For Bad...to a whole lot worse

Okay, when I left off, Judah was a kingdom with its own little empire and its own basileus, i.e., king. The common people were not real happy with that. Empires cost money. Someone has to pay for soldiers and weapons and other military stuff. And while Empires have a long history of exploiting conquered peoples, that money as a rule does not come back to the average man and woman in the street. It goes to the aristocracy, and definitely does NOT trickle down.

And, besides, the Judeans weren’t too sure they wanted a king in the first place. And if they were going to have one, well, it should be someone from the House of David. Not a Hasmonean.

And it all came to a head during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (who ruled between 103–76 BCE). He was the brother of Aristobulus I, whom we met last time, and who (you’ll recall) was the first of the Hasmoneans to openly call himself king.

He was also hated. He was a serious Hellenizer, sometimes mocked Judean customs and religion, and employed costly foreign mercenaries to keep order and wage his wars. None of this set well with anyone.

Okay, now a bit more background. By this time, Judaism had developed at least three sects -- Pharisees, who were sort of the party of the ordinary man and woman (and which would, in time, become today’s Rabbinic Judaism); the Sadducees, who were associated with the aristocracy, the Hasmoneans, and the Temple; and the Essenes, a somewhat mysterious group who stressed purity and whose literature seems to anticipate aspects of early Christianity. (We’ll see more about these groups soon.)

Now, the Pharisees were severe critics of the Hasmoneans, whom they saw as corrupt and foreign. Things got tense.

About the image: This is a sculpture of Michael in his most famous role, that of victor in the contest with Lucifer. Specifically, it is “Saint Michel terrassant le démon” by by French artist Francisque Duret (1804-1865). It serves as the central centerpiece of the Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris.

Then, in 93 BCE, full-scale civil war broke out between Alexander Jannaeus and a revolutionary cohort of Judeans, more or less led by the Pharisees.(1) This proved to be a long and brutal struggle, which went first one way and then the other, but which finally ended with Alexander Jannaeus back in power in Jerusalem.

Alexander was in no mood for reconciliation. He gathered 800 of the leading Pharisees...and crucified them. As if that weren’t enough, he had their wives and children slaughtered before them. And, finally, it was all done at a luxurious picnic, at which Alexander, his wives, and his concubines disported themselves. (2)

Things go downhill from there. Alexander eventually dies. His wife, Salome, rules wisely for a time, but then she too passes. Her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, begin yet another brutal and fruitless civil war. There was also another invasion, this time from the Parthian empire. There were riots, assassinations, and mutilations. Finally, the Romans, who have been moving into the area all this time, have just had it. Judea is simply too valuable a buffer region to be left to this kind of instability. They depose the Hasmonean dynasty, and after yet more violence, and another invasion, they put Herod (yes, *that* Herod) on the throne as king.

Herod is not a Hasmonean. He is an Idumean, that is, his family is from one of the territories captured by the Hasmoneans during their empire building period. This means he is unacceptable to many Judaeans.

But that doesn’t matter. He has the support of the Romans. And they’re the ones who count.

Now, what has all this to do with Michael The Archangel?

Answer: for 300 years Judea/Israel has been nothing short of hell on earth. It has been one long horrific tale of wars, oppression, bloodshed, and famine.

And in a time like that, to whom do people turn?

Well, how about a winged figure...a superman...with a flaming sword in one hand...and a calming, protecting shield in the other?

More to come.

Footnotes:

1. Judean Civil War, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_Civil_War

2. See Judaean Civil War, above, and also...

I should note that we have to be careful with this, just as we should about anything we *think* we know about the Bible. Our sole source for this story is _Jewish Antiquities_ by Josephus, who was writing about 90 AD, and we have to ask if it is true, or even just sort of true. It has the mark of a literary invention. However, I gather that most historians believe that some sort of massacre did take place, but disagree on the details -- like the gruesome picnic and the large number of individuals killed.

Copyright©2026 Michael Jay Tucker

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