Читать книгу A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ - Emil Schürer - Страница 55

The works on Syrian history by Clinton, Foy-Vaillant, Frölich, Flathe, Stark, etc.

The treatises and commentaries on the books of Maccabees by Wernsdorff, Michaelis, Grimm, Keil, Bissel, Wace, etc.

EWALD’S History of Israel, v. 333–342.

HERZFELD, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, ii. 320–334.

GRÄTZ, Geschichte der Juden, Bd. iii., 4 Aufl., or Geschichte der Judäer von dem Tode Juda Makkabi’s, etc., 1888, pp. 50–63.

HITZIG, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, ii. 450–459.

Art. “Simon” in Winer’s RWB., and Schenkel’s Bibellexicon.

STANLEY, Jemsh Church, vol. iii. (1877) 361–368.

BY the heroic deeds and successes of Jonathan, the Maccabean party had passed out far beyond its original aims. It had not at first intended to strive for anything more than the restoration of the Jewish worship, and the securing of the free exercise of the Jewish religion. But even Judas, when he had attained this end, did not rest satisfied therewith. He and his party then wished also to gain the supremacy in the control of home affairs. In the time of Jonathan this end was completely won. By Jonathan’s appointment as high priest the ruling power was placed in the hands of the Maccabean party, and the Hellenistic party was driven out. But even this no longer seemed sufficient. Favourable circumstances—the weakness of the Syrian empire—tempted them to strive after thorough emancipation from the Syrian suzerainty. The last acts of Jonathan were important steps in this direction. The significance of the reign of Simon consists in this, that it completed the work of Jonathan, and made the Jewish people wholly independent of the Syrian empire.

In Syria, Demetrius and Trypho, as tutor-regent for the young king Antiochus, still occupied a position of antagonism to one another. Trypho, who had hitherto appeared only as representative of his youthful protégé, about this time or not much later, let fall the mask, secured the assassination of Antiochus VI., and had himself crowned king.

After the last hostile proceeding on the part of Trypho, it was clear that Simon would unhesitatingly attach himself to Demetrius. But he did this only after he had exacted the promise that Demetrius would recognise the freedom of the Jews. While he continued eagerly to proceed with the building of the fortresses of Judea, he sent an embassy to Demetrius “to secure for his country exemption from tribute.” Since Demetrius had actually no longer any power in the south of the empire, it was in his interest to act the part of the munificent, and to guarantee to the Jews all that they desired. He therefore not only granted remission of all outstanding taxes, but also perfect exemption from all paying of tribute in the future. Thus was the political independence of Judea recognised. “The yoke of the Gentiles,” as the First Book of Maccabees expresses it, “was taken away from Israel.” In order to give expression to this fact, they now adopted a mode of reckoning of their own, beginning with the Seleucid year 170, or B.C. 143–142. Documents and treatises were dated according to the year of Simon as high priest and prince of the Jews.

