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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jun. 14, 2025
Update	: Jun. 14, 2025
Parts	: 25

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part fourteen, as Josephus in his frustration strongly rebuked the stubborn seditionists, he reminded them of historical examples going back as far as the time of the Patriarch Abraham, to reveal how God always protected the Israelites, and saved them from their enemies, without resorting to war and bloodshed. He mentions Abraham and Sarah; the Egyptian Pharaoh and the Ten Plagues; as well as the Philistines who stole the Ark of the Covenant and who were thus smitten with a bodily plague; the proud Assyrian king Sennacherib who returned to his land in humble defeat; Jewish king Zedekiah who foolishly resisted Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar; and Cyrus the Great who delivered them from Babylonian bondage after Seventy Years of Captivity.

Josephus reminded them of how God sent the Prophet Jeremiah to inform the Jews of that era of how angry God was at them, and to warn them to surrender Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, before it was too late and they were enslaved and taken to Babylon. Josephus then declared that the seditionists on the wall who were listening to him were ashamed of the wicked crimes which they had committed against their own people, and that is why they were mocking him and throwing darts at him. They did not want him exposing their sins as he was doing.

After that, Josephus likewise reminded the insurrectionists of how during the Maccabean revolt over two hundred years earlier, the Jews had fought against the Seleucid Empire and its king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had suppressed the Jewish religion. As a result, the Jews initially lost the war, their religion was banned, the city of Jerusalem was placed under Seleucid control, and the temple itself was polluted with swine being sacrificed on its altar. So Josephus wanted the seditionists to understand again that fighting, instead of trusting in God, would not lead to anything good for them.

On a side note, as I explain in some of my other articles, the Seleucid Empire was actually a Greek -- or Macedonian -- state which had been founded in 312 BC by Seleucus I Nicator. He was one of the four generals who carved up the Macedonian Empire following the early death of Alexander the Great.

While the Maccabees were able to regain control of the city for a few short years -- during which time they cleansed and rededicated their temple, resulting in the Jewish festival known as Hanukkah -- after Judas Maccabeus died in battle in 160 BC, the Seleucids regained direct control of Jerusalem. However, Jonathan Apphus -- who was likewise one of the five sons of Mattathias ben Johanan -- continued to resist the Seleucids. He was eventually captured and assassinated. As a result, Simon Thassi -- another son of Mattathias, and thus the brother of Judas and Jonathan -- became the new leader in Jerusalem.

Eventually, Simon succeeded in expelling the Greeks -- that is to say, the Seleucids -- from their citadel in Jerusalem in 141 BC. Known as Acra, it was a fortified compound which had been built by Antiochus IV Epiphanes after he had gained control of Jerusalem in 168 BC. And thus Simon established a semi-autonomous kingdom in Judea which became known as the Hasmonean Dynasty. He was elected its first prince and high priest and reigned from 142 to 135 BC. As the Seleucids fell into decline, the Hasmoneans gained more power, independence and territory, until their kingdom included the regions of Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea, in addition to Judea itself.

History records that due to an alliance which was made with the Roman Republic, Jewish independence was guaranteed for a time. However, eventually, towards the very end of the reign of Queen Salome Alexandra, serious trouble broke out between her two sons -- John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II -- both of whom were rather intent on becoming the next ruler of the Hasmonean Kingdom. John was the eldest son, but he was less popular with the people. He often sided with the Pharisees. On the other hand, his younger brother Aristobulus was very ambitious, and popular with the people. He tended to side mostly with the Sadducees.

Alexandra favored Hyrcanus. Thus, upon her death, he became king of Judea for a brief period. After a skirmish between the forces of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus at Jericho, in which many of John's men went over to Aristobulus' side, the two brothers engaged in peace negotiations. This resulted in John Hyrcanus abdicating the throne to his brother. However, the conflict did not end there, because a rich, influential Idumaean by the name of Antipater -- who strongly disliked Aristobulus and preferred Hyrcanus to be king -- convinced John that he should not surrender the throne so easily. In fact, this Antipater was the father of Herod the Great, who eventually became the first Herodian king of Judea.

