Apostate Judaism

The Beginning of Apostasy and Satan's Rule

After falling into sin through Satan's trickery, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden with the promise of salvation. Thereafter, Adam's family, as sinners, were born into sin and came under the control of Satan's lies and threats.

This is the beginning of human history, not some fanciful evolutionary outcome based on superficial similarities.

The history of Adam's family filled with lies, threats, bribes, and murder, is evidence that the biblical record of the beginning of human history is true.

Made in God's image, man naturally desires to be honest, righteous, just, kind, and humble because of the image of God within him, but because of the sin inherited from Adam and the rule of Satan's lies and threats, he lives a short life and ends up living a futile life.

Yet, God did not abandon Adam's family. When Adam fell into sin, God gave them the promise of a seed of salvation and has protected and guided them. Because of God's promise of a seed of salvation, Adam and Eve had children, and the human family came into existence.

Adam's family, sinners experiencing emptiness and dying, have a bright future because of the hope of salvation given by God.

Ro 8:20-22
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will but through him that subjected it, on the basis of hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that all creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together until now.

Mankind is guaranteed a future in which it will be freed from sin and Satan's dominion and enjoy the glorious freedom of being children of God.

Until that time comes, we will live in a world dominated by sin and Satan's control, filled with lies, threats, exploitation, injustice, conflict, bribery, violence and murder.

The influence of sin and Satan's dominion also worked among God's people, causing them to apostatize. Let's look at their history.

History of the Apostasy of God's People Israel

1513 BC
God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and made them His people through the Law covenant at Mount Sinai in Arabia.

The Israelites were protected and educated by the law, and expected to live in accordance with the inner image of God, and doing so was a blessing to them.

The arrangement for the worship of God included the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant, the priesthood, the high priest, festivals, Sabbaths, sacrifices, etc. These worship tasks were carried out by the tribe of Levi.

After being freed from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites showed faithlessness in God from the very beginning when the covenant was made, and they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the Promised Land.

Characteristics of God's Original Worship in the Promised Land

1473 BC
When the Israelites entered the Promised Land and began to settle there, for about 900 years, from the 15th to 6th centuries BC, in YHWH's worship, the Aaronic high priest, the priesthood, the Levites, and the heads of each family served as teachers of God's ways. There were no teachers called rabbis.

There were no such things as rabbis, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Synagogues, Sanhedrins, and Talmuds at first.

They are unnecessary additions to Jewish worship after apostate Israel underwent 70 years of Babylonian captivity from 587 BC to 537 BC.

Note: According to the above calculation, the total period is 50 years, but the Bible records that the captivity lasted 70 years. There are various theories on the interpretation of 70 years. There are also various theories on the determination of dates in ancient history, so please make your own judgment.

King Solomon's Apostasy

King Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba, sought wisdom from God at the beginning of his reign but, because of taking many foreign wives, in his later years fell into apostasy due to indwelling sin and the influence of Satan.

Just as the spiritual Son of God, who had God's favor but became Satan, Solomon, who had been given wisdom and every good thing, neglected YHWH God, the source of all good things.

1Ki 11:1-43
1 And King Sol′o‧mon himself loved many foreign wives along with the daughter of Phar′aoh, Mo′ab‧ite, Am′mon‧ite, E′dom‧ite, Si‧do′ni‧an [and] Hit′tite women, 2 from the nations of whom YHWH had said to the sons of Israel: “YOU must not go in among them, and they themselves should not come in among YOU; truly they will incline YOUR heart to follow their gods.” It was to them that Sol′o‧mon clung to love [them]. 3 And he came to have seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives gradually inclined his heart. 4 And it came about in the time of Sol′o‧mon’s growing old that his wives themselves had inclined his heart to follow other gods; and his heart did not prove to be complete with YHWH his God like the heart of David his father. 5 And Sol′o‧mon began going after Ash′to‧reth the goddess of the Si‧do′ni‧ans and after Mil′com the disgusting thing of the Am′mon‧ites. 6 And Sol′o‧mon began to do what was bad in the eyes of YHWH, and he did not follow YHWH fully like David his father.

