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The Books of the Maccabees

The Books of the Maccabees. A History of “Israel”. Reforms of Ezra & Nehemiah. Second Temple completed. Israel conquered by Assyria. Revolt – Temple destroyed. Ptolemies/ Seleucids. Babylonian captivity. Alexander the Great. Return from exile. Maccabean Revolt. Great Revolt. Rome.

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The Books of the Maccabees

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  1. The Books of the Maccabees

  2. A History of “Israel” Reforms of Ezra & Nehemiah Second Temple completed Israel conquered by Assyria Revolt – Temple destroyed Ptolemies/ Seleucids Babylonian captivity Alexander the Great Return from exile Maccabean Revolt Great Revolt Rome United Kingdom (Saul, David, Solomon) Kingdoms of Israel & Judah Judah - a Persian vassal state Greek Palestine Hasmon- eans Roman Occupation Judah 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 100 200 300 BCE CE Amos Jeremiah Ezra Maccabees Hosea Haggai Isaiah Zechariah Micah Malachi Hezekiah

  3. The Septuagint The Alexandrian Canon • A Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures compiled originally in Alexandria for the Jews outside of the homeland. • Made from Hebrew or Aramaic originals (although few of these early scriptures survive in anything but fragments). • Began in 3rd century BCE but … obviously not considered a closed canon because texts continued to be added after the original translations, apparently into the 1st century CE. • Was considered authoritative by Jews of the Diaspora. • Used by Philo, discussed by Josephus.

  4. The Books 1 Maccabees: A history - Mattathias and his five sons deliver Israel from the threat posed to Judaism by Hellenization. 2Maccabees: Generally parallels 1 Maccabees but presents a theological interpretation of history. Two letters to the Jews in Egypt giving direction concerning the celebration of the feasts of Booths and Hanukkah. 3 Maccabees: Misnomer … an incident involving Egyptian persecution of Jews in the 3rd cent BCE … nothing to do with Maccabean revolt. 4Maccabees: An expansion of 2 Maccabees 6:18 - 7:42. Presents an interpretation of Judaism in terms of Greek philosophy.

  5. The Books of the Maccabees The Books of the Maccabees (1, 2, & 4) recount how Mattathias and his five sons delivered Israel from the threat posed to Judaism by Antiochus IV (and renegade Jews) and restored political independence and religious freedom to Israel after 4 ½ centuries. Four Jewish texts … written between ~ 100 BCE – 70 CE. Appear in various copies of the Septuagint.

  6. The Septuagint(s) and the Maccabees

  7. Background To Conflict Jason (Joshua) offers Antiochus IV money for high priesthood. (2 Macc 4:7-9) • Successfully bought the office of high priest, supports Hellenization. (1 Macc 1:13-15, 2 Macc 4:10-15) • Established a gymnasium in Jerusalem. (2 Macc 4:18-20) Three years later, Menelaus buys the priesthood. • Steals Temple vessels to pay for bribe. (2 Macc 4:27-32) When Onias protests these actions, he is assassinated. (2 Macc 4:33-38) Pietist Jews, Hellenized Jews, and Greeks are appalled by this action. (2 Macc 4:35) Even under Menelaus, Antiochus does not feel that Hellenization is proceeding quickly enough.

  8. Religious Persecution Sanctions are imposed and a Seleucid garrison is placed in Jerusalem. (1 Macc 1:41-64, 2 Macc 6:1-11) • copies of the law to be destroyed. (1 Macc 1:56) • circumcision of children forbidden. (1 Macc 1:60, 2 Macc 6:10) • Sabbath outlawed. (2 Macc 6:6) • pagan altars established. (1 Macc 1:54) • Jews forced to eat swine. (1 Macc 1:62) • altar to Zeus placed in temple. (2 Macc 6:2) Violations punishable by death. The Temple is plundered. (2 Macc 5:15-21)

  9. Victory … but Judas Maccabeus “the hammer,” the son of a priest leads a revolt against the Seleucids and defeats them. • In 165 BCE, Judas establishes control over Jerusalem. • The Temple is reconsecrated … feast of Hanukkah. • A Hasmonean dynasty is established which lasts until conquest by Rome in 63 BCE. House of Hasmoneans … quickly became corrupt. • Recognized by Rome … 139 BCE. • King and high priesthood … often combined. When John Hyrcanus (135-104 BCE) died … his wife took over the government and his son became high priest. His son was not satisfied with this … had his mother put into prison where she was starved to death … and then he assumed both kingship and high priesthood. After a year he died a painful death …

