Commentaria in II Machabaeorum
On the Second Book
This second book is, as it were, one continuous circular letter, in which the Jews dwelling in Judea write to the Jews living in Egypt an account of the disasters and calamities which they themselves endured from Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator; likewise of the victories which Judas, helped from heaven by angels and by Onias and Jeremias, won over the same; and so they stir all to the praise of God and to thanksgiving. The whole book, therefore, is spent in relating, more fully than in Book 1, the deeds of Judas Maccabeus and of the Martyrs. Similar circular letters were written by the Christians of Smyrna, Vienne and Lyons, in which they recount the martyrdoms of their faithful and the afflictions they suffered at the hands of tyrants; these are extant in Eusebius, Hist. IV, xv, and Book V, 1.
Concerning the author and authority of this book, and other matters touching it, I have spoken in the Preface to Book I. The reason for writing this letter was to remove the schism between the Jews in Judea and those living in Egypt, as I shall say on chapter 1, verse 4.
From verse 4 up to verse 10 is set down part of a letter written by the people of Jerusalem to the Jews living in Egypt in the year 169 of the Greeks, as is clear from verse 7, in which they exhort them also to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles. Then from verse 10 up to verse 20 of chapter 2 is set down another letter, or rather another part of the same letter, written by the people of Jerusalem in the year 188 of the Greeks, as is clear from verse 10, in which they relate the history of the fire given from heaven, and therefore exhort them to celebrate the feast of the fire given by God. From verse 20 of chapter 2 to the end of the book they relate the deeds of Judas Maccabeus against Antiochus Epiphanes and Eupator, and their generals Bacchides, Timothy, Nicanor, etc., and the martyrdom of the seven brothers together with their mother, of Eleazar and of other martyrs.
1. To the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt, the brethren the Jews that are in Jerusalem, and in the land of Judea, send health and good peace. 2. May God be gracious to you, and remember his covenant that he made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants: 3. And give you all a heart to worship him, and to do his will with a great heart, and a willing mind. 4. May he open your heart in his law, and in his commandments, and send you peace. 5. May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled to you, and never forsake you in the time of trouble. 6. And now we are here praying for you. 7. When Demetrius reigned, in the year one hundred sixty-nine, we, the Jews, wrote to you in the trouble and violence that came upon us in those years, after Jason withdrew himself from the holy land, and from the kingdom. 8. They burnt the gate, and shed innocent blood: and we prayed to the Lord, and were heard, and we offered sacrifice, and fine flour, and lighted the lamps, and set forth the loaves. 9. And now celebrate ye the days of the Feast of Tabernacles of the month Casleu. 10. In the year one hundred eighty-eight, the people that is at Jerusalem, and in Judea, and the senate, and Judas, to Aristobulus, the preceptor of king Ptolemee, who is of the stock of the anointed priests, and to the Jews that are in Egypt, health and welfare. 11. Having been delivered by God out of great dangers, we give him great thanks, forasmuch as we have been in war with such a king. 12. For he made them go out of Persia that fought against us and the holy city. 13. For when the leader himself was in Persia, and with him an army that seemed invincible, they were slain in the temple of Nanea, by the deceit of the priests of Nanea. 14. For Antiochus, as though he would marry her, came to the place, and his friends that were with him, to receive money under the title of a dowry. 15. And when the priests of Nanea had set it out, and he with a small company had entered into the compass of the temple, they shut the temple, 16. When Antiochus was come in: and opening the secret entrance of the temple, they threw stones and struck down the leader, and hewed him in pieces, and cutting off their heads they cast them to those that were without. 17. Blessed be God in all things, who hath delivered up the wicked. 18. Therefore whereas we purpose to keep the purification of the temple on the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, we thought it necessary to signify it to you: that you also may keep the day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the day of the fire, which was given when Nehemias offered sacrifices, after he had built the temple and the altar. 