I understand that the question is as follows.

1) Apart from the Gemara Sotah 41b which describes the disastrous results of the Chanufa to Agripas, we also find mention in 2 places in Masechet Sotah of disasters that occured during the reign of King Yanai. The first mention is in Sotah 22b where the Gemara tells us of the fears of Yanai's wife when he was on his deathbed. Rashi 22b DH Al Tityari writes that the Perushim hated Yanai because he killed a lot of Chachamim and became a Tzeduki, as related in Gemara Kidushin 66a. The second mention of Yanai in Masechet Sotah is in Gemara Sotah 47a which relates how Shimon ben Shetach fled for his life when Yanai killed the Rabanan. Again Rashi refers us to the Gemara Kidushin 66a, so we will look at the account there.

2) The Gemara there relates how King Yanai conquered 60 big cities and made a festive celebration on his victorious return. There was one person present; a scoffer, a man of an evil heart and a scoundrel; called Elazar ben Po'ira. He said to the King that "the hearts of the Perushim are against you" because they claim that Yanai's mother had been captured and therefore Yanai was invalid to be a Cohen. Elazar ben Po'ira suggested to Yanai that he should wear publicly the Tzitz, that only a Cohen Gadol is allowed to wear. There was an elder there, by the name of Yehuda ben Gedidya, who said to Yanai "King Yanai; the royal crown is sufficient for you. Leave the Crown of Priesthood to the Seed of Aharon". In addition the Gemara states there that it had not been proven that Yanai's mother had in fact been captured. Again, the evil Elazar ben Po'ira got into the picture and advised Yanai to kill the Chachamim.

3) So the question can be asked:- since the Perushim were not guilty of Chanufa to King Yanai, why did Hash-m not spare them the wrath of the king?! I think that this question can be answered based on what the Rema writes in Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 334:48

"Even though one is obliged to protest against sinners; and anyone who is capable of protesting and does not protest will be punished for the sins that they do; nevertheless a person is not obliged to spend money for this, and consequently the prevalent practice is to be lenient concerning the issue of protesting against sinners because one should be concerned that they may stand up against us physically and financially".

We learn from the Rema that we are not obliged to put ourselves into danger in order to protest against people who violate the Torah. That is why the conduct at the time of Yanai does not seem to have been wise. They could have kept quiet. We see from the Rema that if one keeps quiet; in face of possible danger; this does not represent Chanufa.

Good Shabbos

Dovid Bloom

The opinion of the Bechor Shor:-

1) Since I have mentioned what the Rema wrote in Yoreh Deah about rebuke in scenarios of danger, I should mention here what the Bechor Shor wrote about this ruling of the Rema. [Bechor Shor was written by the author of Tevuos Shor; an extremely important work on the Halachot of Shechitah and Treifot, which every Shochet or animal checker is required to study. Sefer Bechor Shor is on Masechtot of Shas, whilst Tevuos Shor is on the Shulchan Aruch. Just to get some historical bearing, the dates of the Rema (according to some) are 1520-1572, whilst the dates of Bechor Shor are 1673-1732].

The Bechor Shor, that I cite, is on the Gemara Sotah 47b, which states "From the time when those who look at the faces of the litigants in judgement proliferated, the fulfilment of the verse "You shall not fear the face of any man" ceased. Bechor Shor cites the above Rema that the custom now is not to protest against sinners because this is dangerous. Bechor Shor writes that, based on what the Rema wrote, many people think that it is permitted to chonef to anyone who has a small amount of influence with the authorities, even though no significant danger is involved. Because of this, Torah is slackened and people can swallow others alive. Bechor Shor writes that this is based on a total misunderstanding of the Rema, who only referred to sceanrios where real danger is involved.

2) Bechor Shor cites the Mishnah Sanhedrin 18a which says that one does not judge a king, and the Gemara 19a which states that this is not referring to the kings of the House of David, but to the kings of Israel, because of an incident that happened concerning a servant of King Yanai who committed a murder. Shimon ben Shetach said to the other Sages that we must judge this suspected murderer and not flatter him and not pay him special respect because he belongs to the king. Shimon ben Shetach said to King Yanai that he also must be present at the judgement, since it was his servant. He said to King Yanai "Stand up on your feet and testimony will be given about your servant. You are not standing in front of us, but you are standing in front of He Who spoke and created the world". Yanai replied to Shimon ben Shetach that we will not do as you say, but we will follow your colleagues. Shimon turned to his right to see if his colleagues would back him up, but they hid their faces in the ground. He turned to the colleagues on his left but they also hid their faces away. Rashi writes that Shimon's colleagues were afraid of Yanai. Shimon ben Shetach declared that they would be punished for this and Gavriel came and struck them to the ground. We learn from this that when they were not chonef to Yanai everything went well.

KOL TUV

Dovid Bloom

Further example from Chazal about how Shimon ben Shetach did not flatter his brother-in-law Yanai HaMelech:-

1) The Gemara Berachos 48a relates how King and Queen Yanai ate a meal together. Because Yanai had killed all the Chachamim there was no-one left who could say a brocha for them. He said to his wife "Who can give us a man who will bless for us?". The queen replied "Will you swear to me that if I bring a man to do this, that you will not trouble him?". He swore to her and she brought her brother, Shimon ben Shetach. Yanai sat Shimon down between himself and his wife and said to him "Look how much honor I am giving you!" Shimon replied "It is not you who grant me honor, but rather the Torah that honors me, as is stated 'Esteem her and she will exalt you. She will bring you honor if you embrace her'". We learn that Shimon ben Shetach did not practice chanufah towards Yanai. In the Gemara Sanhedrin 19a, cited above, we see how Shimon stressed that Hash-m is above all wordly kings, and in the Gemara Berachos he taught that the greatest honor of all is Torah and neither caused harm to the Chachamim.

2) In fact, if we go right back to the Gemara Sotah 22b, that I cited at the beginning of my first reply, we see that Yanai did not think that the Perushim were practising Chanufah with him. He said to his wife before he died that she should not be afraid of the Perushim, even though they hated him because he killed many of the Chachamim and became a Tzeduki (Rashi DH Al). Yanai said to her that they will not do badly to your sons who did not sin to them. He told his wife that the only people that she should be afraid of are the hypocrites. Yanai thought that the Perushim were honest people. I have written above that it was the enticement of the wicked Elazar ben Po'ira, and the unwise speech of Yehuda ben Gedidya, in a situation where it had been not proved that Yanai was disqualified to be Kohen Gadol; that led to Yanai's wrath.

Shavua Tov

Dovid Bloom