Scepter of Judah

Scepter of Judah

by Shawn Henry Potter and Lois Carol Potter
renatuspress@gmail.com

In our discussion entitled Day of His Appearing – Part One, we examined the messianic prophecy in Gen 49:10. (See Day of His Appearing – Part One) That prophecy reads as follows:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come;
and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

We showed that, during the days of Jesus, Judeans understood that the ascension of Herod the Great to the throne of Judea in 36 BC broke the line of descendants of Judah who ruled the nation, fulfilling the prophecy in Gen 49:10, and signaling the imminent appearance of the Messiah.

The following parallel Oniad and Hasmonean lineages reveal how the scepter of Judah descended through the kings and high priests of Judea to Onias III, High Priest (d. c. 170 BC), and continued through Mattathias Maccabeus (d. 166 BC) to Antigonus II Mattathias, High Priest (c. 37 BC). This unbroken line of descendants of Judah that ruled Judea came to an end when the Idumean King Herod the Great (d. 1 BC) became king of Judea.

Oniad Line of Descent from Judah

  1. Abraham = Sarah[1]
  2. Isaac = Rebecca[2]
  3. Jacob = Leah[3]
  4. Judah = Tamar[4]
  5. Perez = ____[5]
  6. Hezron = ____[6]
  7. Ram = Phozib[7]
  8. Amminadab = Yochebed[8]
  9. Elisheba = Aaron, High Priest[9]

The Seventh Plague

  1. Eleazar, High Priest = ____[10]
  2. Phineas, High Priest = ____[11]
  3. Abishua, High Priest = ____[12]
  4. Bukki = ____[13]
  5. Uzzi = ____[14]
  6. Zerahiah = ____[15]
  7. Meraioth = ____[16]
  8. Amariah = ____[17]
  9. Ahitub = ____[18]
  10. Zadok, High Priest = ____[19]
  11. Ahimaaz, High Priest = Basemath, daughter of King Solomon[20]
  12. Azariah, High Priest = ____[21]
  13. Jehoiarib (Joram), High Priest = ____[22]
  14. Isus, High Priest = ____[23]
  15. Axioramus, High Priest = ____[24]
  16. Phideas, High Priest = ____[25]
  17. Sudeas, High Priest = ____[26]
  18. Juelus, High Priest = ____[27]
  19. Jotham, High Priest = ____[28]
  20. Urias, High Priest = ____[29]
  21. Nerias, High Priest = ____[30]
  22. Odeas, High Priest = ____[31]
  23. Shallum (Sallumus), High Priest = ____[32]
  24. Hilkiah (Elcias), High Priest = ____[33]
  25. Azariah (Azarias), High Priest = ____[34]
  26. Seraiah (Sareas), High Priest = ____[35]
  27. Jehozadak (Josedec), High Priest = ____[36]

Flight of the Prisoners

  1. Jeshua, High Priest = ____[37]
  2. Joacim, High Priest = ____[38]
  3. Eliasib, High Priest = ____[39]
  4. Judas, High Priest = ____[40]
  5. John, High Priest = ____[41]
  6. Jaddua, High Priest = ____[42]
  7. Onias I, High Priest (d. c. 280 BC) = ____[43]
  8. Simon I “the Just,” High Priest (d. c. 260 BC) = ____[44]
  9. Onias II ben Simon, High Priest (d. c. 218 BC) = ____[45]
  10. Simon II ben Onias II, High Priest (d. c. 185 BC) = ____[46]
  11. Onias III, High Priest (d. c. 170 BC) = ____[47]

The Maccabees

Parallel Hasmonean Line of Descent from Judah

Note: There were some 21 generations between the previous generation 22. Jehoiarib (Joram), High Priest and the following generation 44. Asamonaeus, Priest of Modein.

  1. Asamonaeus, Priest of Modein (d. c. 250 BC) = ____[48]
  2. Simon Priest of Modein (d. c. 220 BC) = ____[49]
  3. Johanan Priest of Modein (d. c. 190 BC) = ____[50]
  4. Mattathias Maccabeus, Priest of Modein (d. 166 BC) = ____[51]
  5. Simon Thassi Maccabeus, High Priest (d. 135 BC) = ____[52]
  6. John Hyrcanus I, High Priest (d. 104 BC) = ____[53]
  7. Alexander Janneus, High Priest (d. 76 BC) = Salome Alexandra[54]
  8. Aristobulus II, High Priest (d. 63 BC) = Salome bat Absalom[55]
  9. Antigonus II Mattathias, High Priest (c. 37 BC) = ____[56]

Reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Herod

Conclusion

Descendants of Judah ruled (possessed the scepter of) the kingdom of Judea until the Idumean King Herod the Great ascended the throne in 36 BC. Judeans understood that the ascension of Herod to the throne broke the line of descendants of Judah who ruled the nation, fulfilling the prophecy in Gen 49:10, and signaling the imminent appearance of the Messiah. (See  Day of His Appearing – Part One.)

