The Pontificate and the government now developed upon the only one of Simon's sons still left, known as John Hyranus I. (Jochanan Horkenos, [6345] Jannai [6346] ), 135-105 b.c. His first desire naturally was to set free his mother, who was still in the power of Ptolomæus, and to chastise him for his crimes. But in this he failed. Ptolemy purchased immunity by threatening to kill his captive, and afterwards treacherously slew her. Soon after this a Syrian army besieged Jerusalem. The City was reduced to great straits. But when at the Feast of Tabernacles the Syrian king not only granted a truce to the besieged, but actually provided them with what was needed for the services of the Temple, Hyrcanus sought and obtained peace, although the Syrian councillors urged their king to use the opportunity for exterminating Jerusalem. The conditions, though hard, were not unreasonable in the circumstances. But fresh troubles in Syria gave a more favourable turn to affairs in Judæa. First, Hyrcanus subjected Samaria, and then conquered Idumæa, whose inhabitants he made proselytes by giving them the alternative of circumcision or exile. Next, the treaty with the Romans was renewed, and finally Hyrcanus availed himself of the rapid decay of the Syrian monarchy to throw off his allegiance to the foreigner. Jewish exclusiveness was further gratified by the utter destruction of Samaria, of which the memorial-day (the 25th Marcheshvan, November) was inserted in the festive Calendar' (Meg. Taan. Per. 8). [6347] Nor was this the only date which his successors added to the calendar of national feasts. [6348]
But his reign is of the deepest importance in our history as marking the first public contest between the great parties, the Pharisees and the Saducees, and also as the turning-point in the history of the Maccabees. Even the coins of that period are instructive. They bear the inscription: Jochanan, the High-Priest, and the Chebher of the Jews; or else, Jochanan the High-Priest, Chief, and the Chebher of the Jews.' [6349] The term Chebher, which on the coins occurs only in connection with High-Priest,' unquestionably refers, not to the Jewish people generally, but to them in their ecclesiastical organisation, and points therefore to the acknowledgment of an Eldership,' or representative body, which presided over affairs along with and under the High-Priest' as Chief.' [6350] In this respect the presence or absence of the word Chebher,' or even mention of the Jews, might afford hints as to the relationship of a Maccabee chief to the ecclesiastical leaders of the people. It has already been explained that the Chasidim, viewed as the National party, had ceased, and that the leaders were now divided into Pharisees and Sadducees. By tradition and necessity Hyrcanus belonged to the former, by tendency and. probably, inclination to the later. His interference in religious affairs was by no means to the liking of the Pharisees, still less to that of their extreme sectaries, the Chasidim. Tradition ascribes to Hyrcanus no less than nine innovations, of which only five were afterwards continued as legal ordinances. First, the payment of tithes (both of the Levitical and the so-called poor's tithe') was declared no longer obligatory on a seller, if he were one of the Am ha-Arets, or country people, but on the buyer. [6351] Complaints had long been made that this heavy impost was not paid by the majority of the common people, and it was deemed better to devote the responsibility on the buyer, unless the seller were what was called neeman,' trusted; i.e., one who had solemnly bound himself to pay tithes. In connection with this, secondly, the declaration ordered in Deut. xxvi.3-10 was abrogated as no longer applicable. Thirdly, all work that caused noise was forbidden during the days intermediate between the first and the last great festive days of the Passover and of the Feast of Tabernacles. Fourthly, the formula: Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord' (Ps. xliv. 23), with which, since the Syrian persecution, the morning service in the Temple had commenced, was abolished. Fifthly, the cruel custom of wounding the sacrificial animals on the head was prohibited and rings fastened in the pavement to which the animals were attached (Jer. Maas. Sh. v. 9; Jer. Sot. ix. 11; Tos. Sot. 13; Sotah 48 a). The four ordinances of Hyrcanus which were abolished referred to the introduction in official documents, after the title of the High-Priest, of the expression El Elyon' - the Most High God; to the attempt to declare the Syrian and Samaritan towns liable to tithes (implying their virtual incorporation) while according to an old principle, this obligation only applied when a place could be reached from Judea without passing over heathen soil; to the abrogation by Hyrcanus of a former enactment by Jose ben Joezer, which discouraged emigration by declaring all heathen soil defiled, and which rendered social intercourse with Gentiles impossible by declaring vessels of glass capable of contracting Levitical defilement (Jer. Shabb. 1. 4; Shabb.14 b) - and which was re-enacted; and, lastly, to the easy terms on which the King had admitted the Idumæans into the Jewish community.