  10. Hasmoneans A civil war ensued within the House of the Hasmoneans until the Romans had had enough … • Area conquered and occupied in 63 BCE. Because the Hasmoneans were neither from the Davidic line or the priestly line of Jews … there were many pietist Jews who never accepted the Hasmoneans as either legitimate kings or priests … • Essenes … • Herod …

  11. 4 Maccabees

  12. 4 Maccabees • Purpose: To present an interpretation of Judaism in terms of Greek philosophy. • Devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. (1:1) • Written, 20-54 CE ... Once attributed to Josephus under the title, “On the Supremacy of Reason.” • In the face of Jewish resistance, Antiochus sought to force all Jews “to eat defiling foods and to renounce Judaism.” (4:26) • Eleazar, seven sons and their mother. (An expansion of 2 Maccabees 6:18 - 7:42) • All offered life for eating pork and meat of sacrifices made to idols. • All willing to die … for the Law.

  13. Eleazar - 4 Maccabees Eleazar … “leader of the flock” … “of a priestly family.” “Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork, for I respect your age and your gray hairs. … it does not seem to me that you are a philosopher when you observe the religion of the Jews. Why, when nature has granted it to us, should you abhor eating the very excellent meat of this animal? It is senseless not to enjoy delicious things that are not shameful, and wrong to spurn the gifts of nature. It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt. Will you not awaken from your foolish philosophy, dispel your futile reasonings, adopt a mind appropriate to your years, philosophize according to the truth of what is beneficial …” (5:7-11)

  14. Eleazar - 4 Maccabees • Eleazar’s response: • “… there is no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law.” (5:16) • “… to transgress the law in matters either small or great is of equal seriousness, for in either case the law is equally despised.” (5:20-21) • “… it teaches us self-control …” • “… it also trains us in courage …” • “… it teaches us piety …” • “… so that with proper reverence we worship the only real God.” (5:23-24)

  15. Eleazar - 4 Maccabees • Eleazar’s response: • “… nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my ancestors … not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my entrails.” (5:29-30) • “… get your torture wheels ready and fan the fire more vehemently!” (5:32) • Torture begins … • “… like a noble athlete the old man, while being beaten, was victorious over his torturers …” (6:10) • “‘We will set before you some cooked meat; save yourself by pretending to eat pork.’ But Eleazar, as though more bitterly tormented by this counsel, cried out: ‘May we, the children of Abraham, never think so basely that out of cowardice we feign a role unbecoming to us!’” (6:15 & 17)

  16. Eleazar - 4 Maccabees • “Therefore, O children of Abraham, die nobly for your religion!” (6:22) • “When he was now burned to his very bones and about to expire, he lifted up his eyes to God and said, ‘You know, O God, that though I might have saved myself, I am dying in burning torments for the sake of the law. Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them. Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs.’ And after he said this, the holy man died nobly in his tortures, and by reason he resisted even to the very tortures of death for the sake of the law.” (6:26-30) • “… like our patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, do not die to God, but live in God.” (7:19)

  17. The Seven Brothers Seven brothers … handsome … modest … noble … with their aged mother. • “… you will renounce the ancestral tradition of your national life. And enjoy your youth by adopting the Greek way of life and by changing your manner of living.” (8:7-8) • “… we are ready to die rather than transgress our ancestral commandments …” (9:1) • “For we, through this severe suffering and endurance, shall have the prize of virtue and shall be with God, for whom we suffer; but you … will deservedly undergo from the divine justice eternal torment by fire.” (9:8-9) • "Most abominable tyrant, enemy of heavenly justice … you are mangling me in this manner … because I protect the divine law.” (9:15) • “Through all these tortures I will convince you that sons of the Hebrews alone are invincible where virtue is concerned.” (9:18)

  18. The Seven Brothers Second brother: • “You will not escape, most abominable tyrant, the judgments of the divine wrath.” (9:32) Third brother: • “You do not have a fire hot enough to make me play the coward.” (10:14) Seventh … youngest son: • “… justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go.” (12:12) • “… on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead.” (12:18) • “… he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life.” (12:19)

  19. 4 Maccabees • “Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us, for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God. Therefore let us put on the full armor of self-control, which is divine reason. For if we so die, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all the fathers will praise us.” (13:14-17) The Seven Brothers: • “… running the course toward immortality …” (14:6)

  20. The Mother The Mother • “… the mother urged them on, each child singly and all together, to death …” (15:12) • “How great and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons! But devout reason, giving her heart a man's courage in the very midst of her emotions, strengthened her to disregard her temporal love for her children. Although she witnessed the destruction of seven children and the ingenious and various rackings, this noble mother disregarded all these because of faith in God.” (15:22-24) • “… the daughter of God-fearing Abraham …” (15:28)

