Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ARISTOBULUS

(Gk. Aristóboulos)

1. Aristobulus I, the eldest son of John Hyrcanus; also called Judas (Yehuda). According to Josephus he was the first of that dynasty to claim the title of king. While Hyrcanus had transferred authority over the realm to his wife, Aristobulus seized the throne, imprisoning and starving his mother to death. He also imprisoned three of his brothers in this effort and then murdered his brother Antigonus, with whom he initially had shared power. He held the positions of high priest and king for only one year, from 104 to 103 b.c.e. Some scholars attribute the coins bearing the inscription “Judah the High Priest . . .” to him.

2. Aristobulus II, the younger son of Alexander Janneus and Salome Alexandra. Upon the death of Alexander Janneus, Alexandra appointed their eldest son Hyrcanus II as high priest while she assumed the crown. She held this post for nine years (76-66 b.c.e.). When she became ill, Aristobulus II proclaimed himself king. She died before she could challenge his claim. Aristobulus forced Hyrcanus to relinquish his claim to the throne and the high priesthood. Aligned with Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, Hyrcanus II enlisted the support of Aretas, the Nabatean king at Petra, to besiege his brother in the temple. This siege was lifted through the intervention of the Roman general Scaurus, sent by Pompey. After Pompey began to encounter the resistance of Aristobulus, he gradually was led to change his opinion and placed Aristobulus under arrest. With the aid of Hyrcanus Pompey captured Jerusalem and occupied the temple in 63 b.c.e. Aristobulus and his family were taken as captives to Rome. He escaped to raise a force in Judea once again and was again returned to Rome a captive. Aristobulus was liberated by Caesar in 49 b.c.e., but was poisoned before he could reach Judea.

John Kampen

3. A person in Rome, to whose family Paul sent greetings (Rom. 16:10). Some scholars identify him as the grandson of Herod the Great and brother of Herod Agrippa I.

See Herod (Family) 7.