Alcimus, the Aaronic priest in Maccabees, may be, in a streamlined history, Joiakim
by
“They trusted Alcimus, who was a priest
descended from Aaron,
and they thought he would not cause them any
harm”.
Introduction
The name Alcimus is probably a Greek rendering of the
Hebrew name Eliakim, which is a variant of Joiakim (Joakim). In the Book of
Judith, the high priest of an earlier era is variously named, Joakim (Judith
4:6 NRSV) and Eliachim (4:5 Vulgate).
And, in the name Eliakim, we can clearly discern the
variant (Grecised) name, Alcimus.
Now if Alcimus was, indeed, the son of the former high
priest, Jesus (Joshua), then he was the son of a truly esteemed man. For this
Jesus was, so I have argued, the great and learned Ezra who lived a very long
life.
Ezra is famously a man who was miraculously plucked from the
Burning Fiery Furnace of the Chaldean king, Nebuchednezzar – thereby saved from
certain death.
In three different places in Scripture – seemingly
separated the one from the other by many decades – do we learn about the
priest’s terrible ordeal.
I told of this in my article:
High Priest, Jesus (Joshua), brand plucked
out of the fire
(4) High Priest, Jesus (Joshua),
brand plucked out of the fire
….
As Azariah, Ezra was in the
Burning Fiery Furnace.
As the high priest, Jesus, he
was “plucked out of the fire”.
[Zechariah 3:2]
And so, apparently, as Jesus
ben Sirach, was he “in the heart of a fire” (Sirach 51:1, 2, 4):
‘I will give thanks to you,
Lord and King … for you have been protector and
support to me, and redeemed my
body from destruction … from the stifling heat which hemmed me in, from the
heart of a fire which I had not kindled’.
Sirach 51:1, 2, 4
Obviously, for Ezra to have
been able to embrace all three alter egos here, namely,
Azariah/Jesus/Jesus ben Sirach - and if his son, Joiakim is to be found
operating still in early Maccabean times - then there is required a major
shortening of the Chaldean, Medo-Persian and Hellenistic eras.
That Ezra was, most
surprisingly, still alive as a very aged man in Maccabean times is argued in my
article:
Ezra ‘Father of the Jews’ dying the death of
Razis
(4) Ezra 'Father
of the Jews' dying the death of Razis
What
was Alcimus (Eliakim) like?
As a descendant of Aaron
and, so, genuinely in the line of High Priest, Alcimus appealed to some of the
Jewish nationalists (but not the Maccabean family) who had been taking the
fight up to the pagan Greek Seleucids.
Unfortunately for these,
however, Alcimus was not the man that his father was, still fighting the Greeks,
now as Esdrias (2 Maccabees 12:36): “… Esdrias and his men had been fighting
for a long time and were exhausted …”, and still playing his priestly rôle
(8:23): [Judas Maccabeus gets this Esdrias] “to read the sacred Book aloud …”.
Here is the treacherous
Alcimus, as written about by Alexander Büchler, article “Alcimus (called also
Jakim)”: ALCIMUS
- JewishEncyclopedia.com
Leader of the antinational
Hellenists in Jerusalem, under Demetrius I. Soter of Syria (Josephus,
"Ant." xi. 9, § 7); born about 200 B.C.; died at Jerusalem 160
[sic]. He was of priestly family (I Macc. vii. 14).
In consequence of the national movement under the Hasmoneans, and of the
martial successes of Judas Maccabeus (164-163), the party lost influence and
was partially expelled from Jerusalem. Immediately after Demetrius ascended the
throne, Alcimus presented himself as a supporter of the imperiled authority of
Syria in Judea, and requested the punishment of Judas Maccabeus. Demetrius
entrusted Bacchides, the governor of Cœle-syria, with this task, and sent him
to install Alcimus in the office of high priest, the object of his ambition.
In Judea, because of his priestly rank, Alcimus obtained the
confidence of the scribes and the rigidly pious (Assideans), who objected to
the conflict on general principles, and, therefore, asked him to bring about
peace.
