And when he once invited them to a feast, and entertained them very kindly, when he saw them in a good humor, he began to say to them, that they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things whereby he might please God, which was the profession of the Pharisees also.However, he desired, that if they observed him offending in any point, and going out of the right way, they would call him back and correct him.On which occasion they attested to his being entirely virtuous; with which commendation he was well pleased.But still there was one of his guests there, whose name was Eleazar, a man of an ill temper, and delighting in seditious practices.This man said," Since thou desirest to know the truth, if thou wilt be righteous in earnest, lay down the high priesthood, and content thyself with the civil government of the people," And when he desired to know for what cause he ought to lay down the high priesthood, the other replied, "We have heard it from old men, that thy mother had been a captive under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.(29)" This story was false, and Hyrcanus was provoked against him; and all the Pharisees had a very great indignation against him.
6.Now there was one Jonathan, a very great friend of Hyrcanus's, but of the sect of the Sadducees, whose notions are quite contrary to those of the Pharisees.He told Hyrcanus that Eleazar had cast such a reproach upon him, according to the common sentiments of all the Pharisees, and that this would be made manifest if he would but ask them the question, What punishment they thought this man deserved? for that he might depend upon it, that the reproach was not laid on him with their approbation, if they were for punishing him as his crime deserved.So the Pharisees made answer, that he deserved stripes and bonds, but that it did not seem right to punish reproaches with death.And indeed the Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not apt to be severe in punishments.At this gentle sentence, Hyrcanus was very angry, and thought that this man reproached him by their approbation.It was this Jonathan who chiefly irritated him, and influenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on the people, and to punish those that observed them.From this source arose that hatred which he and his sons met with from the multitude: but of these matters we shall speak hereafter.What Iwould now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers.And concerning these things it is that great disputes and differences have arisen among them, while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side.But about these two sects, and that of the Essens, I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish affairs.
7.But when Hyrcanus had put an end to this sedition, he after that lived happily, and administered the government in the best manner for thirty-one years, and then died, (30) leaving behind him five sons.He was esteemed by God worthy of three of the greatest privileges, - the government of his nation, the dignity of the high priesthood, and prophecy; for God was with him, and enabled him to know futurities; and to foretell this in particular, that, as to his two eldest sons, he foretold that they would not long continue in the government of public affairs;whose unhappy catastrophe will be worth our description, that we may thence learn how very much they were inferior to their father's happiness.
CHAPTER 11.
How Aristobulus, When He Had Taken The Government First Of All Put A Diadem On His Head, And Was Most Barbarously Cruel To His Mother And His Brethren; And How, After He Had Slain Antigonus, He Himself Died.