THE BOOK FAIR

Award winning playwright and author, Moshe Shamir published the “King of Flesh and Blood”, in 1954, with such amazing success, that Shamir received the Bialik Prize, the highest literary award bestowed in Israel.   The novel encompasses the first five years of Alexander Yannai’s reign.  Named by the people, The King of Flesh and Blood, and The Hangman, Alexander ruled Judah from 103 BCE to 76 BCE

 

Alexander Yannai failed to follow in the Hasmonaean footsteps of his great grandfather and uncles.  Mattathias, together with his sons, Judah, Simeon and Jonathan, (the Maccabeans), fought against Greek influence in Israel and defeated the Greeks in 160’s BCE.  Alexander Yannai, great grandson of Mattathias, grandson of Simeon, and son of Yochanan (Jonathan Hyrcanus), made alliances with the Greeks, who enjoyed privilege in Judah, under his rule.  The country of Israel, largely agrarian, could neither afford nor sustain the ambitious king’s wars.  Albeit under Alexander Yannai’s rule, the kingdom of Israel greatly expanded.

 

Review:

Alexander Yannai, released from prison after his brother, King Aristobulus, died a mysterious death, and Antigonus, his elder brother, was subsequently murdered, quickly seized power, but protected Absalom, his weaker, older brother.  Yannai, though imprisoned, kept apprised of goings on in the country and smoothly gathered his alliances.  He quickly blamed Salome, Aristobulus’s wife, for his brothers’ deaths, but after meeting the beauty, decided guilty or not, to marry Salome.

During Yannai’s military exploits, he forged alliances with the Syrians, Greeks and Egyptians.  Through harsh and overburdening taxes, the twenty-three year old, built armies that he commanded to expand the kingdom of Israel.  However, his army, in part, of agrarian farmers, began to resent his intrusion into their livelihood, so defected to work their lands, the income of which paid the oppressive taxes.  Yannai disregarded their complaints, their poverty, and their anger, and abided no desertion from his Jewish ranks and severely punished deserters.

In an effort to save Judah from the ravages of Cleopatra III, and her son Lathyrus, Yannai seeks the help of Cleopatra’s Jewish generals, who come to his aid and convince the queen, the wrath of the Jews, worldwide, would not be to her benefit. Cleopatra relents remembering how the Jews of Alexandria came to her aid.

King Alexander also rivaled for rule of the Court with Simeon ben-Shetah, a Pharisee and the brother of Salome.  Pharisees allow historical tradition to influence Judaism; Sadducees allow only the literal text of the Laws of Moses.  Alexander Yannai, a Sadducee, appoints himself, as did his father before him, to be the High Priest.  The Pharisees demand that the High Priest be other than the reigning king.

Simeon ben-Shetah, in constant conflict with Yannai over the priesthood, battled to instate Pharisees while ridding the court of Sadducees.  In a bold move, during Yannai’s military conquest with Gaza, Simeon replaced the priesthood with Pharisees and evicted the Sadducees. 

Upon Yannai’s return from his military campaign in Gaza, he summarily revoked his previous promise to Simeon for a reprieve from and clemency for unpaid taxes on the population.  Instead, during the Holiday of Sukkoth, Yannai invoked the strict laws of the Sadducees with prayers at the Temple.  The people rebel with riots and pelt their king and the Sadducees with Etrog (a type of citrus fruit).  Unable to tolerate this outrage, Yannai slays thousands, which implemented his long held intent to destroy the Pharisees and their followers.  When Antipas, the Edomite and Yannai’s loyal commander, informed him that the riots were quelled and won, Yannai confessed that he knew the rebellion had only begun.

 

In describing the biblical era of King Alexander Yannai, Moshe Shamir used intricate detail in depicting architecture, cities, landscapes, foods, laws, battles, and formed realistic characters of both fiction and non-fiction, to whom he applied detailed and realistic dialogue.

Author of several best-selling books, Moshe Shamir, born in Safed, Israel, in 1921, died in Rishon LeZion, Israel, in 2004.