7 It was then that Sol′o‧mon proceeded to build a high place to Che′mosh the disgusting thing of Mo′ab on the mountain that was in front of Jerusalem, and to Mo′lech the disgusting thing of the sons of Am′mon. 8 And that was the way he did for all his foreign wives who were making sacrificial smoke and sacrificing to their gods.

9 And YHWH came to be incensed at Sol′o‧mon, because his heart had inclined away from YHWH the God of Israel, the one appearing to him twice. 10 And respecting this thing he commanded him not to go after other gods; but he had not kept that which YHWH had commanded. 11 YHWH now said to Sol′o‧mon: “For the reason that this has taken place with you and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I laid in command upon you, I shall without fail rip the kingdom away from off you, and I shall certainly give it to your servant. 12 However, in your days I shall not do it, for the sake of David your father. Out of the hand of your son I shall rip it away. 13 Only it will not be all the kingdom that I shall rip away. One tribe (tribe of Benjamin) I shall give to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

14 And YHWH began to raise up a resister to Sol′o‧mon, namely, Ha′dad the E′dom‧ite of the offspring of the king. He was in E′dom. 15 And it came about when David struck down E′dom, when Jo′ab the chief of the army came up to bury those slain, that he tried to strike down every male in E′dom. 16 (For it was six months that Jo′ab and all Israel dwelt there until he had cut off every male in E′dom.) 17 And Ha′dad went running away, he and some E′dom‧ite men of the servants of his father with him, to come into Egypt, while Ha′dad was a young boy. 18 So they rose up out of Mid′i‧an and came into Pa′ran and took men with them from Pa′ran and came into Egypt to Phar′aoh the king of Egypt, who then gave him a house. Also, bread he assigned to him, and land he gave him. 19 And Ha′dad continued to find favor in the eyes of Phar′aoh, so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tah′pe‧nes the lady. 20 In time the sister of Tah′pe‧nes bore him Ge‧nu′bath his son, and Tah′pe‧nes got to wean him right inside the house of Phar′aoh; and Ge‧nu′bath continued at the house of Phar′aoh right among the sons of Phar′aoh.

21 And Ha′dad himself heard in Egypt that David had lain down with his forefathers and that Jo′ab the chief of the army had died. So Ha′dad said to Phar′aoh: “Send me away, that I may go to my own land.” 22 But Phar′aoh said to him: “What are you in need of while with me that here you are seeking to go to your own land?” To this he said: “Nothing; but you ought to send me away without fail.”

23 And God proceeded to raise up to him another resister, namely, Re′zon the son of E‧li′a‧da, who had run away from Had‧ad‧e′zer the king of Zo′bah his lord. 24 And he kept collecting men to his side and came to be chief of a marauder band, when David killed them. So they went to Damascus and took up dwelling in it and began reigning in Damascus. 25 And he came to be a resister of Israel all the days of Sol′o‧mon, and that along with the injury that Ha′dad did; and he had an abhorrence of Israel while he continued reigning over Syria.

26 And there was Jer‧o‧bo′am the son of Ne′bat an E′phra‧im‧ite from Zer′e‧dah, a servant of Sol′o‧mon, and his mother’s name was Ze‧ru′ah, a widowed woman. He too began to lift up his hand against the king. 27 And this is the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Sol′o‧mon himself had built the Mound. He had closed up the gap of the City of David his father. 28 Now the man Jer‧o‧bo′am was a valiant, mighty man. When Sol′o‧mon got to see that the young man was a hard worker, he proceeded to make him overseer over all the compulsory service of the house of Joseph. 29 And it came about at that particular time that Jer‧o‧bo′am himself went out from Jerusalem, and A‧hi′jah the Shi′lo‧nite the prophet got to find him on the road, and [A‧hi′jah] was covering himself with a new garment; and the two of them were by themselves in the field. 30 A‧hi′jah now took hold of the new garment that was on him and ripped it into twelve pieces. 31 And he went on to say to Jer‧o‧bo′am:

“Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what YHWH the God of Israel has said, ‘Here I am ripping the kingdom out of the hand of Sol′o‧mon, and I shall certainly give you ten tribes. 32 And the one tribe is what will continue his for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 The reason why is that they have left me and begun to bow down to Ash′to‧reth the goddess of the Si‧do′ni‧ans, to Che′mosh the god of Mo′ab and to Mil′com the god of the sons of Am′mon; and they have not walked in my ways by doing what is right in my eyes and my statutes and my judicial decisions like David his father. 34 But I shall not take the entire kingdom out of his hand, because a chieftain I shall set him for all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes. 35 And I shall certainly take the kingship out of the hand of his son and give it to you, even ten tribes. 36 And to his son I shall give one tribe, in order that David my servant may continue having a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for myself to put my name there. 37 And you are the one that I shall take, and you will indeed reign over all that your soul craves, and you will certainly become king over Israel. 38 And it must occur that, if you obey all that I shall command you, and you do walk in my ways and actually do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, just as David my servant did, I will also prove to be with you, and I will build you a lasting house, just as I have built for David, and I will give you Israel. 39 And I shall humiliate the offspring of David on account of this, only not always.’”

40 And Sol′o‧mon began seeking to put Jer‧o‧bo′am to death. So Jer‧o‧bo′am got up and went running off to Egypt to Shi′shak the king of Egypt, and he continued in Egypt until Sol′o‧mon’s death.

41 As for the rest of the affairs of Sol′o‧mon and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the affairs of Sol′o‧mon? 42 And the days that Sol′o‧mon had reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years. 43 Then Sol′o‧mon lay down with his forefathers, and was buried in the City of David his father; and Re‧ho‧bo′am his son began to reign in place of him.

As a result, Israel was split into ten tribes in the north, Israel, and two tribes in the south, Judah, and the king, priests, and Levites all turned away from God's ways and sought their own selfish desires, leading to idolatry and the breakdown of morals.

1037 BC	Solomon succeeded David as king. This marked the beginning of a period of worship, peace, and prosperity for about 30 years until Solomon's apostasy. During this time, he built temple, administrative facilities, forts, and military facilities in various regions, traded with foreign countries, and enjoyed peace and prosperity. The time of the Queen of Sheba's visit was the peak of his reign, and after that, due to Solomon's apostasy, several conflicts arose and the peace and prosperity of Israel was lost. His reign lasted only 40 years. If Solomon took over the throne at the age of 20, he died at the age of 60. It was a short life.
1027 BC	Completion of the temple in Jerusalem. The first high priest of the temple was Zadok, of the line of Eleazar, the third son of Aaron, and thereafter all successors to the high priestly office came from the line of Zadok.
997 BC	Solomon's apostasy splits David's kingdom in two: Rehoboam, the son of Solomon's Ammonite wife Naamah, becomes king of Judah in the south, and Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's servant Nebat, the tribe of Ephraim, becomes king of Israel in the north.

Usurpation of the High Priest's Office

The high priestly office of the Levitical family of Zadok was interrupted during the 70-year Babylonian captivity from 587 BC to 537 BC, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
Note: According to the above calculation, the total period is 50 years, but the Bible records that the captivity lasted 70 years. There are various theories on the interpretation of 70 years. There are also various theories on the determination of dates in ancient history, so please make your own judgment.
It was later resumed when worship was restored under the rule of the Persian Empire, but was usurped by the Hasmoneans of the tribe of Simeonites in the Hasmonean rebellion in 166 BC, towards the end of the Greek Seleucid dynasty. When Israel was made a vassal state of the Roman Empire in 37 BC, the Hasmoneans lost their position as high priest, and a high priest of the tribe of Levites was appointed by the Roman Empire until the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.

The Sadducees emerged as a protest force during the Maccabean revolt (the takeover of the priesthood by the Hasmoneans) in the 2nd century BC. The name Sadducees comes from Zadok, who was the high priest in the time of David and Solomon. The Sadducees, a wealthy and privileged class of descendants of Zadok or supporters of Zadok's descendants, called Zadokites, held the high priest and other temple positions until the 1st century AD, after the Babylonian Captivity and the takeover of the priesthood by the Hasmoneans.

The high priests in Jesus' earthly ministry were the Sadducees Annas and Caiaphas.

The high priest was also in charge of the temple treasury, tithes, and general temple activity, so apostate high priests and other priests used their positions to enrich themselves.

