agriculture and fruitage burst into new life; how the old 'men sat in the squares of the cities communing of good 'things, and the young men put on their glorious apparel and 'their military mantles," the accoutrements in which they had won their country's freedom; how, as in the ancient days, ' each 'man sat under the vine' which overspread his own house, and 'the fig-tree' in his own garden; how, all works of humanity and piety prospered under his hand-the provisioning and fortification of the towns, the study of the Law, the purification of the Temple. And it is not without a deep historical interest that we perceive the gradual intertwining of the destinies of the Jewish people, through this increase of fame and dominion, with the sway of that overweening power which Judas was the first to invoke, and which ultimately was to take the place of the foreign oppressors from whom they fancied that they had been for ever freed. Two messages came to Simon of unequal value. One, if so be, was from the shadow of the Spartan State, whose intercourse with Judæa is so difficult to understand. But the other came from Rome, and to Rome once more ambassadors were sent with a golden shield full of gifts, and the treaty engraven on tablets of brass; and the Syrian king Demetrius, overawed by the spectacle of that great alliance, gave to the High Priesthood of Simon that ratification which was needed for the regularity of the succession, together with the title of 'the King's Friend.' His princely state, with his display of gold and silver plate, awed2 the envoy even of the Kings of Syria. His own countrymen were convoked to ratify the decision of the Syrian Government. In the fore-court3 of 'the people of God' (as it was solemnly called in the Hebrew tongue), in the 18th of the month of Elul (May), a docu · δόξας—στολὰς, the usual phrases for military dress. See Grimm, on 1 Macc. xiv. 10. 21 Macc. xv. 32. * 1 Macc. xiv. 28 (Ewald, v. 338). ment was drawn up and engraved on brazen tablets, and placed in the treasury of the Temple, commemorating the noble deeds of himself and his brother Jonathan, and recognising him as their prince and leader, and, in the splendid hyperbole of the ancient Psalm, granting to him his office, not merely as a transient personal honour, but to be hereditary in his own family, held as though it was 'a High 'Priesthood for ever.' And then, with a sudden consciousness of having, perhaps, been too bold, the historian adds the characteristic contradiction and reserve-not without a sense of the rude shock which Simon's elevation gave to the stricter notions of legitimate succession-until a faithful Prophet1 'should arise,' like Jeremiah or Elijah, who should read aright the secrets and the difficulties of their situation. It is the reserve and contradiction which in times of transition is the mark, not only of noble faith, but of homely common sense, and of far-sighted wisdom. The close of Simon's life was hardly in keeping with his B.c. 135. long and honourable career. He and his two younger sons were entrapped by his son-in-law into a drunken supper at the fortress of Dok, near Jericho, and there treacherously murdered. Thus died the last of the five brothers. His aged wife was with him—a high-spirited woman, of whose early life strange adventures were recounted in after days. When the most energetic of his sons, John, hastened to avenge the murder, the brutal assassin placed the venerable lady on the walls of the fortress and scourged her with rods before the eyes of her son to induce him to retire. She, with a courage worthy of the house into which she had married, entreated him to disregard her tortures. But he could not endure the sight, and raised the blockade. The delay threw the besiegers into the Sabbatical year. The murderer completed his crime by the execution of the mother and her 11 Macc. xiv. 41. John B.C. 135. two sons, and escaped to a friend, a Greek adventurer who had gained possession of the Transjordanic Philadelphia. With the death of Simon the purest glory of the Maccabæan period ended. Yet it was not before he had finally established on the throne the only dynasty that has reigned over the undivided Jewish people, except the house of David. From that house the national expectations had in earlier days long hoped for a king. But when the Monarchy revived it was not in the house of Jesse, but of Asmon, not in the tribe of Judah, but of Levi. John, the survivor of the tragedy at Dok, was the one Hyrcanus. whom his father had long before appointed as commander of the Jewish forces at Gaza; and to him and his brother had been addressed those striking words which well express the feelings of the elder generation to that which is to take its place: I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have 'ever, from our youth unto this day, fought against the enemies ' of Israel; and things have prospered so well in our hands that we have delivered Israel oftentimes. But now I am 'old, and ye, by God's mercy, are of a sufficient age; be ye 'instead of me and my brother, and go and fight for our 'nation, and the help from Heaven be with you!' First of the Asmonean family, John bore a Gentile name, 'Hyrcanus,'—whether as the Greek form corresponding to Johanan, or from some 3 incident in his own life; and his reign was more like that of a Syrian than a Jewish prince. The records of it were preserved in the archives of the Priestly house, but are lost; and we are left to gather their contents from the brief narrative of Josephus. In Jerusalem he occupied and rebuilt the fortress at the north-east corner of 11 Macc. xvi. 2, 3. 