Antiochus
IV and the Desecration of the Temple
"Palestine
came under Seleucid control in 198 BCE, when the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III
(the Great) drove the Ptolemids out of Asia. Antiochus III allowed Judea to
continue as a semiautonomous state. But under his second successor, Antiochus
IV Epiphanes (175-163), relations between Judea and the Greek rulers
disintegrated. The great problem of the Seleucid state was the expansion of
Rome, which had already inflicted a humiliating defeat on Antiochus III.
Pressed for cash, the Seleucid rulers took to plundering the temples of their
subject peoples. Temples were always good sources of money because of the
precious metals used in their ritual equipment and decorations and because,
being regarded as inviolable, they often served as depositories for public, and
even private funds. In this way, the Judean temple came to the attention of the
Seleucids as a possible source of treasure.
 |
| Antiochus IV Epiphanes |
A
Judean priest named Joshua or Jason...upper-class Judeans had both Hebrew and
Greek names...bribed Antiochus IV to make him high priest, offering both money
and the promise to Hellenize the state The legitimate high priest fled, but was
assassinated.
Jason
introduced the gymnasium into Jerusalem. In this typically Greek institution,
games in honor of pagan deities were conducted in the Nude...The religious
character of the games was profoundly offensive to Yahwist sensibilities.
Furthermore, the nudity of the gymnasium called attention to the traditional
practice of circumcision. To avoid appearing provincial or backward, many
Judeans gave up the practice, or, at the cost of painful surgery, had their own
circumcision undone. Thus, the introduction of the gymnasium was seen as the
first step in turning Jerusalem into a Greek city.
Jason
was succeeded as high priest by Menelaus, who outdid Jason's bribe by selling
the Temple vessels and helping Antiochus IV plunder the Temple in 169, even
stripping the gold leaf from its facade. By now, the populace was fiercely
opposed to the Hellenizers and to Seleucid rule. To quell this opposition,
Antiochus IV partially destroyed the city, killing some of the people and
pulling down the city walls, He built a citadel, known as the Akra, near the
Temple and there installed a Seleucid garrison, which became the main focus of
Judean hatred for Greek rule for twenty-five years. He also embarked on a
policy of enforced Hellenization."1
"All
Jews who would not apostatize to Greek idolatry and life-style were murdered on
the spot. Prayers, observing the Sabbath, circumcision were forbidden on
penalty of death. Many died rather than apostatize."2 "The
Torah, instituted as the law of the Judeans by the Persian emperor Artaxerxes
I, was not abrogated by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV. Copies of the text were
destroyed, and typical Jewish religious institutions, such as circumcision, the
Sabbath, and the festivals, were outlawed. Pagan altars were built throughout
the land, and people were compelled to eat pork to demonstrate their obedience
to the new law and cult. In December 167, the Temple itself was formally
converted into a pagan shrine and a sacrifice of pork offered on the alter.
Antiochus IV also demanded that he himself be worshiped as a god. The practice
of king worship had been introduced by Alexander and was not considered odd
among the pagan subjects of the Hellenistic rulers of the Near East, but to the
monotheistic Judeans it seemed madness itself, and it was not long before they
were lampooning his title, Epiphanes (meaning 'the God manifest'), by
distorting it into Epimanes (meaning 'the madman').3
Antiochus'
measures mark the beginning of one of the dominant themes of Jewish
history--the notion of Judaism as a persecuted religion. Until this point,
whatever misfortunes had befallen the Jews had been purely political
consequences of the fact that they were a small nation living in a territory
that was contested by the great powers to the south and to the east. Their
religion, so different from the religions of the pagan neighbors, was merely a
feature of the national culture, and had never been attacked as such. By
contrast, Antiochus' measures were directed not so much against the Judean
state which he already controlled at the beginning of his reign, but against
the Judean religion and culture, which he--like many Judeans--was determined to
harmonize with the religion and culture of the rest of this kingdom. The result
of his efforts was to create the first Jewish martyrs and to incite a rebellion
that contributed to the undermining of his control of the region.4
In
Modein, near Jerusalem, the Jews heard that Antiochus had desecrated the House
of God by erecting a pagan altar to Zeus over the altar of Yahweh, and
sacrificed swine on it. They knew that every Jew who would not worship the
pagan idols and live the foreign immoral life-style was murdered, and that many
circumcised children and their mothers were slaughtered. They were also aware
that all found copies of the Torah were being systematically destroyed.5
Therefore,
in Modein, a rebellion was started by Mattathias, the head of a family of
conservative country priests.6 Mattathias and his Hasmonean family
organized a guerrilla-type army, later to be led by his third son, Judah. Judah
became known as the Maccabee, or "the hammer." This group harassed
the Seleucid troops, destroyed pagan altars, and attracted rebels in large
numbers. In December 164 BCE, they were able to enter Jerusalem, destroy the
garrison in the Akra,7 and recapture the Jerusalem Temple. It was
cleansed, refurnished, and rededicated exactly three years to-the-day of its
desecration. The Maccabees ordained the annual festival of Hanukkah to
commemorated their rededication of the alter and the Temple. The Hasmonean
Dynasty then ruled Palestine from 135 to 37 B.C.8
In
162 BCE, Antiochus' successors formally abrogated his policies, restored the
Torah as the law of Judea, and appointed a new high priest named Alcimus. This
step put an end to the party of Judean Hellenizers and should have put an end
to Judah's rebellion. But Judah objected to the appointment of Alcimus,
considering him religiously compromised by his behavior during the Antiochene
persecutions. Accordingly, he marched again, this time not against pagans but
against Alcimus' Judean supporters, many of whom had once fought at Judah's own
side against Antiochus' troops. The new Seleucid king, Demetrius I, sent a
general...against Judah, but Judah conquered him and again entered Jerusalem in
triumph in 161. This victory made Judah master of the country. Like other heads
of smaller states subject to the deteriorating Seleucid kingdom, he turned to
Rome for support, and the Senate confirmed the freedom of the nation of the
Judeans. For the first time since the Babylonian conquest of the kingdom of
Judah in 587 BCE, the Judeans were recognized as an independent power. This
moment, however, also marks the fateful entrance of Rome into Judean
affairs."9
Notes
3Scheindlin, 37-38.
4Ibid, 38.
5 Festivals, par. 8.
6Scheindlin, 38
7Ibid, 38.
8 Festivals, par. 11.
9Scheindlin, 38-39.
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