Authorship and date. 21). The books outline the history of the Maccabees, Jewish leaders who led a rebellion of the Jews against the Seleucid Dynasty from 175 BC to 134 BC. (The miracle of the vessel of oil that burned for eight days is never mentioned in any of the Books of the Maccabees, and it appears only in later Rabbinic sources.) 8, 5), in describing the history of Hyrcanus II. One is the story of the elderly Eleazar, who steadfastly refused to eat forbidden food despite all the torture inflicted on him; another is of the woman and her seven sons who suffered martyrdom for the sanctification of the Divine Name (6:18ff. Instead, we have an early, pre-Christian, Greek translation full of Hebrew idioms. There are four books which pass under this nameI, II, III, and IV Maccabees. Finally, the Jews return home. There is a reference in ch. The Books of Maccabees were written in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Hasmonean dynasty. 37 to the Book of Esther, which would preclude any earlier date of authorship than about 130 B.C. p. 214). The Books of the Maccabees | Definition, Contents, & Facts. at Cyrene. If there was a fault at all, it was not that God became too transcendent; the tendency was rather in the direction of overfamiliarity than of undue aloofness. God is not "named" throughout the Lord's Prayer. [7], Advocates for the early Roman period include Moses Hadas and Victor Tcherikover. On one important point some modern writers are unfair to the book. As a surname it was also applied to his brothers and, by extension . First Maccabees covers the efforts of the Jewish people to regain their freedom following the desecration of the temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 18), with the Patriarchs (v. 37) and with God (ix. It emanated from Alexandria and was addressed to the Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora. 36; comp. p. 220). The title of 1 and 2 Maccabees is taken from the surname of Judas (1 Mace. [1] They tell the story of the Maccabean Revolt, a Jewish uprising against the Seleucid Empire. ; Jason (of whose work it purports to be an epitome) wrote at least a century earlier. 51-59. iii. In the latter portion of the work there is, first (iii. ); he did not write for the sake of the history as such. 23), which seems to have been his only source, unless he himself prefixed the two letters to his work. 2), and certain passages indicate with great clearness that the original language was Hebrew (see ii. 10-ii. The tone is largely positive, with glad thanksgivings for God's deliverance rather than thundering apocalyptic proclamations. or during the first century C.E., and before the time of Caligula, for the Jews seem to have been at peace at the time. as making offerings for the dead because "he took thought of the resurrection." The Greek version seems to be a literal one, often preserving the Semitic, and sometimes even the Hebrew, idiom; but it is clear, and probably it is, on the whole, a satisfactory translation. [19] No other ancient sources or histories describe such an alleged persecution under Philopater. In the case of the Greek version of Esther, it is proposed alternatively that its translator had read 3 Maccabees; the primacy of which book came first is disputed. 21-24). First Maccabees (written circa 134-104 BCE and describing the period of 166-135 BCE) is devoted to presenting the Maccabean dynasty, from Mattathias through his son Judah, to Jonathan and Simon who became high priests and gained political independence.. First Maccabees was written in Hebrew (though it is only preserved today in Greek) for a Judean audience in a Biblical style that emphasizes . Others hold that the letters were placed in their present position by a later hand, while some believe them to be fabricated. It received its name probably because it is a fiction concerning the persecution of the Jews by a foreign king; that king was Ptolemy Philopator (222-205 B.C.). Ewald regarded this work as a polemic against Caligula and dated it accordingly about 40 C.E. I. Historical timeframe: roughly 721 BC. The king then underwent a change of heart and bestowed great favor on the Jews, and the day on which this occurred was ever after celebrated as a festival in memory of the deliverance (vi. 1 (1928), 77997; idem, in: ZNW, 32 (1933), 233ff. 21), for the Scriptures (i. (in the days of John Hyrcanus), while the second, undated one (which has all kinds of aggadic stories and is regarded as largely apocryphal) was written earlier, and is a letter from Judah (Maccabee) to Aristobulus, the tutor of King Ptolemy (Philometor, 180145 B.C.E.). Only two suggestions need be named: Derenbourg's ("Book of the Family of the Chief of the People of God"), given in his "Essai sur l'Histoire et la Gographie de la Palestine" (p. 450, Paris, 1867), and Dalman's , in his "Grammatik des Jdisch-Palstinischen Aramisch" (p. 6, Leipsic, 1894). Even more problematic is the fact that scholars believe that the First Book of Maccabees was indeed written originally in Hebrew, therefore meeting the language criterion for inclusion-and yet it is absent from the biblical canon. Its style is rhetorical, its purpose didactic. Two letters to the Jews in Egypt giving direction