HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  14.46 Razis’s voluntary death was based on the conviction that God would restore his body in the resurrection (see 7.11, 22–23).

  2 MACCABEES 15

  Nicanor’s Arrogance

  1When Nicanor heard that Judas and his troops were in the region of Samaria, he made plans to attack them with complete safety on the day of rest. 2When the Jews who were compelled to follow him said, “Do not destroy so savagely and barbarously, but show respect for the day that he who sees all things has honored and hallowed above other days,” 3the thrice-accursed wretch asked if there were a sovereign in heaven who had commanded the keeping of the sabbath day. 4When they declared, “It is the living Lord himself, the Sovereign in heaven, who ordered us to observe the seventh day,” 5he replied, “But I am a sovereign also, on earth, and I command you to take up arms and finish the king’s business.” Nevertheless, he did not succeed in carrying out his abominable design.

  Judas Prepares the Jews for Battle

  6This Nicanor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his forces. 7But Maccabeus did not cease to trust with all confidence that he would get help from the Lord. 8He exhorted his troops not to fear the attack of the Gentiles, but to keep in mind the former times when help had come to them from heaven, and so to look for the victory that the Almighty would give them. 9Encouraging them from the law and the prophets, and reminding them also of the struggles they had won, he made them the more eager. 10When he had aroused their courage, he issued his orders, at the same time pointing out the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths. 11He armed each of them not so much with confidence in shields and spears as with the inspiration of brave words, and he cheered them all by relating a dream, a sort of vision,a which was worthy of belief.

  12What he saw was this: Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was praying with outstretched hands for the whole body of the Jews. 13Then in the same fashion another appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority. 14And Onias spoke, saying, “This is a man who loves the family of Israel and prays much for the people and the holy city—Jeremiah, the prophet of God.” 15Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed him thus: 16“Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike down your adversaries.”

  17Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking courage in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaignb but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger. 18Their concern for wives and children, and also for brothers and sistersc and relatives, lay upon them less heavily; their greatest and first fear was for the consecrated sanctuary. 19And those who had to remain in the city were in no little distress, being anxious over the encounter in the open country.

  The Defeat and Death of Nicanor

  20When all were now looking forward to the coming issue, and the enemy was already close at hand with their army drawn up for battle, the elephantsd strategically stationed and the cavalry deployed on the flanks, 21Maccabeus, observing the masses that were in front of him and the varied supply of arms and the savagery of the elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the Lord who works wonders; for he knew that it is not by arms, but as the Lorde decides, that he gains the victory for those who deserve it. 22He called upon him in these words: “O Lord, you sent your angel in the time of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he killed fully one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Sennacherib. 23So now, O Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel to spread terror and trembling before us. 24By the might of your arm may these blasphemers who come against your holy people be struck down.” With these words he ended his prayer.

  25Nicanor and his troops advanced with trumpets and battle songs, 26but Judas and his troops met the enemy in battle with invocations to God and prayers. 27So, fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, they laid low at least thirty-five thousand, and were greatly gladdened by God’s manifestation.

  28When the action was over and they were returning with joy, they recognized Nicanor, lying dead, in full armor. 29Then there was shouting and tumult, and they blessed the Sovereign Lord in the language of their ancestors. 30Then the man who was ever in body and soul the defender of his people, the man who maintained his youthful goodwill toward his compatriots, ordered them to cut off Nicanor’s head and arm and carry them to Jerusalem. 31When he arrived there and had called his compatriots together and stationed the priests before the altar, he sent for those who were in the citadel. 32He showed them the vile Nicanor’s head and that profane man’s arm, which had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty. 33He cut out the tongue of the ungodly Nicanor and said that he would feed it piecemeal to the birds and would hang up these rewards of his folly opposite the sanctuary. 34And they all, looking to heaven, blessed the Lord who had manifested himself, saying, “Blessed is he who has kept his own place undefiled!” 35Judasf hung Nicanor’s head from the citadel, a clear and conspicuous sign to everyone of the help of the Lord. 36And they all decreed by public vote never to let this day go unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—which is called Adar in the Aramaic language—the day before Mordecai’s day.

  37This, then, is how matters turned out with Nicanor, and from that time the city has been in the possession of the Hebrews. So I will here end my story.

  The Compiler’s Epilogue

  38If it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do. 39For just as it is harmful to drink wine alone, or, again, to drink water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet and delicious and enhances one’s enjoyment, so also the style of the story delights the ears of those who read the work. And here will be the end.

  * * *

  a Meaning of Gk uncertain

  b Or to remain in camp

  c Gk for brothers

  d Gk animals

  e Gk he

  f Gk He

  15.1–5 Nicanor’s decision to attack Judas on the sabbath is portrayed as an attempt to claim divine sovereignty for himself.

  15.1 From Samaria and the area around Modein Judas controlled the northern approaches to Jerusalem. Nicanor knew nothing of the Maccabees’ decision to defend themselves on the sabbath (see 1 Macc 2.41).

