarded the inevitable insurrection.

Cuspius Fadus, the first of these procurators, purged the land of

bandits. He also attempted to regain for the Romans the custody of the

high priest's vestments; but the Jews appealed to the emperor against

the revival of this advertisement of their servitude. The emperor

granted the petition, which indeed the procurator had permitted them to

make, and further transferred the nomination of the high priest and the

supervision of the temple from the procurator to Agrippa's brother,

Herod of Chalcis. But these concessions did not satisfy the hopes of the

people. During the government of Fadus, Theudas, who claimed to be a

prophet and whom Josephus describes as a wizard, persuaded a large

number to take up their possessions and follow him to the Jordan, saying

that he would cleave the river asunder with a word of command and so

provide them with an easy crossing. A squadron of cavalry despatched by

Fadus took them alive, cut off the head of Theudas and brought it to

Jerusalem.

Under the second procurator Tiberius Alexander, an apostate Jew of

Alexandria, nephew of Philo, the Jews suffered from a great famine and

were relieved by the queen of Adiabene, a proselyte to Judaism, who

purchased corn from Egypt. The famine was perhaps interpreted by the

Zealots as a punishment for their acquiescence in the rule of an

apostate. At any rate Alexander crucified two sons of Simon the

Galilean, who had headed a revolt in the time of the census. They had

presumably followed the example of their father.

Under Ventidius Cumanus (48-52) the mutual hatred of Jews and Romans,

Samaritans and Jews, found vent in insults and bloodshed. At the

passover, on the fourth day of the feast, a soldier mounting guard at

the porches of the Temple provoked an uproar, which ended in a massacre,

by indecent exposure of his person. Some of the rebels intercepted a

slave of the emperor on the high-road near the city and robbed him of

his possessions. Troops were sent to pacify the country, and in one

village a soldier found a copy of Moses' laws and tore it up in public

with jeers and blasphemies. At this the Jews flocked to Caesarea, and

were only restrained from a second outbreak by the execution of the

soldier. Finally, the Samaritans attacked certain Galileans who were (as

the custom was) travelling through Samaria to Jerusalem for the

passover. Cumanus was bribed and refused to avenge the death of the Jews

who were killed. So the Galileans with some of the lower classes of "the

Jews" allied themselves with a "robber" and burned some of the Samaritan

villages. Cumanus armed the Samaritans, and, with them and his own

troops, defeated these Jewish marauders. The leading men of Jerusalem

prevailed upon the rebels who survived the defeat to disperse. But the

quarrel was referred first to the legate of Syria and then to the

emperor. The emperor was still disposed to conciliate the Jews; and, at

the instance of Agrippa, son of Agrippa I., Cumanus was banished.

37. _Felix and the Revolutionaries._--Under Antonius Felix (52-60) the

revolutionary movement grew and spread. The country, Josephus says, was

full of "robbers" and "wizards." The high priest was murdered in the

Temple by pilgrims who carried daggers under their cloaks. Wizards and

impostors persuaded the multitude to follow them into the desert, and an

Egyptian, claiming to be a prophet, led his followers to the Mount of

Olives to see the walls of Jerusalem fall at his command. Such

deceivers, according to Josephus, did no less than the murderers to

destroy the happiness of the city. Their hands were cleaner but their

thoughts were more impious, for they pretended to divine inspiration.

Felix the procurator--a king, as Tacitus says, in power and in mind a

slave--tried in vain to put down the revolutionaries. The "chief-robber"

Eleazar, who had plundered the country for twenty years, was caught and

sent to Rome; countless robbers of less note were crucified. But this

severity cemented the alliance of religious fanatics with the

physical-force party and induced the ordinary citizens to join them, in

spite of the punishments which they received when captured. Agrippa II.

received a kingdom--first Chalcis, and then the tetrarchies of Philip

and Lysanias--but, though he had the oversight of the Temple and the

nomination of the high priest, and enjoyed a reputation for knowledge of

Jewish customs and questions, he was unable to check the growing power

of the Zealots. His sister Drusilla had broken the Law by her marriage

with Felix; and his own notorious relations with his sister Berenice,

and his coins which bore the images of the emperors, were an open

affront to the conscience of Judaism. When Felix was recalled by Nero in

60 the nation was divided against itself, the Gentiles within its gates

were watching for their opportunity, and the chief priests robbed the

lower priests with a high hand.

