Rhetoric in 2Maccabees
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Plotting Antiochus's Persecution
JBL123/2 (2004) 219-234 PLOTTING ANTIOCHUS'S PERSECUTION STEVEN WEITZMAN [email protected] Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-7005 The history of religious persecution could be said to have begun in 167 B.C.E. when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV issued a series of decrees outlawing Jewish religious practice. According to 1 Maccabees, anyone found with a copy of the Torah or adhering to its laws—observing the Sabbath, for instance, or practicing circumcision—was put to death. Jews were compelled to build altars and shrines to idols and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals. The temple itself was desecrated by a "desolating abomination" built atop the altar of burnt offering. The alternative account in 2 Maccabees adds to the list of outrages: the temple was renamed for Olympian Zeus, and the Jews were made to walk in a procession honoring the god Dionysus. Without apparent precedent, the king decided to abolish an entire religion, suppressing its rites, flaunting its taboos, forcing the Jews to follow "customs strange to the land." Antiochus IV s persecution of Jewish religious tradition is a notorious puz zle, which the great scholar of the period Elias Bickerman once described as "the basic and sole enigma in the history of Seleucid Jerusalem."1 Earlier for eign rulers of the Jews in Jerusalem, including Antiochus s own Seleucid fore bears, were not merely tolerant of the religious traditions of their subjects; they often invested their own resources to promote those traditions.2 According to Josephus, Antiochus III, whose defeat of the Ptolemaic kingdom at the battle of Panium in 200 B.C.E. -
Possible Misreading in 1 Maccabees 7:34 in Light of Its Biblical Model
JBL 138, no. 4 (2019): 777–789 https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1384.2019.5 Possible Misreading in 1 Maccabees 7:34 in Light of Its Biblical Model matan orian [email protected] Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel First Maccabees 7:34 employs four verbs to describe the offensive speech by Nicanor, the Seleucid general, addressed to the Jewish elders and priests. The third verb indicates that Nicanor defiled his audience. While this has led scholars to associate 1 Maccabees with the Jewish concept of gentile impurity, several factors suggest that, at this point, an error found its way into the Greek translation from the original Hebrew. The present argument comprises three steps. First, I use the biblical Sennacherib story, featured in the background of the Nicanor episode in 1 Maccabees, as a means of reconstructing the relevant original Hebrew verb employed by 1 Maccabees. Second, I suggest a possible misreading of one letter on the part of the Greek translator. Finally, I propose that a similar, earlier verse in 1 Maccabees, 1:24b, may have been conducive to the translator’s commission of this mistake, thus offering an insight into his way of thinking. I. A Verb Clearly out of Context First Maccabees 7:34 employs four verbs to describe the insulting nature of the speech by Nicanor, the Seleucid general, directed at the Jewish elders and the priests of the Jerusalem temple who emerged from the temple to greet him: “he mocked them, derided them, defiled them, and spoke arrogantly” (ἐμυκτήρισεν αὐτοὺς καὶ κατεγέλασεν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐμίανεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐλάλησεν ὑπερηφάνως).1 The third verb, “defile,” plainly differs from the other verbs in this verse: it does not relate to the nature of the speech but rather to a cultic or ritual consequence of some physical act committed by Nicanor. -
The Septuagint As a Holy Text – the First 'Bible' of the Early Church
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422 Page 1 of 9 Original Research The Septuagint as a holy text – The first ‘bible’ of the early church Author: This article acknowledges the fact that historically there are two phases in the emergence of the 1 Johann Cook Septuagint – a Jewish phase and a Christian one. The article deals first with methodological Affiliation: issues. It then offers a historical orientation. In the past some scholars have failed to distinguish 1Department of Ancient between key historical phases: the pre-exilic/exilic (Israelite – 10 tribes), the exilic (the Studies, Faculty of Arts and Babylonian exile ‒ 2 tribes) and the post-exilic (Judaean/Jewish). Many scholars are unaware Social Sciences, University of of the full significance of the Hellenistic era, including the Seleucid and Ptolemaic eras and Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa their impact on ‘biblical’ textual material. Others again overestimate the significance of this era; the Greek scholar Evangelia Dafni is an example. Many are uninformed about the Persian Corresponding author: era, which includes the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanian eras, each one of which had an Johann Cook, impact on Judaism. An example is the impact of Persian dualism. Another problem is the [email protected] application of the concept of ‘the Bible’. The notion of ‘Bible’ applies only after the 16th century Dates: Common Era, specifically after the advent of the printing press. Earlier, depending on the Received: 18 May 2020 context, we had clay tablets (Mesopotamia), vella (Levant-Judah) and papyri (Egypt) to write Accepted: 06 July 2020 on. -
