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4 Maccabees
A philosophical sermon about religious reason ruling the passions, illustrated by the martyrdoms of Eleazar, seven brothers and their mother.4 sources4 sources1. 4 Maccabees 1:12. (1906)3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:19
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At a glance
Summary
Can faith-guided reason master fear and suffering? 4 Maccabees makes its case through the deaths of Eleazar, seven brothers and their mother. The book is a sermon rather than a history of the revolt; H. B. Swete describes its use of Stoic philosophy for a Jewish argument. The deaths also carry meaning for the whole people. Eleazar prays that his death will purify them, and the narrator says the martyrs' deaths preserved Israel.13 sources13 sources1. 4 Maccabees 1:12. (1906)3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:195. (1910)6. (1906)9. 4 Maccabees 1:1810. Swete11. (1906)12. (1910)13. 4 Maccabees 6:28–2914. 4 Maccabees 17:20–2215. Chrostowski
Contents
Can reason govern the passions?
4 Maccabees 1:1–3:18The speaker announces his case for religious reason's mastery over the passions and develops the proposition before turning to the martyrs.4 sources4 sources1. 4 Maccabees 1:12. (1906)3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:19
Persecution and Eleazar
4 Maccabees 3:19–7:23A review of persecution under Seleucus and Antiochus leads into Eleazar's suffering. He asks that his blood become a purification for his people.6 sources6 sources3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:192. (1906)13. 4 Maccabees 6:28–2914. 4 Maccabees 17:20–2215. Chrostowski
The brothers and their mother
4 Maccabees 7:24–16:25Seven brothers and their mother become further examples of the argument, enduring martyrdom in the book's extended account of suffering.5 sources5 sources3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:192. (1906)16. 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:4210. Swete
What the deaths mean
4 Maccabees 17:1–18:24Closing reflections describe the martyrs as a ransom for the nation's sin and credit their deaths with Israel's preservation.6 sources6 sources3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:192. (1906)13. 4 Maccabees 6:28–2914. 4 Maccabees 17:20–2215. Chrostowski
Stories
Eleazar's offering
4 Maccabees 5:1–7:23Eleazar prays that his blood will purify his people. The narrator later presents the martyrs' deaths as a ransom for the nation's sin.13 14 15
Seven brothers and their mother
4 Maccabees 7:24–16:25The family familiar from 2 Maccabees receives an amplified telling, with vivid descriptions of suffering and the mother's part in the book's argument.5 sources5 sources3. 4 Maccabees 1:134. 4 Maccabees 3:192. (1906)16. 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:4210. Swete
Connections to the Bible
Echoes and allusions
- Mark 10:45 · 4 Maccabees 17:20–22medium confidence
Pinchas Shir of the Israel Bible Center compares atonement through the martyrs' deaths with Mark 10:45, Matt 20:28, Heb 9:12, Rom 5 and 1 Tim 2:6. Marcin Chrostowski, writing in a Catholic university journal, explores possible connections with New Testament ideas.17 15 18
Retellings
- 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:42 · 4 Maccabees 5:1–16:25medium confidence
H. B. Swete judges that 4 Maccabees draws on 2 Maccabees for its martyr narrative, expanding the descriptions of suffering.16 10
Where each church stands
4 Maccabees Full table →
Why some kept it, why others left it out
Preservation and canonical rank did not always coincide. Jennifer Wright Knust, a critical scholar, notes the book in Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus but its omission from the canonical lists of Eusebius, Athanasius and Cyril of Jerusalem. Greek church writer Gregory of Nazianzus recommended a book about the martyrs whose description apparently fits 4 Maccabees. The Church of Greece prints it as an appendix; the Catholic Encyclopedia rejects its canonical claim.8 sources8 sources26. Knust27. Swete28. Nazianzus29. Oxford)30. Greece31. Committee32. (1910)12. (1910)
Kept
Left out
Early church: Greek
Knust notes that the canonical lists of Eusebius, Athanasius and Cyril of Jerusalem omit the book, despite its manuscript preservation.33 27
Catholic
The Catholic Encyclopedia denies 4 Maccabees a claim to canonicity and reports Protestant treatment of all four Maccabean books as apocryphal.32 12
Protestant: Reformed
The Westminster Confession denies the Apocrypha doctrinal authority and permits their use as human writings.34
Misconceptions
Myth Josephus wrote 4 Maccabees.
Actually: Eusebius and Jerome attributed a work of this description to Josephus. Swete and the Jewish Encyclopedia reject that attribution on grounds of language and style.4 sources4 sources35. Caesarea36. Jerome8. (1906)7. Swete
Sources
36 sources from 30 works
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Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), T. G. A. B., Maccabees, Books of (IV Maccabees)
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- 8
- 11section I, IV Maccabees, Integrity and Character↩
- 3
- 4
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Machabees, The Books of
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- 12
- 32
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H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1900)
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- 10
- 27
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- 13
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Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), T. G. A. B., Maccabees, Books of (IV Maccabees), section I, IV Maccabees
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Machabees, The Books of, opening paragraph
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), J. I. A., Maccabees, Books of (section II, IV Maccabees), section II, IV Maccabees
H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1900), part II, ch. 3, on 4 Maccabees (p. 281)
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), T. G. A. B., Maccabees, Books of (IV Maccabees), section I, IV Maccabees, Author and Date
H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1900), part II, ch. 3, on 4 Maccabees (pp. 280-281)
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), T. G. A. B., Maccabees, Books of (IV Maccabees), section I, IV Maccabees, Integrity and Character
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Machabees, The Books of, The Third and Fourth Books of Machabees
Marcin Chrostowski, “The Term ἀντίψυχος as an Expiatory Sacrifice of Martyrs in the Light of The Fourth Book of Maccabees and Other Ancient Extra-Biblical Literature, Verbum Vitae 39.3 (2021) 725-748”, abstract
Mark 10:45
45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Pinchas Shir, “Death as Atonement in 4 Maccabees (Israel Bible Center, 3 October 2019)”, introduction
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), Article VI, as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919)
Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592), preface to the Appendix (Prayer of Manasseh, 3–4 Esdras)
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)
NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)
Russian Synodal Bible, as published by Azbuka Very (azbyka.ru): contents and chapter notes
R. W. Cowley, 'The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today', Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974) 318–323
Jennifer Wright Knust, 'Who Were the Maccabees?' The Maccabean Martyrs and Performances on Christian Difference, in I. Saloul and J. W. van Henten (eds), Martyrdom: Canonisation, Contestation and Afterlives (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), p. 81 n. 7
H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1900), part I, ch. 5, Codex Vaticanus
Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 15, In Praise of the Maccabees (PG 35.912-933), English as posted by John Sanidopoulos, 'The Maccabees as Christian Martyrs', 1 August 2017, sections 1-2
The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database (University of Oxford), E. Rizos, “E01043: Gregory of Nazianzus in his Oration 15, On the Maccabees”, record E01043 (figshare API)
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, “Online Old Testament (Septuagint), book menu”, Παλαιά Διαθήκη menu
NRSV Bible Translation Committee, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha (1989), 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament', introductory note
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), Machabees, The Books of, opening paragraph; The Third and Fourth Books of Machabees
Jennifer Wright Knust, 'Who Were the Maccabees?' (Martyrdom, Amsterdam University Press, 2020), p. 81 n. 7
Westminster Assembly, Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter I (Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition) (1646), I.3
Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, tr. A. C. McGiffert (NPNF 2nd ser. vol. 1), 3.10.6
Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, tr. E. C. Richardson (NPNF 2nd ser. vol. 3), ch. 13 (Josephus)