This eventually got the Nabataeans involved in the conflict. Aretas III -- the king of the Nabataeans -- made a deal with John and gave him 50,000 cavalrymen and infantrymen. The end result was that Aristobulus' forces were defeated, and he was forced to retreat back to Jerusalem. By this point, the civil war between the two brothers had become intense. They both tried to secure the support of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who had been appointed as proquaestor in Syria by the Roman general Pompey. A Roman proquaestor was a magistrate who was responsible for managing the treasury and financial affairs in a Roman province.

After considering his options, Scaurus sided with Aristobulus and not with Hyrcanus. He also ordered Aretas III to withdraw his forces. Without the support of the Nabataeans, Hyrcanus began to lose the civil war against his brother, Aristobulus. Both brothers then tried to gain the support of Roman general Pompey. However, upon realizing that John Hyrcanus would be much easier for the Romans to manipulate, Pompey sided with John. Thus in late 64 BC, Pompey took his forces that were in Syria, and headed south in order to confront Aristobulus, who was encamped in the fortress of Alexandrium that was situated on the top of a mountain.

After several attempts at negotiations, Pompey convinced him to have his soldiers leave the fortress, which they in fact did. However, Aristobulus then regretted his decision, and so he fled to Jerusalem. At this point in our account, while you may possibly think that we have taken a long detour from our main story regarding how Josephus was trying to convince the seditionists in Jerusalem to surrender to Titus and his army, as you will now come to understand, all of these historical events do in fact connect together.

You see, right after Josephus shared the example of how the Maccabees had suffered defeat because instead of trusting in God, they had chosen to fight against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, he then reminds the seditionists of how Pompey was forced to intervene in Jerusalem due to the ongoing civil war which had erupted between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. This intervention resulted in the first Roman siege against Jerusalem as Pompey arrived from Syria in 63 BC. And so, Josephus writes thusly:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And what need I bring any more examples? Indeed what can it be that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? Is it not the impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our servitude commence? Was it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, WHEN THE MADNESS OF ARISTOBULUS AND HYRCANUS, and our mutual quarrels, brought POMPEY upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the Romans, who were unworthy of the liberty they had enjoyed. After a siege, therefore, of three months, they were forced to surrender themselves, although they had not been guilty of such offences with regard to our sanctuary and our laws, as you have; and this while they had much greater advantages to go to war than you have."

----- End Quote -----

In order to garner even more details regarding the Hasmonean high priests, and how Pompey laid siege against Jerusalem in 63 BC, we need to not only study other books and chapters in "The Wars of the Jews", but we also need to refer to another companion work by Josephus called "Antiquities of the Jews", which I briefly mentioned in part one of this same series. For example, if we look at Book 20 Chapter 10 of "Antiquities of the Jews", we discover how the descendants of Asamoneus became the high priests of the Hasmonean Dynasty. But exactly who is Asamoneus? This name -- which is also spelled Asmoneus -- is the Greek -- or Hellenized -- form of the Hebrew name which Josephus preferred to use, being as his two works were written in Greek.

Regarding the origin of the name, there are several different theories. The first posits that the name may be derived from the Hebrew name Hashmonai. A second theory suggests that the Hebrew name Hashmona'i may be linked to the village of Heshmon which is mentioned in Joshua 15:27. Lastly, there is a third opinion which attributes the name to "Ha Simeon", which could be a veiled reference to the tribe of Simeon. But to continue, Asamoneus is believed to have been the great-grandfather of Mattathias, who as I discussed earlier, fathered five sons, two of which -- Judas Maccabeus and Jonathan Apphus -- were the original leaders of the Maccabean Revolt, along with their father. Thus, when Simon Thassi founded the Hasmonean Dynasty after kicking the Seleucids/Greeks out of Jerusalem, that is the name which became associated with his dynasty and kingdom.

Having now explained these various points to you, let's take a look at Book 20 Chapter 10 of the "Antiquities of the Jews" where Josephus discusses the rise of each of these kings and high priests, as well as how Pompey was eventually forced to take control of Jerusalem following the 63 BC siege. What we also see mentioned in the excerpt below is how King Herod the Great became the first puppet king appointed by the Senate of Rome. Herod was in fact a lifelong friend of Mark Antony, and a strong supporter of Rome. As I mentioned in part one of our series, this trend continued with Herod's successors, until the final and seventh Herod, who was Herod Agrippa II.

