HEZEKIAH

HEZEKIAH (died c. 46 B.C.E.), fighter for freedom at the beginning of the period of Roman rule in Judea. Hezekiah, probably a supporter of the Hasmoneans, conducted a stubborn war against supporters of the Roman government. He was the leader of a band of guerillas and raided the gentile towns on the Syrian border, perpetrating acts of violence and plunder. Josephus calls Hezekiah an archilistes ("chief bandit"), a pejorative term he uses for all the freedom fighters, particularly during the Roman war. The young Herod, who was appointed military governor of Galilee at the time, put an end to these raids. He captured Hezekiah and his associates and had them put to death without trial (Jos., Wars, 1:204; Jos., Ant., 14:159). This deed excited great anger in Galilee and in the circles of the nobility and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, who feared Herod's ambition. They therefore sought to bring Herod to justice and to punish him in accordance with the law. It appears that Josephus' knowledge of Hezekiah was obtained from the work of nicholas of damascus and does not give a true picture of his personality. There is no doubt that his family had a distinguished ancestry and comprised scholars, as can be inferred from the fact that his son Judah was called sophistes ("a scholar"; Jos., Wars, 2:118). menahem b. judah and eleazar b. jair also belonged to the same family (Jos., Wars, 2:447). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.H.M. Jones, The Herods of Judaea (1938), 28f.; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 3 (1950), 175, 251; 5 (1951), 148f.; A. Schalit, Hordos ha-Melekh (1964), 357f., 432f. (Abraham Schalit)