Katell Berthelot Introduction
ELECTRUM * Vol. 21 (2014): 73–85 doi: 10.4467/20800909EL.14.001.2780 www.ejournals.eu/electrum JUDAS MACCABEUS’ WARS AGAINST JUDAEA’S NEIGHBOURS IN 1 MACCABEES 5: A REASSESSMENT OF THE EVIDENCE Katell Berthelot CNRS / Aix-Marseille University Abstract: The fi fth chapter of the First Book of Maccabees recounts a whole range of wars waged by Judas Maccabeus against Judaea’s neighbours, who are depicted as threatening the lives of the Jews living in their midst. The account of these punitive expeditions contains the only explicit reference found in the book to an anathema (ḥerem) against a foreign people, a reference which has led some scholars to see Judas as re-enacting the biblical prescription of the ḥerem against the Canaanites. In contrast with this interpretation, the present article argues that the description in 1 Maccabees 5 is highly literary and rhetorical, and that it is part of a strategy which aims at pre- senting Judas as the heir of the fi rst kings of Israel. In particular, a careful literary analysis shows that nearly all the differences between the accounts in 1 and 2 Maccabees can be explained by tak- ing into consideration the project of the author to present Judas’s military expeditions in the light of Saul’s campaigns, following 1 Samuel 10–15 (especially 14:47–48). Given the indebtedness of 1 Maccabees 5 toward such biblical traditions, the historicity of Judas’s wars against Judaea’s neighbours should be re-assessed. Key words: history of Second Temple Judaism, Hasmoneans, 1 Maccabees 5, Judas Maccabeus, wars, biblical models, Saul. -
Hanukkah and Purim: Similar Yet Different
Mon 7, 14, 21, 28 Nov 2016 / 6, 13, 20, 27 Heshvan 5777 B”H Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi Course for Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia Hanukkah and Purim: Similar yet Different Introduction -Hanukkah and Purim, the next two holidays, are not in Torah: Both are rabbinic. -Torah only has Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the three pilgrimage festivals – Pessah, Shavuot and Sukkot. -Both colorful – stay in mind of kids. -Both celebrate Jewish victory over persecution. -Both miraculous: We recite Al HaNissim on both. -Both so important rabbis turned their observance into post-Torah (rabbinic) commandments. YET: -The story of Purim has a book in the Bible (Esther), a tractate in the Talmud (Megillah) and a volume in the Midrash (Esther Rabbah). Hanukkah has none of them. It rates only a few mentions in Talmud [Shabbat 21a-24a], as an appendage to a discussion of what wicks and oils one can use for Shabbat lights. -The Book of Esther does not mention God, yet is in the Bible; the Books of Maccabees do, yet are not in the Bible. -The story of Purim is not known outside the Bible, yet is in the Bible. The events of Hanukkah are known outside the Bible, yet are not in the Bible. -Hallel (psalms of praise for God) recited on Hanukkah, but not Purim. -Hanukkah began with the physical (armed rebellion) and ended with the spiritual (rededication of the Temple). Purim began with the spiritual (prayer and fasting) and ended with the physical (armed resistance to killers). -On Purim, persecutors wanted to kill ALL the Jews. -
Citation Methodologies in Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica and Other
University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2015 Citation Methodologies in Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica and Other Ancient Historiography Justin Otto Barber University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, and the History of Religions of Western Origin Commons Recommended Citation Barber, Justin Otto, "Citation Methodologies in Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica and Other Ancient Historiography" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1009. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1009 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. CITATION METHODOLOGIES IN EUSEBIUS’ HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA AND OTHER ANCIENT HISTORIOGRAPHY __________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Justin Otto Barber August 2015 Advisor: Gregory Robbins ©Copyright by Justin Otto Barber 2015 All Rights Reserved Author: Justin Otto Barber Title: Citation Methodologies in Eusebius’ Historia ecclesiastica and Other Ancient Historiography -
