Jonathan

He continued the fight against the Seleucids after Judah's death. Some scholars identify him with the 'Wicked Priest' of the scrolls, an identification that remains a mystery.

Judah fell in battle; the struggle continued under his brothers, first Jonathan and, after Jonathan's death, Simon.1 In the earlier decades of the second century BCE, probably after Antiochus's persecution, the sect formed around a leader called the Teacher of Righteousness, in conflict with a 'Wicked Priest', perhaps the high priest of the day (once identified with Jonathan or Simon, though his identity remains a mystery). Around 150 BCE, the Teacher and his circle retreated into the Judean desert, where, according to many scholars, they founded the settlement at Qumran.2