HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  The Jews Imprisoned at Schedia

  11When these people had been brought to the place called Schedia, and the voyage was concluded as the king had decreed, he commanded that they should be enclosed in the hippodrome that had been built with a monstrous perimeter wall in front of the city, and that was well suited to make them an obvious spectacle to all coming back into the city and to those from the cityd going out into the country, so that they could neither communicate with the king’s forces nor in any way claim to be inside the circuit of the city.e 12And when this had happened, the king, hearing that the Jews’ compatriots from the city frequently went out in secret to lament bitterly the ignoble misfortune of their kindred, 13ordered in his rage that these people be dealt with in precisely the same fashion as the others, not omitting any detail of their punishment. 14The entire race was to be registered individually, not for the hard labor that has been briefly mentioned before, but to be tortured with the outrages that he had ordered, and at the end to be destroyed in the space of a single day. 15The registration of these people was therefore conducted with bitter haste and zealous intensity from the rising of the sun until its setting, coming to an end after forty days but still uncompleted.

  16The king was greatly and continually filled with joy, organizing feasts in honor of all his idols, with a mind alienated from truth and with a profane mouth, praising speechless things that are not able even to communicate or to come to one’s help, and uttering improper words against the supreme God.f 17But after the previously mentioned interval of time the scribes declared to the king that they were no longer able to take the census of the Jews because of their immense number, 18though most of them were still in the country, some still residing in their homes, and some at the place;g the task was impossible for all the generals in Egypt. 19After he had threatened them severely, charging that they had been bribed to contrive a means of escape, he was clearly convinced about the matter 20when they said and proved that both the paperh and the pens they used for writing had already given out. 21But this was an act of the invincible providence of him who was aiding the Jews from heaven.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Or the canopy

  b Other ancient authorities read as though torn by heathen whelps

  c Gk seeing Hades already lying at their feet

  d Gk those of them

  e Or claim protection of the walls; meaning of Gk uncertain

  f Gk the greatest God

  g Other ancient authorities read on the way

  h Or paper factory

  4.1–21 The imprisonment of the Jews. The emotionalism of the account is typical of Greek historiography in this period.

  4.1 A feast at public expense. Cf. the feast of the Jews in Esth 8.17.

  4.2 Incessant mourning. See Esth 4.3.

  4.11 Schedia, a promontory about three miles from Alexandria. The hippodrome was located at the east, or Canobic, gate of the city. A canal joined Schedia and the Canobic gate (Strabo, Geography 17.1.10, 16).

  4.12 Given that the Jews’ compatriots from the city frequently went out, it is clear that only the Jews from the countryside were imprisoned initially. Perhaps the story originally concerned an attempt to register the Jews from the countryside by bringing them to one place.

  4.14 The entire race was to be registered individually, presumably so that no one would escape, but the process seems unduly laborious. Again this may point to an original story concerned with registration rather than annihilation.

  4.15 Forty days, a stereotypical figure. This is the length of time it took for Ezra to transcribe the law and the apocryphal books in 2 Esd 14.44.

  4.16 A profane mouth. See Dan 7.8, 20. Against the supreme God. See Dan 11.36.

  4.17 The failure of the scribes underlines the absurdity of the endeavor. For Israel as a people so numerous they cannot be numbered, see 1 Kings 3.8.

  4.21 The failure of the census might be taken as proof of the king’s folly, but 3 Maccabees draws a more theological lesson about invincible providence.

  3 MACCABEES 5

  Execution of the Jews Is Twice Thwarted

  1Then the king, completely inflexible, was filled with overpowering anger and wrath; so he summoned Hermon, keeper of the elephants, 2and ordered him on the following day to drug all the elephants—five hundred in number—with large handfuls of frankincense and plenty of unmixed wine, and to drive them in, maddened by the lavish abundance of drink, so that the Jews might meet their doom. 3When he had given these orders he returned to his feasting, together with those of his Friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews. 4And Hermon, keeper of the elephants, proceeded faithfully to carry out the orders. 5The servants in charge of the Jewsa went out in the evening and bound the hands of the wretched people and arranged for their continued custody through the night, convinced that the whole nation would experience its final destruction. 6For to the Gentiles it appeared that the Jews were left without any aid, 7because in their bonds they were forcibly confined on every side. But with tears and a voice hard to silence they all called upon the Almighty Lord and Ruler of all power, their merciful God and Father, praying 8that he avert with vengeance the evil plot against them and in a glorious manifestation rescue them from the fate now prepared for them. 9So their entreaty ascended fervently to heaven.

  10Hermon, however, when he had drugged the pitiless elephants until they had been filled with a great abundance of wine and satiated with frankincense, presented himself at the courtyard early in the morning to report to the king about these preparations. 11But the Lordb sent upon the king a portion of sleep, that beneficence that from the beginning, night and day, is bestowed by him who grants it to whomever he wishes. 12And by the action of the Lord he was overcome by so pleasant and deep a sleepc that he quite failed in his lawless purpose and was completely frustrated in his inflexible plan. 13Then the Jews, since they had escaped the appointed hour, praised their holy God and again implored him who is easily reconciled to show the might of his all-powerful hand to the arrogant Gentiles.

