Implications for Understanding Sabbath Fighting in Josephus

CHAPTER 8 Septuagint Proverbs 28:4 and Shielding the Righteous: Implications for Understanding Sabbath Fighting in Josephus Kenneth Atkinson Johann Cook is well known for his numerous publications on the ancient versions of the Hebrew Bible, especially the Septuagint. His monograph on Septuagint Proverbs displays a wealth of knowledge regarding ancient Jewish exegetical traditions, Qumran texts, Hellenistic literature, and translation techniques.1 In this essay, I would like to pay tribute to Cook’s immense con- tributions to scholarship by exploring an insight he briefly raises in one of his studies on Septuagint Proverbs, namely his thoughts concerning the Law as a wall around the righteous.2 I would like to accomplish this by investigating the issue of Sabbath fighting in the writings of Josephus with a particular focus on John Hyrcanus, whom Josephus portrays as the greatest of all high priests. The selected passages explored in this contribution support several of Cook’s insights regarding Jewish exegetical oral traditions about shielding the righteous from incorrect interpretations of the Law as described in LXX Prov 28:4. 1 John Hyrcanus’s Observance of the Sabbath Josephus portrays John Hyrcanus as the most blessed and successful of all the Hasmonean rulers and high priests.3 He was the only high priest whom God 1 Johann Cook, The Septuagint of Proverbs – Jewish and/or Hellenistic Proverbs? Concerning the Hellenistic Colouring of LXX Proverbs (VTSup 69; Leiden: Brill, 1997). 2 Johann Cook, “The Law of Moses in Septuagint Proverbs,” VT 49 (1999): 448–61. 3 See further, Clemens Thoma, “John Hyrcanus I as Seen by Josephus and Other Early Jewish Sources,” in Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period (ed. Fausto Parente and Joseph Sievers; SPB 41; Leiden: Brill, 1994), 127–40. John Hyrcanus is documented in the fol- lowing sources: 1 Macc 16:18–24; J.W. 1.54–69; Ant. 13.228–300. For accounts of his reign, see further Edward Dąbrowa, The Hasmoneans and their State: A Study in History, Ideology, and the Institutions (Electrum 16; Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press, 2010), 67–83; Joseph Klausner, “John Hyrcanus I,” WHJP, 6.211–21; Emil Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC–AD135) (ed. Geza Vermes, et. al., rev. ed. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�5��7_009 LXX Prov 28:4 and Shielding the Righteous 143 granted the three highest privileges: the rule of the nation, the high priest- hood, and the gift of prophecy ( J.W. 1.68–69; Ant. 13.299–300). Once, while he was burning incense in the temple, God told him that two of his sons had just defeated the Seleucid monarch Antiochus (IX) Cyzicenus at Samaria (Ant. 13.282–283). Josephus even claims God warned John Hyrcanus about the future downfall of two of his children, Judah Aristobulus and Antigonus, and the rise of their sibling, Alexander Jannaeus ( J.W. 1.69; Ant. 13.322–323). Because of his significance in the works of Josephus as a model of piety, John Hyrcanus’s observance of Jewish law is important for understanding Second Temple Jewish religious practices and Scriptural interpretation. Of all the legal issues Josephus mentions in his works, none was perhaps more important for ancient Jews than Sabbath observance. It is this topic that I would like to explore further, for John Hyrcanus’s adherence to the Sabbath prohibitions is problematic. John Hyrcanus took power at a tragic time in Hasmonean history. His father, Simon, was assassinated by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, at Jericho. Ptolemy had little support for his act and fled to the fortress of Dok. John Hyrcanus gathered an army and besieged him there.4 John Hyrcanus had a military advantage since Dok was isolated on a mountaintop overlooking Jericho: Ptolemy was certain to run out of supplies and nobody came to his aide. But then something peculiar occurred. John Hyrcanus abruptly abandoned his siege and returned to Jerusalem. Ptolemy fled to Philadelphia, east of the Jordan River, where he received sanctuary from a local despot named Zenon. Josephus insists John Hyrcanus had to stop his siege of Dok and allow his father’s murderer to escape because of the arrival of the Sabbatical Year. He explains to his readers: “There came around that year in which the Jews are required to remain inactive (ἀργέω), they observe this custom every seventh year, just as on the seventh day” (Ant. 13.234).5 In his War (1.59), Josephus uses the same word, ἀργέω, to explain why John Hyrcanus had to end his siege at Dok and let Ptolemy escape. Jews, Josephus insists, were required to remain 1973–87), 1.89–99; Joseph Sievers, The Hasmoneans and their Supporters: From Mattathias to the Death of John Hyrcanus I (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 105–34; James C. VanderKam, From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests After the Exile (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), 270–85. 4 Josephus mentions that Ptolemy had captured the mother of John Hyrcanus and his brothers at Jericho and tortured them atop Dok’s walls during the siege ( J.W. 1.57–60; Ant. 13.230–235). This conflicts with 1 Macc 16:16, which states he had previously murdered Simon along with two of his sons at Jericho. This contradiction fortunately does not have any bearing on the present study. 5 For Sabbatical Year regulations, see Exod 31:12–17; Lev 25:1–17, 23–28; Deut 14:28–15:18..

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