With this statement of the First Book of Maccabees we ought to combine a fact derived from a study of numismatics. There are Jewish shekel and half-shekel coins which, in the opinion of most numismatists, were stamped in the time of Simon. They bore on the one side the inscription ירושלם קדשה or ירושלים הקדושה, on the other side, according to their weight, either שקל ישראל, Israel’s shekel, or חצי השקל, half-shekel. On the whole shekel and on the half-shekel the number of the year was impressed, and there are specimens of both coins with the year numbers א, ב, נ, ד (1, 2, 3, 4), and one specimen of a whole shekel with the date ה or 5. The era here used is held to be the era of Simon referred to in the First Book of Maccabees. Now these coins, if indeed they were stamped in the time of Simon, are not to be considered properly as coins of Simon, but as coins of the civic commune of Jerusalem, for after the fashion of the Hellenistic communes Jerusalem is regarded as in a position of authority over all Judea (compare § 23, I. and II.). Also the number of the year on the coins does not designate the year of Simon’s reign, but the year of a civil era of Jerusalem; as also other cities of Phoenicia, such as Tyre, Sidon, Ascalon, had begun toward the end of the second century before Christ, in token of the freedom which they had obtained, to adopt a cycle of their own. But even were it possible that the era used upon the coins was identical with “the years of Simon” spoken of in the First Book of Maccabees, the first year of Simon is just the same as the first year of Jewish freedom. But a difficulty is presented by the fact that up to the present time out of the great number of specimens of shekel coins only one piece is found bearing the mark of the year 5; and that no higher numbers are found, whereas the era of Simon, according to 1 Macc. 13:41, 42 and 14:27, began in the Seleucid year 170, and Simon did not die before the Seleucid year 177 (1 Macc. 16:14), so that coins of his time might have been expected at least with the years 6 and 7. Merzbacher has therefore assumed that the era of Simon had been made in the First Book of Maccabees to begin two years too early. Its actual starting-point was the third year of Simon, the Seleucid year 172, or B.C. 141–140, in which Simon was pronounced by a popular decree hereditary high priest (1 Macc. 14:25–49). Then, too, for the first time did Demetrius confer the privileges that have been mentioned upon the Jews. But the author of the First Book of Maccabees has erroneously used the official “first” year of Simon as interchangeable with his actual first year. The reasons for this hypothesis are set forth by Merzbacher with acuteness and skill of combination, but on closer examination they do not prove convincing. The plain and distinct statement of the First Book of Maccabees, that a beginning was made in the Seleucid year 170 to number the years of Simon (13:41, 42; compare 14:27), cannot be thus set aside. Also Merzbacher’s theory is set up simply in order to overcome the difficulty above referred to which the year numbers on the shekel occasion. But besides this difficulty there are still other considerations which tell against the supposition that the shekel was issued under Simon. It cannot therefore be regarded as by any means certain, though indeed most numismatists are in favour of the idea.

The charter of Demetrius conferred privileges which, indeed, Demetrius had it not in his power to give away. It was Simon’s policy rather to emphasize and give effect to these in face of the power of Trypho, which was more perilous to him. In order to confirm his position, Simon sought above all to get possession of two of the fortresses that would be of chief value to him—the city of Gazara and the citadel of Jerusalem; and in both cases he had the good fortune to be successful. Gazara, the old Geshur, not far from Emmans-Nicopolis in a westerly direction, at the base of the mountains, had been up to that time a Gentile city. Possession of it was of importance to the Jews, because it was one of the places which commanded the passes of the mountains, and the holding of it was thus absolutely necessary in order to maintain connection between Jerusalem and the port of Joppa, which had been already annexed by the Jews. Simon opened against the city a skilfully directed siege, conquered it, expelled all Gentile inhabitants from it, and settled it with “men who observed the law.” Simon’s son Jonathan was appointed governor of Gazara.

Soon after the conquest of Gazara, Simon compelled the Syrian garrison of the citadel of Jerusalem to capitulate through famine. The national struggles of the Maccabees had long been directed to the attainment of this object, for so long as the citadel was in the hands of the Syrian kings the Jews were really their subjects. Now at last Simon succeeded in making himself master of this stronghold. On the 23rd day of the second month of the Seleucid year 171, that is, in May B.C. 142, he entered with great pomp and ceremony into the citadel.

Since the Syrian kings were not in a position to be able to give any attention to proceedings in Judea, several years passed of undisturbed prosperity and peace for the Jews. As such a period the reign of Simon is generally characterized in the First Book of Maccabees. The securing of Joppa as a harbour, and the conquest of Gazara, Beth-zur, and the citadel of Jerusalem, are there represented as the chief services rendered by him. Also express mention is made of his care for the spiritual and material wellbeing of the country, for strict administration of justice and the re-establishment of the Jewish law. “Then did they till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their fruit. The ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided victuals for the cities, and set in them all manner of munition, so that his honourable name was renowned unto the end of the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy: for every man sat under his vine and his fig-tree, and there was none to fray them: neither was there any left in the land to fight against them: yea, the kings themselves were overthrown in those days. Moreover he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low: the law he searched out; and every contemner of the law and wicked person he took away. He beautified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the temple.”

