…Shechem, significantly increasing his regional influence. Hyrcanus…

…Shechem, significantly increasing his regional influence.

Hyrcanus annexes the regions of present Transjordan, Samaria, Galilee, and Idumea (also known as Edom), and, in the first example of conversion imposed by the Jews in their history, forces Idumeans to convert to Judaism.

According to Josephus, "Hyrcanus...subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.”

In internal policy, however, Hyrcanus commits the grave error of quarreling with one of the two main Jewish ecclesiastical parties, the Pharisees—who follow the Law with great strictness and with whom the Maccabean movement has in origin close affinity—and siding with their opponents, the more liberal Sadducees.

The Pharisees, who had emerged as a clearly defined party during the revolt of the Maccabees, oppose Hyrcanus because of his assumption of both the royal and high-priestly titles and because of the general secularism of the court.

Unlike the priestly and aristocratic Sadducees, the Pharisees believe in resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

The Sadducees, who oppose the use of Oral Law by the Pharisees, hold only to the Pentateuch, and are affronted by the growth of Greek, or pagan, influence that had developed over the past eighty years in the Jewish kingdom.