Simon wins independence for Judea
After Judas and then Jonathan fell, their brother Simon threw off Seleucid rule. The people made him high priest, commander, and ruler, and for eighty years Judea was independent under his descendants, the Hasmoneans.
for it is testified, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 7:17 (World English Bible)
Judas was killed in battle, and his brother Jonathan was treacherously murdered. Simon, the last surviving son of Mattathias, won freedom from Seleucid taxes, drove the Syrian garrison out of the Akra fortress in Jerusalem, and captured the port of Joppa. For the first time since Nebuchadnezzar, Judea governed itself, and people began to date their documents by the years of Simon.
The Hasmoneans were priests but not descendants of David, yet Simon's successors took the title of king as well as high priest, and their kingdom soon grew worldly and violent. The true joining of priest and king in one person waited for someone greater: a king from the tribe of Judah who is “a priest forever” (Hebrews 7:14–17).
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- 1 Maccabees 13:41–42
- 1 Maccabees 14:25–49 — the people's decree honoring Simon
- Antiquities 13.6.7
Dating notes
The 170th Seleucid year (1 Maccabees 13), 142 BC. The date shown is the conventional one. Ussher counts the Seleucid years of 1 Maccabees from autumn 312 BC, which puts it a year earlier; he dates it to 143 BC.