Herod's gradual rise to power was due in large part to the fact that his father, Antipater, had good relations with the Roman general and eventual dictator, Julius Caesar. As I also note in articles such as "Greater Israel Doctrine: Exposed!", while Herod and his sons were Idumaean -- or Edomites -- by birth, he embedded his life with Jewish royalty upon marrying the Hasmonean princess Mariamne -- who he also later executed -- who was the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II. Herod was in fact raised according to the Jewish faith. Josephus mentions this marriage in the excerpt below:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now, when Jacimus had retained the priesthood three years, he died, and there was no one that succeeded him, so that the city continued seven years without a high priest; but then the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus, who had the government of the nation conferred upon them, when they had beaten the Macedonians in war, appointed Jonathan to be their high priest, who ruled over them seven years. And when he had been slain by the treacherous contrivance of Trypho, as we have related somewhere, Simon his brother took the high priesthood; and when he was destroyed at a feast by the treachery of his son-in-law, his own son, whose name was Hyrcanus, succeeded him, after he had held the high priesthood one year longer than his brother.

This Hyrcanus enjoyed that dignity thirty years, and died an old man, leaving the succession to Judas, who was also called Aristobulus, whose brother Alexander was his heir; which Judas died of a sore distemper, after he had kept the priesthood, together with the royal authority, for this Judas was the first that put on his head a diadem, for one year. And when Alexander had been both king and high priest twenty-seven years, he departed this life, and permitted his wife Alexandra to appoint him that should be high priest; so she gave the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, but retained the kingdom herself nine years, and then departed this life.

The like duration [and no longer] did her son Hyrcanus enjoy the high priesthood; for after her death his brother Aristobulus fought against him, and beat him, and deprived him of his principality; and he did himself both reign, and perform the office of high priest to God. But when he had reigned three years and as many months, Pompey came upon him, and not only took the city of Jerusalem by force, but put him and his children in bonds, and sent them to Rome. He [Pompey] also restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, and made him governor of the nation, but forbade him to wear a diadem.

This Hyrcanus ruled, besides his first nine years, twenty-four years more, when Barzapharnes and Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, passed over Euphrates, and fought with Hyrcanus, and took him alive, and made Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, king; and when he had reigned three years and three months, Sosius and Herod besieged him, and took him, when Antony had him brought to Antioch, and slain there. Herod was then made king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint high priests out of the family of Asamoneus; but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent families, but barely of those that were priests, excepting that he gave that dignity to Aristobulus; for when he had made this Aristobulus, the grandson of that Hyrcanus who was then taken by the Parthians, and had taken his sister Mariamne to wife, he thereby aimed to win the good-will of the people, who had a kind remembrance of Hyrcanus [his grandfather.]

Yet did he [King Herod] afterward, out of his fear lest they should all bend their inclinations to Aristobulus, put him to death, and that by contriving how to have him suffocated as he was swimming at Jericho, as we have already related that matter; but after this man he never intrusted the high priesthood to the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus. Archelaus also, Herod's son, did like his father in the appointment of the high priests, as did the Romans also who took the government over the Jews into their hands afterward.

Accordingly the number of the high priests, from the days of Herod until the day when Titus took the temple and the city, and burnt them, were in all twenty-eight; the time also that belonged to them was a hundred and seven years. Some of these were the political governors of the people under the reign of Herod, and under the reign of Archelaus his son, although, after their death, the government became an aristocracy, and the high priests were intrusted with a dominion over the nation. And thus much may suffice to be said concerning our high priests."

----- End Quote -----

If any of the information in the previous paragraphs seems a little confusing to you, following is a simplified breakdown of the aforementioned events:

Maccabees [The Rebel Leaders]:

1. Mattathias, 170–167 BC

2. Judas Maccabeus, 167–160 BC

3. Jonathan Apphus, 160–143 BC [High Priest from 152 BC]

Hasmonean Monarchs [Ethnarchs and Kings] and High Priests:

Note: "Ethnarch" generally refers to political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. This term is derived from the Greek words "ethnos" -- meaning tribe or nation" -- and "archon" -- meaning leader or ruler.

