Ishmael ben Fabus

Ishmael ben Fabus also known as Ishmael ben Phiabi was a High Priest of Israel in the 1st century.[1][2]

He was High Priest of Israel from 15AD to 16 AD and then again from 58AD to 62AD.[3] He was appointed as High Priest by the Roman governor, Valerius Gratus, to replace the biblical Annas, and latter for a second term by Herod Agrippa II.

He appears to have been a very unpopular High Priest.[4] It is said of him that he was "the handsomest man of his time, whose effeminate love of luxury was the scandal of the age" [5]

Although his tenure as high priest (Kohen Gadol) coincides with the life of Jesus Christ he does not appear in New Testament. Despite being absent from the bible, however, he is mentioned in the story Ben-Hur[6] and Josephus.[7]

His priesthood coincided with a turbulent time in Jewish politics, with the role of high priest being contended for between the House of Boethus supported by Herod, the House of Annas supported by the governor, Quirinius and the House of Fabus.

Family

He was a descendant of John Hyrcanus Maccabee Prince of Judea and he may have been related to the biblical Elizabeth. His grandson is believed to have been Rabbi Ishmael of the sages,[8] and he may have been related to the former High Priest, Joshua, son of Fabus.

References

  1. ↑ James C. VanderKam. From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priest after the Exile (Fortress, 2004).
  2. ↑ Robert Killian The Holy Bible "Chronicle" of Sequential Biblical Events (AuthorHouse, 2012).
  3. ↑ High Priests of the Second Temple Period.
  4. ↑ John Argubright , Bible Believer's Archaeology - Volume 2: The Search for Truth (John Argubright, 2014) page 17.
  5. ↑ S. Srinivasa Aiyar, The Legality of the Trial of Jesus, p. 53.
  6. ↑ Lewis Wallace, Ben-Hur; A Tale of the Christ (Bookpubber, 2014) page 2.
  7. ↑ Flavius Josephus, The Works of Flavius Josephus, the Learned and Authentic Jewish Historian: To which are Added Three Dissertations, Concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, James the Just, God's Command to Abraham, &c : with a Complete Index to the Whole (Simms and M'Intyre, 1841) page 543.
  8. ↑ Elie Wiesel, Sages and Dreamers, pp. 212-213.
Preceded by
Annas		 High Priest of Israel
15-16AD and 58-62AD 		Succeeded by
Eleazar ben Ananus