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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

ONIAS

Onias is the family name of four high priests in the intertestamental period. They were descendants of Zadok, the high priest in Solomon’s reign. Their lives spanned a period from the end of the fourth century BC down to the second. In their times the high priesthood was not only a religious office but included great political power.

Little is known of Onias I, except that he was son and successor to Jaddua, who was high priest at the time of Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). Onias II was his grandson. He eventually succeeded his father, Simon I, after two relatives had held office until he was old enough to take over. According to Josephus, Onias II was an old man by the reign of Ptolemy III of Egypt (246–221 BC). It was probably to Onias II that King Arius of Sparta sent the famous letter preserved in 1 Maccabees 12:20-23, claiming that the Jews and Spartans were both descended from Abraham. Josephus claims that Onias III was the recipient, but there is no knowledge of a Spartan king Arius in his period. During this time, Judea was under the control of Egypt. Onias II attempted to secede by refusing to pay taxes. During the period of office of his successor, Simon II, Palestine changed hands and became subject to the Seleucid kings of Syria.

The powerful family of the Tobiads became political rivals to the Oniads, especially to Simon’s son and heir, Onias III, who succeeded him about 180 BC. Their rivalry included religious tensions, since Onias stood for orthodox Judaism, while the Tobiads represented liberal concessions to Hellenism. In the power struggle Onias III was denounced as being pro-Egyptian, after a Syrian attempt to plunder the temple failed (2 Macc 3:4-40). In 175 BC, when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV came to the throne, he was removed from office and exiled to Antioch. His brother Jason was appointed high priest in his place. Eventually Jason, in turn, was succeeded by Menelaus, who had bribed the Syrians to displace Jason. Fearing opposition from the exiled Onias, Menelaus arranged to have him assassinated (4:33-38). Eventually, the Syrians deposed Menelaus.

The legitimate successor, Onias IV, son of Onias III, was prevented from taking over and fled to Egypt. In Egypt he built a temple at Leontopolis, probably as a sanctuary for the local Jewish military colony rather than as a religious center for Egyptian Jews generally, who continued to support the Jerusalem temple. According to the Jewish Mishnah, the religious authorities in Jerusalem apparently regarded its sacrifices as legitimate but refused to allow its (authentically Zadokite) priesthood to officiate in the temple at Jerusalem. It remained in use until the Roman emperor Vespasian had it closed down in AD 73.