The apostasy of the king, high priest, priests, Levites, and others led to the corruption of the whole of Israel, idolatry, and the collapse of morality, and brought punishment from God. Solomon's temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC, and the Israelites who had apostatized from God and become obsessed with mysticism were punished with 70 years of exile in Babylon, the birthplace of mysticism.

Having lost their temple, the center of pure worship, and become prisoners in a foreign land, the Israelites built a synagogue in place of the temple in order to maintain their worship of God in this land of hardship, and as a place for the Jewish community to fellowship, resolve problems, and learn the law. In the synagogues the law was read and explained, the status of teachers called rabbis was born, and legal scholars who would become the prototypes of the later Pharisees were formed. This led to the development of a unique form of Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, which fused the worship of God with pagan mysticism. The Talmud and Cabala were created around that time. The Babylonian Talmud was produced at a school of law called the Sura Academy in the Jewish quarter of Sura, a city in the south of Babylon.

In 537 BC, when the 70-year Babylonian captivity ended, God used Cyrus the Great of Persia to free the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity. The Jewish people who returned to Palestine were allowed to rebuild the temple and live autonomously until the end of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 334 BC when Alexander the Great began his Eastern expedition. They rebuilt their nation under Persian rule in about 200 years.

During this time, people God used to rebuild Israel included Daniel, Zerubbabel, Haggai, Zechariah, Mordecai, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

Division by Hellenism

332 BC
As Alexander the Great expanded the power of the Greek Empire, Israel became a Greek vassal state and was given a certain degree of autonomy, but the Greek Empire appointed its high priests and local governors, collected taxes and tributes, and required Israel to integrate with Greek culture.

Greek rule posed a challenge to Rabbinic Judaism. Divisions and conflicts arose between the wealthy ruling classes, such as the high priests, priests, and governors, who cooperated with Greek rule and welcomed Hellenization, and rabbinic Jews, who felt threatened by Hellenization.

During the Hellenistic period under Greek rule, sects such as the Sadducees, a group of mostly wealthy people who claimed the legitimacy of the lineage of high priest Zadok, and the Pharisees, a group of devout rabbinic Jews who rejected Hellenization, appeared. The Sanhedrin, a Jewish supreme court consisting of 71 members including high priests, Sadducees, Pharisees, elders, and influential people, was also established around this time.

Rabbis, Sadducees, Pharisees, Sanhedrin, and Jewish synagogues, which emerged after the 6th century BC, are not found in the Hebrew Scriptures. They are features of post-Babylonian Judaism and are words that appear in the Christian Greek Scriptures.

The Greek Empire ruled its vassal states by entrusting the high priest of Israel with the right to collect taxes, supervise local commerce, and other responsibilities. As a result, the high priest, who acted as the agent of the suzerain and collected taxes, was given favorable treatment and received a salary from the Greek Empire as long as he ruled according to the suzerain state's demands. So the Sadducees, the high priests of the Zadok family, were pro-Hellenistic and arranged the opening of a Greek stadium and marketplace in Jerusalem. Being financially dishonest and promoting business at the temple made it easy for them to skim or take bribes. That's why Jesus criticized the temple officials: "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a cave of robbers" (Mt 21:12-13).

So the practice of bribing the rulers of the Greek Empire to buy the high priesthood began.

The secular relationship between the empire and its vassal rulers (the high priests and the Sadducees) was regarded as a threat to the rabbis, Pharisees, Essenes and other Zealots, and conflicts among the Israelites themselves intensified.

The 2nd century BC was a time when hegemony shifted from the Greek Empire to the Roman Empire, and there were repeated struggles for supremacy and civil wars between the Seleucid Empire in Syria, the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt, and Rome. The high priests and proxy rulers of Israel, a vassal state of the Syrian-Seleucid Empire, sought to protect themselves and gain independence from the empire by being in alliance with, betraying, or bribing Syria, Egypt, and Rome, as they saw fit.


Around that time, a series of persecutions against traditional Judaism by the Syrian-Seleucid dynasty began, spearheaded by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and probably the high priest Menelaus.

Beginning of the Maccabean (originally Jewish name Hasmonean) revolt

Mattathias of the Hasmoneans had five children: Judah Maccabee, Eleazar Avaran, Simeon (also called "Thasi"), John Gaddi, and Jonathan Affas.
Maccabee is the Hebrew nickname given to Judas Maccabaeus, who was a member of the Hasmonean family.