concerning thecelebration of the feasts of Booths and Hanukkah. vii. [26], The book's opening, a retelling of the Battle of Raphia, is generally agreed to be loosely accurate, if not to the quality of Polybius's version. When Was Maccabees Written. This latter view is strengthened if it be remembered that the work is throughout a discourse addressed directly to listeners (comp. - 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and the Maccabean epistles with which 2 Maccabees opens - attest to the religious sensibilities felt by those who called to celebrate it. The rest of the work fits snugly into traditions of works of Hellenistic Judaism which inspired the author such as 2 Maccabees, which date to around 100 BC, so 3 Maccabees should fit into that same cultural milieu and era as well. [11], Advocates for the later Roman period include Heinrich Ewald, Hugo Willrich, and John J. Collins. The author may have been theologically conservative, keeping to classic traditions of Judaism in opposition to the influence of Greek thought on Judaism, such as Greek beliefs on the immortality of the soul that 2 Maccabees includes. The book would thus belong at the latest to the first century C.E. The terminus a quo of the work is found in the fact that John Hyreanus I., who began to reign in 135 B.C., is mentioned at the close of the book (xvi. Maccabees, also spelled Machabees, (flourished 2nd century bce, Palestine), priestly family of Jews who organized a successful rebellion against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV and reconsecrated the defiled Temple of Jerusalem. It should be noted, also, that throughout the work the priesthood is represented in a favorable light. The bloodshed was really unnecessarily caused by an unholy alliance between money-hungry so-called priests and irrational Greek leaders who caused the desecration of an ancient Temple and the persecution of a legally protected religion. [8] The author seems interested and fluent in Ptolemaic court politics and protocol. i. xiv. It is a discourse praising the supremacy of pious . Bounded by 100 BC due to a reference to the Greek, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=3_Maccabees&oldid=1159650053, This page was last edited on 11 June 2023, at 17:20. 43 et seq.) [9][10], The precise date of authorship is unknown, but the widest plausible range keeping with the text is considered to be between 100 BC and 70 AD. Despite the title, the book has nothing to do with the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire described in 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. But the language and style of the work differ so radically from those of the writings of Josephus that it is clear that this is a mistaken opinion. 24) to the illustration of the thesis by examples drawn from II Maccabees. "), by utilizing the investigations of Mommsen, has shown that Josephus actually knew some of this material and introduced it at a later point in his work ("Ant." This much, at least, is truethe writer's sympathies were with the Pharisees. Those who maintain the later date of the work are obliged to account for the vivid details which it contains by supposing that the writer employed older sources, such as letters and memoranda. 15-21) and Simon (comp. [2], The author shows a high regard for the power of prayer; the work frequently depicts the Jews praying for aid, and God answering their prayers. Also, as was usual with these historians, the book is full of various stories of miraculous events, of the intervention of heavenly creatures, directly (by angels) and indirectly (by signs in heaven and on earth presaging evil). (see Cornill, "Einleitung," p. 252). Concerning the author no information is obtainable beyond that which may be inferred from the book itself. It is certainly true that the author is silent concerning the worst excesses of the (Sadducean) high priests, and attaches primary importance to the founder of the dynasty, Mattathias. Ch. The story may be partially based on Esther 9, where 300 people are also killed, but there the enemies are gentiles which had sought to destroy the Jews; here, they are merely Jewish civilians, and after the crisis has already passed. It is probable, therefore, that the author of IV Maccabees was an Alexandrian Jew. The Books Maccabees: A history-Mattathias and his five sons deliver Israelfrom the threat posed to Judaism by Hellenization2ndcent BCE. 26), a brief review of the sufferings of the Jews under Seleucus and his son(?) ; Herkenne, Die Briefe zu Beginn des Zweiten Makkaberbuches, 1904. Eccl." The events are followed with intense interest and sympathy. 1, 7; ii. The Jews request and receive permission to return home and to kill all the Jews who chose to abandon their faith in order to be spared. 