From 2 Maccabees 3—4 and Daniel 11:20 we learn about a series of events that modern scholars describe as “the Heliodorus affair." These events unfolded against the backdrop of political and economic rivalries between Jerusalem's leading families during the first quarter of the second century B. C.E. These families jockeyed for power by aligning themselves with the Ptolemies or Seleucids. The Heliodorus affair was set in motion during the time of Onias III, the high priest in Jerusalem during the reign of Seleucus IV (187—175 B. C.E.). A supporter of the Tobiads named Simon, who was captain of the temple (an administrative position), accused Onias III of hiding money in the Jerusalem temple that should have been declared to the Seleucid king. Seleucus IV sent his finance minister, Heliodorus, to Jerusalem to investigate, and Onias III headed to Antioch to seek an audience with the king and clear his name. While he was away, Onias III left his brother Jason (Hebrew Jeshua) in charge as interim high priest. Although he reached Antioch, Onias III never got to meet the king, who was assassinated by Heliodorus and was succeeded to the throne by his brother, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175—164 B. C.E.). In the meantime, Jason secured for himself the position of high priest by paying off Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and received permission from Antiochus to refound Jerusalem as a Greek polls.
In 172 B. C.E., Jason sent Menelaus (the brother of Simon, the former captain of the temple), to make the required annual payment to the Seleucid king. Menelaus took advantage of the opportunity to outbid Jason, offering
Antiochus IV Epiphanes more money for the position of high priest. Jason fled to Ammon and eventually to Sparta, where he died. Onias III, who was still in Antioch, was assassinated by a hit man hired by Menelaus. His son, Onias IV, fled to Egypt, where he established the Jewish temple at Leontopo-lis, over which the Oniads presided until it was shut down by Vespasian in 73 C. E.
The Oniads were Zadokite high priests. This means they traced their ancestry back to Zadok, the high priest appointed by Solomon to officiate in the first temple. The Zadokites controlled the high priesthood in the Jerusalem temple until it was usurped by Menelaus, who was not a Zadokite, and they never regained the high priesthood. The Oniad branch of the Zadokite family established and presided over the temple at Leontopolis in Egypt. Another branch of the Zadokites remained in Jerusalem, accommodated with the ruling powers, and eventually became known as the Sadducees (Zadokite and Sadducee are the same word in Hebrew). A third branch of the Zadokite family was instrumental in founding the sect that eventually became known as the Essenes, members of which established the settlement at Qumran (see Chapter 6).
Recommended Reading
Albert I. Baumgarten, The Flourishing of Jewish Sects in the Maccabean Era: An Interpretation (New York: Brill, 1997).
Erich Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome, Vols. 1-2 (Berkeley: University of California, 1984).
Judith McKenzie, The Architecture of Petra (New York: Oxford University, 1990).
Anthony J. Saldarini, Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees in Palestinian Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001).
Stephan G. Schmid, “The Nabataeans: Travellers between Lifestyles,” in Burton MacDonald, Russell Adams, and Piotr Bienkowski (eds.), The Archaeology of Jordan (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 367-426.
World History