  14But now, since it was nearly the middle of the tenth hour, the person who was in charge of the invitations, seeing that the guests were assembled, approached the king and nudged him. 15And when he had with difficulty roused him, he pointed out that the hour of the banquet was already slipping by, and he gave him an account of the situation. 16The king, after considering this, returned to his drinking, and ordered those present for the banquet to recline opposite him. 17When this was done he urged them to give themselves over to revelry and to make the presentd portion of the banquet joyful by celebrating all the more. 18After the party had been going on for some time, the king summoned Hermon and with sharp threats demanded to know why the Jews had been allowed to remain alive through the present day. 19But when he, with the corroboration of the king’se Friends, pointed out that while it was still night he had carried out completely the order given him, 20the king,f possessed by a savagery worse than that of Phalaris, said that the Jewsg were benefited by today’s sleep, “but,” he added, “tomorrow without delay prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews!” 21When the king had spoken, all those present readily and joyfully with one accord gave their approval, and all went to their own homes. 22But they did not so much employ the duration of the night in sleep as in devising all sorts of insults for those they thought to be doomed.

  23Then, as soon as the cock had crowed in the early morning, Hermon, having equippedh the animals, began to move them along in the great colonnade. 24The crowds of the city had been assembled for this most pitiful spectacle and they were eagerly waiting for daybreak. 25But the Jews, at their last gasp—since the time had run out—stretched their hands toward heaven and with most tearful supplication and mournful dirges implored the supreme Godi to help them again at once. 26The rays of the sun were not yet shed abroad, and while the king was receiving his Friends, Hermon arrived and invited him to come out, indicating that
what the king desired was ready for action. 27But he, on receiving the report and being struck by the unusual invitation to come out—since he had been completely overcome by incomprehension—inquired what the matter was for which this had been so zealously completed for him. 28This was the act of God who rules over all things, for he had implanted in the king’s mind a forgetfulness of the things he had previously devised. 29Then Hermon and all the king’s Friendsj pointed out that the animals and the armed forces were ready, “O king, according to your eager purpose.”k 30But at these words he was filled with an overpowering wrath, because by the providence of God his whole mind had been deranged concerning these matters; and with a threatening look he said, 31“If your parents or children were present, I would have prepared them to be a rich feast for the savage animals instead of the Jews, who give me no ground for complaint and have exhibited to an extraordinary degree a full and firm loyalty to my ancestors. 32In fact you would have been deprived of life instead of these, if it were not for an affection arising from our nurture in common and your usefulness.” 33So Hermon suffered an unexpected and dangerous threat, and his eyes wavered and his face fell. 34The king’s Friends one by one sullenly slipped away and dismissedl the assembled people to their own occupations. 35Then the Jews, on hearing what the king had said, praised the manifest Lord God, King of kings, since this also was his aid that they had received.

  36The king, however, reconvened the party in the same manner and urged the guests to return to their celebrating. 37After summoning Hermon he said in a threatening tone, “How many times, you poor wretch, must I give you orders about these things? 38Equipm the elephants now once more for the destruction of the Jews tomorrow!” 39But the officials who were at table with him, wondering at his instability of mind, remonstrated as follows: 40“O king, how long will you put us to the test, as though we are idiots, ordering now for a third time that they be destroyed, and again revoking your decree in the matter?n 41As a result the city is in a tumult because of its expectation; it is crowded with masses of people, and also in constant danger of being plundered.”

  42At this the king, a Phalaris in everything and filled with madness, took no account of the changes of mind that had come about within him for the protection of the Jews, and he firmly swore an irrevocable oath that he would send them to deatho without delay, mangled by the knees and feet of the animals, 43and would also march against Judea and rapidly level it to the ground with fire and spear, and by burning to the ground the temple inaccessible to himp would quickly render it forever empty of those who offered sacrifices there. 44Then the Friends and officers departed with great joy, and they confidently posted the armed forces at the places in the city most favorable for keeping guard.

  45Now when the animals had been brought virtually to a state of madness, so to speak, by the very fragrant draughts of wine mixed with frankincense and had been equipped with frightful devices, the elephant keeper 46entered at about dawn into the courtyard—the city now being filled with countless masses of people crowding their way into the hippodrome—and urged the king on to the matter at hand. 47So he, when he had filled his impious mind with a deep rage, rushed out in full force along with the animals, wishing to witness, with invulnerable heart and with his own eyes, the grievous and pitiful destruction of the aforementioned people.