1. Simon Thassi, 142–135 BC [Ethnarch and High Priest]

2. John Hyrcanus I, 134–104 BC [Ethnarch and High Priest]

3. Aristobulus I, 104–103 BC [King and High Priest]

4. Alexander Jannaeus, 103–76 BC [King and High Priest]

5. Salome Alexandra, 76–67 BC [the only Queen regnant]

6. Hyrcanus II, 67–66 BC [King from 67 BC; High Priest from 76 BC]

7. Aristobulus II, 66–63 BC [King and High Priest]

8. Hyrcanus II [restored by Pompey], 63–40 BC [High Priest from 63 BC; Ethnarch from 47 BC]

9. Antigonus, 40–37 BC [King and High Priest]

10. Aristobulus III, 36 BC [only High Priest]

In 37 BC, Herod the Great -- the second son of Antipater the Idumaean -- overthrew the Hasmonean Dynasty and began ruling in Judea. As Josephus notes in the previous excerpt, Herod viewed Aristobulus III -- who was his wife Mariamne's brother and grandson of Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II -- as a threat and feared that he might be made king of Judea. However, under pressure from Aristobulus' mother -- former Queen Alexandra -- who received assistance from Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Herod was forced to remove Ananelus -- a non-Hasmonean -- from the office of the high priest, and install Aristobulus as the high priest instead. Herod had installed Ananelus to fill the high priest office which had been left vacant due to the death of Hasmonean high priest Antigonus in 37 BC.

However, King Herod remained very distrustful of Aristobulus. Thus, he eventually ordered Aristobulus' assassination in 35 BC. And so, the man was drowned while he was bathing in a pool in Jericho during a banquet which had been organized by his mother, Alexandra. Aristobulus was in fact the last Hasmonean high priest. Upon his death, Herod restored Ananelus as the high priest. As Josephus notes, after that, Herod appointed baser men to the position according to his personal whim.

Now that I've explained to you the historic events from the invasion by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to the Maccabean Revolt, to the origin of the Seleucid Empire, to the rise, reign and fall of the Hasmonean Dynasty, to the rise of King Herod the Great, we are going to dig even deeper into the writings of Flavius Josephus to see exactly how General Pompey took over Jerusalem in 63 AD. As it turns out, Josephus first mentions Pompey in Paragraph 7 of his opening preface to "The Wars of the Jews" where he writes the following. Please notice again that where Josephus writes "how their posterity quarrelled about the government", he's referring to the civil war which broke out between Hasmonean brothers John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II:

----- Begin Quote -----

"[For example, I shall relate,] how Antiochus, who was named Epiphanes, took Jerusalem by force, and held it three years and three months, and was then ejected out of the country by the sons of Asamoneus [meaning the Maccabees]; after that, how their posterity quarrelled about the government, and brought upon their settlement the Romans and Pompey;"

----- End Quote -----

Turning to Book 1 Chapters 4 to 6 of "The Wars of the Jews", we find Josephus' first mention of Alexander and Alexandra, and their two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Being as I've already discussed the civil war which arose between them, I'm going to skip over that part of Josephus' writings and fast forward to the point where Roman General Pompey enters the picture. However, before doing that, I do want to mention an interesting point which Josephus makes regarding the reign of Queen Salome Alexandra. He states that during her reign, the power in the Hasmonean Kingdom belonged to the Pharisees, as we see by the following excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her [meaning Queen Alexandra], to assist her in the government, These are a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. Now, Alexandra hearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favour by little and little, and became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their pleasure, and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra."

----- End Quote -----

As you may recall, after Roman General Pompey had convinced the army of Aristobulus to come down from their mountain fortress known as Alexandrium, Aristobulus had misgivings regarding his decision. Thus he fled to Jerusalem. However, as Josephus now reveals, his intention was not to surrender to Pompey, but rather to actually wage war against him, and to also prepare for the coming Roman siege which would beset Jerusalem. However, Pompey was fast on his heels, as we see by the following excerpt that is taken from Book 1 Chapter 6 of "The Wars of the Jews":

----- Begin Quote -----

"Accordingly he [meaning Aristobulus] did what he was ordered to do; but had still an indignation in what was done, and retired to Jerusalem, and prepared to fight with Pompey.

