Lecture 11—Jesus’s Jewish Lineage
In 164 B.C., Antiochus V rescinded his father’s edict, and once again,
the Jews were allowed to practice their religion without persecution
and rededicate the Temple of Jerusalem. ln that same year, the
Maccabees renewed their conflict with the Seleucids, with the goal of
gaining independence from Greek rule. ln this lecture, the establishment
and expansion of the Hasmonean, or Maccabean, kingdom provide the
context for understanding the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels of
Matthew and Luke.
Independence from Seleucid Rule
1. For a number of years after 164 B.C., battles continued between
the Hasmoneans, or Maccabees, and the Seleucids. ln 160
B.C., Judah was killed in battle and was succeeded as leader
by his brother Jonathan. ln 152 B.C., Jonathan managed to
become ruler of Judea by aligning himself with a contestant to
the Seleucid throne. ln addition to granting Jonathan the right to
rule over the Jews, the Seleucid king also made him high priest.
2. This move was opposed by many Jews because Jonathan,
although of priestly descent, was not a member of the Zadokites.
Moreover, high priests, according to biblical Jewish law, were not
supposed to have blood on their hands, and Jonathan had been
a leader of the revolt and had fought many battles.
3. Jonathan ruled until his death in 142 B.C., when he was
succeeded by his brother Simon, the youngest and last of the
Maccabean brothers. Under Simon, the Jews gained complete
independence from Seleucid rule; Simon ruled until his death in
134 B.C.
Judaization
1. Simon was succeeded as ruler by his son John Hyrcanus l, who
expanded his realm through military conquest, adding Samaria
to the north of Judea, ldumea to the south, and territories
in Transjordan.
2. During the course of these conquests, John Hyrcanus I forced
the populations to convert to Judaism. Flavius Josephus writes,
“He, John Hyrcanus, permitted them to remain in their country
so long as they had themselves circumcised and were willing
to observe the laws of the Jews.” One of the people forcibly
converted to Judaism at this time was the grandfather of King
Herod the Great.
3. Today, according to Jewish tradition, Jews are not allowed to
forcibly convert others to Judaism. In fact, Jews try to discourage
people who want to convert to Judaism. In this period in history,
however, no such prohibition existed. In fact, we have evidence
that, in antiquity, Jews proselytized widely.
4. This forced conversion may have been a kind of Jewish parallel
to Hellenization. Greek successors of Alexander carried out
a policy of Hellenization within their kingdoms-that is, they
spread Greek culture as a means of homogenizing the diverse
populations under their rule. The Hasmonean kings may have
been using Judaism in a similar manner, to spread Jewish
culture-a process of Judaization versus Hellenization.
Rebellion against Alexander Jannaeus
1. John Hyrcanus I ruled until his death in 104 B.C. and was
succeeded by his son Aristobulus I. Aristobulus I ruled only
briefly, until his death of an illness in 103 B.C. He was sur\/ived
by his widow, Salome Alexandra; she then married her husband’s
brother, Alexander Jannaeus, who ruled until 76 B.C.
2. This kind of union, called Ievirate marriage, is mandated by
biblical law. Similar laws go back to the tribal system in lsraelite
society, which was concerned with preserving the bloodlines
of the family. Although biblical law mandates Ievirate marriage,
however, marrying his brother’s widow actually showed
Alexander Jannaeus’s disregard for Jewish law-because
another biblical law prohibits high priests from marrying widows.
3. Jannaeus was cruel and arrogant, and his reign aroused
enormous opposition. ln about 90 B.C., during Sukkot, the Feast
of Tabernacles, which was one of the pilgrimage holidays to the
Temple of Jerusalem, Alexander Jannaeus deliberately went
against prescribed ritual by pouring holy water on the ground
instead of on the altar.
4. Some years after, an open rebellion broke out against Alexander
Jannaeus. During the course of this civil war, Jannaeus’s
opponents called on the Seleucid king Demetrius lll for help.
Demetrius lll invaded and defeated Alexander Jannaeus in a
battle-at which point, however, the Jewish rebels apparently
had second thoughts and decided that they preferred a bad
Hasmonean king to a Seleucid.
The "Seekers of Smooth Things”
1. The civil war against Alexander Jannaeus seems to be echoed
in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, called the Pesher Nahum, or
the Commentary on Nahum. This genre of literature, pesher,
is a commentary on a biblical book. Typically in these works,
the author cites and interprets the relevant passage in a
biblical book.
