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However, as Vermes says, ". . . the Damascus Rule transforms this threat into a promise of salvation,"23 and the Zadokite author favorably interprets these passages by claiming that "Sikkuth your king" refers to the "Books of the Law" and "Kiyyun your image" to "the books of the prophets whose words the House of Israel has despised," i.e., the post-Pentateuchal texts written by Judeans. The "star of your God" the Zadokite renders as "every such interpreter of the Law as indeed repairs to `Damascus,' even as it is written: There shall step forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.-.24 The author of Zadokite further claims that they will be judged who "rejected the Covenant of God and the pledge which they swore in `the land of Damascus'-that is, the new covenant." Thus, these Zadokites/Sadducees were Syrian/Israelite/Samaritan/Carmelite worshippers of El/Molech who considered themselves the inheritors of the New Covenant and who emphasized that it was out of Israel, not Judah, that the "scepter" or, as they called him, the "Prince of the entire congregation" would come.

The story of Israel's "betrayal" with the shrine of Molech is important not only to the Zadokites but also to the zealous Christian disciple Stephen, who, at Acts 7, repeats the episode in an allegorical recitation that in actuality represents the Hebrews' constant switching back and forth between the worship of the day and night skies. Stephen finishes off his speech with mention of the "Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered," purportedly referring to Jesus. This title "Righteous," also applied to Abraham and the disciple James, could be translated as "Zadok," as the meaning of that name is "just" or "righteous." In fact, according to the genealogy in Matthew, Jesus himself is a "son of Zadok."

The Maccabean Revolt

Indeed, there was a "son of Zadok" named Jesus purportedly persecuted by "the Jews," during the Maccabean Revolt of 167 BCE, long prior to the alleged advent of the gospel Jesus. At that time, the Jerusalem Zadokite priestly family was deposed when the traditionalist Hasmoneans sought to overthrow the Syrian leader Antiochus, who had captured the Jerusalem temple and, "determined to hellenize Judaea completely, forbade under penalty of death the observance of the sabbath and the practice of the rite of circumcision. In the temple he had a pagan altar, probably in honour of Zeus . . ."25 While the Jews thus viewed him as a diabolical enemy, the Samaritans considered Antiochus a god and savior. Furthermore, according to Josephus, the Alexandrian historian Apion accused the Jerusalem Jews of being cannibals, relating that when Antiochus opened the temple he found being fattened a Greek captive whose entrails were to be shared among the Jewish elders, a ritual they were alleged to have performed annually with kidnapped foreigners. This story is possibly true, as according to Lord Kingsborough and others the Judeans were "horrible cannibals," which would explain why they were despised by their neighbors. However, this particular episode may also be an anti-Judean tale originating with any number of enemies, including the Samaritans.

The Hellenizing charge under Antiochus was led by the "modernist" Zadokite Jesus, a "sage from Jerusalem," and was opposed by the Hasmonean/Maccabean Mattathias and his sons, one of whom was named Judas. This story served as a prototype for the gospel drama, with a Jesus who attempted to abrogate the Jewish religion by introducing a "foreign" influence and who was stopped by a Judas in league with traditionalists. In this story and the gospel tale, in fact, are contained the ongoing rivalry between Israel and Judah. Furthermore, after the dethronement by the Maccabees, many of the remaining Jerusalem Zadokites scattered, some into Syria, Galilee and Samaria and others into Egypt, where the Zadokite high priest Onias IV, "in direct breach of biblical law erected a Jewish temple in Leontopolis with blessing of King Ptolemy