Skip to main content

Do not invite a Roman General to join a Jewish fight!


Salome Alexandra (139-67 BCE), whose Hebrew name was Shelamzion, was a descendant of the Hasmonean family (Maccabees).  She was the wife of Alexander Jannai and they had two sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. In her husband’s will, she became head of the secular government, while the high priesthood was given to his oldest son, Hyrcanus II. Alexander considered the Pharisees his enemies.

During Shalome’s nine-year reign she completely reversed her late husband’s position and included Pharisees into her government. One of her major appointments was Shimon ben Shetah, leader of the Pharisees, as joint head of the Great Sanhedrin. She also allowed the Oral Law of the Pharisees to be incorporated with the Torah as the law of her royal court. 

Aristobulus aggressively challenged the authority of his brother, but his mother took military action to stop him -- setting off another Jewish civil war. She did not live long enough to see how the chain of events that would not only take the lives of her sons, but would ultimately bring down the Temple and the entire Jewish nation.  

A conflict between the two brothers escalated during Passover (63 BCE) and Aristobulus send a message to Roman General Pompey's representative in Syria promising to give him 8,000 kg of silver if he intervened. He did and Aristobulus and the Sadducees were safe again. Aristobulus sent General Pompey a golden vine (800 kg), which the Roman commander forwarded to the temple of Jupiter in Rome. Later, for whatever reason, made a major miscalculation – he asked General Pompey to punish the man he had paid the 8,000 kg of silver, saying the man extorted it from him. Pompey decided to go and see what was really going on -- he sided with Hyrcanus and Aristobulus was arrested.

With the Romans in control of the Temple, Pompey and his officers took a tour and the Menorah, the treasure storehouse, the sacred vessels, as well as entering the Holy of Holies. The next day Pompey ordered the cleansing of the Temple and appointed Hyrcanus as High Priest.

When you read about the Sadducees and Pharisees in the New Testament, they are not different Jewish religious groups like those today. They were political/religious groups that had fought wars against each other. And when you read about what the Romans were doing in Judah and Galilee during the time of Jesus – remember that Shalome’s son invited them to help him defeat his brother.
_________________________________________________________________________

If you liked this article and would like to read more like it,
please let us know by “Liking” our “Real Yeshua Facebook Page”.

If you would like to help us do this work, please donate today by Clicking Here .

Thank you for readings this blog!
Please share it with others.
_________________________________________________________________________

SOURCES
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/salome-alexandra/
https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/roman-jewish-wars/
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1769-aristobulus-ii


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Yod -- NOT a Jot and Tittle!

Not only did Yeshua read and speak Hebrew, so did his followers and disciples! Two very well known, but not accurately understood words in the Gospel of Matthew prove it – jot and tittle . For some reason jot and tittle stick in the minds of Christian Bible readers. But when you ask them what jot or tittle mean, you get a lot of conflicting and some really weird answers. Today, you are going to get the facts about what Yeshua originally said and how they ended up in English translations of the Bible as jot and tittle . Let’s begin by reading Matthew 5:18 from the King James translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. If you have not read the article “ From Yeshua to Jesus ” in Yeshua’s Kingdom Handbook please take a moment to read it online by clicking here before you continue. In it you will see how we began with the name “ Jesus ” and traced it through Lati...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Not Say RAQA! - Yeshua on Anger (Part 2)

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Prayer Yeshua Prayed Twice Every Day

One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an...
Post a Comment
Read more