In these words of the First Book of Maccabees expression is given to the feeling of satisfaction which the majority of the people had in Simon’s reign. The ultimate aims of the Maccabean struggles had been secured. The government was in the hands of the national party; the country was emancipated from the suzerainty of the Syrians. Thus Simon now reaped the full fruit of the common labours of the Maccabees: the formal legitimizing on the part of the people of their family as the ruling sacerdotal family. It had, indeed, been an act of usurpation by which the son of Mattathias attained unto the supremacy. Up to the outbreak of the Maccabean revolt the office of high priest had been hereditary in another family. In the course of events that family had been driven out of its place. The Maccabean brothers had undertaken the leadership of the national party, and the Syrian king had transferred to them the high-priestly rank. For the maintenance of Simon’s government it was of supreme importance that the legitimacy of his rule should be expressly recognised by a popular decree as affecting his own person and that of his descendants. Such an act was successfully carried out in the third year of Simon’s reign. On the 18th Elul of the Seleucid year 172, that is, in September B.C. 141, it was resolved in a great assembly “of the priests, and the people, and the princes of the people, and the elders of the land,” that Simon should be high priest and military commander and civil governor of the Jews (ἀρχιερεύς, στρατηγός and ἐθνάρχης), and that “for ever until there should arise a faithful prophet” (1 Macc. 14:41). By the last phrase it was meant that this popular decree should remain in force until an authentic communication from God should make some other enactment. Henceforth therefore Simon’s official rank was regarded as “for ever,” that is, hereditary. The significance of this popular resolution lies not so much in the fact that it conveyed to him any new dignity, but rather in this, that it legitimized and pronounced hereditary those dignities which he already had. In this way a new high-priestly priestly and princely dignity was founded, that of the Asmoneans. The terms of the popular decree were engraved on brazen tablets, and these were set up in the court of the temple.

The legitimizing on the part of the people was soon followed by recognition on the part of the Romans. Just about the time when that popular decree was issued, Simon sent an embassy, under the leadership of Numenius, to Rome, which carried as a present a golden shield weighing a thousand minas, and treated about the renewal of the covenant. The embassy was courteously received by the senate, and obtained a decree of senate, which guaranteed to the Jews unrestricted possession of their own territory. Information regarding the contents of the decree of senate was sent to the kings of Egypt, Syria, Pergamum, Cappadocia, and Parthia, and to many of the smaller independent states and communes of Greece and Asia Minor; while, at the same time, they were charged to deliver up to the Jewish high priest any evil-doers who might have fled to them from Palestine. The terms of the decree of senate is given us probably in the Senatus consultus communicated by Josephus, Antiq. xiv. 8. 5, which Josephus, however, assigns to the time of Hyrcanus II. The relations presupposed in this document are precisely the same as those of 1 Macc. 14:24 and 15:15–24: Jewish ambassadors, of whom one is named Numenius, carried as a present a golden shield, with a request for the renewal of the covenant; and the senate concluded in consequence of this to insist upon the autonomous cities and kings respecting the integrity of the Jewish territory. The session of senate referred to took place, according to Josephus, εἰδοῖς Δεκεμβρίαις, that is, on the 13th December, under the presidency of the praetor Lucius Valerius. This president may possibly be the same as “Consul Lucius,” who, according to 1 Macc. 15:16, sent out the circular letter to the kings and cities. It is, however, also possible that by this term is intended L. Calpurnius Piso, one of the consuls for B.C. 139, who, according to the correct reading of Valerius Max. i. 3. 2, has the praenomen, not of Cneius, but of Lucius. In any case, the arrival of the Jewish ambassadors at Rome must be assigned to B.C. 139, for they returned to Palestine in the Seleucid year 174, that is, B.C. 139–138 (1 Macc. 15:10, 15). Without doubt, therefore, the statement of Valerius Maximus about the establishment of a Jewish propaganda at Rome in B.C. 139 has reference to the proceedings of these ambassadors.