167 BC
It is said that when a Greek army appeared at Modi'in, ordering the enforcement of the law of sacrifice to the Greek gods, as a respected member of the village, Mattathias a Hasmonean was asked to set an example in offering up a sacrifice to the pagan gods for his village, and in return was promised wealth and the honorary title of "Friend of the King." Mattathias refused, and when another Jew came forward to offer the sacrifice, Mattathias killed both him and the Greek official and called on devout Jews to rise up, saying, "Come with me, all you who are zealous for the law and uphold the covenant."

After killing the Greek government official who was forcing the sacrifice, Mattathias and his five sons fled to the Judean wilderness, where they formed an anti-Hellenistic Jewish guerrilla force in an area then known as Gophna Hills, near modern-day Jifna. Mattathias led the rebellion for a year, and before his death he gave his two sons different roles based on their abilities: Simon was made advisor, and Judah, who had military talent, was made military commander. The nickname for Judas was "Maccabee," meaning the Hammer in Hebrew to crush the Syrian-Seleucid Dominion, later popularized by the Catholic Church as the Maccabean Revolt. The original name was Hasmoneans. According to 1 Maccabees, Mattathias died sometime between the spring of 166 BC and the spring of 165 BC and was buried in his ancestral tomb at Modi'in.

The Maccabean rebels were initially joined by devout Jews called Hassideans who sought freedom of worship, but when they realized that the Maccabees' intentions were to wage a political war of independence, they broke away from the Maccabean rebels.

According to 1 Maccabees, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes allegedly built an altar on top of the altar of daily burnt offering in the temple in Jerusalem, sacrificed a pig on it, desecrated the temple, damaged the temple buildings and utensils, and dedicated it to Zeus, the pagan Olympian god.

In response to this, it is described that the rebel army of Judas Maccabee recaptured the temple from the Seleucid Empire, repaired the ruins, and rededicated it to YHWH two years later on 165 BC/12/25 (Chislev 25). To commemorate this event, the "Festival of Dedication" called Hanukkah began to be held in December in Israel.

The authenticity of the Maccabean rebellion story

Are all the heroic story of the Maccabees true? The accounts of the Maccabean revolt at the end of the Seleucid dynasty are taken from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and the Maccabean historian Josephus (Flavius Josephus), and there are many discrepancies among them. It is believed that the heroic story was created to increase the prestige of the Maccabees, who were not of priestly descent.

According to biblical prophecy, it is inconceivable that the daily burnt offerings would cease for two years by the damage of the temple before the coming of the Messiah. The regular offerings of the temple in Jerusalem were to be cut off by the coming of the Messiah, but it can be assumed that the regular offerings would not be interrupted until then. So it would appear that the regular offerings at the temple under the Law covenant that is shadow would continue until the reality arrived that is Jesus made the new covenant effective in 33 AD.

Da 9:24-27
24 “There are seventy weeks (490 years) that have been determined upon your people and upon your holy city, in order to terminate the transgression, and to finish off sin, and to make atonement for error, and to bring in righteousness for times indefinite, and to imprint a seal upon vision and prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. 25 And you should know and have the insight [that] from the going forth of [the] word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Mes‧si′ah [the] Leader, there will be seven weeks (49 years), also sixty-two weeks (434 years). She will return and be actually rebuilt, with a public square and moat, but in the straits of the times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks (434 years) Mes‧si′ah will be cut off, with nothing for himself.

“And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin. And the end of it will be by the flood. And until [the] end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations.

27 “And he must keep [the] covenant in force for the many for one week (7 years); and at the half of the week (3.5 years) he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease.

“And upon the wing of disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.”

