Commentaria in I Machabaeorum
1. IN THOSE DAYS AROSE MATTATHIAS,—or by contraction “Mathias,” as Josephus and Theodoret call him: which name in Hebrew signifies gift of God, and therefore is the same as the Greek Theodosius, Theodorus, or inversely Dorotheus, and the Latin Adeodatus; for this man was given by God as a great gift, a leader to Israel to resist Antiochus.
Question: Who and what sort was Mattathias? I answer that he was of the tribe of Levi, a priest of the first class, namely of the stock of Joarib, which is placed first among the priestly families, 1 Paral. chap. 24, 7. Moreover this Mattathias, God choosing him and impelling him, and the people approving, was made Pontiff and Leader, and champion of the people against the common enemy Antiochus; for after the return from the captivity by the order of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes the same men were the Pontiffs and Leaders of the people, as Josephus testifies, book 11, chap.
Esdras 9, 36. For granted that Mattathias was not sprung from the nearest stock of the Pontiffs, yet that failing, the Pontificate devolved on him as a priest of the first class. For Onias the third, surnamed the Holy, had already been killed in the 5th year of Antiochus, which was the 145th of the Greeks. But the son of Onias, namely Onias the younger, had fled into Egypt, and at Heliopolis had been made Pontiff of the new temple, which was called Onion after him. And Jason, the brother of Onias, having become an apostate, was forcing the rest to apostatize and pass over to Gentilism. Wherefore it belonged to Mattathias to take up the Pontificate and the Leadership of the people, to guard and defend religion and the commonwealth, brought by Antiochus into extreme peril. Especially since there was no other who dared to do it, but all out of fear of Antiochus either hid and were silent, or fled. God therefore stirred him up, and added courage to him to venture it, that he might preserve the faith and worship of God and the safety of his country. He did this in the ninth year of Antiochus, which was the 143rd of the Greeks. Wherefore the Chaldee, Cant. 11, 6, Josephus and Josippus, Aben-Ezra and the Hebrews call Mattathias the high Priest, or Pontiff, and that both from the designation of God, and from the election of the people, and from the right of succession and nearness of blood, as I have said. So Abulensis on chap. 20 of Exodus, quest. 25, Serarius, Sigonius, Severus Sulpitius, Tornielli, Genebrard, whom Salianus cites and follows. Hence Mattathias calls the Pontiff Phinees his father: therefore, sprung from a Pontiff, the others failing, he had the right of succeeding. But he was Pontiff and leader only a few months, because, dying in the same year, he designated as his successor Pontiff and Leader his son Judas Maccabeus.
2. AND HE HAD FIVE SONS, JOHN, WHO WAS SURNAMED GADDIS.—Gaddis, that is, a heap, or a pile of grain, as if to say Abundius, or Abundantius: by which name two martyrs under Diocletian were called, whose sacred relics under Pope Gregory XIII were translated with solemn pomp to the professed house of the Society of Jesus at Rome.
3. AND SIMON, WHO WAS SURNAMED THASI,—that is, a goat: for thasi is a goat, or a cutter off, from the root tazaz, that is, to cut off.
4. AND JUDAS, WHO WAS CALLED MACHABEUS.—I gave the etymology of Machabeus in the Preface. This surname was first given to Judas, and from him the other brothers and companions were called Maccabees, as is plain from this place. It is a prolepsis, or anticipation; for this surname was given to Judas not from boyhood, but afterwards, when he inscribed the name Machabi on his banners, as I said in the Preface. So the Antiochi were afterwards surnamed from their deeds and victories Soters, Epiphanes, Cerauni, Callinici, Nicanors; and the Ptolemies were called Eupators, Philadelphi, Philometors, Evergetes, etc.
5. AND ELEAZAR, WHO WAS SURNAMED ABARON,—that is, strong: for abbir is powerful, strong.
AND JONATHAN, WHO WAS SURNAMED APPHUS,—that is, anger of counsel, or flying counsel; perhaps because he was by nature fiery and choleric, and therefore of quick wit and swift counsel, which is most useful in wars. So Pagninus in the Hebrew names.
7. WOE IS ME!—This lament of Mattathias over the devastation of the temple and of Jerusalem proceeded from the zeal of religion with which he burned. Like was the zeal and lament of Jeremias over the destruction of Jerusalem in the Lamentations and in Jeremias 20.
8. HER TEMPLE IS BECOME AS A MAN WITHOUT HONOUR,—that is, vile, poor, rustic, indeed a fool, a simpleton and a dolt, whom all deride, trample, pluck and beat with impunity. So Sanchez. For so the attendants of Antiochus Epiphanes mocked, trampled, plundered and plucked the temple, the Priests, the Levites, and the other Jews, whom they forced, like drunken and foolish men, to be crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus, to dance and revel, book 2, chap. 6.
10. WHAT NATION HATH NOT INHERITED HER KINGDOM.—For among the Greek soldiers of Antiochus were mingled Chaldeans, Persians, Medes, Assyrians, etc. and Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, Arabs, Idumeans, neighbouring enemies of the Jews, who, when they saw them so harassed by Antiochus, ran up to help him, and to plunder the Jews, and punish them cruelly.
13. TO WHAT END THEN DO WE LIVE ANY LONGER?—For life in so many miseries is rather a long death than life, as St. Gregory says. And as the Tragedian says: “It has the place of death, when life is dragged along with slow groans.”
refuses to prolong his life, Troy being destroyed, Aeneid 2, And others, after the capture of Troy, cry out in misery, Aeneid 1: O thrice and four times blessed, those to whom it befell to die before the faces of their fathers beneath the walls of lofty Troy! O bravest of the Danaan race, Tydides, could I not fall on the Ilian plains, and pour out this soul by your right hand?
21. GOD BE MERCIFUL UNTO US,—as if to say: May God do us this grace, to turn away from us so great an evil, and so great a wickedness and crime of apostasy and idolatry. Whence the Septuagint translate: “May God not permit us.” Others: “God forbid this;” for the Hebrews use this phrase when they greatly abominate and execrate something.
24. AND HIS REINS TREMBLED.—By the reins understand by synecdoche the other inward parts; for the reins are the seat of desire, the heart of courage and boldness, the liver of love, the gall of anger and fury; as if to say: the inward parts of Mattathias were moved, partly by compassion and grief for the violated law, partly by the ardour and zeal to defend it, partly by anger and fury to pursue and kill its violators, as in fact he killed the idolatrous Jew, and the Legate of Antiochus compelling him to it. Whence it follows:
AND HIS WRATH WAS KINDLED ACCORDING TO THE JUDGMENT (that is, decree) OF THE LAW,—which, Deut. 13, 6, commands that he be killed who draws others away from the religion of their country and the worship of God, as this Jew did, sacrificing to Jove, whom therefore Mattathias killed. For zeal for the honour of God drove him to this:
And love driven by furies, and conscious valour.