2 Maccabees 1-5
Hat-Wearing Priests with Frisbees.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores
Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through
the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the
text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP
2 Maccabees 1
“What time as Demetrius reigned, in the hundred
threescore and ninth year, we the Jews wrote unto you in the extremity of
trouble that came upon us in those years, from the time that Jason and his
company revolted from the holy land and kingdom”.
Okay, I’m officially lost
already. This chapter is a letter from the Jews of Jerusalem to the Jews of Egypt,
laced with blessings and prayers, but also giving some historical detail that
I’m currently having trouble lining up with 1 Maccabees.
In the 169th
year when Demetrius reigned, the Judeans wrote to the Egyptian Jews for help
when “Jason” revolted. And then in
the 188th year they write again to someone called Aristobolus, who
is “King Ptolemee’s master”. I’m
guessing this means like a chief minister or something, not the master of the
king (which would be a bit odd). They write to thank him, but I’m not entirely
sure why – “we thank him highly, as
having been in battle against a king”.
What is described next is a
time when Antiochus (it’s not clear to me which of the many Antiochii this is)
comes to the temple of Nanea, possibly a goddess that he going to ritually(?)
marry – “For Antiochus, as though he
would marry her, came into the place, and his friends that were with him, to
receive money in name of a dowry”. Or maybe that’s just a metaphor
for him collecting taxes. Not sure.
Anyway, Antiochus is locked into the temple of Nanea, and
ambushed - “And opening a privy door of the
roof, they threw stones like thunderbolts, and struck down the captain, hewed
them in pieces, smote off their heads and cast them to those that were without.” This kind of assassination is apparently a good thing,
because the author of the letter then announces “Blessed be our God in all things, who hath delivered up the
ungodly.” We’re dealing with the vengeful God
here then.
What comes next is a discussion on keeping a holy day, in
this case the 25th day of Chislev (here spelled “Chislau”, and an
exhortation to the Egyptian Jews to do the same. The letter relates the story
of how when the Jews are taken into the Babylonian Exile, a sacred flame is
hidden – “For when our fathers were led
into Persia, the priests that were then devout took the fire of the altar
privily, and hid it in an hollow place of a pit without water, where they kept
it sure, so that the place was unknown to all men.”
Quite why anyone though it to still be burning when the
Jews return is unknown, but a priest called Neemia digs it up and finds “thick water”. They use this to burn a
sacrifice on the altar and, lo and behold, it miraculously burns. Or, perhaps,
the “thick water” is some kind of
flammable tar? There’s shades here of, was it Elisha? The prophet who has a
prayer-off with the priests of Ba’al to see who could cause some wood to light,
and the prophet even douses his wood with *ahem* water just to really show off.
There then follows some further praise of how great God
is, wishing a good smiting on enemies, etc. etc.. You know the drill by now.
The Temple is rebuilt and reconsecrated, and, wait, “Neemia” is “Nehemiah”
isn’t he? That makes sense. Was there anything about miracle burning water in
the old Nehemiah? I’ll have to go back and check.
But my guess about the “thick water” seems to be correct
– “And Neemias called this thing
Naphthar, which is as much as to say, a cleansing: but many men call it Nephi.”
Naphthar? Naphtha? I.e. flammable tar? Interesting.
I can also see there being something metaphorical, and
possibly Messianic, about a “hidden light” of Isreal, but the reading here really
does dwell on the oil as a specific thing.
2 Maccabees 2
“Here then will we begin the story: only adding thus much to that
which hath been said, that it is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and
to be short in the story itself.”
Any confusion concerning the first chapter is laid to
rest here; this is a prologue to an abridgement of the story of Judas
Maccabeus, from a five volume version by Jason of Cyrene, tantalisingly
mentioned but sadly presumably lost. The author of this abridgement gives us
some interesting little editorial insertions about the difficulties of
abridging and yet keeping the flavour of the original text – “Even as it is no ease unto him
that prepareth a banquet, and seeketh the benefit of others: yet for the
pleasuring of many we will undertake gladly this great pains”. I
rather like it, there’s a nice human element to it.
Before that, we also get mention of how Jeremiah
(“Jeremy”) hid the Tabernacle and the Ark in a cave on the mountain, to be
recovered when God wills that the Jews be restored; also how Nehemiah finds
some scrolls (but, I guess, not the Ark) when his Second Temple is
re-dedicated. I guess these examples are brought up to parallel with the
author’s own work; preservation of the history and culture of the Jewish
people, and how even if it goes underground for a while will always resurface.
This last also, I suppose, mirrors how Judas Maccabeus defeats Antiochus
Epiphanes and reconsecrates the Temple again – the religion of the Jews always
finds a way to bounce back.
(NB As we all know, the Ark of the Covenant ended up in
the Well of Souls in Tanis, before eventually being taken to a warehouse in New
York….)
2 Maccabees 3
“And Heliodorus fell suddenly unto the ground, and was compassed
with great darkness: but they that were with him took him up, and put him into
a litter.”
We are now in the time of the Hihg Priest Onias, where
the Temple is prosperous, subsidised by the Seleucid king to pay for the
sacrifices, and Jerusalem and Judea are at peace.
But not entirely, since someone called Simon, from the
Tribe of Benjamin, has some un-named falling out with Onias and consequently
decides to pass on to “the king” (we
can but assume the Seleucus mentioned in Verse 3) the notion that the Temple
has bottomless treasures. Naturally the king decides to take it all for
himself, and sends his tax collector Heliodorus to check it out.
