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Sunday, July 12, 2020

Kings of Judah Following Zedekiah (597-586 BCE)

Nadene Goldfoot                                                          
Attack of Assyria when 10  Northern Tribes  of Israel lost their best of the population to the Assyrians who took them as slaves to Assyria in 722 -721 BCE; many now found to be the modern Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 The Assyrian Expansion, which had overtaken the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was checked before the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE, but the city and state folded to the Babylonians in 586 BCE, large numbers of the people being deported out of Israel.  Gedaliah, a member of the former royal house, tried to keep Israel going but was assassinated in 582 BCE.  

 The descendants of the exiles in Babylonia, the Judeans of southern Israel, continued to love their national and religious ideals which made it possible to renew their Jewish life after 539 BCE in the area of the former kingdom of Judah.  Their intellectual and spiritual life of Judea was extraordinarily rich. 

 The history of the Jewish people and of their roots in the Land of Israel  is more than 35 Centuries long.  The periods of Jewish sovereignty have been the only periods during which the people living in this Land have been independent.  there have been only 3 periods.  

                                                          

 The last Judean King was Mattaniah/adopted name of Zedekiah (597-586 BCE)  son of Josiah, appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.  He was King at age 21,  then conspired with Egypt against Babylonia at age 30, so Babylonia took Jerusalem.  He was overtaken while escaping, put on trial.  His sons were killed before him, then his eyes were put out, put in prison in Babylon until he died.  
                                                       

539 BCE was the return of the Judean population that was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.  They had been in Babylonia for about 47 years after Nebuchadnezzar's attack and carried so many away to Babylonia as slaves. Their return was made possible by the new king who may have been Queen Esther's son, King Darius.    From this time of 539 BCE to 160 BCE, who was in charge of Judah and Israel?  

 It was the Persian (Iran) period from 539 BCE to 332 BCE

       
     It was the Hellenistic period from 332 BCE to 37 BCE
                                                     
Judah "the Hammerer" Maccabee

d: 160 BCE, patriot, oldest son of Mattathias the Hasmonean.  He inflicted successful battles on the Syrian armies by his exploitation of ambush, rapid movement and night attacks.  He occupied Jerusalem in 164 BCE and purified the Temple, but was killed in battle at Elassa, the prototype of heroism among the Jews and regarded by Christians as one of the military celebrities of ancient days.  
The record is blank until the Hasmonean Dynasty in 104 BCE.  They were a priestly family of Cohens and founded a dynasty first by Mattathias of Modiin after his ancestor Hashmon or could be a place-name.  He had 5 sons; Judah the Maccabee, Jonathan, Simon, John and Eleazar. They directed the popular revolt against the hellenizing policy in Palestine created by the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes.  In  166-164 BCE, the Hasmoneans fought a number of successful battles against the Syrians and in 164 BCE, Judah captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple.  This is where we have the history behind our holiday of Chanukah.  

 This was followed by a series of raids to rescue the Jewish populations of Ammon, Idumea, Gilead, and Galilee.  He was defeated in 163 BCE at Bet Zechariah , where Eleazar was killed.  The Hasmoneans were able to get terms securing Jewish religious freedom, but Judah and his party, aspiring for political freedom, too, continued the fight and Judah fell at Elasa in 160 BCE.  John was murdered shortly after and Jonathan took over the leadership from Judah, and made a treaty with Rome.  He was able to secure the high priesthood in 152 BCE and the governorship of Judah in 150 BCE.  Simon, called Thassi or Tarsi,  succeeded Jonathan in 142 BCE as head of the Jewish state, made Ethna,rch (ruler of the people) by the people of Judea.   gained exemption from paying tributes in 147 BCE.  He was confirmed by the people as hereditary high priest, ethnarch, and general in 142 BCE.  Then he was murdered in 135 BCE.  Eleazar, called Auran, died in 163 BCE.  At the battle of Bet Zechariah, he stabbed an elephant of the enemy's army in the belief that its rider was the Syrian ruler Antiochus Eupator.  He was crushed to death when the animal fell on him.  

