HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  29O mother of the nation, vindicator of the law and champion of religion, who carried away the prize of the contest in your heart! 30O more noble than males in steadfastness, and more courageous than men in endurance! 31Just as Noah’s ark, carrying the world in the universal flood, stoutly endured the waves, 32so you, O guardian of the law, overwhelmed from every side by the flood of your emotions and the violent winds, the torture of your sons, endured nobly and withstood the wintry storms that assail religion.

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  a Gk according to God

  b Or For to the degree that mothers are weaker and the more children they bear, the more they are devoted to their children.

  c Or quivering

  d Other ancient authorities read having bidden them farewell, surrendered them

  15.1–32 Both the power of maternal affection and the mother’s ability to overcome it for the sake of religion are emphasized.

  15.2–3 The mother’s choice was between religion and preserving her seven sons for a time. She chose the former. See vv. 24–28, where the same theme occurs.

  15.4 Likeness both of mind and of form, a Stoic doctrine that held that children are like their parents both in soul and in body. See Plutarch, On the Opinions of the Philosophers 7.11.3.

  15.4b–7 That parental affection is especially strong in mothers because they bear their children in their wombs was a common view in the Greco-Roman world. See Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1161b26–27.

  15.5 See note on 14.11–12.

  15.9 The sons’ nobility and obedience to the law only increased their mother’s affection for them.

  15.10 Righteous…self-controlled…brave, three of the four cardinal virtues. Magnanimity is substituted for rational judgment. See 1.2–4, 18; 5.23–24.

  15.11–23 The pathos of the situation is emphasized by calling to mind the sons’ tortures, which the mother was forced to witness but which did not pervert her reason.

  15.16–20 An apostrophe to the mother lends vividness to the scene (see also vv. 29–32; 16.14–15; 17.2–6).

  15.21 Melodies of sirens, the songs by which the sirens sought to lure Odysseus and his companions to their deaths (Odyssey 12.39–58, 154–200). Songs of swans, the plaintive cries of swans, which they are proverbially said to utter as they are about to die.

  15.23 A man’s courage. See note on 14.11–12.

  15.24–28 The author returns to the mother’s choice between dying for religion and temporary deliverance (see vv. 1–3).

  15.25–26 The imagery is that of balloting in the Greek assembly.

  15.29–32 Another apostrophe to the mother (see note on 15.16–20). Note also the imagery of the athletic contest (see note on 6.10).

  15.30 See note on 14.11–12.

  15.31 See Gen 6.5–8.22.

  4 MACCABEES 16

  1If, then, a woman, advanced in years and mother of seven sons, endured seeing her children tortured to death, it must be admitted that devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. 2Thus I have demonstrated not only that men have ruled over the emotions, but also that a woman has despised the fiercest tortures. 3The lions surrounding Daniel were not so savage, nor was the raging fiery furnace of Mishael so intensely hot, as was her innate parental love, inflamed as she saw her seven sons tortured in such varied ways. 4But the mother quenched so many and such great emotions by devout reason.

  5Consider this also: If this woman, though a mother, had been fainthearted, she would have mourned over them and perhaps spoken as follows: 6“O how wretched am I and many times unhappy! After bearing seven children, I am now the mother of none! 7O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings! 8In vain, my sons, I endured many birth pangs for you, and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing. 9Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring.a I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother. 10Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows.b 11And when I die, I shall have none of my sons to bury me.”

  12Yet that holy and God-fearing mother did not wail with such a lament for any of them, nor did she dissuade any of them from dying, nor did she grieve as they were dying. 13On the contrary, as though having a mind like adamant and giving rebirth for immortality to the whole number of her sons, she implored them and urged them on to death for the sake of religion. 14O mother, soldier of God in the cause of religion, elder and woman! By steadfastness you have conquered even a tyrant, and in word and deed you have proved more powerful than a man. 15For when you and your sons were arrested together, you stood and watched Eleazar being tortured, and said to your sons in the Hebrew language, 16“My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law. 17For it would be shameful if, while an aged man endures such agonies for the sake of religion, you young men were to be terrified by tortures. 18Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life, 19and therefore you ought to endure any suffering for the sake of God. 20For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and when Isaac saw his father’s hand wielding a knifec and descending upon him, he did not cower. 21Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God. 22You too must have the same faith in God and not be grieved. 23It is unreasonable for people who have religious knowledge not to withstand pain.”