21). Bibl.") The preface is found in ch. Curiously enough the word "God" does not appear in the work, nor does the word "Lord." 25-iv. Eusebius ("Hist. However, scholars generally believe that the events described in the Books of Maccabees took place in the mid-2nd century BCE. Partly because of this phenomenon, it was urged by Geiger ("Urschrift," 1857, pp. This places his work in a very different class from that of I Maccabees. All agree that the book was written before 63 BC, as the author . The king was angry and threatened Jews who were already citizens with loss of their status if they did not join, a potential catastrophe that would be remembered for centuries. ii., vol. 3 Maccabees is considered part of the Biblical Anagignoskomena (deuterocanon) in the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Oriental Orthodox Churches: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East. 4-15). In addition to the works cited in the bibliography to the second part of this article: Deissmann, Bible Studies, 1901, pp. 18, ib. finds its explanation if the Jews of Egypt were then undergoing persecution. 244) disputes the Fayum theory and supports the view that the book is best explained as referring to Caligula. Homilies by Gregory Nazienzen and Chrysostom for the festival of Aug. 1 (the "Birthday of the Maccabees") are extant on this subject. Charles, Apocrypha, 1 (1913), 12554; C.L.W. Written: third or early second century BC; probably between 225 and 175 BC. 200-230) that one may detect a dynastic purpose in the book and that its author was a Sadducean apologist for the Hasmoneans. Ewald and Freudenthal called it a sermon and held that it is an example of Alexandrian synagogue preaching, but this view is now abandoned, for even in the Diaspora the sermon of the synagogue was usually founded on a passage from the Bible. First there is a philosophical introduction (1:1-3:18) in which the author tells us that he is about to demonstrate his point best 'from the noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue, Eleazar and the seven brothers and their mother' (1:8). were not contained in the edition used by Josephus. vii. Yet the suffering that comes upon Israel is only to chasten the people (6:1217), and is itself a sign of the divine providence to warn them against sin. The first Maccabees were written in Hebrew around 100 B.C., but the original has never been translated to English. 175). ii. 18. v. 18-31; by that of the seven brethren (vii. ; this view has been abandoned by more recent writers, since Philopator is not represented as claiming divine honors. [3][9] 3 Maccabees is included in the deuterocanon of the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Oriental Orthodox Churches: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East. The riots in Alexandria came from common people rather than government ministers, as in 3 Maccabees. Explore Hanukkahs history, global traditions, food and more withMy Jewish Learnings All About Hanukkah email series. After this comes an account of the wars against Antiochus Eupator (13:127), the mission of the priest Alcimus, and Judah's victory over Nicanor (15:36). 4 Maccabees [note 1] also called the Fourth Book of Maccabees and possibly originally known as On the Sovereignty of Reason [note 2] is a book written in Koine Greek, likely in the 2nd century. He calls (Eusebius, "Hist. iii. Schrer, "Gesch." The lists of books in early manuscripts of the Septuagint were not yet standardized, however. All Rights Reserved, Embark on a Jewish Journey of Transformation. Bchler argues that this put Egyptian Jews under suspicion now that the Temple in Jerusalem was led by a High Priest who answered to the rival Seleucids, triggering a persecution in Egypt. vi. He grows to hate Jews, and orders the Jews of Egypt assembled in his hippodrome to be executed by elephants. Josephus writes that many (but certainly not all) Jews were put to death in Alexandria under the reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon (146117 BC) due to their support for his rival Cleopatra II, and this execution was indeed carried out by intoxicated elephants. 1-23; and by that of their mother (xiv. The Jews to whom the book was addressed were both loyal to their nation and its new Hasmonean state and yet faithful subjects of the kingdoms of the Greek dynasty of Ptolemies in Egypt. to the death of Simon the Maccabee (135 B.C. xiv. It adds, however, important particulars regarding the events that led up to the Maccabean revolt. The Book of Maccabees was not added to the Bible. ii. Dalman ("Grammar," p. 6), whom Torrey (Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Unlike I *Maccabees which was written in Hebrew, the original language of this book was Greek; and unlike the former, which begins with an account of the revolt of Mattathias and tells of the wars of his sons the *Hasmoneans up to the days of John Hyrcanus, this book deals solely with the deeds of *Judah Maccabee, and only until his victory over Nicanor on 13 Adar II, 164 B.C.E. The Book of Maccabees I is an apocryphal work recounting the victories of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks and the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE, the stories behind the holiday of Chanukah. [8], Another theory about the historical basis of the book was advanced by Adolf Bchler in 1899. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, Archaeology Proves Rule Extended to Negev Highlands, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. ; Torrey, Die Briefe 2 Makkaber, i. But in I Maccabees, nevertheless, history is written from the human standpoint. 