CHAPTER 7 The Danielic Discourse in the Early Roman Period

Introduction

While the second century BCE witnessed dramatic changes to the political sit- uation of , the next century presented still more changes with the arrival of the Romans. Jewish interaction with the Romans initially began positively under the Hasmoneans in the 160s BCE as the Judeans and the Republic forged an alliance in order to oppose the Seleucids.1 However, this mutually beneficial beginning changed with the arrival of the Roman general to Judea in 63 BCE. Pompey’s appearance was not the result of invasion but invitation. He had come to settle the issue of succession within the between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, the two sons of and Alexandra Salome. The supporters of Hyrcanus welcomed the Romans into , but Pompey did not merely arbitrate the conflict; he created a new one. When Hyrcanus’s faction opened the gates of Jerusalem to Pompey, Aristobulus and his supporters withdrew into the Temple and a three-month long siege ensued. According to , when the Romans finally broke into the Temple the priests were slain as they performed their sacrifices, and 12,000 died. Pompey then desecrated the holiness of the Temple itself by enter- ing it, an event that Josephus describes as follows:

Of all the calamities of that time none so deeply affect the nation as the exposure to alien eyes of the Holy Place, hitherto screened from view. Pompey indeed, along with his staff, penetrated to the sanctuary, entry to which was permitted to none but the high priest ( J.W. 1.152).2

Pompey sent Aristobulus as a prisoner to Rome. Hyrcanus was allowed to remain in Judea, but he was no longer king. Instead, he remained in his posi- tion as high priest.

1 See 1 8 where the Jews make an alliance with the Romans and the letter from the Romans to the Jews in 2 Macc 11:34–38. See Mathias Delcor, “L’éloge des Romains d’après I Mac 8,” Hen 13 (1991): 19–28. 2 See a parallel account in Cicero, Orations: Pro Flacco, 28.670.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004331310_008 154 CHAPTER 7

The political situation within Judea under Roman rule was anything but static. Given the importance of Judea’s central location at the nexus between the Mediterranean and the Near East, there still were opportunities for Judean leadership to take power, especially in 49 BCE with the beginning of the Roman civil wars. For example, in order to garner an ally, gave Hyrcanus the title of , which meant that he was allowed to rule over a severely limited territory (much of the territorial gains of the Hasmoneans were placed under the control of the Roman governor of Syria) and had to pay tribute to Rome. Although Hyrcanus lacked actual political might, his advisor, an Idumean named Antipater, was appointed procurator and ruled in his stead. Antipater’s sons, Herod and , were also made governors of Galilee and Jerusalem, respectively. While a political rival poisoned Antipater, Herod was more successful in weathering the rapidly changing faces of Roman power in Judea. After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, one of the assassins, Cassius, ruled Syria and levied heavy taxes on Judea. Herod won Cassius’s approval after he zealously raised one hundred talents in Galilee. Cassius, in turn, appointed Herod as procura- tor of Coele-Syria and Samaria in 43 BCE. After Marc Antony defeated Cassius in 42 BCE, however, Herod quickly switched his allegiance. Judea then briefly came under control of the Parthians in 40 BCE, who invaded from the east with the support of Aristobulus’s son, Antigonus, as he attempted to regain kingship. Phasael was captured and committed suicide, but Herod managed to escape to Rome. In order to reassert Roman control over Judea, the Roman Senate confirmed Herod as a client king over Judea. Having recaptured Judea in 37 BCE, Herod soon faced another change in Roman rule. Octavian defeated Antony at the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), effectively establishing himself as the first Emperor. He was then renamed Augustus by the Senate. Once again, Herod managed to ally himself with the dominant ruling power, and in 30 BCE Augustus reconfirmed Herod as king of Judea, which he ruled until his death in 4 BCE. The independent Hasmonean dynasty had been replaced by a semi- independent Herodian one.3 This chapter will examine a series of texts that date to this early Roman period: the Psalms of , the War Scroll from Qumran, and the Testament

3 For overviews of this period, see: Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature, 231–35; Shaye J. D. Cohen, “Roman Domination: The Jewish Revolt and the Destruction of the ,” in Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, ed. Hershel Shanks (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1999), 265–72; and Amy-Jill Levine, “Visions of Kingdoms: From Pompey to the First Jewish Revolt,” in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. Michael D. Coogan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 352–58.