Yet, in spite of pledges of safety, he put many of them to
death in order to intimidate the rest. Bacchides himself massacred all the
followers of Judas Maccabeus who fell into his hands; and committing Judea,
with a force sufficient for garrison duty, to the care of Alcimus, he returned
to Syria. Alcimus, united now with his Jewish partizans, took up arms against
the Maccabees to fight for the supremacy in Judea and for the post of ἀρχιερωσίυη
(high-priesthood).
He could not maintain his position, however, and repaired to
the king for assistance (I Macc. vii. 5-25;
"Ant." xii. 10, §§ 1, 3; II Macc. xiv. 1-10).
In order to restore him to the office of high priest (II Macc. xiv. 13),
Demetrius, in the same year (162),
despatched his general Nicanor, who was defeated and killed in an encounter
with Judas; and the anniversary, Adar 13, was celebrated in Jerusalem as the
Nikanor Day (I Macc. vii. 26-50;
"Ant." xii. 10, § 4; II Macc. xiv. 12-xv. 36).
Soon after, Alcimus appeared before Jerusalem with
Bacchides, who attacked Judas at Eleasa in such superior numbers that Judas was
defeated and slain.
Alcimus and the Hellenists now assumed control in Judea and
reveled in the persecution and slaughter of nationalist Jews. Herein Bacchides
assisted effectively by continued war on the Hasmoneans Jonathan and Simon, and
by the erection of a number of fortifications in Judea (I Macc. ix. 1-53;
"Ant." xii. 11, § 1; xiii. 1, § 5). Alcimus does not appear in the
account of these struggles; only his death (160) is reported in connection with
his attempt to tear down the wall of the court of the inner Temple (I Macc. ix. 54;
"Ant." xii. 10, § 6). He held office for three years
("Ant." xii. 10, § 6; xx. 10, § 3), and, as early as 163 under
Antiochus V., was appointed successor to Menelaus ("Ant." xii. 9, §
7; xx. 10, § 3; II Macc. xiv. 3).
It is possible that what is related in I Maccabees (vii. 5-25) occurred in the
time of Antiochus V. (Schlatter, "Jason von Kyrene," p. 40).
As High
Priest.
Without doubt Alcimus held some office, as appears
from I Macc. vii. 9;
"Ant." xii. 9, § 7; xx.10, § 3. The position which he strove for was
expressed by the terms ἱερατύειυ
(I Macc. vii. 5) and ἀρχιερωσύυη
(I Macc. vii. 21, II Macc. xiv. 13);
and as Josephus always refers to him as high priest, Alcimus is recognized as
such by all authorities. A fact conflicting with this is that he mentions his ἀρχιερωσύυη
to the king as being inherited from his ancestors (II Macc. xiv. 7)
….
From the fact that the scribes and Assideans gave him their
confidence only because he was priest of Aaron's family, it follows that his
official position is to be sought elsewhere than in the high-priesthood. The
older view as to Alcimus' high-priesthood is, however, still held by scholars
to-day. See, e.g., Reinach, Rev. Ét. Juives, xl. 99;
Schürer, Theologische Literatur Zeitung, 1900, No. 12, cols. 364,
635.—R. G.
….
Did Alcimus oversee the death of his father, who died at the
hands of Nicanor’s men, more than 500 of them? (2 Maccabees 14:37-46).
Alexander Büchler
concludes:
Mention must be made of the legendary account in the Midrash
(Gen. R. lxv. 22, and in Midrash Teh. to xi. 7) of Jakim of Ẓerorot
(Ẓeredah), nephew of Jose, son of Joezer [Jesus/Joshua?]
of Ẓeredah. He is probably identical with
Jakim-Alcimus, and is represented as being present when his uncle [sic], who
may have been one of the scribes put to death by Alcimus, was led to execution.
When he threatened his nephew with the tortures of hell for his faithlessness,
Jakim killed himself.
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