When Heliodorus gets to Jerusalem, Onias is surprised,
and points out the Temple, far from having “infinite
sums of money”, in fact only has “four
hundred talents of silver and two of gold” which is a hedge fund for
supporting widows and orphans. Never mind, says Heliodorus, I’m going to take
it anyway.
What follows is some good old weeping and wailing in
supplication to God, the priests prostrating themselves before the altar and “the women, girt with sackcloth
under their breasts, abounded in the streets, and the virgins that were kept in
ran, some to the gates, and some to the walls, and others looked out of the
windows.”
They call upon God to protect the treasures but “Nevertheless Heliodorus executed that which was decreed”.
And so it seems for all of a verse that God has done
nothing, but then as soon as Heliodorus lays hold of the treasure, before you
can say “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, he has a vision of a rider of a golden horse
that tramples him down, and two men that whip him with scourges (or is that
scourge him with whips?). The writing suggests that only Heliodorus sees this,
and he falls down unconscious. Quite how the writer knows what he saw, I don’t
know. An interview with Heliodorus afterwards?
Onias, because he’s a good man, prays for Heliodorus’
recovery (well, he’s good, and it’s also politic because he’s worried what will
happen to the Jews if the King’s tax collector is returned to him in a coma).
The two angelic figures who previously whipped Heliodorus visit him again,
restore him and tell him “And seeing that thou hast been scourged from heaven, declare unto
all men the mighty power of God. And when they had spoken these words, they
appeared no more.”
Heliodorus makes a sacrifice at the Temple, “Then testified he to all men
the works of the great God, which he had seen with his eyes.” So that’s how the author knows what was in the vision.
There’s a really amusing ending to the chapter though. When Heliodorus returns
to Seleucus, the King doesn’t punish him for returning empty handed, but
instead asks who he should send instead.
Send somebody you don’t like, says Heliodorus.
2 Maccabees 4
“This Simon now, of whom we spake afore, having been a betrayer of
the money, and of his country, slandered Onias, as if he had terrified
Heliodorus, and been the worker of these evils.”
There’s a lot going on in this chapter, with various
comings and goings of kings and ambassadors, but of all the various changes in
government, the most important is that Antiochus Epiphanes becomes king after
Seleucus dies, so here we’re seeing the ongoing Seleucid dynasty and the
ascension of the notorious Epiphanes.
The main thrust of the narrative, however, concerns the
debasement of the High Priesthood. This Simon tries to blame Onias for
Heliodorus’ little fit last episode, and riles up enough people that factional
fighting happens and some of Simon’s people kill a follower of Onias.
However, Onias’ brother Jason bribes his way into the
High Priesthood and pledges to build a gymnasium – “Beside this, he promised to assign an hundred and fifty more, if
he might have licence to set him up a place for exercise, and for the training
up of youth in the fashions of the heathen, and to write them of Jerusalem by
the name of Antiochians”. This he does, and also “brought the chief young men under his
subjection, and made them wear a hat”.
What, one wonders, is the issue with wearing a hat?
According to the next verse it was “the
height of Greek fashions”, so I guess it’s simply emblematic of an
increasing Hellenisation of the Jews of Jerusalem. Even the priests get
distracted from attending the Temple and go out to play Frisbee instead – “That the
priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the
temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful
allowance in the place of exercise, after the game of Discus called them forth”.
All this, of course, stirs up the faithful Jews, but
meanwhile, Jason gets outbid for the priesthood by Menelaus, brother of Simon.
And so, having got the priesthood by bribery, he now loses it. Menelaus is
arguably worse, “having the
fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast”. Menelaus
embezzles the Temple treasury, treacherously murders Onias, his brother
Lysimachus brutally quells a revolt, and to top it all manages to bribe his way
out of justice.
Interesting that so far in this version of the story,
it’s Menelaus (and the preceding High Priests) who are arguably more wicked
than Antiochus Epiphanes, who so far has wept for the death of Onias and
publicly executed the person who carried out the killing.
2 Maccabees 5
“And then it happened, that through all the city, for the space
almost of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of
gold, and armed with lances, like a band of soldiers”
Antiochus Epiphanes goes to Egypt, and while he does, the
people of “the city” (I assume
Jerusalem) see a vision of armies running through the sky, and hope that it’s a
good omen.
It doesn’t seem to be, because first Jason uses the
opportunity to drive Menelaus from the city, but in doing so he also kills
large number of the Jews, when he’s supposed to be liberating them. Menelaus
holds up in “the tower” (and I
suppose this refers to an acropolis of some kind), and Jason eventually runs
away and is driven from place to place, hated as an betrayer, before ending up
in Sparta “And he that had cast out many
unburied had none to mourn for him, nor any solemn funerals at all, nor
sepulchre with his fathers.”
But the miseries of Jerusalem don’t end there. Antiochus
in Egypt hears of this and thinks that the Jews are in revolt, so he then
returns to Jerusalem and kills and enslaves even more people – the chapter
claims 80,000 in total. He also plunders the temple, guided by Menelaus, “And taking the holy vessels
with polluted hands, and with profane hands pulling down the things that were
dedicated by other kings to the augmentation and glory and honour of the place,
he gave them away.” This, I would guess,
is the “desolation of abomination”
mentioned before.
Menelaus is left in charge of Jerusalem again, but
Antiochus also sends his general Appolonius with 2,200 men to kill the men of
military age and enslave the women and children (I’m surprised anyone is left
after the actions of Jason and Antiochus). And then finally, in the last verse,
Judas Maccabeus makes his appearance – “But Judas Maccabeus with nine others, or thereabout, withdrew
himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of
beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually, lest they should be
partakers of the pollution.”
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