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11)

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[1] Gen 11:29.

[2] Gen 21:1-3. See also 1 Chr 1:34. See also Matt 1:2.

[3] Gen 25:19-26. See also 1 Chr 1:34. See also Matt 1:2.

[4] 1 Chr 2:1-2. See also Matt 1:2-3.

[5] 1 Chr 2:3-4. See also Ruth 4:18-20. See also Matt 1:2-3.

[6] 1 Chr 2:5. See also Ruth 4:18. See also Matt 1:2-3.

[7] 1 Chr 2:9. See also Ruth 4:18-19. See also Matt 1:2-3.

[8] 1 Chr 2:10. See also Ruth 4:18-19. See also Matt 1:2-4.

[9] Ex 6:20. See also Num 26:59.

[10] Ex 6:23. See also 1 Chr 2:3-10.

[11] Ex 6:25. See also 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 5:1:29.

[12] 1 Chr 6:50-53.

[13] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3.

[14] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3.

[15] 1 Chr 6:50-53.

[16] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3.

[17] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3.

[18] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3.

[19] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8:1:3. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[20] 1 Chr 6:50-53. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6. See also Hayim Tawil, “Taphath bat Shlmoh” (Taphath the daughter of Solomon), Beit Mikra: Journal for the Study of the Bible and Its World (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1999), 384-372.

[21] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[22] 1 Chr 9:10. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[23] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[24] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[25] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[26] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[27] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[28] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[29] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[30] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[31] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[32] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[33] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[34] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6. See also William Whiston footnote, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6, citing Seder Olam.

[35] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6. See also William Whiston footnote, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6, citing Seder Olam.

[36] 1 Chr 6:4-14. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 10:8:6.

[37] Haggai 1:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:3:10.

[38] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:5:1.

[39] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:5:5.

[40] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:7:1.

[41] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:7:1.

[42] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:7:2.

[43] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:8:7.

[44] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:2:5.

[45] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:2:5.

[46] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:2:5. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:4:10.

[47] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:5:1.

[48] Josephus, Life, 1. Josephus described his own descent from a brother of Simon Maccabeus, and observed “… as nobility among several people is of a different origin, so with us to be of the sacerdotal dignity, is an indication of the splendor of a family. Now, I am not only sprung from a sacerdotal family in general, but from the first of the twenty-four courses; and as among us there is not only a considerable difference between one family of each course and another, I am of the chief family of that first course also; nay, further, by my mother I am of the royal blood; for the children of Asamonaeus, from whom that family was derived, had both the office of the high priesthood, and the dignity of a king, for a long time together.” See also 1 Macc 2:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:265-266. Mattathias (father of Simon Maccabeus) was a son of Joannes, son of Simeon, son of Asamonaeus, “a priest of the course of Joarib and a native of Jerusalem.” See also Alison Schofield and James C. Vanderkam, “Were the Hasmoneans Zadokites?” Journal of Biblical Literature, Spring, 2005, Vol. 124, No. 1, 78-80. “The priestly clan of J(eh)oilrig, then seems to have been prominent already in early Second Temple times. In fact, it was included in the genealogy of the sons of Zadok and seems to have been the larger family unit in which the clan of Jedaiah belonged. If J(eh)oilrig was a Zadokite family, then the Hasmoneans were Zadokites. This does not mean that they belonged to the immediate family that had produced the high priest until their time, but it does mean that, according to the sources, they probably were part of the considerable family that traced its heredity to Zadok.”

[49] Josephus, Life, 1. See also 1 Macc 2:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:265-266. See also Alison Schofield and James C. Vanderkam, “Were the Hasmoneans Zadokites?” Journal of Biblical Literature, Spring, 2005, Vol. 124, No. 1, 78-80.

[50] Josephus, Life, 1. See also 1 Macc 2:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:265-266. See also Alison Schofield and James C. Vanderkam, “Were the Hasmoneans Zadokites?” Journal of Biblical Literature, Spring, 2005, Vol. 124, No. 1, 78-80.

[51] Josephus, Life, 1. See also 1 Macc 2:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:265-266. See also Alison Schofield and James C. Vanderkam, “Were the Hasmoneans Zadokites?” Journal of Biblical Literature, Spring, 2005, Vol. 124, No. 1, 78-80.

[52] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13-250-53.) See also Josephus, Life, 1. See also 1 Macc 2:1-2. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12:265-266. See also Alison Schofield and James C. Vanderkam, “Were the Hasmoneans Zadokites?” Journal of Biblical Literature, Spring, 2005, Vol. 124, No. 1, 78-80.

[53] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:7:4.

[54] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:11:1. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:12:1.

[55] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:11:1. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:12:1.

[56] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13:12:1. See also Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14:4:5.