23) by the example of Eleazar, drawn from II Macc. The First Book of Maccabees was written in Hebrew by a Jew from Jerusalem, probably around the beginning of the first century before Christ. 1 Maccabees was written around the late 2nd century BC. From these facts Geiger conjectured that the author was a Sadducee, and most recent writers follow him in this opinion, although they consider him wrong in calling the First Book of the Maccabees a partizan document; its temperate and just tone certainly redeems it from such a stricture. In either case the First Book of the Maccabees is one of the best sources known for the history of the Jews. v. 63), but also those of Jonathan (comp. The vivid character of the narrative and the fact that it closes so abruptly after the death of Simon make this a very plausible view. The book is usually held to belong to the latter part of the first century B.C. 1:10b-2:18. The book includes a letter, ostensibly by Ptolemy, to this effect. It seeks to shock the audience with tear-jerking violence and to inspire the reader with heroic resolve to suffer horrendous torture rather than commit idolatry. Simon, the Jews collectively, and Eleazar all pray to God in situations of dire need, and these prayers are answered directly. 21, 39; iii. The writer is a strong believer in immortality, but he has abandoned the Pharisaic standpoint of II Maccabees, which recognizes a bodily resurrection, and holds to the view that all souls exist forever, the good being together in a state of happiness (xvii. But Torrey (in "Encyc. [22], Despite clearly being familiar with 2 Maccabees, the author does not appear to agree with some of its tenets. iii. 80 et seq.) follows, takes the name as a corruption of (= "Book of the Hasmoneans"). The Septuagint is what gave the work the title "3 Maccabees", despite being something of a misnomer. Jason of Cyrene wrote the original five-volume history of the Maccabees which was later summarized by anonymous epitomizer in Second Maccabees. That the author was an Alexandrian is unquestionable. However, the execution is repeatedly thwarted. [7] On the topic of the census, they propose that it is entirely possible that a Ptolemaic census had also threatened to reduce the status of Jews to that of native Egyptians (the least prestigious caste in Ptolemaic society) by making Alexandrian Jews pay a tax usually only levied on rural populations. story. 2-4, 33, 34, 43; xii. ; Ewald, Gesch. 39 et seq. Background In the 2nd century BC, Judea lay between the Ptolemaic Kingdom (based in Egypt) and the Seleucid empire (based in Syria ), monarchies which had formed following the death of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). The Hebrew original seems not to have borne the name "Maccabees," though it is not known what was its real designation. He was apparently a contemporary of Judah Maccabee, as several incidents sound as if they emanate from an eyewitness. The first was written, according to its date, in 124 B.C.E. He wrote in the post-independence Hasmonean kingdom, probably during the reign of High Priest John Hyrcanus (reigned ~134-104 BC), with a few scholars suggesting that early in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (reigned 103-76 BC) is also a possibility. While nothing like the attempted mass execution at the hippodrome thwarted by angels occurred, some Jews in the provinces were possibly executed (3:12-30), before eventually the initiative stopped. 23-xii. Greek readers, who always respected ancient traditions, were sure to condemn these Jewish innovators who wrought havoc. [3], The author's concluding story sharply condemns apostasy in Judaism: 300 Jews who had left the faith during the initial registration are slain by pious Jews. [21][22], That said, while many elements of the story are dubious, many scholars accept that memories of a genuine persecution might be being described in 3 Maccabees, if distorted. For details see the works mentioned below. The first of these is the only one of the four which can be regarded as a reliable historical source. III Maccabees: The Third Book of the Maccabees has in reality nothing to do either with the Maccabees or with their times. 21). The Maccabees were a family of Jews who resisted the authority of Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria and his successors who had usurped authority over the Jews, conquered Jerusalem, and strove to introduce idolatrous worship. 15-17, v. 17-20, et al. It would seem that the author of III Maccabees, anxious to connect this celebration with Jerusalem, has transferred it to an earlier Ptolemy and given it an entirely unhistorical setting. 1-ii. To this fact Origen and Jerome also bear testimony, though it is possible that the version or paraphrase known to them was Aramaic. Theme: Newsup by Themeansar. This, together with his attitude toward the priesthood asshown in his lifting the veil which I Maccabees had drawn over Jason and Menelaus, led Bertholdt and Geiger to regard the author as a Pharisee and the work as a Pharisaic party document. The author of First Maccabees, who wrote for Judeans, sought to promote the legitimacy of the Hasmonean priesthood and its political rule. xiv. The summary of Jason of Cyrene was created by someone seeking to legitimize the celebration of Hanukkah in Ptolemaic Hellenistic Egypt. Although his views are very close to those of the Pharisees, it is impossible to tell whether the author, Jason, was one of them. He was very zealous for the Law and for the national religious institutions (see i. The author was a deeply religious man in spite of this mannerism. xii. ; at the earliest to the last century B.C. i. viii.