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John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon Maccabaeus, was determined that his family, the Hasmonaeans, should continue to be 'top people' in Judean affairs, rather than retire into obscurity now the Syrian persecution was truly over. He inherited the position of High Priest from his father, even though not of Zadokite parentage, and took the bold step of declaring himself 'King', and Judea an independent state. He reigned for 30 years, from 134 - 104 BCE. He was an astute politician and asked Rome to confirm his status. Rome did, and Syria was warned to leave them alone. Syria was politically weak at this time, and John Hyrcanus took advantage of this with a series of small military campaigns.

Each time Judea's borders were extended a little more, first with the conquest and destruction of the central town of Shechem where the Samaritans were living. Never now would there be any friendship between the two peoples who were so nearly related to each other. Next he went south and conquered the Idumeans. He introduced a new policy of uniting his kingdom, by forcefully circumcising the Idumeans and declaring them to be Jews, a policy that would have disastrous results half a century later. Then he conquered and razed the new Greek city built on the ruins of Samaria, and then Scythopolis, on the southern border of Galilee. Step by step John Hyrcanus became more 'Greek' himself, ruling like an autocratic monarch, and disregarding the ordinary people.

The ordinary people were still there! In Jerusalem the Zadokite priests and the wealthy gentry gradually assimilated the upstart newcomers, and accepted them reluctantly. The Jewish historian, Josephus, was the first to name this group as the Sadducees. None of their writings have survived the fires of 70 AD, but theirs was the ancient 'school of thought' of the comfortable and well-to-do wisdom writers, like the author of Ecclesiasticus. The more zealous priests either opted out completely, and went off into the desert to found a community of Essenes at Qumran, (their library od scrolls was found in 1947 in caves near the Dead Sea), or they stayed in Jerusalem and became very particular about cultic rules and practices in order to preserve the traditional standards. They accepted the Law as their way of life, but were not interested in exploring new theological ideas.

Many Levites moved out, to be more comfortable in the countryside among the Pious Ones who were still staunchly loyal to the stricter prophetic ideals of keeping the Law rigorously, and who were concerned to debate how the Law should be kept, in minute detail. This became known as the Oral Law - of the Pharisees. Those who had survived martyrdom were now writing prophetically again, but now in the 'Apocalyptic' style, of dreams and visions of the courts of heaven. It was these people who were developing theological ideas of life after death. They kept a low profile, at first, feeling that they had been betrayed by the growing worldliness of the younger Maccabees, now lording themselves in the high life of the Greek style. No information has survived to describe how anyone became a Pharisee, but they were much admired by ordinary people for their religious zeal and righteousness.

Ordinary people in the countryside, along with all the recent 'newcomers' to the faith, were taught by the faithful local priests, now known as Rabbis, in the synagogues, and all boys were taught to read the Law scrolls in the synagogue schools.

King John Hyrcanus broke away from his family's liaison with the Pharisees, who bitterly opposed his holding the role of High Priest, and as he indulged more and more in the high life, he aligned himself with the Sadducees. Attitudes began to harden between the two groups and an anti-Pharisaic mood began to develop. John Hyrcanus died in 104 BCE,

His son, Aristobulus I, fortunately, reigned for only one year! He starved his mother to death in captivity, murdered his favourite brother, and imprisoned all the others. He fought one successful military campaign, and added Galilee to Judea, - again, forcefully circumcising all its gentile inhabitants to make them Jews. After his death, his widow, Salome Alexandra, set free the surviving brothers and married one, Alexander-Jannaeus, who became the next king. He in turn, murdered his remaining brothers. During his reign, from 103 - 76, Judea reached the zenith of its power, and the eventful 1^st century BCE began.

King Alexander-Jannaeus was the very worst of the Hasmonaean kings. He was much more a soldier than a High Priest, and extended his territories eastwards beyond the Jordan, and southwards against the Nabateans who had built the city of Petra. When he returned to Jerusalem, he was pelted with lemons by the Pharisees because he made a cultic mistake while leading the Temple rituals. The King was furious, and ordered his mercenary troops to kill those responsible. Josephus wrote that 6,000 people died, ... and there was no more trouble in Jerusalem.

In the civil war of the next six years, tens of thousands were killed, until the Pharisees appealed for help - to Syria! (so the descendant of Judas Maccabeus, with Greek soldiers, fought against the pious Jews and the descendant of Antiochus IV who had persecuted them in the first place!). It was the oddest war! A big battle was fought near Shechem. The Syrian army was still superior, and Alexander-Jannaeus fled to the hills. Then the Pharisees had serious second thoughts about Syrian domination, changed sides, and made the king of Syria flee back home. They sued for peace with Alexander-Jannaeus, but revenge was his policy, and a reign of terror began against all who had opposed him. Many more people fled, and joined the Qumran community in the desert as lay members, but many others were ruthlessly killed. Josephus describes the crucifixion of 800 people together, forced to gaze at their families being killed in front of them, while the the King and his guests at a banquet, watched from the palace window. (It wasn't the Romans who introduced crucifixion to the Jews!)

Alexander-Jannaeus then resumed his military exploits, and finally captured Petra from the Nabataeans. He died at the age of 49, probably from drunkenness, in 76 BCE.

At last, his widow, Salome Alexandra, twice a Queen consort, seized political control herself, on behalf of her weakling elder son, Hyrcanus, who was content to be only High Priest. She reigned peacefully for the next nine years, by gaining the support of the Pharisees whom she invited to return to Jerusalem, and take up half the membership of the ruling Council. The High Priest, Hyrcanus, even became a Pharisee, to the chagrin of the Sadducees.

The Golden Age of the Pharisees began. Under their leader, Simeon ben Shetah, several Pharisaic Schools were set up in Jerusalem, thus creating a well-educated middle strata in Judean society, of men who were experts in the exposition of the religious Law and its application in everyday life, the 'Halakah'. Many scribes worked in these schools, and their influence was soon felt in all the village synagogue schools.

This continued even though the Pharisees lost favour, when they began wanting revenge on the Sadducees who had failed to help them in the previous reign. More executions took place,until the antagonised Sadducees turned to Salome Alexandra's younger son, Aristobulus, for help. He did not waste time as soon as his mother had died. He forced his brother to relinquish his legitimate claim to both titles, King and High Priest, and proclaimed himself Aristobulus II, to the satisfaction of the Sadducees.

All might have been well, but it was not to be. A forceful newcomer on the scene, Antipater, determined to support the 'rightful king', Hyrcanus II, to further his own ambitions!

Postscript: Josephus is our main historical authority for this time, and remains of the prophetic writings are now collected under the title of Pseudopigraphia, because they are written under 'false names'. They are not in the Bible, so therefore difficult to locate. There are 65 known to us by now, and can be found on the Internet. Some are like historical stories, but many are apocalyptic in style, writing of contemporary history with nations and kings in code, usually of different animals, - so Israel is the 'white sheep', while Antiochus IV is the 'raven', and so on. They describe events in heaven, as in visions, as they explore new theological ideas. They describe the 'Son of Man' whom the 'Head of Days' has commissioned to judge between the righteous and the wicked, raising up the good, and casting down the bad to everlasting torment. Of all these books, I Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs are very interesting, and all date from the 2^nd century, while the 19 Psalms of Solomon illuminate 1^st century thinking.