Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time

by Michael Russell

But this savage intolerance produced in due time a formidable opposition. To a sincere believer death has always appeared a smaller evil than the relinquishment of his faith; and, in this respect, no people ancient or modern have shown more resolution than the descendants of Abraham. The severities of Antiochus, which had inflamed the resentment of the whole Jewish people, called forth in a hostile attitude the brave family of the Maccabees, whose valour and perseverance enabled them to dispute with the powerful monarch of Syria the sovereignty of Palestine. Judas, the ablest and most gallant of five sons, put himself at the head of the insurgents, whose zeal, more than compensating for the smallness of their numbers, carried him to victory against large armies and experienced generals. Making every allowance for the enthusiastic description of an admiring countryman, who has recorded the exploits of the Maccabaean chiefs, there will still remain the most ample evidence to satisfy every candid reader, that in all the great battles the fortune of war followed the standard of the Jews.

But the victorious Maccabees, who had delivered their country from the oppression of foreigners, encountered a more formidable enemy in the factious spirit of their own people. Alcimus, a tool of the Syrians, assumed the title of high-priest, and in virtue of his office claimed the obedience of all who acknowledged the institutions of Moses. In this emergency Judas courted the alliance of the Romans, who willingly extended their protection to confederates so likely to aid their ambitious views in the East; but before the Republic could interpose her arms in his behalf, the Hebrew general had fallen in the field of battle.

This distinguished patriot was succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who, though less celebrated as a warrior, had the good fortune to restore the drooping cause of his countrymen, and even to establish their rights on the footing of independence. Profiting by a sanguinary competition for the throne of Syria, he consented to employ his power in favour of Alexander Balas, on condition that, in return for so seasonable an aid; he should be allowed to assume the pontifical robe as ruler of Judea. Hence the origin of the Asmonean princes, who, uniting civil with spiritual authority, governed Palestine more than a hundred years.

But Jonathan fell the victim of that refined policy to which he was mainly indebted for his elevation. He left the sovereign priesthood to his brother Simon, who, wisely abstaining from all interference in the disputes which embroiled Egypt and Syria, directed his whole attention to the improvement of the Jewish kingdom. To secure the tranquillity which had been so dearly purchased he cultivated a more intimate connexion with Rome; remitting, from time to time, such valuable tokens of his respect as could not fail to make an impression on the venal minds of those aspiring chiefs who already contended for the empire of the world in that celebrated capital. But a conspiracy, originating in his own house, and fomented by the agents of Antiochus, put an end to the life of Simon and of his eldest son, who had earned considerable reputation in the command of armies. The duty of avenging his death and of governing a distracted country devolved upon his younger son, afterward well known in history by the name of John Hyrcanus.

The unhappy circumstances under which he succeeded to power compelled him to submit for a time to the condition of vassalage; but no sooner had Antiochus Sidetes fallen in the Parthian war, than John shook off the yoke of Syria, and exercised the rights of an independent sovereign. He even extended his sway beyond the Jordan, reducing several important towns to his obedience; though the achievement which most gratified his Jewish subjects was the capture of Shechem, followed by the demolition of the temple on Gerizim, so long regarded as the opprobrium of the Hebrew faith. At a later period he made himself master of Samaria and Galilee, when, to gratify still farther the vindictive grudge which yet rankled in the breasts of his people, he destroyed the capital of the former, and debased it to the condition of a stagnant lake. Nor was his attention confined to foreign conquest. He strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem, and built the castle of Baris within the walls which surrounded the hill of the Temple,—a stronghold, that at a future period attracted no small degree of notice under the name of Antonia.

