Though the form of the story as told by Josephus is certainly unhistorical,t+ there is every reason to believe that in the time of Hyrcanus the Pharisees had become a well-defined party and broke de- cisively with the Hasmonsan princes. The Mac- cabean rising, which was originally in defence of religion (1 Mac 2”- δ), had developed in a way that was little to the mind of ‘the pious,’ who, as we have seen, had withdrawn from the contest, when religious freedom was granted in the year 163, Τὸ ἘΣ ΑΙ became a war, not for the law, but against the ancient aristocracy for the ethnarchy under the Syrians, and ended in the founding of a worldly dynasty. In the course of their struggles, Judas and his brothers were compelled by the necessity of their position to make use of ‘ profane’ means; they entered into alliances with Gentile nations (1 Mac 817 1915. 14%), and took the side, now of one, now of another pretender to the Syrian throne; they accepted from the kings of
* According to Ant. xm. v. 9, they existed as parties as early as the time of Jonathan. ΕΣ :
t ee sur les origines des partis saducten εἰ pAarisien, ff. ; Wellhausen, op. cit. 200,
Syria military titles and commands and even the office of high priest (10% © 1177 9 145) and acted generally in accordance with the dictates of worldly prudence. The result was the establishment under Simon of a thoroughly secular State, the civil ruler being at the same time high priest (1487), Hyrcanus, whom Josephus calls a dis- ciple of the Pharisees, walked in the footsteps of his predecessors. He renewed the alliance with Rome (Ant. xl. ix. 2, XIV. x. 22) and kept a standing army of foreign troops, with which he accompanied Antiochus Sidetes against the Par- thians (XIII. viii. 4). It is true, he destroyed the Samaritan sanctuary upon Mt. Gerizim,and ἘΩ͂Ν converted the Idumzans and razed Samaria to the ground; but these were purely political measures, undertaken for the purpose of extending his do- minion beyond the narrow limits of Judea. His high priesthood was a secondary matter. ‘For Hyrcanus the tiara had fallen to the rank of a mere decoration ; he was a secular prince like the neighbouring heathen kings ; his State was a purely secular realm, which was no longer able to pursue alas aims, no longer had spiritual concerns’ (Cornill, p. 212).
The majority of the people were meanwhile satisfied with this turn of affairs. They were proud not only to enjoy religious freedom, but also to be once more an independent nation,and honoured the valiant princes who had led them to victory (1 Mac 13*6 14* 4-4"), The ancient aristocracy also, the extreme Hellenizers of the cime of Epiphanes, who at first had held out against Judas and his brothers, had either been swept away or had re- cognized the futility of carrying on the struggle, and along with their adherents came over to the new rulers, to whom they were able, from their birth and attainments, to render considerable ser- vice. Taught by experience, they had given up all thought of overthrowing the national religion, and accommodated themselves to the new order of things, which imposed upon them no harsh restric- tions, and allowed them the full enjoyment of the good things of this life (cf. 1 Mac 1653). Along with the leading men of the new regime,* they became the chief supporters of the Maccabean princes, with whose political aims they were in full sym- pathy. It is this party, consisting of members of the ancient and the new aristocracy and their adherents, that went by the name of Sadducees. They were primarily a purely political party, ee were nae bsg | interested in the maintenance an prosperity of the State as a secular State ; religion was with them an altogether secondary concern ; and they held very lax views on the subject of exclusiveness.
To ‘the pious,’ on the other hand, the Hasmonwan rule ast have become ever more and more obnox- ious. Since the outbreak of the Maccabmean risin they had doubtless grown both in numbers an exclusiveness, and were now known by the name, Pharisees. These were essentially a purely re- ligious party, although we shall find them occasion-
ally using political means for the attainment of their religious ends. Their fundamental principle was complete separation from everything non- Jewish. In order to secure this separation the law must be scrupulously kept; there must be no adoption of foreign ideas or ways of living; there
Ὁ The frequent occurrence of foreign names at this time among the Jews shows the progress that Hellenism had made among them. The Hasmonman prinoes [ἢ selves bore fc en,
in addition to their Heb
Aristobulus, Alexander, ΑἹ ira. For other Greek names at this time see 1 Mac 14% Ὁ iif; Ant, xi. ix. 2 ‘That which was surprising in U of the fret Hellenizing high priests, had, it would seem, ἢ ὁ the fashion In the national party, at least among those of higher rank. They had learned to do what the foreigners did, and did not ecruple to bear
foreign names’ (Bertholet, op. os. 8501}
PHARISEES
824