In Caesarea there had been for some time trouble between the Jewish and

the Syrian inhabitants. The Jews claimed that the city was theirs,

because King Herod had founded it. The Syrians admitted the fact, but

insisted that it was a city for Greeks, as its temples and statues

proved. Their rivalry led to street-fighting: the Jews had the advantage

in respect of wealth and bodily strength, but the Greek party had the

assistance of the soldiers who were stationed there. On one occasion

Felix sent troops against the victorious Jews; but neither this nor the

scourge and the prison, to which the leaders of both factions had been

consigned, deterred them. The quarrel was therefore referred to the

emperor Nero, who finally gave his decision in favour of the Syrians or

Greeks. The result of this decision was that the synagogue at Caesarea

was insulted on a Sabbath and the Jews left the city taking their books

of the Law with them. So--Josephus says--the war began in the twelfth

year of the reign of Nero (A.D. 66).

38. _Festus, Albinus and Florus._--Meanwhile the procurators who

succeeded Felix--Porcius Festus (60-62), Albinus (62-64) and Gessius

Florus (64-66)--had in their several ways brought the bulk of the nation

into line with the more violent of the Jews of Caesarea. Festus found

Judaea infested with robbers and the Sicarii, who mingled with the

crowds at the feasts and stabbed their enemies with the daggers

(_sicae_) from which their name was derived. He also, had to deal with a

wizard, who deceived many by promising them salvation and release from

evils, if they would follow him into the desert. His attempts to crush

all such disturbers of the peace were cut short by his death in his

second year of office.

In the interval which elapsed before the arrival of Albinus, Ananus son

of Annas was made high priest by Agrippa. With the apparent intention of

restoring order in Jerusalem, he assembled the Sanhedrin, and being, as

a Sadducee, cruel in the matter of penalties, secured the condemnation

of certain lawbreakers to death by stoning. For this he was deposed by

Agrippa. Albinus fostered and turned to his profit the struggles of

priests with priests and of Zealots with their enemies. The general

release of prisoners, with which he celebrated his impending recall, is

typical of his policy. Meanwhile Agrippa gave the Levites the right to

wear the linen robe of the priests and sanctioned the use of the temple

treasure to provide work--the paving of the city with white stones--for

the workmen who had finished the Temple (64) and now stood idle. But

everything pointed to the destruction of the city, which one Jesus had

prophesied at the feast of tabernacles in 62. The Zealots' zeal for the

Law and the Temple was flouted by their pro-Roman king.

By comparison with Florus, Albinus was, in the opinion of Josephus, a

benefactor. When the news of the troubles at Caesarea reached Jerusalem,

it became known also that Florus had seized seventeen talents of the

temple treasure (66). At this the patience of the Jews was exhausted.

The sacrilege, as they considered it, may have been an attempt to

recover arrears of tribute; but they were convinced that Florus was

providing for himself and not for Caesar. The revolutionaries went about

among the excited people with baskets, begging coppers for their

destitute and miserable governor. Stung by this insult, he neglected the

fire of war which had been lighted at Caesarea, and hastened to

Jerusalem. His soldiers sacked the upper city and killed 630

persons--men, women and children. Berenice, who was fulfilling a

Nazarite vow, interposed in vain. Florus actually dared to scourge and

crucify Jews who belonged to the Roman order of knights. For the moment

the Jews were cowed, and next day they went submissively to greet the

troops coming from Caesarea. Their greetings were unanswered, and they

cried out against Florus. On this the soldiers drew their swords and

drove the people into the city; but, once inside the city, the people

stood at bay and succeeded in establishing themselves upon the

temple-hill. Florus withdrew with all his troops, except one cohort, to

Caesarea. The Jews laid complaint against him, and he complained against

the Jews before the governor of Syria, Cestius Gallus, who sent an

officer to inquire into the matter. Agrippa, who had hurried from

Alexandria, entered Jerusalem with the governor's emissary. So long as

he counselled submission to the overwhelming power of Rome the people

complied, but when he spoke of obedience to Florus he was compelled to

fly. The rulers, who desired peace, and upon whom Florus had laid the

duty of restoring peace, asked him for troops; but the civil war ended

in their complete discomfiture. The rebels abode by their decision to

stop the daily sacrifice for the emperor; Agrippa's troops capitulated

and marched out unhurt; and the Romans, who surrendered on the same

condition and laid down their arms, were massacred. As if to emphasize

the spirit and purpose of the rebellion, one and only one of the Roman

soldiers was spared, because he promised to become a Jew even to the

extent of circumcision.