 Simon's son, John Hyrcanus (r 135-104 BCE), who succeeded his father, Simon, served as governor of Gezer but escaped to Jerusalem after the murder of his father and 2 brothers by his brother-in-law, Ptolemy.  Ptolemy was the 1st Macedonian king of Egypt and originator of the Ptolemaic dynasty, all the kings who bore this name.  So the Hasmoneans were intermarrying outside their faith.  He suffered a crushing defeat by Antiochus VII Sidetes when Jerusalem was taken again by the Syrians after a prolonged siege and Judea was once more becoming a Seleucid province. Simeon was still alive at this time in 138 BCE. Antiochus VII invaded again with even greater success in 134 BCE.    (Seleucids were Hellenistic royal dynasty founded by Seleucus Nicaor, one of Alexander the Great's generals.)  John had a successful offensive against Transjordan, Samaria and Idumea, marking the transition of the Hasmoneans to a semi-hellenized secular military dynasty. When Antiochus died in 129 BCE, the Jews revolted, and Seleucid rule in Palestine ended in 128 BCE.  

 This led to his repudiation of the Pharisees and sticking to the aristocratic Sadducee party.  He was succeeded by his sons, Judah Aristobulus and Alexander Yannai.  

                                      Hasmonean dynasty

                                                                   
  • Aristobulus I :   (r. 104–103 BCE)  He was the High Priest and  1st king of Judea of this period and was the oldest son of John Hyrcanus.  The administration of the state was being left in his mother's hands.  However, he murdered his mother and his brother, Antigonus, and imprisoned his other brothers.  He extended the northern boundaries of Judea.  Aristobulus I was an admirer of the Greek culture so called himself Philhellene.  
                                                                                         
  • Alexander Yannai (Jannaeus)  (r. 103–76 BCE)  He was called Jonathan, and was King and high priest in Judea.  He was the son of John Hyrcanus and was a despotic, violent ruler who kept his authority with the aid of foreign mercenaries.  He annexed those Greek cities of Palestine whose people still refuse  to acknowledge Hasmonean rule.  After some setbacks, he succeeded in adding  the whole coastal region to his kingdom.  His political views were the opposite of to the religious outlook of a large section of the Judean population.  In his reign, was the final beak between the Crown and the Pharisees a a result of his flouting their susceptibilities while officiating in the Temple.  
         In 94 BCE, Civil War broke out with the Pharisees getting Demetrius III of Syria on his side and they defeated Jonathan near Shechem in 88 BCE.  6,000 Jews serve in Demetrius' army, but went over to Jonathan's side who regained his hold and took a ferocious vengeance on his opponents.  He tried to complete his conquests in Transjordan and died while besieging Ragaba.  
                                                               
Salome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem, was one of only two women to rule over Judea. The wife of Aristobulus I, and afterward of Alexander Jannaeus, she was the last queen of Judea, and the last ruler of ancient Judea to die as the ruler of an independent kingdom from 76 to 67 BCE
  • Salome Alexandra (141-67 BCE) (Queen, r. 76–67 BCE) She became queen by succeeding her husband, Alexander Yannai Jannaeus, and reversed his policy toward the Pharisees because of his change of heart that was his dying request.  Salome handed internal control to the Pharisees while keeping responsibility for the army and foreign policy.  Her appointment of her eldest son, Hyrcanus, as high priest and heir was opposed by his brother, Aristobulus.  She's thought to be the sister of Rabbi Simeon ben Shetah, regard her favorably, but Josephus, former general turned writer for the Romans, was critical of her.  
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  • Aristobulus II (r. 67–63 BCE) was King of Judea and the younger son of Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra.  He usurped the throne when his brother, Hyrcanus II was the king.  There was a Civil War and in 63 BCE the 2 brothers were in Damascus with their claims before Pompey who ordered Aristobulus II to surrender al the Judean strongholds, including Jerusalem.  He agreed to do so but his supporters didn't so Pompey laid siege to the Temple hill, and after 3 months, captured the Temple in 63 BCE.  This ended Judea's political independence.
      Aristobulus II was  now a prisoner and taken to Rome.  He escaped with son Antigonus in 56 BCE and returned to Judea.  The Romans took him prisoner and sent him to Rome again.  Julius Caesar rose to power, and he as released in 49 BCE and promised 2 legions with which to attack Pompey's supporters in Syria.  He was poisoned before he was able to get started. 
                                                              
