Day 32

The Maccabean books end with two bizarre installments. Third Maccabees has nothing to do with Judas Maccabeus or his relatives and Fourth Maccabees is a ponderous philosophical treatise on the merits of martyrdom.

Third Maccabees deals with the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, specifically the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator. Now, before reading this book, I went down a rabbit hole reading all about the Ptolemaic dynasty and, well, it’s as tragic as Third Maccabees hints at. Most people know about Cleopatra and her demise — that was the end of Ptolemaic reign. Anyway, it’s a great book if you like Greeks, Romans, and Egypt. While Rome isn’t really mentioned, if you know enough about antiquity, you know they’re out there.

Reading this book, I felt like I was reading a “modern” Exodus. I guess it would’ve been modern for them at that time. It involves a tyrannical pharaoh seeking to defile the Jewish temple, being rebuked by God, and exacting vengeance on the Jews. He does so by forcing the Jews to register in Egypt, so he can easily execute them. Instead of forty years we have forty days at which point the census materials are depleted and the plan of the Egyptians is foiled! In the end, they leave the kingdom…again. I was left wondering about the cause to document this story in this way. What precipitated an Exodus-like retelling of this? What Exodus story would I tell about right now?

Fourth Maccabees. Man. I imagine this author loved to hear himself talk. I read it with a furrowed brow, wondering who this was for. It revisits the martyrdoms in First & Second Maccabees in great detail in order to prove the merits of martyrdom. The thesis of the book, however, is to prove the merits of reason. I never got the connection between the two. I relented and read the scholarly introduction to this book and wasn’t surprised to learn it has no canonical status in any tradition — which is a first for the Apocrypha! Anyway, this book did cause me to wrestle with the arguments of its author. Is there a time for martyrdom? Is there a time when you could save yourself that you should choose to suffer or die for your ideals? This book accomplished something, so it wasn’t terrible. It was, however, very preachy — and I realize a minister is saying that.

One Word for Third Maccabees: Archetype
One Word for Fourth Maccabees: Preachy

Parts of the Text That Stayed With Me

1. 3 Macc 1-2, Smote in the Temple. Philopator tries to enter the Holiest of Holies in Jerusalem and God lightly smites him. This inspires Philopator, once he recovers, to return to Egypt and punish the Jews even more.
2. 3 Macc 5:1-2, Bring Me the Elephants. Pharaoh’s plan is to drug elephants with wine and frankincense (huh?), then unleash them on the Jews gathered together in one place. Great plan, nothing will go wrong here.
3. 3 Macc 6:18-21, Plan Goes Wrong. Yeah, obviously the plan falls apart. An angel appears, the elephants get sober and trample Philopator’s forces instead.
4. 3 Macc 6:35, We Choose to Sing! Having their freedom from Philopator, the Jews form a choir. I’m not kidding. Why not? Sing!
5. 3 Macc 7, Recant! And Philopator recants. I find the inclusion of so many letters in the Apocrypha to be absolutely delightful.
6. 4 Macc 1:1, Premise. “The subject that I am about to discuss is most philosophical, that is, whether devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.” I’m with him here.
7. 4 Macc 2:9b, Reason Rules! “In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.” Okay, I have some questions, but I’m still following.
8. 4 Macc 3-18, Martyrdom. The remaining chapters were interesting to read as they expounded upon the martyrdoms of 1 & 2 Maccabees, but…is this a book about reason or a book about the merits of martyrdom? Hmm.

This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.