39. _Josephus and the Zealots._--Simultaneously with this massacre the

citizens of Caesarea slaughtered the Jews who still remained there; and

throughout Syria Jews effected--and suffered--reprisals. At length the

governor of Syria approached the centre of the disturbance in Jerusalem,

but retreated after burning down a suburb. In the course of his retreat

he was attacked by the Jews and fled to Antioch, leaving them his

engines of war. Some prominent Jews fled from Jerusalem--as from a

sinking ship--to join him and carried the news to the emperor. The rest

of the pro-Roman party were forced or persuaded to join the rebels and

prepared for war on a grander scale. Generals were selected by the

Sanhedrin from the aristocracy, who had tried to keep the peace and

still hoped to make terms with Rome. Ananus the high priest, their

leader, remained in command at Jerusalem; Galilee, where the first

attack was to be expected, was entrusted to Josephus, the historian of

the war. The revolutionary leaders, who had already taken the field,

were superseded.

Josephus set himself to make an army of the inhabitants of Galilee, many

of whom had no wish to fight, and to strengthen the strongholds. His

organization of local government and his efforts to maintain law and

order brought him into collision with the Zealots and especially with

John of Giscala, one of their leaders. The people, whom he had tried to

conciliate, were roused against him; John sent assassins and finally

procured an order from Jerusalem for his recall. In spite of all this

Josephus held his ground and by force or craft put down those who

resisted his authority.

In the spring of 67 Vespasian, who had been appointed by Nero to crush

the rebellion, advanced from his winter quarters at Antioch. The

inhabitants of Sepphoris--whom Josephus had judged to be so eager for

the war that he left them to build their wall for themselves--received a

Roman garrison at their own request. Joined by Titus, Vespasian advanced

into Galilee with three legions and the auxiliary troops supplied by

Agrippa and other petty kings. Before his advance the army of Josephus

fled. Josephus with a few stalwarts took refuge in Tiberias, and sent a

letter to Jerusalem asking that he should be relieved of his command or

supplied with an adequate force to continue the war. Hearing that

Vespasian was preparing to besiege Jotapata, a strong fortress in the

hills, which was held by other fugitives, Josephus entered it just

before the road approaching it was made passable for the Roman horse and

foot. A deserter announced his arrival to Vespasian, who rejoiced

(Josephus says) that the cleverest of his enemies had thus voluntarily

imprisoned himself. After some six weeks' siege the place was stormed,

and its exhausted garrison were killed or enslaved. Josephus, whose

pretences had postponed the final assault, hid in a cave with forty men.

His companions refused to permit him to surrender and were resolved to

die. At his suggestion they cast lots, and the first man was killed by

the second and so on, until all were dead except Josephus and (perhaps)

one other. So Josephus saved them from the sin of suicide and gave

himself up to the Romans. He had prophesied that the place would be

taken--as it was--on the forty-seventh day, and now he prophesied that

both Vespasian and his son Titus would reign over all mankind. The

prophecy saved his life, though many desired his death, and the rumour

of it produced general mourning in Jerusalem. By the end of the year

(67) Galilee was in the hands of Vespasian, and John of Giscala had

fled. Agrippa celebrated the conquest at Caesarea Philippi with

festivities which lasted twenty days.

In accordance with ancient custom Jerusalem welcomed the fugitive

Zealots. The result was civil war and famine. Ananus incited the people

against these robbers, who arrested, imprisoned and murdered prominent

friends of Rome, and arrogated to themselves the right of selecting the

high priest by lot. The Zealots took refuge in the Temple and summoned

the Idumaeans to their aid. Under cover of a storm, they opened the

city-gates to their allies and proceeded to murder Ananus the high

priest, and, against the verdict of a formal tribunal, Zacharias the son

of Baruch in the midst of the Temple. The Idumaeans left, but John of

Giscala remained master of Jerusalem.

