Hanukkah

The History – An Outline

1. Alexander the Great conquers the Ancient Near East and defeats Persia, 334–332 BCE
2. Alexander the Great dies (313 BCE) and his kingdom is divided among his four generals
3. Egypt and surrounding regions are given to Ptolemy I Syria and regions north given to Seleucus I Israel remains as a kind of “buffer” between the two kingdoms
4. Ptolemys and Seleucids begin their warring, and Israel finally came under the control of the Ptolemys
5. The High Priest was appointed by the Ptolemy government as responsible for seeing that taxes were collected and paid. This gave way (at times) to much in-fighting among the Jewish community, as the High Priest functioned as the tax-collector for the foreign government. One High Priest, Chanyo III, refused to pay the taxes (because he pocketed the money) and was replaced by Joseph ben Toviyah, who became a real tyrant against his own people.
6. Finally the Seleucids defeated the Ptolemys (199 BCE) and Antiochus III the Great became ruler over the entire region.
7. Antiochus III was followed by Antiochus the IV, who called himself Epiphanies (“god manifested”). The Jewish tax collector at the time was Jason, who had been appointed High Priest by Antiochus through bribes. Jason turned on his own people (169 BCE) and began killing them because they were unable to pay the high taxes he was demanding. Antiochus thought Jason was trying to take the city of Jerusalem for his own rule, and came to subdue Jason. In the battle that followed, Antiochus killed over 40,000 Jewish people (men, women, and children).

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