  21. The Mother The Mother • “Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring. I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother. Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows. Nor when I die, shall I have any of my sons to bury me.” (16:9-11) • “My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law.” (16:16) • “… Abraham was zealous to sacrifice his son Isaac …” (16:20) • “… those who die for the sake of God live in God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.” (16:25) • “Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body.” (17:1)

  22. Immortality Immortality … and acceptance of sacrifice • You … and your sons “… stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them.” (17:5) • “They vindicated their nation …” (17:10) • “The prize was immortality in endless life.” (17:12) • “Reverence for God was the victor …” (17:15) • “… they now stand before the divine throne and live through blessed eternity.” (17:18) • “… they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sins of the nation.” (17:21) • “… through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an expiation, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been afflicted.’ (17:22) • “… those who gave over their bodies in suffering … were not only admired by men, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance.” (18:3)

  23. 4 Maccabees In the end … divine justice … • “The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death.” (18:5) • “But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers, and have received pure and immortal souls from God, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (18:23-24)

  24. 4 Maccabees By their suffering, the martyrs atone for the sins of Israel which brought on the persecution. • “A ransom for the sins of our nation.” (17:21) • An atoning sacrifice … a substitutionary atonement. • Expiatory or vicarious suffering. • Death of the pure to make up for sins … of others.

  25. Theological Implications • Torah speaks of rewards and punishments for the righteous. • Health, long life, many children, fertile crops. • In the days of Antiochus, however, the righteous suffered for the sake of the Covenant. • Presents Jewish theological development. • Celebrates deeds of martyrs. • Saints in heaven intercede for men on earth. • The living might pray and offer sacrifices for the dead. • The righteous will live in a perfected world … the souls of the righteous will be in the presence of the Patriarchs and God. • The wicked will be punished … will endure Gehenna.

  26. Theological Implications • Immortality of the righteous. • … standing with God. • Restoration … of Israel … The Law. “Make my blood their purification, and take my life as an exchange for theirs.”(6:29)

  27. Extra-Biblical… Post Biblical Texts Book of Enoch (1st - 2nd cent BCE) • A pseudepigraphic work ascribed to Enoch … the great-grandfather of Noah. • Fragments of Enoch found at Qumran … Dead Sea Scrolls. • Book of Parables … • Pre-existant “Son of Man” who sits next to the throne of “The Ancient of Days.” • A king who brings peace “at the conclusion of the world drama.” Assumption of Moses • Midrash … Before his death … Moses asks God if he can speak with the Messiah. • Temple being rebuilt (by God) … Messiah with Torah scroll … Aaron in priestly robes. • Return of all Jews from Diaspora.

  28. The Great Revolt Jews revolt against Roman occupiers in 66 CE. Zealots fight fellow Jews who do not want to participate in the uprising. • Many “moderate” Jewish leaders are killed. Generally, Pharisees do not support the uprising. • Galilee falls. • Jerusalem and Temple destroyed … 70 CE. • Masada holds out as a Zealot stronghold until 73 CE. Josephus Flavius writes “The Jewish Wars.”

  29. Yochanan ben Zakkai During the Jewish uprising of 66-73 CE, Zealot leaders did not permit inhabitants of Jerusalem to leave the besieged city of Jerusalem. • A Pharisee, Yochanan is taken from the city pretending to be dead. • Speaks to the Roman General Vespasian and predicts he will become Caesar … emperor. • Vespasian grants one wish … “Give me Yavneh and its sages.” “If you should happen to be holding a sapling in your hand when they tell you that the Messiah has arrived, first plant the sapling, and then go out and greet the Messiah.” “More than any other figure, he must be credited with establishing a model of Judaism that could survive without a Temple, without sacrifices, and even without a state.” (Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) “We have another atonement as effective as this … ‘acts of loving-kindness, as God says’ … ‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” (Hosea 6:6)

  30. Yavneh Tel Aviv Yavneh Jerusalem Gaza Yavne, located on the Mediterranean coast, was the center of learning of Jewish rabbis after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. 

  31. Bar Kokhba Rebellion Simon of Cozeba leads a revolt against Rome … 132 – 135 CE Rabbi Akiva declares Simon … the Messiah ... and Bar Kokhba … “Son of the Star.” • Other Rabbis ridicule the claim. • Thousands rally to the cause. • Galilee does not participate. Jews are crushed. • Rabbi Akiva executed. • Galilee becomes new center of Jewish life. • Mishna composed there a century later. • Half of Judea’s Jews perish. • Jews outnumbered in their own country. • Jews are forbidden in Jerusalem … which becomes AeliaCapitolina. • Temple to Jupiter erected.