  24By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God’s commandment. 25They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live to God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs.

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  a Gk without benefit

  b Or much to be pitied

  c Gk sword

  16.1–4 The author returns to the theme with which he began this section in 15.1: reason is sovereign over the emotions.

  16.3 On Daniel in the lions’ den, see Dan 6; on the three youths in the fiery furnace, see Dan 3.

  16.5–23 As in 8.16–9.9 regarding the seven brothers, the author contrasts a speech that the mother could have given had she been fainthearted (vv. 6–11) with the one that she actually gave (vv. 16–23).

  16.6–11 The speech emphasizes the sorrows of a mother whose children all die before her.

  16.10 A widow and alone. The place of a widow in the ancient world was always a precarious one.

  16.11 To have no children to give one a proper burial was considered tragic in the ancient world among both Jews and Greeks.

  16.12–15 Instead of grieving over the deaths of her sons, she urges them on to rebirth for immortality (see note on 9.22) for the sake of religion and to victory over the tyrant.

  16.14–15 Another apostrophe to the mother (see note on 15.16–20).

  16.14 See note on 14.11–12.

  16.15 This speech was supposedly delivered when Eleazar was being tortured. This seems, however, to be inconsistent with 5.4; 8.3, which indicate that the mother and her sons were brought in only after the death of Eleazar. Hebrew language. See 12.7.

  16.16–22 The initial imagery is that of an athletic contest in which the seven sons are to fight zealously for Mosaic law (see note on 6.10). This is followed by appeals to the examples of Eleazar (5.1–7.23), Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen 22.1–19; see note on 13.12), Daniel in the lions’den (Dan 6), and the three youths in the fiery furnace (Dan 3).

  16.23 Because reason (Greek logismos) can dominate the emotions, it would be unreasonable (Greek alogiston) not to endure pain for the sake of religion.

  16.25 See note on 7.19.

  4 MACCABEES 17

  1Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no on
e might touch her body.

  2O mother, who with your seven sons nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the courage of your faith! 3Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. 4Take courage, therefore, O holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. 5The moon in heaven, with the stars, does not stand so august as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them. 6For your children were true descendants of father Abraham.a

  The Effect of the Martyrdoms

  7If it were possible for us to paint the history of your religion as an artist might, would not those who first beheld it have shuddered as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of religion? 8Indeed it would be proper to inscribe on their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation:b

  9“Here lie buried an aged priest and an aged woman and seven sons, because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews. 10They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring torture even to death.”

  11Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, 12for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. 13Eleazar was the first contestant, the mother of the seven sons entered the competition, and the brothers contended. 14The tyrant was the antagonist, and the world and the human race were the spectators. 15Reverence for God was victor and gave the crown to its own athletes. 16Who did not admire the athletes of the divinec legislation? Who were not amazed?

  17The tyrant himself and all his council marveled at theird endurance, 18because of which they now stand before the divine throne and live the life of eternal blessedness. 19For Moses says, “All who are consecrated are under your hands.” 20These, then, who have been consecrated for the sake of God,e are honored, not only with this honor, but also by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation, 21the tyrant was punished, and the homeland purified—they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation. 22And through the blood of those devout ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated.

  23For the tyrant Antiochus, when he saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under the tortures, proclaimed them to his soldiers as an example for their own endurance, 24and this made them brave and courageous for infantry battle and siege, and he ravaged and conquered all his enemies.

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  a Gk For your childbearing was from Abraham the father; other ancient authorities read For…Abraham the servant

  b Or as a memorial to the heroes of our people

  c Other ancient authorities read true

  d Other ancient authorities add virtue and

  e Other ancient authorities lack for the sake of God

  17.1 See 2 Macc 7.41. The mother here throws herself into the flames rather than let the guards violate her chastity by touching her. On the question of suicide, see note on 12.19.

  17.2–6 A final apostrophe to the mother (see note on 15.16–20).

  17.2 A short summary of some of the principal themes of 4 Maccabees.

  17.5 See Dan 12.3; Testament of Job 39.9–40.5. Plato and the Stoics thought of the stars as living beings.

  17.7–18.24 A somewhat loosely organized peroration describing the effects of the martyrdoms on the martyrs themselves, on the tyrant, his council, and his soldiers, and, the author hopes, on his fellow Jews. The mother’s final speech is in the climactic position (18.6–19).