455 BC	Nehemiah's repair of the walls of Jerusalem, beginning of the 70 weeks (490 years) prophecy in Daniel 9.
406 BC	7 weeks (49 years) after 455 BC, completion of the restoration of Jerusalem.
29 AD	4062 weeks (434 years) after 406 BC, Jesus is baptized and the Messiah appears.
33 AD	1/2 week (3.5 years) after 29 AD, the death of Jesus ends the Law Covenant and the New Covenant goes into effect, eliminating the need for regular temple offerings.
36 AD	One week (7 years) after 29 AD, the Law Covenant will expire and the Gentiles will be invited into the New Covenant.
70 AD	The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army, one million Jews lost their lives, and the surviving Jews, approximately 90,000, were scattered from Jerusalem to Jewish communities around the world. With the end of the Law covenant and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews lost their genealogical record and their temple, and were thereafter unable to practice biblical Judaism.

As we can see from the 70 weeks prophecy in the Book of Daniel, God's prophecies indicate the year of fulfillment, even if the exact date is not indicated. Therefore, the Jews in the 1st century AD were expecting the appearance of the Messiah.

Lu 3:15
15 Now as the people were in expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John: “May he perhaps be the Christ?”

High priests by bribes

➡ Jason Onias, the Aaronic high priest who was exiled by Menelaus, who had become high priest by bribing the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, fled to the Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt, where he built a temple, was appointed high priest by the Ptolemies, organized Cleopatra's mercenary group, and participated in the Ptolemaic civil war and the battle against the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The Egyptian temple of Jason Onias became Cleopatra's political armed group facility. Hearing rumors that Antiochus had been killed in battle with Egypt, Onias attacked Jerusalem and drove Menelaus into the fortress, but Antiochus had not been killed in battle, and Onias was killed in a surprise attack on Jerusalem by Antiochus. The surviving Menelaus was executed by Lysias, regent of Antiochus V, in 163-162 BC, and the Aaronite Alcimus was subsequently appointed high priest by Demetrius I of the Syrian Seleucid dynasty.

The high priest Alcimus was pro-Hellenistic and promoted the Hellenization of Jerusalem, which led to conflict with devout Jews called Hasidim and the Maccabees, and he requested the Syrian-Seleucid dynasty to remove the Maccabees.

Demetrius I sent an army, and Judah Maccabee won some victories through guerilla warfare, but in 160 BC the Syrians under Bacchides defeated him at Laisa/Elasa and Judah was killed in battle.

Judah Maccabee was succeeded by the Maccabean Jonathan, also known as Apphus, who withdrew from Judea into the desert, and Judea was returned to the Syrian-Seleucid proxy rulers.

Later, Bacchides attempts to destroy Jonathan's guerrilla army, but fails, and negotiates a truce with Jonathan, during which Jonathan works to strengthen his own forces.

When Alexander Balas, a claimant to the Syrian throne, competed with Demetrius I for Jonathan's support, Jonathan supported Alexander, who appointed him high priest, described him as "the king's friend," and made him military and administrative ruler of Judea.

145 BC
When Demetrius II, with the help of Ptolemy IV of Egypt, deposed Alexander Balas, he recognized Jonathan's right to rule in Israel, but later Demetrius II broke his promise to Jonathan to "withdraw the Syrian forces from the Syrian fortress of Akra in Jerusalem," so Jonathan sided with Tryphon, regent of the son of Alexander Bala the new claimant to the throne Antiochus VI. However, after Jonathan built a high wall between the Syrian-occupied Akra and the rest of Jerusalem, Tryphon invited him to negotiate, took him prisoner, and executed him at a place called Bascama on the east bank of the Jordan River.

The last of the Maccabees, Simon, also known as Thasi, rallied the Jewish forces after the capture of Jonathan and prevented Tryphon's forces from aiding the Syrian garrison in Jerusalem. Later, after Tryphon executed Antiochus VI and proclaimed himself king of Syria, Simon sided with Demetrius II, who in return for his support granted him almost complete political freedom, along with the abolition of all past and future tributes. Simon himself was recognized as "high priest, great commander and prince of the Jews."

134 BC
During a banquet at the fortress of Doch near Jericho, Simon, along with his sons Judas and Mattathias, was assassinated by his son-in-law Ptolemy, and was succeeded by his surviving son John Hyrcanus, who inherited the Hasmonaean dynasty.

The surviving John Hyrcanus thwarted Ptolemy's plot to assassinate, retained control of Jerusalem, and became the most successful of the Hasmonean rulers in terms of consolidating Judea and expanding its territory.