19. For when our fathers were led into Persia, the priests that then were worshippers of God, took privately the fire from the altar, and hid it in a valley where there was a deep pit without water, and there they kept it safe, so that the place was unknown to all men. 20. But after many years, when it pleased God, Nehemias being sent by the king of Persia, sent some of the posterity of those priests that had hid it, to seek for the fire: and as they told us, they found no fire, but a thick water. 21. Then he bade them draw it up and bring it to him: and the sacrifices that were laid on were ready, the priest Nehemias commanded the wood and the things laid upon it to be sprinkled with the same water. 22. And when this was done, and the time came that the sun shone out, which before was in a cloud, there was a great fire kindled, so that all wondered. 23. And all the priests made prayer, whilst the sacrifice was consuming, Jonathan beginning, and the rest answering. 24. And the prayer of Nehemias was after this manner: O Lord God, creator of all things, dreadful and strong, just and merciful, who alone art the good king, 25. Alone gracious, alone just, and almighty, and eternal, who deliverest Israel from all evil, who didst choose the fathers, and didst sanctify them: 26. Receive the sacrifice for all thy people Israel, and preserve thy own portion, and sanctify it. 27. Gather together our scattered people, deliver them that are slaves to the Gentiles, and look upon them that are despised and abhorred: that the Gentiles may know that thou art our God. 28. Afflict them that oppress us, and that treat us injuriously with pride. 29. Establish thy people in thy holy place, as Moses hath said. 30. And the priests sang hymns till the sacrifice was consumed. 31. And when the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemias commanded the water that was left to be poured upon the greater stones. 32. And when this was done, a flame was kindled from them: but it was consumed by the light that shined from the altar. 33. And when this matter became public, it was told the king of Persia, that in the place where the priests that were led away had hid the fire, there appeared water, with which Nehemias and they that were with him had purified the sacrifices. 34. And the king considering and diligently examining the matter, made a temple for it, that he might prove what was done. 35. And when he had proved it, he gave the priests many goods, and divers presents, and taking them with his own hand he bestowed them upon them. 36. And Nehemias called this thing Nephthar, which is interpreted purification. But it is called by most men Nephi.
From this it is clear that this letter, being written in the year 188 of the Greeks, was sent after the deeds of Judas, Jonathan and Simon described in Book I, and therefore is fittingly joined to the end of the first book. For the first book ends with the death of Simon, which happened in the year 177 of the Greeks. Wherefore this letter, or this second book of Maccabees, was written eleven years after Simon’s death. But the earlier part of the letter, written in the year 169 of the Greeks, was written a little before the captivity and slaughter of Jonathan; for this was done by Tryphon in the year 170 of the Greeks, as has been said. Simon succeeded Jonathan, as was said in Book I, chapter 13, verse 44. Wherefore this part of the letter should be placed in this order of time in Book I, chapter 12, before
1. TO THE BRETHREN, THE JEWS THAT ARE THROUGHOUT EGYPT, THE BRETHREN THE JEWS THAT ARE IN JERUSALEM SEND HEALTH.—For Egypt abounded with Jews, both because it was near them, and because Ptolemy son of Lagus, the first king of Egypt after Alexander the Great, had led 220 thousand captive Jews into Egypt, and because Onias, son of Onias the third high priest, had recently, under Ptolemy Philometor, built at Heliopolis in Egypt a magnificent temple like the temple at Jerusalem, and acted there as high priest; to which therefore many of the Jews flocked, especially because in Egypt they were safe from the Seleucids, that is, from the Antiochi and Demetrii, who continually harassed Judea. The Jews of Jerusalem therefore write to the Jews who were in Egypt, as to brethren, that is, kinsmen and fellow tribesmen, a friendly and brotherly letter, both to keep them in the true faith, religion and union with the Synagogue or Church, lest they should make a schism from Jerusalem and the temple on account of their temple at Heliopolis (just as at the same time the Jews dwelling in Samaria, by erecting a temple on Mount Garizim, made a schism from the Jews and the temple at Jerusalem, as is clear from John, chapter 4). On the temple of Heliopolis see Josephus, Book XII, chapters 1 and 6, and Book XIII, chapter 7. To remove this schism, therefore, the Jews of Jerusalem, and Judas, wrote this letter to the Jews dwelling in Egypt.