  32. Judah the Prince After the Great Revolt (66-73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba Rebellion (132-135 CE), so many scholars, teachers and students had been killed that Rabbi Judah felt that the details and intricacies of the “Oral Law” needed to be codified. • This was accomplished by Rabbi Judah ~ 200 CE … in the Mishna. • It is considered that Rabbi Judah “edited” the Oral Law since it had been taught and debated for centuries previous … simply not written down. • Minority views were often-times included. • The Mishna would be studied and formally commented on by rabbis for centuries resulting in the Palestinian Talmud ~ 400 CE and the Babylonian Talmud … 6th cent CE. According to Isaiah Gafni, Judah was also considered a “Messiah” in the tradition of Moses.

  33. MaimonidesRabbi Moshe ben Maimon(Rambam)1135 - 1204 Philosopher, Rabbi, Codifier of the Law

  34. MaimonidesThe Thirteen Foundations(of Jewish belief) • The Creator (God) exists … blessed be He. • His Unity. • His incorporeality. • He is first. • It is proper to serve Him. • There is prophecy. • Moses is the father of all prophets. • The Torah is from Heaven (from the mouth of the Almighty). • Nothing may be added to, nor taken away from Torah. • God knows all of the actions of mankind. • God gives rewards and punishments based on obedience to Torah. • The Messiah (Moshiach) will come. • The righteous will be resurrected.

  35. The Thirteen Foundations • Coming of Messiah … “ … believe that in truth that he will come and that you should be waiting for him even though he delays in coming. And you should not calculate times for him to come … And anyone who disputes this … is a denier of the name of God and in all the words of the prophets.”

  36. The Anointed King HaMelech HaMoshiach … the anointed king … the Messiah • “will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty …” • “will rebuild the (Mikdash) sanctuary and gather in the dispersed remnant of Israel.” • “… all the statutes will be reinstituted …” • “We will offer sacrifices …” “Whoever does not believe in him, or does not await his coming, denies not only the other prophets, but also the Torah and of Moshe (Moses), our teacher …”

  37. The Anointed King “The Sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic Era in order that (the Jewish people) rule over the entire world, nor in order that they have dominion over the gentiles, nor that they be exalted by them, nor in order that they eat, drink and celebrate. Rather, their aspiration was that (the Jewish people) be free to involve (themselves) in Torah and its wisdom, without anyone to oppress or disturb them, and thus be found worthy of life in the World to Come …” “There will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance and … will be as freely available as dust.” “The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.”

  38. Orthodox Judaism “I believe with full faith in the coming of the Messiah. And even though he tarries, with all that, I await his arrival every day.” (Based on Maimonides 13 Principles of Faith) Hassidic Jews tend to have a particularly strong and passionate belief in the immediacy of the Messiah’s coming and a belief that their personal devotion and actions can hasten his arrival. The Messiah would come today … if you will hear his voice. (Talmud)

  39. Conservative Judaism Statement of Principles: • Since no one can say for certain what will happen in the Messianic era each of us is free to fashion personal speculation. • … we dream of an age when warfare will be abolished, when justice and compassion will be axioms of all … • … we dream of the ingathering of all Jews to Zion where we can again be masters of our own destiny and express our distinctive genius in every area of our national life. • … yet do we wait for him each day.

  40. Messiah Christians believe that the Messiah has come … but … Have all of the prophetic expectations of Hebrew scriptures been met in the person of Jesus ??? Clearly not … • Christian exegesis and scripture reference is rather selective. To Christians … how should we understand the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah? • Is the fulfillment of the messianic expectation realized at Jesus’ second coming? • Is the expectation of the Hebrew scriptures misunderstood or wrong? • Or … has mankind … when given the opportunity to establish the messianic kingdom simply failed to do so … failed to act?

  41. Martin (Mordechai) Buber (1878 – 1965)Philosopher, Teacher

  42. Coming of the Messiah Addressing an audience of priests, Martin Buber said something like this: "What is the difference between Jews and Christians? We all await the Messiah. You believe He has already come and gone, while we do not. I therefore propose that we await Him together. And when He appears, we can ask him: were You here before?" Then he paused and added: "And I hope that at that moment I will be close enough to whisper in his ear, 'For the love of heaven, don't answer.' "

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