  15.3–5 The conversation between Nicanor and the Jewish collaborators revolved around who is the real sovereign—the God of Israel or Nicanor?

  15.6–19 In contrast to Nicanor’s arrogance, Judas displays exemplary piety and is encouraged by a vision of Onias III and Jeremiah.

  15.6 The public monument, or trophy, was to be constructed with armor taken from Judas and other dead soldiers.

  15.10 For Nicanor’s violation of oaths, see 14.18–30.

  15.12 For the intercessory prayer of Onias III, see 3.31–33.

  15.13–16 For Jeremiah, see 2.1–8. The sword may allude to Jer 50.35–38. Both priest (Onias III) and prophet (Jeremiah) take up Judas’s cause.

  15.18 Defense of the consecrated sanctuary is the major theme of 2 Maccabees.

  15.20–37 1 Macc 7.40–50 locates the battle at Adasa.

  15.20 The use of elephants suggests an open, level battlefield.

  15.22 For the miraculous defeat of Sennacherib, see 2 Kings 18.13–19.35; Isa 36–37. The incident is part of Judas’s prayer in 1 Macc 7.41–42; see also 2 Macc 8.19.

  15.27 According to 1 Macc 7.40 Judas had three thousand men, hardly enough to kill thirty-five thousand of the enemy. His victory is taken as God’s manifestation.

  15.29 Language of their ancestors. See note on 7.8.
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br />   15.31 The citadel, the garrison overlooking the temple area, was still in Seleucid control.

  15.32–35 The gruesome disposition of Nicanor’s body climaxes the theme of appropriate punishments for evildoers. See Jdt 13–14.

  15.36 For Mordecai’s day, see Esth 3.7; 9.20–23; 10.3.

  15.37 The city, Jerusalem. It remained in possession of the Hebrews until the intervention of the Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE.

  15.38–39 The narrator’s epilogue takes up the tone and content of his preface in 2.19–32.

  15.39 In antiquity wine was often so strong that it had to be mixed with water.

  (b) The books from 1 Esdras through 3 Maccabees are recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Greek and the Russian Orthodox Churches. They are not so recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, but 1 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh (together with 2 Esdras) are placed in an appendix to the Latin Vulgate Bible.

  1 ESDRAS

  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |

  ESDRAS IS THE GREEK FORM of the Hebrew personal name Ezra. 1 Esdras as the name of the book derives from the Greek Bible (the Septuagint), where it is called Esdras A (alpha), while the combined book of Ezra and Nehemiah is called Esdras B (beta). In the Latin Bible (the Vulgate), 1 Esdras is called 3 Ezra.

  Scope and Relation to Other Biblical Books

  FIRST ESDRAS IS A SELECTIVE NARRATIVE of important religious events in the history of Judah from the Passover of Josiah, after the finding of the book of the law, to the reading of the law by Ezra and its imposition as the norm for Jewish life. For the most part, 1 Esdras simply parallels the relevant portions of 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah; the only extensive unparalleled material is 1 Esd 3.1–5.6, the debate of the three bodyguards. The detailed correspondences of 1 Esdras to other biblical texts are set out in the table on 1 Esdras, “The Relation of 1 Esdras to Other Biblical Books.”

  The exact relation of 1 Esdras to the other biblical texts in the table is a matter of some dispute. 1 Esdras is extant only in Greek and in other versions translated from the Greek (Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Arabic). There is no Hebrew version. Some have thought that it was originally written in Hebrew, its text being a variant of that of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. Others have suggested that it is a fragment of a Greek translation of those books older than the Septuagint translation in the second century BCE. Perhaps the most common view is that 1 Esdras was compiled on the basis of the Septuagint version of the books of 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Occasionally it seems to preserve a reading preferable to that of the Hebrew Masoretic Text, which would suggest that its compiler used either a form of the Septuagint no longer attested or else a Hebrew original differing from the Masoretic Text.

  Whatever the origins of the text of the book as a whole, the debate of the three bodyguards in chs. 3–4 should be treated separately, as a Hebrew or Aramaic composition, even if the rest of the book was originally composed in Greek.

  Purpose

  TO DISCERN THE PURPOSE for the compilation of 1 Esdras would be easier if we had the complete work. The ending has almost certainly been lost (the last sentence is incomplete), and the beginning is so abrupt as to raise suspicions that the book originally opened at a somewhat earlier point.

  The temple appears in Josiah’s Passover celebration in ch. 1, the restoration of the its treasures in ch. 2, its rebuilding in 5.56–7.9, the treasures brought for it by Ezra in ch. 8, and the settlement of the mixed marriages question in the square before the temple and the reading of the law in the same place in ch. 9. It would, however, be hazardous to argue that the temple is the theme of the work; there is too much material that has no connection at all with the temple.

