these additions to Daniel were known to our au- | Jerusalem were most faithful in the observance of thor is worthy of notice. The latter, however, oaths and covenants, and this, from the answer seems not to have been particular to follow au- they made to Alexander when he sent an embasthorities. He represents, for instance, that all sage to them after he had beaten Darius in battle, the enemies of the "three companions were de- so he distributed many of them into garrisons, stroyed by the flame. In Dan. iii. 22, we read and at Alexandria gave them equally the privi on the contrary: The flame of the fire slew these lege of citizens with the Macedonians themselves, men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- and required them to take their oaths that they nego." would remain faithful to the posterity of those who had committed these places to their care." must be looked upon as an exaggeration, considIn a moment, ἐν ἀμερεῖ χρόνῳ. This ering the manner in which they had been bound. Cf. iv. 20 f. Ver. 29. Ver. 31. Or rather had entered into it. Lit., or rather had walked upon it, i. e., the soil of the Κώθων. The first meaning is a Ver. 8. It is noticeable that here, too, we have Kros as the translation of the Hebrew 27 great fish, us in the LXX. at Jonah ii. 1. This verse tells us something about Jonah, namely, that he was afterwards seen by his family friends, of which the canonical books say nothing. It is doubtless to be taken as a gratuitous inference underworld. of the writer, or, at least, of some writer of the goblet, and then, a feast. Cf. TÓTоV σWτÝρLov, at later period. According to Cotton (Five Books, vii. 18. - Τόπον κλισίαις κατεμερίσαντο. The last p. 31), in the apocryphal epistle of St. Paul to the word is so read by III. 19. 23. 62. 74. 93. Co., and Corinthians, preserved in the Armenian church, it is adopted by Fritzsche. The common text has and translated from that language into English KаTEμépioav. For the second word III. 23. have by Lord Byron, there is found this phrase expres- KAIías. Adopting the former, the rendering would sive of Jonah's complete preservation: "Neither be, "They divided among themselves the spot for was any part of his body corrupted; neither was eating places." Cf. Luke ix. 14. where Xola is his eyebrow bent down." given the sense of " company in the A. V.; and Cotton renders here: "And parted the place which had been prepared for their fall and funeral into several tents (or companies) being filled with Ver. 10. The idea is: "Do not punish us for any supposable offenses, by making us the prey of these wretched heathen, but in any other way thou mayest choose." Cf. 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. - 'Ev-gladness." éσxnτai, become ensnared. The idea of the deceptiveness and slavery of sin seems to be involved. Ver. 11. Their God did not deliver. See the similar words of Rabshakeh at 2 Kings xviii. and Is. xxxvi. to which, also, allusion may here be made. Ver. 15. As thou hast said. Cf. Lev. xxvi. 44 in the LXX. Ver. 17. The narrative at this incredible. Ver. 18. All except the Jews. the comment: "Noluit enim satis terreri insuper horribili conspectu." Acts ix. 7; xxii. 6-9. Ver. 19. Immovable fetters. enchained by the awful vision. point is quite Grotius makes Ver. 24 Пapaßaσiλeveтe. Lit., to reign ulongside of, and then, to usurp the kingly prerogative. Ver. 32. A song of the fatherland. It was, probably, the 136th Ps. From 1 Chron. xvi. 41; 2 Chron. v. 13; vii. 3; Ezra iii. 11, we learn that this was the usual hymn of thanksgiving. Ver. 33. Deliverance which had come to himself. It may refer to his escape from the enraged e ephants, or, as others suppose, to the fact that he was delivered from the danger of committing so great a wrong as the destruction of the Jews would have been. Ver. 34. A prey for birds. Cf. Gen. xl. 19; Ezek. xxxix. 4; 2 Mace. ix. 15. Ver. 36. Not for the sake of drinking and feasting. One of the old English translations (1550) renders, "Not to bib and to bowl in, for gluttony." Cf. Cotton. Ver. 38. The names of the months here given, Pachon and Epiphi, were those in use in Alexandria, and correspond, respectively, to April 26May 25, and June 25-July 24. The Egyptian month having just thirty days, the time from the 25th of Pachon to the fourth of Epiphi would be Ver. 25. Loyally defended. At iii. 24 his language respecting the Jews was quite different. Josephus (Antiq., xii. 1) mentions a somewhat similar instance in which it is said of Ptolemy Lagus: "And as he knew that the people of forty days. CHAPTER VII. 1 KING Ptolemy Philopator to the commanders throughout Egypt, and to all who 2 hold public offices, joy and health. And we ourselves, also, and our children are 3 well, the great God having directed our affairs as we wish. Certain of our friends, having out of ill-will earnestly pressed the matter upon us, persuaded us to collect together the Jews of the kingdom in a body, and to inflict upon them extraordinary 4 punishments as traitors, giving out that, until this should be accomplished, our affairs would never be in a prosperous state, on account of the malevolence which 5 these people cherished towards every other nation. They also brought them here in chains, with ill treatment, as though they were slaves, or rather as though they 1 Fritzsche adopts пpodepóμevot from III. 62. 