Hyrcanus’ Request to Refrain from Battle on Shavuot

Josephus

Jewish Antiquities 13.251–252

93–94

When Antiochus had set up a trophy at the Lycus river, after defeating Indates, the general of the Parthians, he remained there for two days, at the request of Hyrcanus the Jew on account of an ancestral festival, whereby it was not lawful for the Jews to march out. And indeed he does not speak falsely regarding these matters, for the Pentecost festival began after the Sabbath. Nor is it lawful for us to journey either on the Sabbath day or on a festival day.

Translated by William Whiston, adapted by Aaron Samuels.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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Josephus relates that John Hyrcanus, who ruled as ethnarch of Judaea and high priest from 135 to 104 BCE, made peace with Antiochus VII Sidetes (r. 138–129 BCE) and assisted him in battle against the Parthians. Antiochus is sensitive to the Jews’ desire to celebrate an ancestral festival and pauses the fighting for two days at Hyrcanus’s request. This festival is most likely Shavuot, a one-day biblical holiday (the pause is for two days because the festival follows the Sabbath).  At this point in the narrative, Josephus takes the opportunity to explain to his Roman readers that it is forbidden for Jews to journey on the Sabbath and festivals. For the larger context of this passage, see John Hyrcanus.

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Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

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