Preface
This book emerged from a growing conviction that a major oversight in the genealogical history of the Jerusalem priesthood—specifically, the story of Onias IV—has concealed a greater truth. By tracing the bloodlines, historical references, and hidden testimonies of Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, I argue that the forgotten son of Simon II was not only the true heir to the temple but a forerunner to the Zadokite recognition of the Messiah.
What began as a restoration of the Oniad line opened into a much larger picture involving Isaiah’s prophecy in Egypt, the Leontopolis temple, and Coptic legends of the Messiah’s arrival
For generations, biblical scholars and historians alike dismissed a peculiar statement made by Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews. In Book 13, Chapter 3, Josephus mentions Onias IV, the builder of the Jewish temple in Egypt, as the “son of Onias the high priest, who had the same name as his father.” To most readers, this could only mean one thing: Onias IV was the son of Onias III, the murdered high priest of Jerusalem.
But this created an immediate historical problem. According to 2 Maccabees 4:7–10, Onias III was succeeded by his brother Jason, not his son. No son of Onias III ever figures into the leadership of the Temple or Jerusalem. In fact, Onias III is often assumed to have died childless or without any heir close enough to contest Jason’s appointment. Some scholars even called Josephus confused, and his account a “chronological blunder.”
But what if Josephus wasn’t wrong? What if the error is ours?
What follows is a reconstruction of a lineage that never made it into most modern textbooks—but may restore the missing piece to the Oniad puzzle.
A Tale of Three Sons: The Forgotten Youth
| Phrase | Work | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| “Son of Simon” | War of the Jews 7.10.2 | Refers to the builder of the Egyptian temple as the son of Simon |
| “Son of Onias” | Antiquities 13.3.1 (13.62) | Refers to the builder as the son of Onias (i.e., Onias IV, son of Onias III) |
Here is the key passage from Antiquities 13.3.1 (Whiston translation):
“When Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire to imitate the example of Jerusalem, he built a temple in the Nomos of Heliopolis in Egypt, saying that it was foretold by the prophet Isaiah that there should be a temple in Egypt to the true God. He was the son of Onias the high priest.”
This is the clearest statement in Josephus where he says:
“He was the son of Onias the high priest.”
So to clarify:
Let’s go back to the time of Simon II, the high priest praised in Sirach 50 for restoring the Temple in glory. He is the towering spiritual figure of the early 2nd century BCE. Most agree he had at least two sons:
- Onias III, the legitimate high priest
- Jason (also called Jesus), the Hellenizer who bought the priesthood from Antiochus IV
But Josephus tells us something else in Antiquities 12.5.1, often skipped over:
“Now Onias the high priest died and left a son, Onias, who was yet but a child, and therefore his brother Jesus took the high priesthood… But I will give a fuller account of this matter in the proper place.”
This Onias, the child, is passed over—not because of failure or politics, but because of age. He was too young to rule. That’s not Onias III’s son—that’s Simon II’s third son. A boy left behind in a family power struggle.
The Greek Clue: Father or Forefather?
In Antiquities 13.3.1, Josephus resumes the thread:
“Onias, the son of Onias the high priest, who had the same name as his father, fled to Ptolemy and Cleopatra…”
At first glance, it sounds like Onias IV is the son of Onias III. But the Greek word used for “father” here is patēr (πατήρ), which often means not just literal father, but ancestor or founding forefather. This allows for a very different reading:
“Onias, the son [descendant] of Onias the high priest, bearing the same name as his forefather.”
Suddenly, the timeline makes sense. Josephus isn’t confused. He’s preserving a lineage erased by war, politics, and misreading.
The Two Genealogies
To see the difference clearly, consider these two competing lineages:
Traditional Scholarly View
Onias I
┌───────────┴─────────────┐
│ │ │
Simon II Jason Onias III
│
└── Onias IV
Karin Anderson’s View (Clarified)
Onias II
│
┌───────────┴─────────────┐
│ │ │
Simon II Jason Onias III
│
└── Onias IV
2 Maccabees and the Silencing of Onias IV
In 2 Maccabees 4:7–10, Jason, the brother of Onias III, becomes high priest by bribing Antiochus Epiphanes. Onias III is later deposed and murdered. The text never mentions Onias III having a son or heir:
“When Seleucus died and Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded to the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, obtained the high priesthood by corruption.”