93. Co. Ald. (cf. ver. 11), for #poσdepóμevoɩ of the common text. • Instead of more of the common text, undéwore is adopted by Grimm and Fritzsche from III. 19. 62. 93. were traitors, and undertook to destroy them without any examination or inquiry, 6 having put on a cruelty more barbarous than that practiced by Scythians. But we severely threatened them for this, and reluctantly gave them their lives, in harmony with the feeling of clemency which we cherish towards all men, and recog nizing that the God of Heaven has kept the Jews safely, and has always fought for 7 them1 as a father for his sons, also calling to mind the firm and true good will which they have cherished towards us and our ancestors, we have in justice acquitted 8 them of every charge of whatever sort. And we have enjoined upon every one to let them all return to their own, to injure them in no place whatever, and not, as 9 would be unjust, to revile them over what has taken place. For know, that if we should devise any evil against them, or injure them at all, we should have in the future as enemy, not a man, but the highest God, Lord of all power, and an avenger against the state, from whom any escape would be impossible. Farewell! 10 But on receiving this letter, they did not hasten at once to make preparation for departure, but requested besides of the king, that those of the Jewish race, who had voluntarily apostatized from the holy God and from the law of God, might re11 ceive, through them, deserved punishment, declaring that those who had transgressed the divine commandments for the belly's sake would also never be well dis12 posed towards the affairs of the king. And he admitted that they spoke the truth, and praising them he gave them liberty in all respects, to the extent that they might destroy, utterly and boldly, the apostates from the law of God in every place 13 within his royal domain without special royal authority or oversight. Then their priests made him their acknowledgments, as was becoming, and the entire people, 14 taking up the Hallelujah, departed with joy. And thus they punished and put to death, ignominiously, every one of their fellow countrymen falling in their way, 15 who was of the number of those who had defiled themselves. And on that day they slew more than three hundred men, and kept it as a joyous festival, having 16 overcome the profane ones. But they themselves who had held fast to God unto death, experienced the full enjoyment of deliverance, and departed from the city crowned with garlands of all kinds of sweet-scented flowers, amidst jubilation and shouts, giving thanks in songs of praise and melodious hymns to the eternal God of their fathers, Deliverer of Israel. 17 And on reaching Ptolemais, called on account of the peculiarity of the place, the rose-bearing, where also the transports, according to their common wish, waited for 18 them seven days, they made there a feast of deliverance, since the king had willingly supplied them, each one, with all the things needful for the journey until they 19 arrived at their own homes. And having landed in peace, with the fitting thanksgivings, they resolved in like manner there, also, to celebrate these days as festival 20 days, for the time of their sojourn in a strange land. They also declared the same, on a monument at the place of the feast, to be sacred, and erected a house of prayer, and departed unharmed, free, overjoyed, each to his own home, preserved 21 over land, and sea, and river, by the king's command. And they had greater authority than before among their enemies, with honor and fear, and they were de22 spoiled by no one at all of their property. And they all received all that was theirs, according to inventory, so that those who had any part of it, surrendered it to them with the greatest fear. because the greatest God wrought wonders until their deliv23 erance was complete. Blessed be the Deliverer of Israel forever. Amen. And 1 Fritzsche adopts ovμμaɣoûvra from III. 23. 44. 55. 71. 74. Co. Ald. Grimm dissents, holding that it would misrepre sent the position of the Jews, which was not at all one of resistance. But this had not always been the case. the word may also have the general sense of aided, succored. 