The government was enjoyed during a brief space by Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, whose reign was only distinguished by the most painful domestic calamities. The throne was next occupied by Alexander Jannaeus, a man of ignoble birth, but of a warlike and very ambitious temper. The distracted state of the neighbouring countries induced him to take the field, with the view of reducing several towns on the coast of the Mediterranean,—an undertaking which finally involved him in the troubled politics of Egypt and Cyprus. In process of time, the severity of his measures, or the meanness of his extraction, rendered him so unpopular at Jerusalem that the inhabitants expelled him by force of arms. A civil war of the most sanguinary nature raged several years, during which the insurgents invited the assistance of Demetrius Euchaerus, one of the kings of Syria. This measure seems to have united a large party of Jews, who were equally hostile to the dominant faction within the city, and to the ally whom they had called to their aid. Alexander, after having repeatedly suffered the heaviest losses, saw himself again at the head of a powerful army, with which he resolved to march against the rebellious capital. He inflicted a signal punishment upon such of the unfortunate citizens as fell into his hands; ordering nearly a thousand of them to be crucified, and their wives and children to be butchered before their eyes.

Having fully re-established his power to the remotest parts of Palestine, the victorious high-priest, now drawing towards the close of his days, gave instructions to his wife for the future government of the country. Alexandria, a woman of a vigorous mind, held the reins of civil power with great steadiness, while her eldest son, Hyrcanus the Second, was decorated with the sacred diadem as the head of the nation. But, unhappily, the commotions which had disturbed the reign of her husband were again excited, and once more divided the people into two furious parties. Aristobulus, the younger son of Jannaeus, gave his countenance to the body who opposed his brother, and at length threw off his disguise so completely as to aspire to supreme power in defiance of the rights of birth and of a legal investiture. Hyrcanus, who was far inferior to his ambitious relative in point of talent and resolution, would probably, after the death of their mother, have been unable to keep his seat on the throne, had he not received the powerful aid of Antipatar, a son of Antipas, the governor of Idumea. Both sides were making preparation for an appeal to arms, when the Romans, who had already overrun the finest parts of Syria, advanced into the province of Palestine in the character at once of umpires and of allies.

Pompey readily listened to the claims of the two competitors, but deferred coming to an immediate decision; having resolved, as it afterward appeared, that neither of the kinsmen should continue any longer to possess the civil and military command of Judea. Aristobulus, impatient of delay, and having no confidence in the goodness of his cause, had recourse to arms, and at length shut himself up in Jerusalem. The Roman general issued orders to his lieutenant Gabinius to invest the holy city; which, after a siege of three months, was taken by assault at a great expense of human life.

Many of the priests who were employed in the duties of their office fell victims to the rage of the soldiers; while others, unable to witness the desecration of their Temple by the presence of idolaters, threw themselves from the rock on which that building stood. Induced by curiosity, the rival of Caesar imitated the profane boldness of Antiochus, penetrating into the Holy of Holies, and examining all the instruments of a worship which differed so much from that of all other nations. But Pompey was more politic, or more generous than the Syrian monarch; for although he found much treasure in the sanctuary as well as many vessels of gold and silver, he carried nothing away. He expressed much astonishment that, in a fane so magnificent, and frequented by Jews from all parts of the earth, there should be no material form, statue, nor picture to represent the Deity to whose honour it was erected. Having, in order to satisfy the scruples of the people, ordered a purification of the Temple, he renewed the appointment of Hyrcanus to the high priesthood, but without any civil power; while in respect to the more turbulent Aristobulus, he resolved to exercise the right of a conqueror, by sending him and his two sons to Rome, that they might swell the train of his approaching triumph.

The escape of one of these young men, and afterward of the father himself, rekindled the flame of war in Palestine. But the Romans under Gabinius and the celebrated Mark Antony, speedily subdued the hasty levies of Aristobulus, and completely re-established the ascendency of the Republic in all the revolted districts. In the civil war which ensued, Antipater, who still directed the affairs of the weak-minded Hyrcanus, paid his court so successfully to the dominant faction as to obtain for his master the protection of Caesar, and for himself the procuratorship of Judea. Raised to this commanding eminence, he named Phasael, his eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and confided to the younger, the artful and unscrupulous Herod, the charge of Galilee.