125 BC
John Hyrcanus of the Maccabees conquered Idumea and forced the Edomites, descendants of Jacob's twin brother Esau, to be circumcised and convert to Judaism, making the people of Idumea nominally Jewish.

In the 1st century BC, world hegemony shifted from Greece to Rome, and in 63 BC Israel became a Roman vassal state. In 39 BC Rome appointed Herod the Edomite as king of Israel, and a few years later killed the last Maccabean ruler, Antigonus, and 45 of his family, bringing an end to the Maccabean rule.

➡ On the Edomite royal lineage in Israel under Roman empire

The Emergence of the False Messiah (Christ)

In the 2nd century BC, as the appearance of God's Christ drew near, the Israelites, who had been liberated from Babylon, had won independence from the Greek Empire due to the Maccabean rebellion, but had once again become a vassal state of the Roman Empire. They then longed for the arrival of an earthly political Messiah such as John Hyrcanus of the Maccabees who would bring them independence from the Roman Empire.

So when Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, appeared, the Israelites, who had wrong expectations about the Messiah, did not accept Him as the Messiah, and were disappointed in Him as the ruling power of the earth.

Even the disciples of Christ who accepted Jesus as God's Messiah initially had the mistaken expectation that Christ would restore Israel's rule to the earth, so they asked the resurrected Christ, "Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?" (Ac 1:6)

The kingdom of Christ is not an earthly ruling power. His sinless, sacrificial death in 33 AD abolished the temple sacrifices in Jerusalem, which were a shadow (type) of Christ's sacrifice, and ended the Law covenant. At this point God abandoned Judaism and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, ending the Jewish form of worship. Therefore, there is no salvation in apostate Judaism, and today the emergence of the State of Israel in 1947 by Rothschild capital and plans to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem are merely secular events and plans that have nothing to do with God.

Mt 23:38
38 Look! YOUR house is abandoned to YOU. (God has nothing to do with apostate Israel.)

Heb 8:9
9 not according to the covenant that I made with their forefathers in [the] day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, so that I stopped caring for them,’ says YHWH.” (With the end of the Law covenant, God was no longer involved with apostate Judaism.)

Apostate Judaism, which rejected and killed God's Messiah (Jesus Christ) in the 1st century AD and was scattered throughout the earth, has produced many false Messiahs who claim to be the Messiah.

Similarly, the Christian world, which claims to believe in Jesus Christ, has apostated since its inception, and apostate Christianity has produced many false Christs who claim to be the returned Christ.

Islam, created by the Catholic Church in the 7th century, is also an apostate Judaism that believes in Muhammad as the Messiah from Ishmael, the son of Abraham.

Here are some examples (and there are many more) of false Messiahs and false Christs that have arisen from apostate Judaism, Christianity and Islam:

Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676)
An Ottoman Jewish mystic, and ordained rabbi from Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey). He is considered to be either a Sephardic or an Ashkenazi rabbi and there are two opinions about his lineage. He was likely of Ashkenazi origin. Active throughout the Ottoman Empire, Zevi claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah and founded the Sabbatean movement, whose followers later became known as Dönme "proselytes" or crypto-Jews. This was one of the most important Messianic movements, and its influence spread throughout Judea. Zvi believed in breaking Jewish law in order to raise the "divine sparks" (a term in Kabbalah) bound by Jewish law, and actually violated traditional Jewish taboos. For example, they ate foods forbidden by kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), practiced ritual incest, and celebrated prescribed fast days as holidays.

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Jacob Frank (1726-1791)
He was the founder of Frankism, a Sabbatean religious movement that arose in the 18th and 19th centuries and was named after him. Jacob Frank claimed to be the reincarnation of Sabbatai Tzvi and followed Sabbatai Tzvi's practice of committing sin and took it even further. Father-daughter incest is common among his followers, and orgies are an important part of their rituals. Frank completely rejected the norms of Judaism and taught his followers the obligation to transcend moral boundaries. At its peak, he had 50,000 followers, mostly Jews living in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. The Rothschild family, the bosses of international finance capital, are Frankists that is followers of Jacob Frank a believer in Jewish mysticism Cabala.

1947
After World War II, the French Rothschild family funded the creation of the state of Israel in Palestine. US Freemason President Truman was the first to recognize Israel as a sovereign state.

