Hasmonean
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And Jacob proceeded and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder, the place where the King Messiah will reveal Himself at the end of days.
–Targum Jonathan on Genesis 35:21
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Who are the Hasmoneans?
The Hasmonean Dynasty emerged following the Maccabean Revolt (167–160 BCE) against the Seleucid Empire, which sought to impose Hellenistic practices and suppress Jewish religious traditions. The revolt was led by the priestly family known as the Maccabees, with Judas Maccabeus being one of the most prominent leaders. The Hasmoneans ruled Judea as an independent or semi-independent state from about 140 BCE to 37 BCE.
Key Events and Figures
- Maccabean Revolt (167-160 BCE): The revolt began when the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, outlawed Jewish religious practices and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem. Mattathias, a priest from the Hasmonean family, and his sons, especially Judas Maccabeus, led a successful guerrilla campaign against the Seleucids.
- Rededication of the Temple (164 BCE): After recapturing Jerusalem, the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the Temple. This event is commemorated by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
- Establishment of Hasmonean Rule (140 BCE): Simon Thassi, another son of Mattathias, declared himself both high priest and leader (nasi) of an independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty was officially established when Simon’s rule was recognized by a Seleucid king.
- Expansion and Consolidation (140-104 BCE): Under John Hyrcanus I and Aristobulus I, the Hasmoneans expanded their territory to include Samaria, Idumea, and parts of the Transjordan, forcibly converting some conquered peoples to Judaism.
- Internal Strife and Factionalism (104-63 BCE): The Hasmonean rulers often faced internal conflicts, including civil wars, disputes over succession, and power struggles between various factions such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
- Decline and Roman Intervention (63 BCE): Civil war between the Hasmonean brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II led to Roman intervention. In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great captured Jerusalem, effectively ending Jewish independence and making Judea a client state of Rome.
- End of the Hasmonean Dynasty (37 BCE): The dynasty effectively ended when Herod the Great, an Idumean client-king installed by Rome, consolidated power and executed the last Hasmonean heirs.
Table of Contents
Prophetic or Final Jubilee Implications
The Hasmonean period, particularly the Maccabean Revolt and the subsequent Hasmonean rule brought about a great change in Jewish relations with God, and are seen as fulfilling or aligning with several prophecies, especially in the Book of Daniel, Zechariah 9:13 and 1 Maccabees:
- Book of Daniel: The events leading to the Maccabean Revolt and the Hasmonean period are often associated with the visions of Daniel, particularly in Daniel 8 and 11, which describe conflicts involving the Seleucid Empire (symbolized by a “little horn” growing from one of the four horns of the goat, representing Alexander the Great’s divided empire). The “abomination of desolation” mentioned in Daniel 11:31 is commonly interpreted as referring to Antiochus IV’s desecration of the Temple by installing a statue of Zeus and sacrificing pigs on the altar.
- 1 Maccabees describes the fulfillment of Jewish expectations for deliverance from oppression. The text portrays the Maccabean Revolt as a divine intervention and restoration of Jewish autonomy and purity, fulfilling the hopes of many devout Jews of the period.
- Zechariah 9:13 prophesied the rebellion against the Seleucid Greeks
Change in relations with God
The Hasmoneans were anticipated by some as fulfilling a messianic role in delivering Israel from foreign oppression and restoring many of the goals they hold dear. However, their compromises with the Greeks, their infighting and eventual assassinations among the political structures of Jerusalem, their conversion to a lunar calendar fulfilling the prophecy in the Book of Jubilees 6:37:
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For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order), and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees.
-Book of Jubilees 6:37
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Their replacement and eventual expultion of the Zadokian priesthood from the Temple. All these and more turned the Hasmoneans into a precurser of a future Antichrist more than the expected Messiah. They chose to elevate the Sadducees as the new priests and the Boethusians as an aristocracy that brokered power in Jerusalem and acted in a way very contrary to the goals of God.
Final Jubilee Implications
In the Final Jubilee of the Age of Grace there is no direct role known for the Hasmoneans but they are an excellent shadow of the coming Antichrist who like them will come as a military might, offering the very goals the Jews wish to achieve on a platter if they only make small changes. This leader will devlier peace, restore religious law and the temple sacrifices for a time but will eventually declare himself God and command the tracking down and death of anyone who does not accept and worship him. God’s history often has echos and precursers designed to make sure a future event is very clear on how to act and where it is going for those that are not blinded.
Read "Pharisees"
Read more about the 2nd Temple Pharisees.
Read "Sadducees"
Read more about the 2nd Temple Sadducees and their politics.
Read "Kohanim"
Read more about the Kohanim and logic.