2 OÜтws, as 28. 44. 55. 71. 74. Ald.; text. rec., TÓTE. CHAPTER VII. Ver. 2. And our children. If the events narrated fell in the year B. C. 217 or 216, as they would if the book relate what is historical, Ptolemy had no child. Subsequently he had a son, Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, by his sister, Arsinoë, who also was his wife, and this child was five years old at the death of his father, B. c. 203. Ver. 3. Extraordinary punishments. Cf. iv 4. Ver. 5. The word unорreiv means to fasten | he threatened them all with the loss of their posiwith a buckle, referring to the garment usually tions, if they did not renounce Christianity. Some worn in the East, which was so fastened on the gave up their religious opinions, while others held shoulder. The king would say that these people theirs fast. Constantius dismissed, however, only were clothed in cruelty. the former, with the remark, that those who had so readily consented to renounce their God were not likely to be faithful to the king. A similar act of Antiochus the Great is recorded by Josephus, Antiq., xii. 3, § 3. Ver. 6. Threatened them, i. e., the enemies of the Jews, not the latter themselves, as Grotius supposes. Ver. 7. Firm and true goodwill. Grotius' conjecture, τοῦ φύλου, for τοῦ φίλου would require the rendering: The trustiness (steadfast goodwill) of the nation, which they have had for us. Ver. 8. In no place. In no place which they might pass through on their return. Ver. 9. Επ' ἐκδικήσει τῶν πραγμάτων. Giving the last word the meaning which it commonly bears in the present book, the sense is, for taking vengeance in public affairs, i. e., on the State. Others render: "For taking vengeance on account of such actions." Ver. 17. Ptolemais. This was probably an anchoring place on the Nile, in Central Egypt, between Arsinoe and Heracleopolis on the northern shore of the so-called Joseph's Canal, the present El Lâhoŭn. Cf. Winer, Realwörterbuch, s. v., and the article “ Rose.” Ver. 18. The detention of the transports, and the great superfluity of provisions given by the king, as here represented, can only be regarded as inventions of the author, whatever possible basis of modest fact they may have had originally. Ver. 10. The force of the preposition in poonVer. 20. I have adopted, with Gaab, Grimm, Elworay is not to be overlooked. They asked this in and others, the reading porevxv (as 19. 93 ), a addition to what the king had already granted them house of prayer, a synagogue. Others translate: of his own accord. - Voluntarily. There were They also declared on a pillar these days for those who had done this because of the popular hos- sacred and erected a synagogue on the place of tility and the threatening of death; but it was still the feast" (Gaab). Others: "They sanctified voluntary (cf. ii. 27-31). They might have stood the same thereby, that they erected, with prayer, on firm as the majority had done. Deserved pun- the place of the feast a pillar" (Gutmann). Cotishment. Cf. Deut. xiii. 6 ff. In the later peri-ton: "Which also having consecrated (to that use) ods of their history the Jews were obliged to seek by setting up a pillar and an oratory in the place of permission from their foreign rulers to execute their festive solemnity." - And sea. There was their own laws in this particular. Cf. Esth. viii. no sea to cross in Egypt, and the author was prob8-11; John xviii. 31. ably betrayed into this inconsistency by his straining after effect. Ver. 11. Well disposed. Grotius refers to the act of Constantius Chlorus, father of the emperor Constantine. Wishing to test the fidelity of his officers, and their loyalty to good principles, Ver. 22. According to inventory. Cf. iv. 14. It was certainly a miracle, if the Egyptians gave back these things in the manner stated. THE FOURTH BOOK OF MACCABEES. 66 WITH a view to something like completeness, there might be added at this point a few words respecting the so-called Fourth and Fifth Books of the Maccabees, in addition to what has been already said, page 473. The former, as we have before noticed, has no connection with the Maccabæan history, but simply makes use of a few incidents contained in 2 Macc. (vi. 18-vii. 41) for the purpose of illustration. The book is really a philosophical treatise on the Supremacy of Reason, though, in form and style, sometimes approaching the character of an oration, or a sermon," as Ewald (Geschichte d. Volk. Is., p. 556) is inclined to call it (so, also, Freudenthal, in his monograph on the work). The theme is announced at i. 13: "The question, then, which we have now to determine is, whether the Reason be complete master of the Passions." The author himself divides his work into two principal parts (i. 12), addressing himself, first, to the argument, and then, secondly, supporting the same by reference to certain supposed facts of history. But this division holds true only as it respects the general drift of the work, since, in detail, the historical and argumentative are every where more or less commingled. The first part extends from chap. i. 13 to chap. iii. 19, chap. i. 1-12, forming a kind of introduction to the whole. The second part includes chaps. iii. 19-xviii. 