Jaddua in Wikipedia

was a the son of Jonathan and a high priest during the postexilic period. Reference to Jaddua may be found in Nehemiah verses 12:11,22. When reading Josephus' accounts of Jaddua's priestly position, it is unclear whether or not Jaddua was the sole high priest or if he shared the office with Manasseh. The other possibility (which is difficult to discern from Josephus' accounts) is that Manasseh was Jaddua's assistant or sagan. (Anchor Bible Dictionary). Jaddua’s brother, Manasseh, married into the gubernatorial Samarian family; there are elders in Jerusalem who have the ability and authority to force Manasseh to "either to divorce his faith or not to approach the altar." (Vanderkam). In this dispute, Jaddua himself took the side of the elders of Jerusalem. Although the elders exercised authority, Jaddua was the top authority. In an account of the Jewish historian Josephus, it is speculated that the reason the elders opposed Manasseh’s marriage was that they resented "the fact that the brother of the high priest Jaddua was sharing the high priesthood while married to a foreigner." This marriage could possibly be the beginning of an office known as a sagan which later became the second highest priestly position. Because the high priest was the supreme civil and religious head of the Jewish people and the only competing authority would be the elders, naturally Alexander targeted Jaddua. Josephus included an account about Alexander reading the book of Daniel and believed that the prophecy regarding the destruction of the Persian Empire was talking about him and his future conquests. The account details about Alexander's visit to Jerusalem. However, this account has later been regarded as "a historical myth designed to bring the king into direct contact with the Jews, and to speak of both in laudatory terms. The story has been said to demonstrate "the Jews' surrender to Alexander."

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