Antiochus Epiphanes
University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 10-1944 Antiochus Epiphanes. Brougher Petty Maddox University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Maddox, Brougher Petty, "Antiochus Epiphanes." (1944). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2011. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2011 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Kaster of Arts Department of History by Brougher Petty Maddox .. \ 1944 -T .4 .4¥ To ,Ida Roe and c. ,Sidney Maddox, my,parents, I, in affectionate appreciation. ABBREVIATIONS App. Syr. Appian, ~oman History Book XI, Ia! Syrian ~. Bactria W. W. Tarn, IQ! Greeks !n Bactria and India. ~ British Museum Catalogue , ) , t CAB Cambridge Ancient HistorI. Diod~ Sic. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheea \ t Hel. Q1!. W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilisation ~ # I ( H. W. M. Rostovtzeff, Social ~ Economic History 2t the Hellenistic World, 3 Vols. House Sel. E. R. Bevan, House of Seleucus, Vol. II. Bevan, Egypt E. R. Bevan, A History Q! Egypt. -
Xeravits, Géza G. "Abraham in the Old Testament Apocrypha." Abraham in Jewish and Early Christian Literature
Xeravits, Géza G. "Abraham in the Old Testament Apocrypha." Abraham in Jewish and Early Christian Literature. Ed. Sean A. Adams and Zanne Domoney-Lyttle. London: T&T Clark, 2019. 29–40. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 28 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780567675545.ch-002>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 28 September 2021, 22:19 UTC. Copyright © Sean A. Adams, Zanne Domoney-Lyttle and contributors 2019. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. C h a p t e r 2 A BRAHAM IN THE O LD T ESTAMENT A POCRYPHA * G é z a G . X e r a v i t s Th e patriarch Abraham is one of the most pre- eminent fi gures of the Old Testament. Th e “fi rst Jew,” benefi ciary of God’s promises and covenant is an exciting personality already according to the primary epical source where he fi rst appears (Genesis). It is no wonder that later biblical texts and the authors of the literature of early Judaism were heavily interested in Abraham, and developed a rich tradition around him.1 Th is contribution intends to explore texts that belong to a rather artifi cial category, the Deuterocanonical books or the Old Testament Apocrypha. Th ese late Second Temple period writings do not appear in the Hebrew Bible, but found their way into the Septuagint and its parent versions.2 Th e evidence might be categorized into four distinct groups. -
1. the Canon of Scripture
GLORIOUS DOCTRINE: The Word of God - Session 1 Session 1: Introduction & Canon 1. THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE Before we can talk about Scripture - that is, the book which God has inspired - we need to know what books are considered Scripture. God inspired some books, but not all books. This mere fact means that there must be some limitation to our Bibles. This is what we call the ‘canon of scripture.’ A. Definition Of ‘Canon’ The term ‘canon’ - from the Greek word κανών (kanṓn) - simply means “measuring rod, standard”. It refers to the standard by which you access something, or determine the limits of something. When we use it in terms of the Bible, we mean the limits of the books that belong in the Bible. It is speaking of the list of books which are divinely authoritative and deserve to be in our Bibles. “The canon is an artifact of revelation, not an object of revelation itself. It is known infallibly to God by necessity and to man with a certainty directly related to God’s purpose in giving the Word to the church. The canon exists because God has inspired some writings, not all writings. It is known to man in fulfillment of God’s purpose in engaging in the action of inspiration so as to give to His people a lamp for their feet and a light for their path.” (James R. White, Scripture Alone, 101) B. The Importance of the Canon of Scripture Why is it important that we have a Canon of Scripture? Why do we need a collection of God-inspired writings preserved for us today? 1 GLORIOUS DOCTRINE: The Word of God - Session 1 This idea of not adding to or taking away from the books/writings which God has given to us comes from God himself. -
The Apocrypha