Meanwhile the government of Simon seems not to have been going on so smoothly as it had hitherto. He became once more involved in Syrian affairs. Just about this time Demetrius II. had been temporarily withdrawn from the scene of Syrian politics. He had allowed himself to be entangled in a tedious war with the Parthian king Mithridates I., which ended by Demetrius being taken prisoner by the Parthians in B.C. 138. In place of Demetrius, his father Antiochus VII. Sidetes now took up the struggle against Trypho. Like all Syrian pretenders, who had first of all to win their throne by conquest, Antiochus hasted to secure the aid of the Jews by flattering promises. He had heard in Rhodes of the imprisonment of Demetrius. Even before his landing on the Syro-Phoenician coasts, “from the islands of the sea” he wrote a letter to Simon, in which he confirmed to him all the privileges granted by former kings, and expressly gave him the right of coining money. Soon thereafter, in the Seleucid year 174, or B.C. 139–138 (1 Macc. 15:10), Antiochus landed in Syria, and quickly gained the victory over Trypho. The latter was obliged to fly to Dora, the strong fortress on the Phoenician coast, and was there besieged by Antiochus. Trypho, indeed, succeeded in effecting his escape from that place. He fled by Ptolemais and Orthosias to Apamea. But there he was again besieged, and in the siege lost his life.

No sooner had Antiochus gained some advantage over Trypho than he assumed another attitude toward the Jews. Even during the siege of Dora, Simon sent him two thousand auxiliary troops, and besides, silver and gold and weapons for their equipment. But Antiochus declined to accept what was offered, repudiated all his former promises, and sent one of his confidants, Athenobius, to Jerusalem in order to obtain from Simon the surrender of the conquered cities of Joppa and Gazara and the citadel of Jerusalem, as well as of all places outside of Judea that had been taken possession of by the Jews. If Simon should be unwilling to restore them, then he was to pay for them altogether the sum of a thousand talents, to be, as it was made to appear, once for all the sum of acquittance. The demands were justified by the plea that for their conquests the Jews had not been able to show any legal title. But Simon refused to yield to these terms, and declared that he would pay only one hundred talents. With this answer Athenobius returned to the king.

Antiochus had resolved to enforce his claims by violent measures. While he himself was still engaged in conflict with Trypho, he appointed his general Kendebäus to conduct the campaign against Simon. Kendebäus made Jamnia his headquarters, fortified Kedron,—a place not otherwise known, probably in the neighbourhood of Jamnia,—and made raids upon Judea. Simon was prevented by his age from personally taking the field. He sent, therefore, his sons Judas and John with an army against Kendebäus. Both justified the confidence placed in them by their father. In a decisive engagement Kendebäus was utterly defeated. When Judas was wounded, John undertook the pursuit, and chased the enemy to Kedron and down into the territory of Asbdod. He returned as conqueror to Jerusalem.

So long as Simon lived, the attack was not repeated on the part of Antiochus.

It thus seemed as if Simon were to be allowed to end his days in peace. But it was not so to be. Like all his brothers, he too died a violent death. His own son-in-law Ptolemy, who was military commander over the plain of Jericho, entertained bold and ambitious schemes. He wished to secure to himself the supreme power, and so plotted by what stratagem he could put Simon and his sons out of the way. When, therefore, in the month Shebat of the Seleucid year 177, that is, in February B.C. 135 (1 Macc. 16:14), Simon, on a tour of inspection through the cities of the land, visited Ptolemy in the fortress of Dok near Jericho, Ptolemy made a great feast, during which he had Simon and his two sons who were with him, Mattathias and Judas, treacherously murdered.

Thus was the last of the sons of Mattathias gathered unto his fathers.