Judea versus Judaism: Between 1 and 2 Maccabees

That is, these are not two parts of the same work (like 1 and 2 Samuel, for example), nor are they part of a series. They are independent works, both quite substantial (16 and 15 chapters, respectively). Neither work was preserved by Jews, but they can easily be found in any Catholic Bible or Protestant Apocrypha, including in online translations. As for the nomenclature, note that although “Maccabee” was, originally, the nickname of only one member of the Hasmonean clan, Judas (see 1 Macc 2:4), in popular usage it is common to use it, as does the title of 1 Maccabees, of the entire clan and dynasty.

Abraham Geiger, Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel in ihrer Abhängigkeit von der innern Entwickelung des Judenthums [The Original Text and Translations of the Bible in Their Dependence upon the Inner Development of Judaism] (Breslau: Hainauer, 1857), 200–230. The first 230 pages of the work are a historical survey of the history of the Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period; it is divided between Part I, on the history of the Bible between the return from Babylonia in the sixth century B.C.E., and Part II, on the history of the Bible between the Maccabees, in the second century B.C.E., and the days of Rabbi Akiba in the second century C.E. Although one of the foremost achievements of the early years of modern Jewish studies, Geiger’s Urschrift was never translated into English.

Geiger’s main thesis is expressed clearly by the titles of the opening chapter of the book’s first two parts, which are really a sequential whole: Part I opens with a chapter on “Die Zadokiden,” the Zadokite clan (b’nei Zadok) of high priests that was prominent in Judea in the post-exilic era, while Part II opens with a chapter on “Sadducäer und Pharisäer,” Sadducees and Pharisees.

Given human nature, and given Geiger’s own central role in the lively and often acerbic inner-Jewish disputes of the mid-nineteenth century, it is not surprising that he tended to view the Pharisees as not only non-priestly but also anti-priestly.

See esp. Josephus, Ant. 18.16, Luke 20:27, and Acts 23:6, also m. Sanhedrin 10:1. Editor’s note: See also discussion in Devorah Dimant, “The Valley of Dry Bones and the Resurrection of the Dead,” TheTorah (2018).

All translations from 2 Maccabees are my own. See also in the story of the mother and her seven sons (7:22–23). Editor’s note: For a discussion of this story’s ideology, including the belief in resurrection, see Malka Z. Simkovich, “The Faith of the Martyred Mother and her Seven Sons,” TheTorah (2015).

The first four chapters are somewhat exceptional in this regard. This may be because the story of the rededication of the Temple, which appears in this section of the book, may have derived from a separate source.

Distinguishing between what makes something Judean versus what makes it Judaic, and how this relates to the Sadducee/Pharisee divide, is a complicated topic. With the help of predecessors and colleagues, I have done some of that in my Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 2014) and my commentaries 2 Maccabees (De Gruyter, 2008) and 1 Maccabees (soon to be published by Yale University Press).

^{Acts 5:17} Ἀναστὰς δὲ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ πάντες οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ, ἡ οὖσα αἵρεσις τῶν Σαδδουκαίων, ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου

The king is unnamed in the story, though in context, it is referring to Seleucus IV Philopator (187–175 B.C.E.).

See also 2 Maccabees 5:16, which refers to how Antiochus IV took from the Temple “the votive offerings which had been given by other kings for the aggrandizement, honor and respect of the Place.”

See also, on their perfidiousness, 1 Maccabees 6:62; 7:10; 10:46; 15:27.

For the sin-and-atonement scheme of Moses’s Song in Deut 32 as the basic scaffolding of 2 Maccabees, see my 2 Maccabees (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2008), 20–22.

Note especially the author’s explicit lectures to his readers at 4:16–17; 5:17–20, and 6:12–17.

Note J. W. Van Henten, The Maccabean Martyrs as Saviours of the Jewish People: A Study of 2 and 4 Maccabees (Leiden: Brill, 1997). 4 Maccabees is a later work based on 2 Maccabees. Editor’s note: See also, Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, “2 and 4 Maccabees: Evolving Responses to Hellenism,” TheTorah (2018); Martin Lockshin, “Chanukah: The Greek Influence of Martyrdom,” TheTorah (2017).

See especially 1 Maccabees 2:29–41 and 7:11–18.

As noted above, the reclamation of the Temple story in this section, which also includes references to prayer, may stem from a separate source.

As has been observed, “the priestly office did not correspond well to what the family really did; that was probably recognized by the author of 1 Maccabees himself. . . of high priesthood one notices [in 1 Maccabees, DRS] nothing but the title.” Diego Arenhoevel, Die Theokratie nach dem 1. und 2. Makkabäerbuch (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald Verlag. 1967), 45–46.

Similarly, note the ingenuous report at 16:11–12 that “Ptolemy son of Aboubos had been appointed governor of the plain of Jericho and had much silver and gold, for he was the son-in-law of the high priest.”

See Hanan Eshel, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, and Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2008).