But Pompey did not give him time to make any preparations [for a siege,] but followed him at his heels; he was also obliged to make haste in his attempt, by the death of Mithridates, of which he was informed about Jericho. Now here is the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears a vast number of palm-trees, besides the balsam-tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, and at the incisions they gather the juice, which drops down like tears. So Pompey pitched his camp in that place one night, and then hasted away the next morning to Jerusalem; but Aristobulus was so affrighted at his approach, that he came and met him by way of supplication. He also promised him money, and that he would deliver up both himself and the city into his disposal, and thereby mitigated the anger of Pompey. Yet did not he perform any of the conditions he had agreed to; for Aristobulus' party would not so much as admit Crabinius into the city, who was sent to receive the money that he had promised."

----- End Quote -----

As you can see, Aristobulus was one cowardly, conniving liar. While he promised to surrender both himself and the city to Pompey, and to even give Pompey money in order to appease his anger, he did no such thing. As we begin Book 1 Chapter 7, we see that Aristobulus' actions have only angered Pompey. Thus, the general takes Aristobulus into custody, and then he looks over Jerusalem in order to determine which would be the best method for taking the city.

But then we come upon a familiar scene we have seen before. Just as the Jerusalemites of 70 AD were divided between the seditionists -- Zealots, Sicarii and other violent thugs -- who desired to fight against Titus, and the peaceful people who wanted to surrender to him in order to save their lives, we see the very same thing occurring in 63 BC as General Pompey prepares to lay siege against the city. Not only that, but just as the insurrectionists of 70 AD retreated into the temple compound and shut themselves in, Aristobulus' men do the very same thing. Consider the following excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"At this treatment Pompey was very angry, and took Aristobulus into custody. And when he was come to the city he looked about where he might make his attack; for he saw the walls were so firm that it would be hard to overcome them, and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, the temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.

Now, as he [Pompey] was long in deliberating about this matter, a sedition arose among the people within the city: Aristobulus' party being willing to fight, and to set their king at liberty, while the party of Hyrcanus were for opening the gates to Pompey; and the dread people were in, occasioned these last to be a very numerous party, when they looked upon the excellent order the Roman soldiers were in. So Aristobulus' party was worsted, and retired into the temple, and cut off the communication between the temple and the city, by breaking down the bridge that joined them together, and prepared to make an opposition to the utmost;"

----- End Quote -----

We next read that those people who sided with John Hyrcanus did in fact invite Pompey and his army into the city, upon which the Romans took control of the royal palace, and then distributed soldiers around the city, being as they weren't able to convince the insurrectionists in the temple compound to surrender. Just as General Titus would do 133 years later in 70 AD, Pompey likewise prepared for battle by filling in the surrounding valleys, building siege ramps and towers, and bringing in their engines of war. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

". . . but as the others [meaning those who had sided with John Hyrcanus] had received the Romans into the city, and had delivered up the palace to him, Pompey sent Piso, one of his great officers, into that palace with an army, who distributed a garrison about the city, because he could not persuade any one of those that had fled to the temple, to come to terms of accommodation; he then disposed all things that were round about them so as might favour their attacks, as having Hyrcanus' party very ready to afford them both counsel and assistance.

But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that was on the north side of the temple and the entire valley also, the army itself being obliged to carry the materials for that purpose. And indeed it was a hard thing to fill up that valley by reason of its immense depth, especially as the Jews used all the means possible to repel them from their superior station; nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavours, had not Pompey taken notice of the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work on a religious account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers from fighting on those days; for the Jews only acted defensively on sabbath days. But as soon as Pompey had filled up the valley, he erected high towers upon the bank, and brought those engines which they had fetched from Tyre, near to the wall and tried to batter it down; and the slingers of stones beat off those that stood above them, and drove them away; but the towers on this side of the city made a very great resistance, and were indeed extraordinary both for largeness and magnificence."

----- End Quote -----

Please go to part sixteen for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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