  • Hyrcanus II (r. 63–40 BCE) died in 31 BCE.  He was the oldest son of Alexander Yannai, and succeeded his mother, Salome Alexandra (67 BCE) but was driven from the throne and the high priesthood by his brother, Aristobulus, (above). He defeated  his brother, Aristobulus, who left for Jerusalem to fight the Roman invaders.   Pompey managed to capture the Temple mount after a 3 month siege and deposed Aristobulus, appointing Hyrcanus II as high priest with limited political authority without the title as ethnarch.  Hyrcanus  supported Julius Caesar who restored him as Ethnarch (ruler of the people) and enlarged his territory, but the real power was in the hands of Antipater and his sons, who also got the title Ethnarch from Julius Caesar.  Then the Parthians invaded Judea in 40 BCE. and took Hyrcanus as prisoner, and maimed him so as to disqualify him for the priesthood and sent him to Parthia.  There he was honored by the Babylonian Jewish communities.  He insisted on returned to Judea, however.  where Herod reigned as the new king.  At first he was treated with respect but here was the battle Actium and Herod accused him of treason and had him executed.

In the days of Alexander Jannaeus, Idumaean/Edomite Antipas, was appointed governor of Edom. His son Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was the chief adviser to Hasmonean Hyrcanus II and managed to establish a good relationship with the Roman Republic, who at that time (63 BCE) extended their influence over the region, following conquest of Syria and intervention in a civil war in Judea.
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  • Antigonus II Mattathias (r. 40–37 BCE) was the son of Aristobulus II.  He was taken as a hostage to rome when Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE.  When he returned to Judea in 49, he took refuge at the court of Chalcis, and with the support of the Parthians, captured Jerusalem in 40 BCE, and put to death Herod's brother, Phasael, and mutilated his own uncle, Hyrcanus, so as to disqualify him from becoming the high priest.  He then ruled as king of Judea and the high priest.  The Romans drove the Parthians from Syria in 39, an Herod attacked Antigonus, who was defeated in the battle.  Antigonus fortified himself in Jerusalem, but was captured after a 5 months siege and was put to death.  He was the last Hasmonean king.                                                    
  •                                    Herodian dynasty

 The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom and later the Herodian Tetrarchy, as vassals of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the throne of Judea, with Roman support, bringing down the century long Hasmonean Kingdom.
Antipater  was the father of Herod the Great and ruler of Judea from 63 to 43 BCE . He was the son of the ruler of Idumea (Edom), who were forcefully converted to Judaism.  He became governor of Idumea for Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra, growing rich from trade with Arabia.  

Julius Caesar appointed Antipater to be procurator of Judea in 47 BCE and he appointed his sons Phasael and Herod to be governors of Jerusalem and Galilee respectively. Antipater was murdered in 43 BCE; however, his sons managed to hold the reins of power and were elevated to the rank of tetrarchs in 41 BCE by Mark Antony.