The Rothschild-built Supreme Court building of Israel is a place of occult symbolism to blend cabalistic (kabbalistic) interpretation of the Bible and pagan rituals. The occultists who have real power in the world understand its hidden meaning. The world is run by the Frankists.

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Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)
The seventh rabbi of Chabad-Lubavitch. Many of his followers believed he was the Messiah of the Jewish people while he was alive, and some continue to do so after his death in 1994. He has transformed Hasidic groups into the most influential lobbying group in America, built an international network of more than 5,000 educational and social centers, and built thousands of kindergartens, schools, drug rehabilitation centers, nursing homes for the disabled, and synagogues. Schneerson is known for his scholarship and contributions to the teachings of Talmudic, Halacha, Kabbalah and Hasidic faith. He was one of the most influential person to presidents and governors in the United States.

➡ Schneerson and Watchtower

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Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012)
Founder and leader of the Unification Church, established in Seoul, Korea, he has made contradictory statements, such as considering himself the second coming of Christ, but not being Jesus himself. Members of the Unification Church (Moonies) generally believe that he is the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ, chosen to carry out Jesus' unfinished mission. The Unification Church is a religious organization created by the American CIA.

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Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)
Ahmad, a Muslim from Qadian, India, claimed to be the expected Mahdi (Messiah of Muslims), asserted that Jesus died of natural causes after surviving crucifixion, and that prophecies about Jesus' future coming referred to the Mahdi taking on the qualities and personality of Jesus, not a physical return with the Mahdi. Although it is unclear, it shows a mysterious fusion of Islam and Christianity.

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Claude Vorilhon (1946-)
Now known as Raël "messenger of the Elohim", a French professional test driver and former automotive journalist who became the founder and leader of the UFO religion Raelite Movement in 1972. Raelism teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by extraterrestrials called the Elohim. He claims to have met an extraterrestrial humanoid in 1973 and became messiah. Since then, he has been devoted to the mission given to him by his "real father," an extraterrestrial being named Yahweh.

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David Icke (1952-)
New Age conspiracy theorist who invented the idea of Reptilians and claimed to be the "son of God" during an interview on Wogan in 1991.

Ryuho Okawa (1956-2023)
Founder of Japan's Happy Science movement. Okawa claimed to communicate with the spirits of Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha and Confucius, and to be the incarnation of a supreme spiritual being called El Cantare.

Shoko Asahara (1955–2018)
Founder of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. In 1992, Asahara published "Declaring Myself the Christ", in which he declared himself the Christ, the only fully enlightened master in Japan, and identified himself with the Lamb of God. After the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, Asahara was arrested and hanged in 2018. Aum Shinrikyo was also created by the CIA.

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There has been no end to the appearance of strange and absurd Messiahs and Christs who blend the Bible's Savior (Messiah, Christ) with fake space science and pagan ideas. False Messiahs and false Christs are obstacles that prevent interest and understanding of God's true Christ, and they are works of Satan.

2Co 4:3-4
3 If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.

2Co 11:13-15
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. 15 It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. But their end shall be according to their works.

2Th 2:9-12 9 But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents 10 and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved. 11 So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie, 12 in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.

summary

Ever since Adam's failure, mankind has been waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah.
Apostate Judaism is waiting for the coming of the Messiah, and apostate Christianity and Islam are waiting for the second coming of the Messiah.

In Satan's world, which is run by lies, deception, bribery, threats, and murder, it is made tdifficult to know the truth about good news, especially about God's promised Seed (Savior), through lies, deception, bribery, threats, and murder, and people are being led to believe in false Messiahs and false Christs.

Yet darkness cannot overcome light.
The light of one truth overcomes the darkness.

God wants people to know the truth, so more and more of truths will be revealed in the future.

Da 12:4
4 “And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of [the] end. Many will rove about, and the [true] knowledge will become abundant.”

The challenge for each of us in these end times is to find the truth among the lies and to keep a tight grip on what we found until the lies crumble.

Joh 8:31-32
31 And so Jesus went on to say to the Jews that had believed him: “If YOU remain in my word, YOU are really my disciples, 32 and YOU will know the truth, and the truth will set YOU free.”