2. The Pesher Nahum reads, “This concerns Demetrius King of
Greece, who sought on the counsel of those who seek smooth
things to enter Jerusalem. But God did not permit the city to be
delivered into the hands of the kings of Greece from the time of
Antiochus until the coming out of the rulers of the Kittim.” The
passage goes on: “lnterpreted, this concerns the furious young
lion who executes revenge on those who seek smooth things.”
3. The expression “seekers of smooth things” is an example of
a derogatory pun. The “seekers of smooth things” in Hebrew
is dorshei hachalakot. The pun is dorshei hahalachot, which
means “seekers of the law.” The author of Pesher Nahum is
mocking the group by calling them not the seekers of the law but
the seekers of smooth things-those who take the easy way out.
In fact, “seekers of smooth things” is a name that the author of
this scroll gave to an opposing group-the Pharisees.
Connection between Jesus and David
1. Our review of the various rulers of the Hasmonean kingdom
sets us up for discussing the birth narratives in the Gospels of
Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke are the only two of the
four canonical Gospels that contain birth narratives. lf we read
them side by side, we see that the birth narratives in these two
Gospels differ quite a bit.
2. Matthew opens with “an account of the genealogy of Jesus the
Messiah, the son of David.” Notice that this genealogy goes
directly from Jesus to David. Matthew then continues with the
divine conception, Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, the visit of the
three Magi, and the flight to Egypt. Then, we are introduced to
John the Baptist.
3. In contrast, Luke has a prologue dedicated to Theophilus, which
in Greek means “lover of God.” Then, Luke foretells the birth
of John the Baptist, followed by the birth of Jesus: “ln the sixth
month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee
called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was
Joseph of the house of David.” Also in Luke, we read, “Joseph
also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the
City of David called Bethlehem because he was descended from
the house and family of David.” Notice the repeated emphasis
here on David and the concern to connect Jesus with David.
4. In contrast, the Gospels of Mark and John have no birth narratives.
Instead, they open with the ministry of John the Baptist. We are
first introduced to Jesus as an adult being baptized.
5. The authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke clearly went to
great lengths to establish Jesus’s descent from David. This goes
back to biblical Jewish traditions-specifically, several passages
in the Hebrew Bible. Consider, for example, 2 Samuel 7:1-29:
“Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you
a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your
ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come
forth from your body and I will establish his kingdom. David says,
for you O Lord God have spoken. And with your blessing, shall
the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
6. By the 1st century B.C., the late Second Temple period,
many Jews had come to anticipate the arrival of one or more
messianic figures. These messianic figures were eschatological
redeemers, who would come at the end of days, sent by God to
reign over a restored Kingdom of Israel. This restored kingdom
was frequently associated with David.
7. lt is important to realize that, at least among Jews in this period,
these traditions always conceived of the messiahs as human
beings, even if they may have had supernatural qualities. They
were agents of God but not saviors in the Christian sense of
the word.
8. The assumption that Jesus must be descended from David in
order to be the legitimate messiah underlies the birth narratives
in Matthew and Luke. These Gospel authors went to great
lengths to establish Jesus’s descent from David because they
took for granted the principle that to be the legitimate messiah,
Jesus must be descended from David.
9. In order to establish Jesus’s descent from David, the Gospel
authors had to connect Jesus with Bethlehem, which is located
in Judea near Jerusalem. Bethlehem was David’s hometown
and the place where David was crowned king of Israel. The only
problem was that Jesus was from Nazareth in Galilee.
10. Jesus’s origin in Galilee meant that his descent from David was
questionable. Further, his Jewish descent would have been
questionable, as well. ln fact, Galilee had been Judaized by the
Hasmoneans only a century before Jesus’s birth. Therefore,
by Jesus’s time, the population of Galilee included non-Jews
who had been Judaized, or forcibly converted to Judaism, by
the Hasmoneans a century earlier, as well as descendants of
Judean colonists.
11. Matthew and Luke take great pains to insert birth narratives into
their accounts that not only established Jesus as coming from
Judea originally but also established his lineage going back
to David, in order to bolster the claim that he was, in fact, a
legitimate messiah.
Suggested Reading
Goldenberg, The Origins of Judaism, chapter 5, “The First Kingdom of
Judaea?
VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism, “The Hasmonean State,”
pp. 24-32.
Questions to Consider
1. How did the Hasmonean kings deal with the non-Jewish populations
of newly conquered territories, and what was the consequence of
their policy?
2. Who are the “seekers of smooth things” mentioned in some of the
Dead Sea Scrolls?
