• Last lesson
    • Men of action: the Maccabees
      • Revolt against Menelaus
      • Revolt against Seleucids
      • Purification and rededication of the temple
      • Establishment of Hasmonean Dynasty
  • This lesson
    • More on the Hasmonean Dynasty
      • Expansion of Judea
      • Doctrine of proselytizing
      • Position of Galilee
      • John Hyrcanus
      • Aristobulus
      • Jannaeus
      • Civil war
  • Hasmonean Dynasty established
    • Irony of change in philosophy
    • Outcropping of “schisms”
    • Motivation of priestly service corrupted – again
  • Simon ratified as high priest
    • Not a foreign appointment
    • Onias III, IV, etc.
    • Priests and elders agree
    • Hasmonean Dynasty begins in 140 BC
  • Hasmonean embassy in Rome – 159 BC
  • New king in Antioch – 158 BC
    • Demands Judea return to original borders
    • Simon refuses
    • Another war
  • Seleucid-instigated coup attempt
    • Simon and two sons assassinated
    • Third son (John Hyrcanus) escapes
  • John Hyrcanus new high priest
    • Offers troops to Antiochus VII
    • Antiochus VII besieges Jerusalem
    • Imposes new status on Judea
    • Antiochus VII killed in battle vs Parthians
  • Balance of John Hyrcanus’ rule
    • Seleucid empire in disarray
      • Multiple attempts at taking throne
      • All anti-Jewish actions interrupted
      • Empire shrinks
    • Judea again widens its borders
  • Effects of expansion
    • Observance of law vs proselytizing
      • Exodus 12:48
      • Leviticus 24:22
      • Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-3 – Some thought these prophecies meant they should go out and make Jews of the people that were brought into Judea. Proselytizing was not permitted under the Old Law. These verses were talking about the coming of Jesus.
      • Acts 2:8-12
      • Acts 8:27 – The Ethiopian eunuch was probably a proselyte.
      • Matthew 23:15
    • Hellenized cities vs Easternized
    • Idumea
      • Mass forced conversion
      • Defections
      • Conversion not necessarily assimilation