2, the remaining portion of chap. xviii. being, as is generally admitted, an addition by another hand. The Greek of 4 Macc. is essentially the same as that of 2 and 3 Macc., although not so rhetorically written as the latter. The style is superior to either of these works in its uniformity, and its arrangement of sentences is generally natural, simple, and well proportioned. There are but few signs of a Hebraizing influence, but the proper names are generally given in their Hebrew form. There are but two exceptions to this rule, in the words for "Jerusalem" and "Eleazer." And this is the more noticeable, since Josephus, to whom this work was formerly imputed, everywhere gives to such proper names Greek endings. A coloring received from the LXX. is observable only in a few passages (ii. 5, 19; xvii. 19); still, it would appear that the edition used contained the apocryphal additions (cf. xvi. 3, where he gives the Hebrew, instead of the Chaldaic, names of the three youth, in harmony with the Add. to Dan.). The authorship of 4 Macc., as we have said, was commonly ascribed to Josephus, in the early times, and so, too, in many more recent editions of the LXX. (as that of Strasburg, 1526, Basel, 1545, Frankfort, 1597, and several later ones), and of Josephus' works. So Eusebius (H. E., iii. 10, 6), and Jerome (Catal. Script. Eccles., s. v. "Josephus," or De Vir. Ill., xiii.; Adv. Pelag., ii.) and Suidas (s. v. "Josephus"); but the oldest Codd. which contain it simply name it the Fourth Book of Maccabees (III., Makkaßalwv ▲.). That the book could never have been written by Josephus is evident from several reasons: such as the great difference of language and style from those of his well-known writings; its absurd historical combinations (iv. 5, 26, v. 1), of which he could not well have been guilty; the fact that the sources from which our book evidently draws seem to have been unknown to Josephus. At least, he nowhere shows any acquaintance with 2 Macc., or the work of Jason. Moreover, he could not have been expected to give to any work of his that purely Alexandrian coloring which appears throughout in the present one. It is likely, therefore, as Ewald conjectured, that the error of imputing it to him arose from an old tradition which named some Joseph (Idonos as its author; or, possibly, because it was thought that it formed a fitting supplement to the works of Josephus. As it respects the time of composition, while it cannot be determined with exactness, there are certain well-defined limits within which it will be tolerably safe to fix its origin. It must have been written after 2 Macc., which it uses so freely, and before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to which not the slightest allusion is made. Again, at xiv. 9 (ver. 7 of Cotton's trans.). the writer says of the sufferings of the martyrs under Autiochus Epiphanes, "Now we, on hearing of the affliction of these youth, are struck with horror" (ppiTTOμev), which implies that the Jews of Egypt were at this time in a state of comparative peace. And, hence, we cannot think of a period so late as that of Caligula (B. c. 39, 40). Still further, from iv. 1, where it is said that Onias was holding the high priesthood for life (dià Bíov), it may be inferred that the author lived in a time when this had ceased to be the case, as was true after the overthrow of the Hasmonean dynasty. In a period of one hundred and eight years, there were no less than twenty-eight high priests (cf. Josephus, Antiq., xviii. 2, § 2, xx. 10). We may, then, with reasonable confidence, fix upon the first century before Christ as the period in which our book appeared, and, perhaps more definitely, upon a point somewhere near the middle of it. The object of the book is clearly to stimulate and encourage the Jews to remain stedfast in their adherence to the Mosaic law, in the midst of great temptations to forsake it. These temptations were not simply those of a prudential kind, but concerned the very substance of their ancestral faith, which, in this brilliant literary capital, was brought in contact with the most refined and seductive forms of the ruling philosophies. This is most evident from the nature of the argument itself, made use of by the author. He, in fact, adopts and applies, as far as he thinks that he can do so to