In short, they continued to walk the path as they saw fit upon their return from captivity. This group of people who had worked at trying to figure out how you live within empire and then influence it for the Kingdom of God, who developed the approach Brueggemann calls “accommodation/resistance,” established a lifestyle they believed was a response to God’s calling to live in shephelah and be at the crossroads of the earth.
However, not all of them were well intentioned. Josephus tells us that not long after the Maccabean revolt, the current leadership under the Hasmoneans became as Hellenistic as the Greeks. When this self-serving worldview came in contact with power, the situation was ripe for corruption. The Hasmoneans ruled for just over a century when they looked up to see the Roman empire dominating the horizon. They knew that there would be no standing against this new world rule and began to position themselves politically for survival. The system of tithes and offerings had served this ruling elite quite well. Now that there were millions of Jews living in the land, and thousands of priests, the system that was built for a much smaller Israel wandering through the desert was now producing quite a bit of wealth for those in charge. The arrival of Rome threatened their very lifestyle.
And so the Hasmonean family took their daughter and married her to a neighboring ruler, the man we know as Herod the Great. Herod was the man who inherited from his father the Nabatean/Idumean kingdom that we spoke about in the book of Obadiah. This group of traders had become incredibly wealthy and powerful; to this day, scholars are baffled by the social and economic accomplishments of this nomadic group of people who began to build cities in the eastern desert.
According to some estimates, Herod was the richest man ever to live (including through today). According to history, his income sat at well over a hundred times his country’s GDP. If this is even remotely true, Herod could have bought the Roman empire a few times over. This gave Herod incredible clout in a political conversation. Rome, however, had all of the power and might, so Herod feared for his safety. As long as the two agreed to play nice, the relationship would be incredibly beneficial for both parties. Herod would enjoy great regional power and immeasurable wealth; Rome would have a leader with enough influence to rule a very difficult and tumultuous region.
And so the Hasmoneans arranged for this brilliant political situation and positioned themselves to enjoy a dynasty under Roman rule. One of Herod’s first acts would be to find a new high priest for the Jewish Temple system. He held the office up for bid to the Hasmoneans. The Hasmonean leadership was made up of seven families who were directly descended from Zadok, the high priest from the days of Solomon. These descendants were called Zadoki or Zadokim, which we translate as “Sadducee.” While the term Sadducee originally referred to the direct descendants of Zadok, it eventually became used of the priesthood to describe any descendant of Aaron. The term became used more to speak of a “party,” rather than a descent.
However, these seven families will be spoken of in Scripture as the “chief priests.” These seven families, or chief priests, were offered the high priesthood by Herod to the highest bidder. (Please understand, this was a total corruption of the system.) Amongst these seven families, the house of Ananus (we often translate as Annas) bought the high priesthood and his house would hold it until the destruction of Jerusalem. The corruption was well known and grew to such an extent that the best way to understand the chief priests would be to see them as a mafia.
Here are some details we know from history (mostly from Josephus):
– The chief priests only paid the other priests for the two weeks they worked each year, keeping the remaining tithes for themselves.
– The chief priests owned the system of money-changers and merchants who sold on the Temple Mount; they were called “the booths of Ananus” and they were built off of a complete ownership of the economic system AND the regulations that oversaw the system.
– The chief priests had their own Temple Guard, who were notorious for carrying out behind-the-scenes executions of their enemies.
– The chief priests had their own “Sanhedrin,” who met in the private home of the High Priest and functioned outside the formal Sanhedrin, who were made up of both Pharisees and Sadducees.
And we need to clear up some terms, so that we understand the writings of the gospels:
– The “chief priests” are the leading families of the priesthood, descended from Zadok, who function as a mafia.
– The High Priest is their leader and continues to function as the leader described in the Books of Moses, although much of the public understands the system to be completely corrupt and no longer bearing any resemblance to the Levitical priesthood. The Mishnah is brutal in its description of the priesthood under Herod and the corruption of God’s Levitical standard.
– “Sadducee” is a term that refers to a party (think Republican/Democrat) and is any member of the serving priesthood who sees themselves as a part of the priestly system. While they may or may not share directly in the corruption of the chief priests, they are giving their passive nod to the system they oversee.
All of those mentioned above would be priestly descendants of Aaron.
However, there would also be a portion of the general public that would approve of the Hellenistic lifestyle. They would rejoice in the world that the rule of Herod has ushered in. While they certainly would not rejoice in the corruption of the Temple, they turn a blind eye to it and continue to carry on with business as usual. This group of non-priests who share the same worldview are called Herodians.
To be certain, the entire spectrum of responses to Hellenism and obedience to God’s way would be represented in the Herodian worldview. There certainly would have been Herodians seeking to love God with all their heart, soul, and might. Although we have cast this discussion in a fairly negative light, it is very important to realize that not all Herodians were self-seeking people turning a blind eye to corruption. A Herodian simply believed that they could follow God and be a part of the Hellenistic world that Rome offered them. They did not see those two things as mutually exclusive. This separated them from their brothers in the north, the Hasidim.
Was this Herod Jewish?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question; one that is hotly debated today. Most Orthodox Jews are going to argue that Herod was. There is a loose historical connection that may argue that Herod's mother was Jewish. It's a loose argument, but one that Orthodox Jews would hold in order to argue for their oral tradition (which states that lineage is passed on maternally).
DeleteI would disagree. Herod's father was of Nabatean descent and according to written Torah (and first century tradition) would make Herod a Gentile and would also explain the animosity felt against him from the Jews, who would have seen his kingship as a direct violation of Deuteronomy 17, where the king is said to have to be an Israelite.
It is a good debate. My Israeli guides on my trips never appreciate my position on Herod. We have good-spirited discussion surrounding the history. :)