The Apocrypha by Daniel J. Lewis © Copyright 2000 by Diakonos, Inc. Troy, Michigan United States of America 2 Preface The apocrypha may be the most well-known collection of biblical documents, other than the Old and New Testaments, which is regularly neglected and ignored. In the past these books have been highly valued for private study and devotion by both the ancient Jewish community and also the ancient Christian community. The earliest Christians used for their Bible the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as well as the growing number of documents which now make up the New Testament. The Septuagint contained a number of Jewish works written between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D., specifically a number of additions to Old Testament books (Esther, Daniel, Jeremiah, Chronicles) as well as other works, some fictional, some historical and some theological. These works were eventually excluded from the Protestant and Jewish canons (but eventually retained in the Roman and Orthodox canons). Their canonical status was somewhat ambiguous until the 16th century, when they were given deutero-canonical status by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. Though the Protestant Reformers considered such works to be less authoritative than the canonical Scriptures, they did not discard them. In fact, the apocryphal books have been printed in most versions of the English Bible (including the KJV) from earliest times until 1827, when they were omitted. Since that time, Protestants, especially, have regarded the apocryphal books with suspicion, even though they were part of the devotional literature of the Christian church for most of its history. -
Antiochus IV, Jewish Quarrels, and the Maccabean Revolt Joshua Peters
Antiochus IV, Jewish Quarrels, and the Maccabean Revolt Joshua Peters 1 The conflict between Jerusalem and the Seleucid Empire, and the subsequent rededication of the Temple altar in 167 BCE, are events that still have significant impacts on both Christians and Jews today.1 These effects can be observed in the Christian theology of martyrdom and in the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.2 Although both religions recognise the conflict, known as the Maccabean Revolt, as an significant hallmark in their history, modern literature and research tend to lean in favour of the Jews, who fought for self-governance. As a result, there is no difficulty in finding literature discussing Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the atrocities that he had committed against the Jewish people who opposed him, or the heroic feats of the Jews who fought for independence from the Seleucids.3 While the cruelty inflicted upon the region of Judea cannot be excused, neither should the involvement of the Jewish population. For this reason, this paper will focus on primary sources of the time and how they implicate certain priests and pro-Seleucid Jews as the instigators of their own demise. The paper will also discuss the historical relationships that existed between Judea, the Seleucids in Asia, and the Ptolemies in Egypt prior to the Revolt. It should be noted that I do not wish to exonerate Antiochus’ actions against the inhabitants of Judea, but rather seek to demonstrate that his misdeeds were not motivated by an innate hatred towards the Jewish population, and indeed followed patterns that were not dissimilar to the actions of other Seleucid kings. -
5.Rajak, Jewish
the s. mark taper foundation imprint in jewish studies by this endowment the s. mark taper foundation supports the appreciation and understanding of the richness and diversity of jewish life and culture Copyright © 2007 by The Regents of the University of California The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by the Jewish Studies Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation, which is supported by a major gift from the S. Mark Taper Foundation. Copyright © 2007 by The Regents of the University of California Jewish Perspectives on Hellenistic Rulers Copyright © 2007 by The Regents of the University of California HELLENISTIC CULTURE AND SOCIETY General Editors: Anthony W. Bulloch, Erich S. Gruen, A. A. Long, and Andrew F. Stewart I. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, by Peter Green II. Hellenism in the East: The Interaction of Greek and Non-Greek Civilizations from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander, edited by Amélie Kuhrt and Susan Sherwin-White III. The Question of “Eclecticism”: Studies in Later Greek Philosophy, edited by J. M. Dillon and A. A. Long IV. Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State, by Richard A. Billows V. A History of Macedonia, by R. Malcolm Errington, translated by Catherine Errington VI. Attic Letter-Cutters of 229 to 86 b.c., by Stephen V. Tracy VII. The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, by Luciano Canfora VIII. Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind, by Julia E. Annas IX. Hellenistic History and Culture, edited by Peter Green X. The Best of the Argonauts: The Redefinition of the Epic Hero in Book One of Apollonius’ Argonautica, by James J.