Commentaria in II Machabaeorum
7. THE PLACE SHALL BE UNKNOWN (of the ark, tabernacle and altar of incense), TILL GOD GATHER TOGETHER THE CONGREGATION OF THE PEOPLE.—You will ask whether and when this was done or is still to be done. Some think it was done under Nehemias and Darius Hystaspes, when the Jewish people dispersed in Babylon returned thence, and was gathered at Jerusalem and the temple, and there recovered the fire hidden by Jeremias through the thick water changed into fire; for then in like manner the tabernacle and altar hidden by him seem, God revealing, to have appeared again in the new temple. For these were the proper vessels by which God wished to be worshipped in it, and therefore he had commanded them to be made through Moses and placed in the temple. So Melchior Canus, Book II De Locis, chapter 11, Tornielli at the year of the world 3604, Sanchez here, and Ribera on chapter 1 of Aggeus, number 45, who nevertheless at the end inclines rather to the contrary opinion.
But the contrary opinion, as it is the more common, so it is the truer, namely that the ark, tabernacle and altar of incense were not found with the sacred fire under Nehemias and Darius, but are to be revealed near the end of the world, when God through Elias and Enoch will convert his people, that is the Jews, to Christ, and gather them with the Gentiles into one Church: for then Elias, to confirm them in the faith of Christ, will show them the ark here promised by Jeremias for that age. It is proved first, because if these had been found with the fire, surely the author here would have narrated this very thing, as he narrated about the fire: for this plainly pertained to the present matter. But now he narrates nothing of the kind here. Secondly, because under Nehemias there was no entire gathering of the people, as is clear from verse 18, and chapter 1, verse 27. For many of the Jews remained in Babylon; others were dispersed into other regions. Thirdly, if they had been found, then in the despoiling of the second temple, which was done by Titus, the ark would have been put among the spoils. But it is not so put in Josephus, Book VII De bello, chapters 17 and 19. Indeed the same, Book VI, chapter 6, expressly teaches that then there was nothing at all in the Holy of Holies. When Pompey entered the same Holy of Holies, the same Josephus carefully enumerates what he saw in the temple, Book XIV of the Antiquities, chapter 7; about the ark, however, he is always silent. Wherefore at Rome on the triumphal arch of Titus we see the image of the golden candlestick and of the table of the loaves of proposition, but not the ark depicted. Fourthly, because this is the common opinion of the Hebrews, who constantly assert that these vessels were lacking in the second temple. The Latins and Greeks assert the same, as St. Epiphanius and Dorotheus already cited in the life of Jeremias, St. Thomas, Lyranus and Dionysius here, Peter Galatinus, Book IV, chapter 9, Genebrard, Book II Chronology at the year of the world 3730, Bellarmine, Book I De verbo Dei, chapter 15, Abulensis on chapter 15 of Exodus, Question 4, where he asserts that these vessels were hidden in the same place in which the body of Moses was buried, and will then appear when the body of Moses shall rise and appear, which will be at the end of the world. So also Dorotheus in the life of Jeremias says that he hid the ark in the sepulchre of Moses and Aaron. Cosmas Magalianes thinks the same, in the preface to Josue, section 6.
Some add that the Hebrews, the ark, tabernacle and altar of incense made by Moses being lacking, made similar ones and placed them in the second temple (for the temple demanded this ornament as proper to it); and this is gathered from 1 Maccabees 1:23, where it is said that Antiochus Epiphanes took from the temple the golden altar and the candlestick of light, and the table of the loaves of proposition; and from Hegesippus, Book I, chapter 17, where he says that Pompey saw in the temple the tables of the testament and the cherubim (not Mosaic, but like the Mosaic).
Moreover the ark of the covenant was lacking in the second temple because in it Christ, prefigured by the ark, was to appear and teach. Whence mystically St. Ambrose, Book I De Officiis, chapter 14, and Rupert, chapter 24, think this prophecy of Jeremias fulfilled when, in the temple, the whole people being gathered, Christ showed himself to be seen, who is the true ark of the New Testament, containing the tables of the Gospel law and the manna of the Eucharist. See what is said at Exodus 25:10.
