The Josippon (Zëna Ayhud, 'History of the Jews') is a medieval historical chronicle composed in southern Italy around 953 CE, anonymously attributed to Joseph ben Gurion (identified with the historian Josephus). Unlike all other books in the Ethiopian canon, the Josippon has no native division into chapters and verses in its manuscript tradition. It was translated from Arabic into Ge'ez around 1300 CE and added to the Scriptures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In this digital edition, each 'verse' represents one complete paragraph of the continuous text.
Josippon
Chapter 30 — Hyrcanus and the Pharisees (Perushim)
In those days, when King Hyrcanus was sitting on the throne of his kingdom in Jerusalem, the holy city, the king made a great feast for all his chiefs and servants and the warriors of the army of Judah and Benjamin. The king was sitting at the table with the sages of Israel—the Pharisees who explained the Torah—for Hyrcanus was one of their disciples. When Hyrcanus's heart was gladdened with wine, he said to the sages, that is, to the Pharisees: "You know that I am your disciple, and if you should see me turn from the path, reprove me and return me to the correct path, for it is befitting that you do so." The Pharisees answered, saying: "Woe unto us that we see such a thing, for we are this day witnesses that you are a righteous man, and you walk along the straight path, for you are king and priest."
Hyrcanus was pleased with their words.
Sitting there was one of the Pharisees named Elazar, a contentious man and an evildoer, and he called out, saying: "Let King Hyrcanus live forever! If you really wanted to be righteous as you have said, renounce the priesthood and let the crown suffice you." Hyrcanus replied, saying: "Why should I renounce the priesthood?" Elazar answered: "Because your mother was taken captive in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and thus became defiled. Therefore, it is not befitting for you to enter the Holy of Holies." The king became furious; joy turned into strife and their mutual affection into hatred.
A rich and great man of the Ẓedokim (Sadducees), by the name of Yehonatan, was sitting there, and he said to the king: "Did I not tell you, 'Do not rely on them, for lies are in their mouths,' and now they have commanded Elazar to curse you." The king said to the Pharisees: "You judge this matter wherein Elazar has cursed me." The Pharisees answered and said: "Whipping and beating him should suffice, for the Pharisees cannot issue a death sentence." Yehonatan replied, saying: "Did I not tell you that this curse was made with their knowledge and will?" From this day hence, Hyrcanus rebelled against their teachings, for Yehonatan convinced him to be a Sadducee.
The king gave the command, and they proclaimed throughout the land of Israel: "Every teacher who teaches the code of the Pharisees shall surely die." Hyrcanus killed many of the people at that time; whereupon the people's hatred rose against him and his sons in those days.
Joseph ben Gurion said: "Now let me explain what caused the quarrel and controversy that befell the people of God. For the Pharisees used to say: 'Let us preserve the Torah, which our forefathers, the sages who explained the Torah, transmitted to our hands.' Those who taught in those days constituted two groups: the Sadducees, who did not believe in any tradition and interpretation but in the Torah of Moses alone; and the Hasidim were the other group in those days. For these controversies, there was much fighting and much blood shed among the people of Israel, for the poor supported the Pharisees, save for the rich and its warriors, for they were collaborating with the king and the Sadducees."
Joseph ben Gurion said: "In those days, King Hyrcanus asked, inquiring of God about his sons—which of them would be king and sit on his throne after him. He had three sons: Aristobulus and Antigonus, two who were loved by their father, and a third, Alexander, hated and detested by his father, who had banished him to the Galilee, and he could not see his father's face. When Hyrcanus put his question to the Lord, the Lord spoke to him in a dream during the night, saying to him: 'Raise your eyes and look upon your son who will succeed you and sit upon your throne.' He lifted his eyes and looked, and, behold, his son Alexander was standing by him. So Hyrcanus woke up and wept and asked again of the Lord, but He did not answer him further."
King Hyrcanus was gathered unto his people, and the days that he ruled were thirty-one years. The rest of his words and mighty deeds and wars that he fought, the cities that he captured from Aram, the mighty deeds that he did against Makedon, subduing Edom and circumcising the Edomites, they are written in the book of Joseph ben Gurion and in the book of the kings of Romi (Roma).