Chapter 8.
CONCERNING SANBALLAT AND MANASSEH, AND THE TEMPLE WHICH THEY
BUILT ON MOUNT GERIZZIM; AS ALSO HOW ALEXANDER MADE HIS ENTRY INTO THE
CITY JERUSALEM, AND WHAT BENEFITS HE BESTOWED ON THE JEWS.FJAJ 11.66
1. ABOUT this time it was that Philip, king of Macedon, was treacherously
assaulted and slain at Egae by Pausanias, the son of Cerastes, who was
derived from the family of Oreste, and his son Alexander succeeded him
in the kingdom; who, passing over the Hellespont, overcame the generals
of Darius's army in a battle fought at Granicum
So he marched over Lydia,
and subdued Ionia, and overran Caria, and fell upon the places of Pamphylia,
as has been related elsewhere.FJAJ 11.67
2. But the elders of Jerusalem being very uneasy that the brother of
Jaddua the high priest, though married to a foreigner, should be a partner
with him in the high priesthood, quarreled with him; for they esteemed
this man�s marriage a step to such as should be desirous of transgressing
about the marriage of [strange] wives, and that this would be the beginning
of a mutual society with foreigners, although the offense of some about
marriages, and their having married wives that were not of their own country,
had been an occasion of their former captivity, and of the miseries they
then underwent; so they commanded Manasseh to divorce his wife, or not
to approach the altar, the high priest himself joining with the people
in their indignation against his brother, and driving him away from the
altar
Whereupon Manasseh came to his father-in-law, Sanballat, and told
him, that although he loved his daughter Nicaso, yet was he not willing
to be deprived of his sacerdotal dignity on her account, which was the
principal dignity in their nation, and always continued in the same family.
And then Sanballat promised him not only to preserve to him the honor of
his priesthood, but to procure for him the power and dignity of a high
priest, and would make him governor of all the places he himself now ruled,
if he would keep his daughter for his wife
He also told him further, that
he would build him a temple like that at Jerusalem, upon Mount Gerizzini,
which is the highest of all the mountains that are in Samaria; and he promised
that he would do this with the approbation of Darius the king
Manasseh
was elevated with these promises, and staid with Sanballat, upon a supposal
that he should gain a high priesthood, as bestowed on him by Darius, for
it happened that Sanballat was then in years
But there was now a great
disturbance among the people of Jerusalem, because many of those priests
and Levites were entangled in such matches; for they all revolted to Manasseh,
and Sanballat afforded them money, and divided among them land for tillage,
and habitations also, and all this in order every way to gratify his son-in-law.FJAJ 11.68
3. About this time it was that Darius heard how Alexander had passed
over the Hellespont, and had beaten his lieutenants in the battle at Granicum,
and was proceeding further; whereupon he gathered together an army of horse
and foot, and determined that he would meet the Macedonians before they
should assault and conquer all Asia
So he passed over the river Euphrates,
and came over Taurus, the Cilician mountain, and at Issus of Cilicia he
waited for the enemy, as ready there to give him battle
Upon which Sanballat
was glad that Darius was come down; and told Manasseh that he would suddenly
perform his promises to him, and this as soon as ever Darius should come
back, after he had beaten his enemies; for not he only, but all those that
were in Asia also, were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much
as come to a battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude
But
the event proved otherwise than they expected; for the king joined battle
with the Macedonians, and was beaten, and lost a great part of his army.
His mother also, and his wife and children, were taken captives, and he
fled into Persia
So Alexander came into Syria, and took Damascus; and
when he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he sent all epistle
to the Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries, and to supply
his army with provisions; and that what presents he formerly sent to Darius,
he would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the Macedonians,
and that he should never repent of so doing
But the high priest answered
the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms against
him; and he said that he would not transgress this while Darius was in
the land of the living
Upon hearing this answer, Alexander was very angry;
and though he determined not to leave Tyre, which was just ready to be
taken, yet as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he would make
an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all
men to whom they must keep their oaths
So when he had, with a good deal
of pains during the siege, taken Tyre, and had settled its affairs, he
came to the city of Gaza, and besieged both the city and him that was governor
of the garrison, whose name was Babemeses.FJAJ 11.69
4. But Sanballat thought he had now gotten a proper opportunity to make
his attempt, so he renounced Darius, and taking with him seven thousand
of his own subjects, he came to Alexander; and finding him beginning the
siege of Tyre, he said to him, that he delivered up to him these men, who
came out of places under his dominion, and did gladly accept of him for
his lord instead of Darius
So when Alexander had received him kindly,
Sanballat thereupon took courage, and spake to him about his present affair.
