We've been looking at important Jewish political parties active during Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees and the Essenes. Both influenced Jesus' teaching because of their influence on the thinking of the average Jew at the time of Christ and because of their vocal opposition to Jesus in the gospels. In Part 1 and Part 2 we looked at some background info on the origins of these groups. Now, we're going to learn about the historical reasons for their interest in keeping themselves pure from the evils of society.
The Abomination of Desolation
By the time of Antiochus’ reign as Seleucid ruler, (175-164 BC) Palestine had become a buffer state between two hostile empires, the Ptolemaic empire of Egypt to the south and the Seleucid empire of Syria to the north. Due to massive debts incurred by his father by an ill-advised campaign against the Romans in Greece, Antiochus needed sources for quick money. The temple in Jerusalem and its treasures were too appealing to resist. He plundered the temple and installed a series of puppet High Priests, selling the office to the highest bidder.
After a series of humiliating military defeats, the raging king took out his frustration on the Jews in 168 BC. He decided to abolish the temple-state in Jerusalem, exterminate the Jewish religion, and rename Jerusalem as New Antioch. His methods for achieving this transformation where swift, shrewd, and brutal.
Antiochus moved to demolish the walls of the city. He established a Greek-style acropolis where the newly defined citizens met, the so-called Antiochenes of Jerusalem. Worse, Antiochus launched a concerted attach on the fundamentals of the covenant faith of Israel…destroyed copies of the Scriptures, forbade circumcision and abolished the covenantal food laws. In climax an altar dedicated to Zeus was erected upon the altar in the temple of Yahweh. Unclean animals (pigs) were sacrificed upon it.
This act of desecrating the temple is known to history as the Abomination of Desolation. Such a devastating attack against their religion forces the Jews to take drastic action.
Against this pressure of persecution and suffering, a lingering fracture in the foundation of Jewish society became more apparent as the Jews search for a way to respond to the corruption and forced Hellenization both theologically and politically. Two parties emerged within Jewish society with different ideas on how to react to the evils of Antiochus - the Hasmonaeans and the Hasidaeans.
War
The Hasmonaeans responded with a call to arms that sparked the Maccabean revolt. They battled Antiochus IV in a series of guerrilla strikes that eventually resulted in a measure of religious freedom for the Jews. They rededicated the temple in 164 BC and defeated the Selucids for good in about 143 BC. In a sense, the Hasmonaeans chose to fight fire with fire and took a direct path of action which was not always in complete obedience with the Torah, but was effective in winning the conflict.
In contrast, their counterparts the Hasidaeans became increasingly and in varying degrees withdrawn from society. Many Hasidaeans go into the wilderness to remove themselves from the corruption of their times. First Maccabees describes a group of Hasidaeans “who were seeking righteousness and justice” living in the wilderness in community. They responded to the aggression of Antiochus with an unswerving, dedication to the law:
And it was reported to the king’s officers…that men who had rejected the king’s [Antiochus’] command had gone down to the hiding places into the wilderness. Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the Sabbath day. And they said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.” But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the Sabbath day.” Then the enemy hastened to attack them. But they did not anser them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” So they attacked them on the Sabbath, and they died with their wives and children and cattle to the number of a thousand persons. (1 Macc 2:31-38)
The Hasidaean’s commitment to obedience to the Torah was so intense that they were willing to uphold the command of the Sabbath to the point of death. This fierce, sacrificial respect for the law was a defining trait of these pious ones who trusted their fate entirely to God.
Next time: The disagreement that would split the Hasidaean's into two factions that grew to become the Pharisees and Essenes...
