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Aaronic Priesthood

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE PRESIDING BISHOPRIC DEDITED BY JOHN D. CILES

Aaronic Priesthood

Seventeenth in a series of articles written by the late Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Council of the Twelve. Published originally in "The Contributor."

TEN years later, Jonathan was murdered. His brother, Simon, who succeeded him, effected the independence of his country. Simon and two of his sons were murdered by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, B. C., 135 but the remaining son, John Hyrcanus, escaped, and afterwards ascended the throne of his murdered sire. He was compelled by Antiochus Sidetes to acknowledge the Syrian authority, and pay tribute to that nation, but on the death of that monarch and the reduction of Syria before the arms of Parthia, Hyrcanus seized the opportunity to restore the independence of Judea. He subdued Samaria, destroyed the national temple on Mt. Gerizim, and conquered Idumea.

His son, Aristobulus I, succeeded him B. C. 106, and assuming the title of King of Judea founded the Asmonean kingdom, which lasted seventy years. His brother, Alexander Jannaeus, mounted the throne one year afterwards. He belonged to the sect of Sadducees, and his reign was marked by a civil war between them and the rival sect of Pharisees, who had broken out in rebellion. Alexander crushed the rebellion and wreaked terrible vengeance on his enemies, but, dying in B. C. 78, he advised his wife Alexandra to secure her peace by allying herself with the Pharisees, who were still powerful enough to be dreaded. She followed his counsel and reigned peaceably for eight years. A civil war between her sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, followed the queen's death in B. C. 69, and the contest raged for seven years. Pompey, the Roman, appeared upon the scene, put an end to the conflict, and seated Hyrcanus upon his father's throne. Aristobulus was carried a prisoner to Rome, but escaped at the end of six years, and the war between the brothers was resumed. The Romans again interfered, and having made Aristobulus a prisoner, confined Hyrcanus to his priestly office, and placed Judea under the rule of the Sanhedrin, or Council of Seventy, with the High Priest added.

Pompey, while at Jerusalem, committed an act of sacrilege similar to that which roused the hatred of the Jews against Ptolemy IV. Though sparing the treasures of the temple, and protecting the sacred edifice from destruction, he profaned with his presence the Holy of Holies, thus giving mortal offense to the Jewish people. Crassus, another of the triumvirate among whom the Roman dominions were divided, having received Syria as his share, stripped the Jewish temple of its treasures to provide for the expense of his expedition against Parthia. The tragic fate of both these generals was regarded by the Jews in the light of divine retribution.

EDWARD HUNTER, THIRD PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE CHURCH

FARMER, tanner, surveyor, businessman, cavalry officer, county commissioner-with this background Edward Hunter joined the Church October 8, 1840.