2 So Herzfeld, arguing from the The killing of a Greek named 4 pedition into Hyrcania (Eus. Chron. ii. p. 379). Sulpicius Sever. H. E. ¡i. 26 (Madden's Jewish Coins, 51). Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 3. the Temple, once the site of the residence of the Persian, afterwards of the Roman, now of the Turkish, Governor. There, like the Regalia in the Tower, were deposited the pontifical robes which literally invested their possessor with the office. Like his father and uncle, John was fortunate in finding a friend in the Syrian king, Antiochus Sidetes, to whom the Jews gave in consequence the name of Eusebius or the Pious, and from him received the full confirmation in his office.. Two deadly enemies were crushed by his arms. The hated race of Esau were subdued and incorporated into the Jewish nation by circumcision. The Arab tribe of the Nabathæans, which had long been friendly to the Asmonean family and had occupied the ancient territory of the Edomites, doubtless assisted; and the proud Esau at last bowed his neck to the persevering Israel-only, however, to exercise once more a fresh and startling influence of another kind. Another cherished victory was that in which he razed to the ground the rival Temple on Mount Gerizim and totally destroyed the Greek city of Samaria, from which the Samaritans had migrated to Shechem in the time of Alexander.' It became henceforth known as the City of Graves.'2 3 He For thirty-one years he carried on the vigour of his father's government, and combined with it a spark of that gift which was believed to have ceased with Malachi. was, says Josephus, not only the Chief Ruler and the Chief Priest, but a Prophet. The intimations of his possessing this gift were, indeed, but slight, and exhibit almost the first example of the degradation of the word from its ancient high meaning to that of mere prediction. Once from the Holy of Holies he heard a voice announcing the victory of his sons over the Samaritans on the day and hour that it occurred. Another time he foresaw in a dream the fortunes of the three Aristo bulus. B.C. 107. 6 brothers who were to succeed him. It is useless to revive the narrative of the tissue of intrigues and crimes which convert the palace of the Royal Pontificate into the likeness of an Oriental Court. So completely had the Hellenising customs penetrated into the heart of the Asmonean family that the three sons of Hyrcanus, Judas, Mattathias, and Jonathan, were respectively known as Aristobulus, Antigonus, and Alexander Jannæus. Of these the eldest, Aristobulus, had gained the character of the Philhellen,' or 'Lover of the 'Greeks,' and won the admiration of Gentile writers by his moderation towards them, and by the energy with which, as his father had incorporated the Edomites on the south, so he conquered and absorbed the Ituræan borderers on the north. But that for which he was chiefly remembered was that he was the first of his family to assume the regal title and diadem. 6 Once more there was a King3 in Israel,' but bearing the name unknown before, and to acquire before long a solemn significance-King of the Jews.' It was still, however, as High Priest that he reigned. And it was not till his brother Jonathan mounted the throne under the name Alexander of Alexander that the coins alternately bear the names of Jonathan the High Priest (or, more rarely, the King) in Hebrew, and Alexander the King in Greek. In common parlance he was known by the two names combined, Alexander Jannæus. It is enough to indicate the general results of his long, troubled, and adventurous reign. On the whole, in its external relations, it carried on the successes of his predecessors. With the exception of Ptolemais, which remained Greek, he annexed all the maritime or quasi-maritime towns along the western coast, from the Bay of Accho to Gaza. An anchor on his coins is, perhaps, the com Jannæus. B.C. 106. 4 5 1 Jos. Ant. xx. 10, 1. 2 Jos. Ant. xiii. 11, 3. Such was the opinion of Timagenes the Syrian, as quoted by Strabo. 3 Jos. Ant. xiii. 11, 1. Madden, 62, 68; Derenbourg, 95. These coins have been erroneously assigned to Jonathan, son of Mattathias, as those of Aristobulus to Judas. Jos. Ant. xiii. 15, 4. |