                                                                       
  • Herod the Great (73 BCE-4 BCE) (r. 37–4 BCE), King of Judea, son of Antipater the Idumean (Idumeans were forcefully converted to Judaism)  by his Nabatean wife, Cypros  (Nabateans were of Arab extraction who occupied Edom in 6th cent BCE with capital at Petra, typical nomads, started farming).  Started off by his father as governor of Galilee and showed mean streak by executing dissidents, but was called to the Sanhedrin for that and was saved from death for it by Hyrcanus and Sextus Caesar, governor of Syria.  Parthians made Antigonus king when Herod escaped to Rome to become King of Judea by the Roman senate.  He murdered all possible rivals to is power including his brother-in-law, Aristobulus III, the last Hasmonean high priest.  He had his 2nd wife, Mariamne and their 2 sons, Alexander and Aristobulus put to death in 29 BCE, and his firstborn, Antipater. Mariamne hated her husband as he had murdered her kinsfolk, and she hated his family whom she regarded as upstarts.  Herod's sister, Salome, ceaselessly incited Herod against Mariamne, finally convincing him that she was an adulteress.   Only good thing was that he rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.  Outsiders only knew of him as a generous patron, and protector of the Jews, not the vicious person he really was.  
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  • Herod Agrippa or Agrippa I (Marcus Julius) (10 BCE-44 CE) (r. 41–44 CE)
  • King of Judea, son of Aristobulus and grandson of Herod.  When young he became involved in escapades with Caligula, the heir- apparent who became emperor from 37 to 41,  and for that was put in prison by Emperor Tiberias (r14-37) for suspected treachery.  Caligula freed him when he took the throne, appointing him king over Transjordan areas, and after 41 CE, by Emperor Claudius, over Judea and Samaria.  He respected Judaism and for that was beloved by  his Jewish subjects.  He strengthened Jerusalem's fortifications, arousing Syria's governor's suspicions.  
     

                                                      
  • Agrippa II (Marcus Julius or Herod Agrippa II); (28 CE-93) Last king of the house of Herod, son of Agrippa I.  In the year 50, Agrippa II received the town of Chalcis to govern and was also made responsible for supervising the Temple in Jerusalem.  Emperor Claudius gave him the title of king.  By 54 he had to give up Chalcis, and was given to replace it scattered territories in Transjordan and others.  Nero extended his domain by adding tracts from the Galilee. His quarrels with the priests and his inscribing of coins with heathen emblems and portraits of the emperors earned him the hostility of the people.   He went to Jerusalem with Emperor Titus during the siege of Jerusalem and helped him.  

    • Tetrarch of Chalcis 48–53 CE
    • King of Batanaea 53–100 CE
                                                                 
Archelaus, Ruler of Judea from 4 BCE to 6 CE, son of Herod and Malthace, the Samaritan.  Under Herod's last will, Archelaus was appointed ruler over the greater part of Herod's kingdom with the title of king  When he went to Rome to get Augustus' ratification of Herod's wil,, disturbances broke out all over Palestine and a Jewish delegation asked Augustus to dethrone the Herodian dynasty.  Augustus abolished the title of king;  confirmed Archelaus as Ethnarch of Judea, Idumea (Edom) and Samaria.  He did something severe which led to his removal from office by Augustus and his exile to Gaul where he died in about 16 CE.  
                                                     
  • Aristobulus of Chalcis  was a son of Herod of Chalcis and his first wife Mariamne. Herod of Chalcis, ruler of Chalcis in Iturea, was a grandson of Herod the Great through his father, Aristobulus IV. Mariamne was a granddaughter of Herod the Great through her mother, Olympias; hence Aristobulus was a great-grandson of Herod the Great on both sides of his family. Aristobulus was married to Salome after the death of her first husband, Philip the Tetrarch. With her Aristobulus had three sons: Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus.   Three coins with portraits of him and Salome have been found.
    • King of Armenia Minor 55–72 CE
    • Tetrarch of Chalcis 57–92 CE

Update: 7/12/2020 6:48pm.  sentence structure
Resource
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Israel_and_Judah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodian_dynasty
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Facts About Israel from Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem from Division of Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_periods_in_the_Palestine_region
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