40. _The Fall of Jerusalem._--Vespasian left the rivals to consume one

another and occupied his army with the subjugation of the country. When

he had isolated the capital and was preparing to besiege it, the news of

Nero's death reached him at Caesarea. For a year (June 68-June 69) he

held his hand and watched events, until the robber-bands of Simon

Bar-Giora (son of the proselyte) required his attention. But, before

Vespasian took action to stop his raids, Simon had been invited to

Jerusalem in the hope that he would act as a counterpoise to the tyrant

John. And so, when Vespasian was proclaimed emperor in fulfilment of

Josephus' prophecy, and deputed the command to Titus, there were three

rivals at war in Jerusalem--Eleazar, Simon and John. The temple

sacrifices were still offered and worshippers were admitted; but John's

catapults were busy, and priest and worshippers at the altar were

killed, because Eleazar's party occupied the inner courts of the Temple.

A few days before the passover of 70 Titus advanced upon Jerusalem, but

the civil war went on. When Eleazar opened the temple-gates to admit

those who wished to worship God, John of Giscala introduced some of his

own men, fully armed under their garments, and so got possession of the

Temple. Titus pressed the attack, and the two factions joined hands at

last to repel it. In spite of their desperate sallies, Jerusalem was

surrounded by a wall, and its people, whose numbers were increased by

those who had come up for the passover, were hemmed in to starve. The

famine affected all alike--the populace, who desired peace, and the

Zealots, who were determined to fight to the end. At last John of

Giscala portioned out the sacred wine and oil, saying that they who

fought for the Temple might fearlessly use its stores for their

sustenance. Steadily the Romans forced their way through wall after

wall, until the Jews were driven back to the Temple and the daily

sacrifices came to an end on the 17th of July for lack of men. Once more

Josephus appealed in vain to John and his followers to cease from

desecrating and endangering the Temple. The siege proceeded and the

temple-gates were burned. According to Josephus, Titus decided to spare

the Temple, but--whether this was so or not--on the 10th of August it

was fired by a soldier after a sortie of the Jews had been repelled. The

legions set up their standards in the temple-court and hailed Titus as

imperator.

Some of the Zealots escaped with John and Simon to the upper city and

held it for another month. But Titus had already earned the triumph

which he celebrated at Rome in 71. The Jews, wherever they might be,

continued to pay the temple-tax; but now it was devoted to Jupiter

Capitolinus. The Romans had taken their holy place, and the Law was all

that was left to them.

41. _From_ A.D. 70 _to_ A.D. 135.--The destruction of the Temple

carried with it the destruction of the priesthood and all its power.

The priests existed to offer sacrifices, and by the Law no sacrifice

could be offered except at the Temple of Jerusalem. Thenceforward the

remnant of the Jews who survived the fiery ordeal formed a church

rather than a nation or a state, and the Pharisees exercised an

unchallenged supremacy. With the Temple and its Sadducean high priests

perished the Sanhedrin in which the Sadducees had competed with the

Pharisees for predominance. The Sicarii or Zealots who had appealed to

the arm of flesh were exterminated. Only the teachers of the Law

survived to direct the nation and to teach those who remained loyal

Jews, how they should render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and to

God what belonged to God. Here and there hot-headed Zealots rose up to

repeat the errors and the disasters of their predecessors. But their

fate only served to deepen the impression already stamped upon the

general mind of the nation. The Temple was gone, but they had the Law.

Already the Jews of the Dispersion had learned to supplement the

Temple by the synagogue, and even the Jews of Jerusalem had not been

free to spend their lives in the worship of the Temple. There were

still, as always, rites which were independent of the place and of the

priest; there had been a time when the Temple did not exist. So

Judaism survived once more the destruction of its central sanctuary.

When Jerusalem was taken, the Sicarii still continued to hold three

strongholds: one--Masada--for three years. But the commander of Masada

realized at length that there was no hope of escaping captivity except

by death, and urged his comrades to anticipate their fate. Each man

slew his wife and children; ten men were selected by lot to slay the

rest; one man slew the nine executioners, fired the palace and fell

upon his sword. When the place was stormed the garrison consisted of

two old women and five children who had concealed themselves in caves.

