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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

NUMENIUS

Son of Antiochus, a Jewish diplomat sent first by Jonathan, and later by Simon the Hasmonean to Rome and Sparta to strengthen alliances. Numenius and Antipater, son of Jason, were warmly received in Sparta, and according to Josephus, a friendly alliance with the Jews was decreed (Antiquities 13:169-170). The writer of Maccabees said, “What they said we have recorded in our public decrees, as follows, ‘Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, envoys of the Jews, have come to us to renew their friendship with us. It has pleased our people to receive these men with honor and to put a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of the Spartans may have a record of them. And they have sent a copy of this to Simon the high priest’ ” (1 Macc 14:22-23, rsv). Since Jonathan probably died during the mission, the correspondence from Sparta was went to Simon, his successor (1 Macc 14:20ff.). Simon sent Numenius to Rome in 141 BC with a special gift, a gold shield weighing 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) in honor of the new pact. When Numenius returned two years later, he brought with him copies of Lucius’s letters to the surrounding states, in which the Roman council declared friendship for the Jews and forbade the surrounding nations to hurt the Jewish people: “We therefore have decided to write to the kings and countries that they should not seek their harm or make war against them and their cities and their country, or make alliance with those who war against them” (1 Macc 15:19, rsv). Moreover, the rulers of the surrounding nations were requested to hand over any traitors who had left Judah to seek asylum in another country. The traitors were to be punished in accordance with the Jewish laws. According to Josephus, Numenius made another journey to Rome to strengthen the diplomatic ties during the priesthood of Hyrcanus II.