  17.7 Paint…as an artist might. Descriptions of artworks and their effects were common in Greek literature.

  17.8–10 The mention of epitaphs is a classical rhetorical device; their mention here does not mean that 4 Maccabees was delivered as an actual oration at the martyrs’ tomb.

  17.10 They vindicated their nation, perhaps another allusion to some sort of vicarious atonement for the nation (see note on 6.27–29).

  17.11–16 The most fully developed metaphor of the martyrs’ torture and death as an athletic contest in which the prize for a life tested by virtue is immortality (see notes on 6.10; 9.22).

  17.14 The world and the human race gives a universal significance to the contest.

  17.17–24 Descriptions of the amazement of Antiochus and his council (vv. 17–18, 23–24) precede and follow a summary of the effects of the martyrdoms on the Jewish people (vv. 19–22).

  17.19 The quotation, from Deut 33.3, indicates that the martyrs are protected by God.

  17.20–22 A summary of the results of the martyrs’ deaths that credits them with the purification of the homeland and eventual defeat of Antiochus.

  17.21–22 The most developed imagery in 4 Maccabees of vicarious atonement (see note on 6.27–29), drawing on the description of the ritual of the Day of Atonement in Lev 16.1–34. The Greek term for atoning sacrifice (hilasterion) also occurs in Rom 3.25. See also Heb 9.11–15; 1 Pet 1.18–19; 1 Jn 1.7.

  17.23–24 The tyrant Antiochus is so amazed by the martyrs’ courage that he uses them as examples for his soldiers.

  4 MACCABEES 18

  1O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way, 2knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without.

  3Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by mortals, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance. 4Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy. 5The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians.

  The Mother’s Address to Her Children

  6The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children: 7“I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father’s house; but I guarded the rib from which woman was made.a 8No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity. 9In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A happy man was he, who lived out his life with good children, and did not have the grief of bereavement. 10While he was still with you, he taught you the law and the prophets. 11He read to you about Abel slain by Cain, and Isaac who was offered as a burnt offering, and about Joseph in prison. 12He told you of the zeal of Phinehas, and he taught you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire. 13He praised Daniel in the den of the lions and blessed him. 14He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah, which says, ‘Even though you go through the fire, the flame shall not consume you.’ 15He sang to you songs of the psalmist David, who said, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ 16He recounted to you Solomon’s proverb, ‘There is a tree of life for those who do his will.’ 17He confirmed the query of Ezekiel, ‘Shall these dry bones live?’ 18For he did not forget to teach you the song that Moses taught, which says, 19‘I kill and I make alive: this is your life and the length of your days.’”

  20O bitter was that day—and yet not bitter—when that bitter tyrant of the Greeks quenched fire with fire in his cruel caldrons, and in his burning rage brought those seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapult and back again to moreb tortures, 21pierced the pupils of their eyes and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures. 22For these crimes divine justice pursued and will pursue the accursed tyrant. 23But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers, and have received pure and immortalc souls from God, 24to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.

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  a Gk the rib that was built

  b Other ancient authorities read to all his

  c Other ancient authorities read victorious

  18.1–5 A concluding exhortation to the author’s fellow Jews emphasizing the values of obeying the law, mastering the emotions with reason, and suffering for the sake of religion.

  18.5 Jerusalem. See 4.22, the only other place in 4 Maccabees that Jerusalem is mentioned.

  18.6–19 The address promised in 12.7; it is placed here for greater rhetorical effect. Though emotional, it is not bombastic. It emphasizes the mother’s chastity and the father’s proper education of his sons in the heroic examples of the Jewish past, the law, and the prophets. See 2 Macc 7.22–29.

  18.7 Rib. See Gen 2.22.

  18.8 An allusion to Gen 3.1–7; Deut 22.25–27.

  18.11 Abel…Cain. See Gen 4.2–15. Isaac. See Gen 22.1–19; note on 13.12. Joseph. See Gen 39.7–23.

  18.12 Phinehas. See Num 25.7–13. Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. See Dan 3.

  18.13 Daniel…lions. See Dan 6.

  18.14 See Isa 43.2.

  18.15 Ps 34.19.

  18.16 Prov 3.18 (modified).

  18.17 See Ezek 37.2–3.

  18.19 Deut 32.39; see Deut 30.20.

  18.20–24 The section serves as the conclusion of the whole work. The themes of punishment of the tyrant and the reward of immortality for the martyrs are once again emphasized.