  48When the Jews saw the dust raised by the elephants going out at the gate and by the following armed forces, as well as by the trampling of the crowd, and heard the loud and tumultuous noise, 49they thought that this was their last moment of life, the end of their most miserable suspense, and giving way to lamentation and groans they kissed each other, embracing relatives and falling into one another’s armsq—parents and children, mothers and daughters, and others with babies at their breasts who were drawing their last milk. 50Not only this, but when they considered the help that they had received before from heaven, they prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground, removing the babies from their breasts, 51and cried out in a very loud voice, imploring the Ruler over every power to manifest himself and be merciful to them, as they stood now at the gates of death.r

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Gk them

  b Gk he

  c Other ancient authorities add from evening until the ninth hour

  d Other ancient authorities read delayed (Gk untimely)

  e Gk his

  f Gk he

  g Gk they

  h Or armed

  i Gk the greatest God

  j Gk all the Friends

  k Other ancient authorities read pointed to the beasts and the armed forces, saying, “They are ready, O king, according to your eager purpose.”

  l Other ancient authorities read he dismissed

  m Or Arm

  n Other ancient authorities read when the matter is in hand

  o Gk Hades

  p Gk us

  q Gk falling upon their necks

  r Gk Hades

  5.1–51 The frustration of the king’s plans.

  5.1 Hermon recalls Haman, the adversary of the Jews in Esther.

  5.2 Drugging the elephants would have made little sense. War elephants were trained to trample and would have been more difficult to control if they were drugged. Five hundred. At the battle of Raphia, Philopator had only seventy-three elephants, still an impressive number.

  5.3 The Friends of the king constituted a special honorific class in the Hellenistic age.

  5.5 Bound the hands. According to 3.25, the Jews had been sent to Alexandria in fetters. Presumably they had been unbound in the meantime.

  5.8 Glorious manifestation. Cf. 2 Macc 2.21.

  5.11 Cf. Ps 127.2. Sleep, often praised as a divine gift, especially in the classical tradition.

  5.14 The middle of the tenth hour, mid-afternoon, at the end of siesta time. Elaborate banquets started early rather than finishing late.

  5.20 Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum in the sixth century BCE. He was known for roasting people alive in his hollow brazen bull so that it would bellow realistically (Polybius, Histories 12.25). Tomorrow without delay. The frustration of the first plan and the new beginning contribute to building suspense.

  5.29 Some manuscripts have an interpolation at this point in which the king wants to release the Jews but Hermon persuades him to proceed.

  5.30 His whole mind had been deranged. Cf. the madness of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 4.

  5.33 Hermon suffers an unexpected reversal of royal favor, as Haman did in Esther.

  5.41 The vacillation of the king again heightens the suspense (for the crowd and readers).

  5.42–43 The double threat to the Alexandrian Jews and the Jerusalem temple is particularly reminiscent of the time of Caligula.

  5.42 An irrevocable oath. Cf. the irrevocable decree of Darius in Dan 6.8.

  5.45 Apparently devices such as scythes and knives were attached to the elephants as they were to war chariots.

  3 MACCABEES 6

  The Prayer of Eleazar

  1Then a certain Eleazar, famous among the priests of the country, who had attained a ripe old age and throughout his life had been adorned with every virtue, directed the elders around him to stop calling upon the holy God, and he prayed as follows: 2“King of great power, Almighty God Most High, governing all creation with mercy, 3look upon the descendants of Abraham, O Father, upon the children of the sainted Jacob, a people of your consecrated portion who are perishing as foreigners in a foreign land. 4Pharaoh with his abundance of chariots, the former ruler of this Egypt, exalted with lawless insolence and boastful tongue, you destroyed together with his arrogant army by drowning them in the sea, manifesting the light of your mercy on the nation of Israel. 5Sennacherib exulting in his countless forces, oppressive king of the Assyrians, who had already gained control of the whole world by the spear and was lifted up against your holy city, speaking grievous words with boasting and insolence, you, O Lord, broke in pieces, showing your power to many nations. 6The three companions
in Babylon who had voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames so as not to serve vain things, you rescued unharmed, even to a hair, moistening the fiery furnace with dew and turning the flame against all their enemies. 7Daniel, who through envious slanders was thrown down into the ground to lions as food for wild animals, you brought up to the light unharmed. 8And Jonah, wasting away in the belly of a huge, sea-born monster, you, Father, watched over and restoreda unharmed to all his family. 9And now, you who hate insolence, all-merciful and protector of all, reveal yourself quickly to those of the nation of Israelb—who are being outrageously treated by the abominable and lawless Gentiles.

  10“Even if our lives have become entangled in impieties in our exile, rescue us from the hand of the enemy, and destroy us, Lord, by whatever fate you choose. 11Let not the vain-minded praise their vanitiesc at the destruction of your beloved people, saying, ‘Not even their god has rescued them.’ 12But you, O Eternal One, who have all might and all power, watch over us now and have mercy on us who by the senseless insolence of the lawless are being deprived of life in the manner of traitors. 13And let the Gentiles cower today in fear of your invincible might, O honored One, who have power to save the nation of Jacob. 14The whole throng of infants and their parents entreat you with tears. 15Let it be shown to all the Gentiles that you are with us, O Lord, and have not turned your face from us; but just as you have said, ‘Not even when they were in the land of their enemies did I neglect them,’ so accomplish it, O Lord.”