8. AND THE MAJESTY OF THE LORD SHALL APPEAR, AND THERE SHALL BE A CLOUD,—as if to say: When God shall reveal the ark, then likewise he will show his glory in a splendid cloud, as he manifested the same to Moses and Solomon at the dedication of the altar and the temple, as is said at verse 10. IT WAS SHEWED.—Namely his majesty in a splendid cloud. The Greek refers this to what follows in this way: that the place might be magnificently sanctified; then a full stop. For this was shown, or became manifest, that he, as having wisdom, offered sacrifice.
9. FOR HE TREATED WISDOM IN A MAGNIFICENT MANNER (Solomon, the wisest of mortals), AND AS HE HAD WISDOM, HE OFFERED THE SACRIFICE OF THE DEDICATION, AND OF THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE,—as if to say: Solomon, as he was most wise, so most wisely imitated Moses, and by praying obtained that God should show his majesty in the temple built by him, and now dedicated, by a glorious cloud, 3 Kings 8:10; whence, explaining, he adds:
10. AS MOSES PRAYED TO THE LORD, AND FIRE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND CONSUMED THE HOLOCAUST (Leviticus 9:24), SO SOLOMON ALSO PRAYED, AND FIRE CAME DOWN
In like manner, therefore, heavenly fire came down from heaven at the dedication of the temple made by Nehemias, and afterwards by Judas Maccabeus; and consumed their victims, and therefore the feast of the Dedication was instituted, equally with that of the fire given, to which we, the people of Jerusalem, exhort you, O Egyptian Jews, that you may celebrate it with us to the praise of God and thanksgiving.
11. AND MOSES SAID: BECAUSE THE SIN OFFERING WAS NOT EATEN, IT WAS CONSUMED,—as if to say: Since the sacrifice of Moses was for sin, and therefore seemed unclean, as sin itself, and therefore had not been eaten by the priests, hence it was consumed by the flame. These words are taken from Leviticus 10:16, and seem to be continuous with the foregoing, so that as the fire burned the other victims, so also it consumed the sin offerings; so Serarius, Sanchez and others.
13. THE SAME THINGS WERE ALSO SET DOWN IN THE MEMOIRS AND COMMENTARIES OF NEHEMIAS,—as if to say: What I have said of the sacred fire blazing from the thick waters was written by Nehemias; not in the 2nd Book of Esdras, but in another commentary of Nehemias, which has now perished by the injury of the times.
AND HOW HE MADE A LIBRARY.—This is the first solemn library of the Jews, which Nehemias built. For he preceded by a hundred and more years Alexander the Great, and Aristotle, who, Strabo writes, Book XIII, was the first to build a library. By several years Nehemias preceded Ptolemy Philadelphus, who reigned second after Alexander in Egypt, and there erected a most celebrated library, and therefore summoned from Judea the 72 Interpreters to translate Sacred Scripture from Hebrew into Greek. So before Ptolemy and Alexander, in the time of Darius Hystaspes, there was a library in Babylon, as is clear from 1 Esdras 6:1. The people of Jerusalem seem here so to celebrate the library of Nehemias as to set it beside, or compare, or oppose it to the library of Philadelphus, of which the Jews dwelling in Egypt boasted, as if to say: You in Egypt perhaps have more profane books of the Gentiles; but we alone have the sacred books and the histories of our nation, which the library of Philadelphus lacked.
14. AND IN LIKE MANNER JUDAS ALSO GATHERED TOGETHER ALL THOSE THINGS THAT WERE LOST BY THE WAR (as if to say: With like care and diligence Judas gathered the sacred codices scattered by the wars of Antiochus Epiphanes), AND THEY ARE IN OUR POSSESSION.—By Judas some understand Judas Maccabeus. But because he distinguishes this Judas from Maccabeus, saying at verse 20: “Now as concerning Judas Maccabeus”; for he is wont to call him Maccabeus; and because Judas Maccabeus was in continual wars, and therefore his care was for the armoury rather than the library, to forge swords, not books: hence others more truly understand by Judas, Judas the Essene, who, as I said in chapter 1, verse 10, was the author of this letter and book; but because he wrote it in the name of the whole Senate and Jewish people, as is said there, he speaks here of himself in the third person. For he puts on the person of the people and Senate, in whose name he wrote the letter, and introduces them speaking here of Judas, that is, of himself, as of some third person.