-xv. That there is much of the fabulous in this story is obvious, and it may well be that the similar story told in Josephus ("Contra Ap." The authorship of IV Maccabees was at one time ascribed (as by Eusebius, Jerome, and other authorities) to Josephus, but this is clearly wrong. 5 and v. 1, Josephus could hardly have been guilty. The author does not appear to have knowledge of Roman activities of the later 1st century that caused opposition from Jews such as desecration of sanctuaries. In I Maccabees the personal pronoun is most significantly used (iii. Therefore the anonymous epitomizer (summarizer) provides an abbreviated history with two letters written in 142 BCE by newly independent Judea to the Diaspora Jews in Egypt. ; ch. 19). Returning to Alexandria, he assembled the Jews in the hippodrome to be massacred, but the necessity of writing down their names exhausted the paper in Egypt, so that they escaped (ii. One point remains. Some Jews obeyed but most refused the offer (2:31-33, 3:22-23). Proudly powered by WordPress In no other way, the writer believed, could they share in the glory and the fruits of the great struggle for liberty. 39) and Prof. A. Bchler ("Tobiaden und Oniaden," pp. On the other hand, II Maccabees was known to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (see Peak, in "The Century Bible," p. 223) and to Philo (see Schrer, l.c. Of the name "Maccabees" it may be mentioned that in a text of the Megillat Anteyukas ("J. Q. R." xi. It is a melodramatic Greek style that describes graphically the death of innocent children, women and old men. 3 Maccabees,[a] also called the Third Book of Maccabees, is a book written in Koine Greek, likely in the 1st century BC in either the late Ptolemaic period of Egypt or in early Roman Egypt. The letters which introduce 2 Maccabees ostensibly were written from Pal. The work includes an incident at the Second Temple and an attack on Egyptian Jews; something similar happened in this period albeit with the order reversed, with anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria in 38 AD and Caligula attempting to install a statue of himself in the Temple around 3940 AD. 24 and, perhaps, ii. For the Greek text of IV Maccabees, as well as of the other books, see Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, vol. [20] Another possibility is that the persecution which inspired the work was the best-attested one: that of Antiochus IV in Judea chronicled in 2 Maccabees, and the Egyptian author was telling a "what if it happened here?" The author was also a loyal admirer of the Hasmonean family; he believed that to it Israel owed her deliverance and existence. 64, iii. In contrast to First Maccabees, the book of Second Maccabees is a summary of a history written originally in Greek for Diaspora Hellenistic Jews living in the Greek-speaking area in Egypt.The Jews to whom the book was addressed were both loyal to their nation and its new Hasmonean state and yet faithful subjects of the kingdoms of the Greek dynasty of Ptolemies in Egypt. the reading is (= "the zealot"), which would be very acceptable were it better attested. The idea is not lacking, however, as in the Book of Esther, but is represented by "Heaven," or by the pronoun "He." Next the king devised a plan for having the Jews trampled to death by elephants; this also was frustrated in various improbable ways (v. 1-vi. 43). The author is a religious teacher (see iii. [16] The book may also have been referred to by Pseudo-Athanasius as "Ptolemaica" (Ptolemaics). or his work would not have been used by Christians. Jews mainly to encourage the remembrance of the purification of the Temple by observing Hanukkah (or Feast of Dedication). 22-vii. It is an abridgment of a larger work of five books written by a *Jason of Cyrene who is otherwise unknown (see 2:23-28). 3 Maccabees is somewhat similar to the Book of Esther, another book which describes how a king is advised to annihilate the Diaspora Jews in his territory, yet is thwarted by God. 9; comp. Some scholars regard them as the basis of the author's work, which he himself prefixed to it because they treat of the topics of which he wished to speakthe Temple at Jerusalem and the importance of observing its feasts. God is not "named" in it; the term "heaven" replaces the divine name. It is transmitted in three uncial manuscripts of the Septuagintthe Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Alexandrinus, and the Codex Venetusas well as in several cursives. It was this title which gave the title to the other books of the Apocrypha bearing the same name. First Maccabees was written about 100 B.C., in Hebrew, but the original has not come down to us. Much emphasis is also laid on the belief in the resurrection of the dead (7:14; 12:43). and xiv. [8], 3 Maccabees was not influential.
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