  Likewise, there is an obvious concentration on the two leaders of the postexilic community, Zerubbabel and Ezra. The work of Zerubbabel is more prominent than it is in the book of Ezra, and the figure of Ezra has entirely supplanted that of Nehemiah, but it would be unwise to regard the whole work as designed to rewrite the historical record about these characters, for the modifications to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are relatively slight. It is more likely that 1 Esdras reflects the views of a group in postexilic Judaism that regarded Ezra and Nehemiah and their work quite differently (in 2 Macc 1.18–2.13 and Sir 49.13 Nehemiah is mentioned and Ezra is ignored).

  The presence of the extensive narrative of the debate of the three bodyguards of Darius in chs. 3–4 further complicates the question of the purpose or theme of the book. The victor in the debate is Zerubbabel, and the narrative enhances his portrait, but no connection is drawn between the speeches in the debate and the events narrated in the rest of the book. The narrative seems to be told for its own sake, with only the weakest of links to the characters of the book.

  It is hard for even a careful reader to resist the impression that the book has no clear theme. The very reason for its existence is not apparent, and the selection of material from the other biblical books has been carried out on principles no longer evident.

  The Relation of 1 Esdras to Other Biblical Books

  * * *

  1ESDRAS

  PARALLEL BIBLICAL TEXTS

  * * *

  1.1–33

  2Chr 35.1–27

  1.34–58

  2Chr 36.1–21

  2.1–15

  Ezra 1.1–11

  2.16–30

  Ezra 4.7–24a

  5.7–46

  Ezra 2.1–70 (Neh 7.6–73a)

  5.47–65

  Ezra 3.1–13

  5.66–73

  Ezra 4.1–5

  6.1–22

  Ezra 4.24b–5.17

  6.23–34

  Ezra 6.1–12

  7.1–15

  Ezra 6.13–22

  8.1–27

  Ezra 7.1–28

  8.28–67

  Ezra 8.1–36

  8.68–90

  Ezra 9.1–15

  8.91–96

  Ezra 10.1–5

  9.1–36

  Ezra 10.6–44

  9.37–55

  Neh 7.73b–8.13

  Date

  LACKING ANY IDEA OF THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK, we are at a loss to date it with any accuracy, although most scholars would assign it to the second century BCE. We know that 1 Esdras, rather than the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, was the source used by Josephus in composing his Antiquities of the Jews toward the end of the first century CE. [DAVID J. A. CLINES]

  1 ESDRAS 1

  Josiah Celebrates the Passover

  1Josiah kept the passover to his Lord in Jerusalem; he killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month, 2having placed the priests according to their divisions, arrayed in their vestments, in the temple of the Lord. 3He told the Levites, the temple servants of Israel, that they should sanctify themselves to the Lord and put the holy ark of the Lord in the house that King Solomon, son of David, had built; 4and he said, “You need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now worship the Lord your God and serve his people Israel; prepare yourselves by your families and kindred, 5in accordance with the directions of King David of Israel and the magnificence of his son Solomon. Stand in order in the temple according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of you Levites, who minister before your kindred the people of Israel, 6and kill the passover lamb and prepare the sacrifices for your kindred, and keep the passover according to the commandment of the Lord that was given to Moses.”

  7To the people who were present Josiah gave thirty thousand lambs and kids, and three thousand calves; these were given from the king’s possessions, as he promised, to the people and the priests and Levites. 8Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel,a the chief officers of the temple, gave to the priests for the passover two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred calves. 9And Jeconiah and Shemaiah and his brother Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Ochiel and Joram, captains over thousands, gave the Levites for the passover five thousand sheep and seven hundred calves.

  10This is what took place.
The priests and the Levites, having the unleavened bread, stood in proper order according to kindred 11and the grouping of the ancestral houses, before the people, to make the offering to the Lord as it is written in the book of Moses; this they did in the morning. 12They roasted the passover lamb with fire, as required; and they boiled the sacrifices in bronze pots and caldrons, with a pleasing odor, 13and carried them to all the people. Afterward they prepared the passover for themselves and for their kindred the priests, the sons of Aaron, 14because the priests were offering the fat until nightfall; so the Levites prepared it for themselves and for their kindred the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15The temple singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the arrangement made by David, and also Asaph, Zechariah, and Eddinus, who represented the king. 16The gatekeepers were at each gate; no one needed to interrupt his daily duties, for their kindred the Levites prepared the passover for them.

  17So the things that had to do with the sacrifices to the Lord were accomplished that day: the passover was kept 18and the sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 19And the people of Israel who were present at that time kept the passover and the festival of unleavened bread seven days. 20No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the times of the prophet Samuel; 21none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah and the priests and Levites and the people of Judah and all of Israel who were living in Jerusalem. 22In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this passover was kept.

  The End of Josiah’s Reign

  23And the deeds of Josiah were upright in the sight of the Lord, for his heart was full of godliness. 24In ancient times the events of his reign have been recorded—concerning those who sinned and acted wickedly toward the Lord beyond any other people or kingdom, and how they grieved the Lordb deeply, so that the words of the Lord fell upon Israel.