He told him that he had a son-in-law, Manasseh, who was brother to the
high priest Jaddua; and that there were many others of his own nation,
now with him, that were desirous to have a temple in the places subject
to him; that it would be for the king's advantage to have the strength
of the Jews divided into two parts, lest when the nation is of one mind,
and united, upon any attempt for innovation, it prove troublesome to kings,
as it had formerly proved to the kings of Assyria
Whereupon Alexander
gave Sanballat leave so to do, who used the utmost diligence, and built
the temple, and made Manasseh the priest, and deemed it a great reward
that his daughter's children should have that dignity; but when the seven
months of the siege of Tyre were over, and the two months of the siege
of Gaza, Sanballat died
Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste
to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that,
was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the
Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience.
He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should
join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect
that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon
them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he
had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city,
and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but
that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their
order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence
of God would prevent
Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly
rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God
According
to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.FJAJ 11.70
5. And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went
out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens.
The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that
of other nations
It reached to a place called Sapha, which name, translated
into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of
Jerusalem and of the temple
And when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans
that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the city,
and torment the high priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly
promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he
saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood
clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing,
with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of
God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first
saluted the high priest
The Jews also did all together, with one voice,
salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria
and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him
disordered in his mind
However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked
him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore
the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, "I did not adore
him, but that God who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I
saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios
in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain
the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass
over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give
me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other
in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision,
and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this
army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and
destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according
to what is in my own mind." And when he had said this to Parmenio,
and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests ran along by
him, and he came into the city
And when he went up into the temple, he
offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and
magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests
And when the
Book of Daniel was showed him (23)
The place showed Alexander might be Daniel 7:6; 8:3-8, 20--22; 11:3; some
or all of them very plain predictions of Alexander's conquests and successors.
wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire
of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended
And
as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the
next day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased
of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws
of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year
He
granted all they desired
And when they entreared him that he would permit
the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly
promised to do hereafter what they desired
And when he said to the multitude,
that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army, on this condition,
that they should continue under the laws of their forefathers, and live
according to them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready
to accompany him in his wars.FJAJ 11.71
6. So when Alexander had thus settled matters at Jerusalem, he led his
army into the neighboring cities; and when all the inhabitants to whom
he came received him with great kindness, the Samaritans, who had then
Shechem for their metropolis, (a city situate at Mount Gerizzim, and inhabited
by apostates of the Jewish nation,) seeing that Alexander had so greatly
honored the Jews, determined to profess themselves Jews; for such is the
disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere declared, that
when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are of kin to them,
and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive that some good
fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to have communion
with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive their genealogy
from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh
Accordingly, they
made their address to the king with splendor, and showed great alacrity
in meeting him at a little distance from Jerusalem
And when Alexander
had commended them, the Shechemites approached to him, taking with them
the troops that Sanballat had sent him, and they desired that he would
come to their city, and do honor to their temple also; to whom he promised,
that when he returned he would come to them
And when they petitioned that
he would remit the tribute of the seventh year to them, because they did
but sow thereon, he asked who they were that made such a petition; and
when they said that they were Hebrews, but had the name of Sidonians, living
at Shechem, he asked them again whether they were Jews; and when they said
they were not Jews, "It was to the Jews," said he, "that
I granted that privilege; however, when I return, and am thoroughly informed
by you of this matter, I will do what I shall think proper." And in
this manner he took leave of the Shechenlites; but ordered that the troops
of Sanballat should follow him into Egypt, because there he designed to
give them lands, which he did a little after in Thebais, when he ordered
them to guard that country.FJAJ 11.72
7. Now when Alexander was dead, the government was parted among his
successors, but the temple upon Mount Gerizzim remained
And if any one
were accused by those of Jerusalem of having eaten things common (24)
Here Josephus uses the very word koinophagia "eating things
common," for "eating things unclean;" as does our New Testament,
Acts x. 14,15, 28; xi. 8, 9; Rom. xiv. 14.
or of having broken the sabbath, or of any other crime of the like nature,
he fled away to the Shechemites, and said that he was accused unjustly.
About this time it was that Jaddua the high priest died, and Onias his
son took the high priesthood
This was the state of the affairs of the
people of Jerusalem at this time.FJAJ 11.73