This silence has led scholars to assume there was no son
Josephus, however, does mention a child Onias in the English text—so people assumed it was the child of Onias III. But in the Greek it was the Grand child of Onias II.
Rabbinic Echoes of the Oniad Displacement
The Talmud and midrashic sources recall the Egyptian temple built by Onias, though with mixed tone. In Menachot 109b, the rabbis mention that sacrifices in Onias’s temple were not valid in the same way as those in Jerusalem.
“A house was built by Onias in Egypt… but sacrifices there were not acceptable.”
Nevertheless, this mention shows Onias was remembered—not as a rebel, but as an anomaly. Some traditions considered him a legitimate priest who took the sacred duty into exile.
Further, Midrash Tanchuma refers to a “priest of peace” in exile, possibly a veiled memory of Onias IV. Rabbinic sources may have encoded this story in symbols, preserving it beneath the polemic.
A New Parody of Succession
The high priesthood, once the sacred trust of the house of Zadok, had fallen into bribery and betrayal. Jason bought the office. Menelaus seized it with Syrian support. But Josephus’s subtle remark about a forgotten child is more than a footnote—it is a parody of succession, a political tragedy.
Onias IV, the true heir, emerges not in Jerusalem, but in exile. And there, in Leontopolis, Egypt, he rebuilds the priesthood, not in defiance but in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:
“In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 19:19)
.
Conclusion: The Son Who Awaited the Messiah
The child of Simon II Josephus hinted at was never truly lost. He was merely set aside, waiting for the right time to reclaim the sacred duty of his fathers. Onias IV did not build in rebellion but in restoration. He was the last faithful son of the line of Simon the Just.
Josephus, far from confused, was guarding a secret genealogy—one waiting to be heard again. And now, supported by textual reanalysis, Greek linguistic precision, and even rabbinic echo, the forgotten son is restored to history.
It should be noted that the Onais was waiting for the Messiah and Jesus came as a baby fulfilling to the place that Onais IV expected. And the idols toppled just as Isaiah predicted. This occurred about 175 years after the Temple was set up so Onias IV was right. He beleived , IF I BUILD IT, HE WILL COME – and Jesus/Y’shua did
So it is obvious that the true priesthood of Israel-THE ZADOKITE PRIESTS ACCEPTED JESUS as the Messiah. Later they founded the Qumran Community and said “God raised them up a Teacher” literally “Rabbi”, in the Damascus document and that was Jesus. He was called the Teacher of Righteousness. This matches the Babptism of Jesus.
John 1:38 (KJV):
“Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?”
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Master, Rabbi.-Of Hebrew origin (rab with pronominal suffix); my master, i.e Rabbi, as an official title of honor — Master, Rabbi.see HEBREW rab
HELPS Word-studies
4461 rhabbí– a rabbi; a teacher-scholar recognized by the Jewish public for accumulating a great number of Bible-facts, i.e. respected for his accumulation of knowledge.
Matthew 3:15–17 (KJV):
“And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Q. Why didn’t the priesthood in Israel accept him?
A. If they did so they would have lost their priesthood.
According to Josephus (Antiquities 20.10.1), when the Hasmonean (Maccabean) dynasty seized the high priesthood, they acknowledged it belonged to the Zadokite line and agreed to hold it only “until a prophet should arise” or “until the coming of the anointed one”—indicating the priesthood was to be temporary until the appearance of the Messiah.
The Zadokites were the only priests God allowed to serve because all aother Levitical priests had committed idolatry. When the Zadokites returned from Egypt they excluded them from Temple practices claiming that the Temple of Onias was illegal since it was near a pagan temple they were guilty of idolatry. But which Priesthood does God pick in the end?
Here are the three key verses from Ezekiel (KJV) that affirm the exclusivity of the Zadokite priesthood:
📖 Ezekiel 44:15 (KJV)
“But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD.”
📖 Ezekiel 48:11 (KJV)
“It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.”
📖 Ezekiel 43:19 (KJV)
“And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.”
*For more information: also See Josephus and the Messiah: How the Zadokite-Essene Tradition Recognized Jesus by Karin Anderson mysteriesofold.com
