Vered Noam
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198811381
- eISBN:
- 9780191848414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198811381.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter examines the story of the internecine struggle between the two Hasmonean brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which brought the Hasmonean commonwealth to its end. Only in Josephus ...
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This chapter examines the story of the internecine struggle between the two Hasmonean brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which brought the Hasmonean commonwealth to its end. Only in Josephus is the story of the murder of a righteous man, Onias, juxtaposed to the central tradition regarding the siege of the temple during this war, although this too was clearly an early Jewish tradition. In the rabbinic sources, the story of the siege and the sacrificial animals underwent multiple reworkings, and it is the Babylonian Talmud that reflects the more original version and message of the story. If in Chapter 2, we saw the “rabbinization” of the figure of John Hyrcanus, here the story itself underwent this process and its original moral message was replaced by multiple halakhic implications. In both corpora, this dissension between brothers is seen as the leading cause of the downfall of the Hasmonean dynasty. This was in contradistinction to the political stance represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which interpreted the Roman occupation as proof of the sinfulness of the Hasmonean state from its very inception.Less
This chapter examines the story of the internecine struggle between the two Hasmonean brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which brought the Hasmonean commonwealth to its end. Only in Josephus is the story of the murder of a righteous man, Onias, juxtaposed to the central tradition regarding the siege of the temple during this war, although this too was clearly an early Jewish tradition. In the rabbinic sources, the story of the siege and the sacrificial animals underwent multiple reworkings, and it is the Babylonian Talmud that reflects the more original version and message of the story. If in Chapter 2, we saw the “rabbinization” of the figure of John Hyrcanus, here the story itself underwent this process and its original moral message was replaced by multiple halakhic implications. In both corpora, this dissension between brothers is seen as the leading cause of the downfall of the Hasmonean dynasty. This was in contradistinction to the political stance represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which interpreted the Roman occupation as proof of the sinfulness of the Hasmonean state from its very inception.
Michael C. Legaspi
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190885120
- eISBN:
- 9780190885151
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190885120.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Early Christian Studies
Aristobulus and the author of Wisdom of Solomon conceived of wisdom in much the same way that earlier Greek, non-Jewish thinkers did: as knowledge of the whole—of things human, cosmic, and ...
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Aristobulus and the author of Wisdom of Solomon conceived of wisdom in much the same way that earlier Greek, non-Jewish thinkers did: as knowledge of the whole—of things human, cosmic, and divine—which underlies, requires, and informs the life of virtue. Moreover, they readily identified sophia with wisdom as found in the Jewish scriptures, especially in the figure of Solomon and in the Pentateuchal narratives. Their engagement with the scriptures yields a wisdom program centered on rational monotheism, virtue, and the hope of immortality. This program, however, was also characterized by a strong emphasis on the national form of wisdom. In its capacity as ruling knowledge, wisdom must also belong to human leaders. Understanding wisdom in these terms, as that which brings the metaphysical, cosmic, social, and personal into harmony, Hellenistic Jews commended their way of life to the nations.Less
Aristobulus and the author of Wisdom of Solomon conceived of wisdom in much the same way that earlier Greek, non-Jewish thinkers did: as knowledge of the whole—of things human, cosmic, and divine—which underlies, requires, and informs the life of virtue. Moreover, they readily identified sophia with wisdom as found in the Jewish scriptures, especially in the figure of Solomon and in the Pentateuchal narratives. Their engagement with the scriptures yields a wisdom program centered on rational monotheism, virtue, and the hope of immortality. This program, however, was also characterized by a strong emphasis on the national form of wisdom. In its capacity as ruling knowledge, wisdom must also belong to human leaders. Understanding wisdom in these terms, as that which brings the metaphysical, cosmic, social, and personal into harmony, Hellenistic Jews commended their way of life to the nations.