So Vespasian obtained possession of Palestine--the country which Nero

had given him--and for a time it was purged of revolutionaries. Early

Christian writers assert that he proceeded to search out and to

execute all descendants of David who might conceivably come forward as

claimants of the vacant throne.

In Egypt and in Cyrene fugitive Zealots endeavoured to continue their

rebellion against the emperor, but there also with disastrous results.

The doors of the Temple in Egypt were closed, and its sacrifices which

had been offered for 243 years were prohibited. Soon afterwards this

temple also was destroyed. Apart from these local outbreaks, the Jews

throughout the empire remained loyal citizens and were not molested.

The general hope of the nation was not necessarily bound up with the

house of David, and its realization was not incompatible with the yoke

of Rome. They still looked for a true prophet, and meanwhile they had

their rabbis.

Under Johanan ben Zaccai (q.v.) the Pharisees established themselves

at Jamnia. A new Sanhedrin was formed there under the presidency of a

ruler, who received yearly dues from all Jewish communities. The

scribes through the synagogues preserved the national spirit and

directed it towards the religious life which was prescribed by

Scripture. The traditions of the elders were tested and gradually

harmonized in their essentials. The canon of Scripture was decided in

accordance with the touchstone of the Pentateuch. Israel had retired

to their tents to study their Bible.

Under Vespasian and Titus the Jews enjoyed freedom of conscience and

equal political rights with non-Jewish subjects of Rome. But Domitian,

according to pagan historians, bore hardly on them. The temple-tax was

strictly exacted; Jews who lived the Jewish life without openly

confessing their religion and Jews who concealed their nationality

were brought before the magistrates. Proselytes to Judaism were

condemned either to death or to forfeiture of their property. Indeed

it would seem that Domitian instituted a persecution of the Jews, to

which Nerva his successor put an end. Towards the end of Trajan's

reign (114-117) the Jews of Egypt and Cyrene rose against their Greek

neighbours and set up a king. The rebellion spread to Cyprus; and when

Trajan advanced from Mesopotamia into Parthia the Jews of Mesopotamia

revolted. The massacres they perpetrated were avenged in kind and all

the insurrections were quelled when Hadrian succeeded Trajan.

In 132 the Jews of Palestine rebelled again. Hadrian had forbidden

circumcision as illegal mutilation: he had also replaced Jerusalem by

a city of his own, Aelia Capitolina, and the temple of Yahweh by a

temple of Jupiter. Apart from these bitter provocations--the

prohibition of the sign of the covenant and the desecration of the

sacred place--the Jews had a leader who was recognized as Messiah by

the rabbi Aqiba. Though the majority of the rabbis looked for no such

deliverer and refused to admit his claims, Barcochebas (q.v.) drew the

people after him to struggle for their national independence. For

three years and a half he held his own and issued coins in the name of

Simon, which commemorate the liberation of Jerusalem. Some attempt was

apparently made to rebuild the Temple; and the Jews of the Dispersion,

who had perhaps been won over by Aqiba, supported the rebellion.

Indeed even Gentiles helped them, so that the whole world (Dio Cassius

says) was stirred. Hadrian sent his best generals against the rebels,

and at length they were driven from Jerusalem to Bethar (135). The

Jews were forbidden to enter the new city of Jerusalem on pain of

death.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The most comprehensive of modern books dealing with the

period is Emil Schürer, _Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter

Jesu Christi_ (3 vols., Leipzig, 1901 foll.). Exception has been taken

to a certain lack of sympathy with the Jews, especially the rabbis,

which has been detected in the author. But at least the book remains

an indispensable storehouse of references to ancient and modern

authorities. An earlier edition was translated into English under the

title _History of the Jewish People_ (Edinburgh, 1890, 1891). Of

shorter histories, D. A. Schlatter's _Geschichte Israel's von

Alexander dem Grossen bis Hadrian_ (2nd ed., 1906) is perhaps the

least dependent upon Schürer and attempts more than others to

interpret the fragmentary evidence available. Dr R. H. Charles has

done much by his editions to restore to their proper prominence in

connexion with Jewish history the _Testaments of the Twelve

Patriarchs_, _The Book of Jubilees_, _Enoch_, &c. But Schürer gives a

complete bibliography to which it must suffice to refer. For the

Sanhedrin see SYNEDRIUM. (J. H. A. H.)