advantage, the principles of the Stoical philosophy. But he remains none the less loyal to Judaism. The realization of the Stoic's ideal man he is able to find only in obedience to the Mosaic law (i. 15-18). Human reason is, after all, not sufficient for all occasions and purposes (v. 21, 23; x. 18). In one respect, his teaching is peculiar. He seems to represent that the pains of martyrs are vicarious. At vi. 27 (Fritzsche's text) he says: "Thou knowest, O God, that whereas I might have saved myself, I am dying with fiery torments for the law's sake. Therefore be merciful to thy nation, being satisfied with the punishment suffered by me for them." He represents, further, more in harmony with the Book of Wisdom than with 2 Macc. the eternal existence of all souls, both good and bad, while he does not appear to expect the resurrection of the body. This is the more remarkable in view of the fact that this doctrine is so emphatically set forth in those very passages of 2 Macc. which he uses for the purpose of illustration. He does. indeed, make allusion (xviii. 17) to the passage in Ezek. xvii. 1-10, but only in the way of accommodation along with other pa sages and, as it would appear, simply in reference to the life in another state of existence. (Cf. Bretschneider, Dogmatik d. Apok., pp. 314-317.) In other respects, his eschatology essentially agrees with that of the Book of Wisdom. The virtuous, by whom he means those who have proved faithful to the law of Moses, will enjoy eternal blessedness in the company of one another and of God (v. 36. ix. 8, xii. 14, xvii. 4), while the wicked will suffer fiery and unending torments after the death of the body (ix. 9, x. 15, xii. 14, all cited according to Fritzsche's text). The best editious of the works of Josephus have furnished, until the appearance of Fritzsche's Libri Apocryphi V. T. Grace, also the best text of our book (Ittig. Lips, 1691, fol.; Hudson, Oxon., 1720, 2 vols. fol.; Havercamp, Amst., 1726, 2 vols. fol.; Oberthür, Lips., 1782-85, 3 vols. 8vo; Richter, Lips., 1826-27, 6 vols. 12mo; Dindorf, Paris, 1845-47, 2 vols. 8vo; Tauchnitz, Lips. 1850, 6 vols. 16mo; Bekker, Lips. 1855-56, 6 vols. 8vo). Of these editions, that of Bekker presents the text in a form most in harmony with the oldest Greek MSS. There are extant something like thirty Codd. of 4 Macc., thirteen of which are found at Paris. Fritzsche has made use of all the more important of these, including III. and X., in the preparation of his text, and given with sufficient fullness, in his critical apparatus, the various readings. THE FIFTH BOOK OF MACCABEES. VERY little has been done by scholars hitherto, in the way of investigating the contents and determining the historical and critical value of 5 Maccabees, or, as it is otherwise known, Historia Mac cabao um Aralica. Its first appearance in print was in the Arabic language and in the Paris Polyglot (1645). Subsequently, it was copied into the London Polyglot (1657) And although the editors of these works give no information respecting the MS. sources from which it was derived, this text continues to be the one on which reliance must be placed. In both Polyglots the Arabie text is accompanied by a Latin translation, which was made by Gabriel Sionita. A French version, also, appears as an appendix in the Bible of De Sacy, and one of chaps. xx.-xxvi., in Calmet. Cotton renders from the Latin (Five Books, pp. 277-446), and has taken care to adhere as closely as pos sible to his copy, "lest a translation of a translation should be found to have wholly lost sight of the original." There is no Syriac version of the work, as is falsely asserted by Cotton (p. xxx.), who appears to have been misled by the Preface to the Arabic version as it appears in the Polyglots. The book purports to be a history of the Jews from the time of Heliodorus' attempt to rob the temple (c. B. c. 186) to about B. c. 6 But while of some importance for purposes of comparison, it has not the value of an independent history of this interesting period. It is obviously a compilation, and as has been generally supposed, was originally written in the Hebrew language. This is thought to be shown in the language of the book, which is still undisguisably Hebraic in form and expression, even though it has been twice translated. The writer speaks, for example, of the Pentateuch as the Torah, calls the temple the "house of the sanctuary," names the Hebrew Scriptures "the twentyfour books," and uses formulas respecting the dead which were in use among the Jews of the Talmudic period, and are common also at the present day, such as: "God be merciful to him," "to whom be peace." Still all this is far from demonstrating that the book was written in Hebrew. It does show, however, that the writer was a Jew. |