Chapter Six

The attempt of an old Athenian to extirpate Judaism in Jerusalem (2 Macc 6:1-7). The persecution of the Jews in the neighboring Hellenistic cities (2 Macc 6:8-11). Reflections on the divine purposes of so severe a trial (2 Macc 6:12-17). The martyr’s death of the elder Eleazar (2 Macc 6:18-31).

2 Maccabees 6:1. Not long afterward the king sent an old Athenian to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and to cease living according to the laws of God, “Not long afterward...” — that is, after the dispatch of Apollonius with his army (V:24 ff.).

2 Maccabees 6:2. and also to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to rename it the temple of Zeus Olympius, and the temple in Gerizim — since those who lived in that place were foreigners — the temple of Zeus Xenius. “To defile the temple...” — this was achieved by renaming it the temple of Zeus Olympius, which made true worship impossible within it and introduced into it all the filth of pagan godlessness and impiety (vv. 4–5). As the executor (ἐπίσκοπος) of the king’s intention to de-Judaize Judea, an Athenian is sent — evidently a man Athenian by birth who was in the king’s service. — “To rename it the temple of Zeus Olympius...” — that is, to dedicate it to this deity. The Gerizim temple was to be renamed the temple of Zeus Xenius. Zeus Olympius — Ζεύς Ολύμπιος — is regarded as lord of the heavens and of the other deities. Zeus Xenius — Ζεύς Ξένιος — is the patron of hospitality and of strangers. Josephus’s remark that the Samaritan temple was dedicated to Zeus Hellenios (Ζεύς Ελλήνιος) must be considered an error (Antiquities XII, 5, 5).

2 Maccabees 6:3–5. The calamity that came upon them was severe and intolerable. The temple was filled with debauchery and revelry by the Gentiles, who consorted with prostitutes and mixed with women in the most sacred courts, bringing in things that were not permitted. The altar was also filled with abominable things forbidden by the law. This refers to the offering on the altar of animals unclean according to the law, which is mentioned more explicitly in 1 Macc 1:47.

2 Maccabees 6:6–7. It was impossible to observe the sabbath, to keep the ancestral feasts, or even to call oneself a Jew. They were led with bitter compulsion every month, on the king’s birthday, to the pagan sacrifices, and on the feast of Dionysus the Jews were compelled to walk in the festal procession in honor of Dionysus, crowned with ivy. “On the king’s birthday...” — γενέθλιος ἡμέρα — dies natalis — the celebration of this day is one of the most ancient customs, already mentioned among the Egyptians (Gen 40:20), among the Persians (in the works of Plato and Herodotus); the Gospels preserve a reference to the celebration of this day by Herod Antipas (Matt 14:6). — “Every month, on the king’s birthday...” This means either that the celebration was held once a year in the month in which the king’s birthday fell, or that this day (which fell, it seems, on the 25th of the month of Chislev, 1 Macc 1:59) was celebrated every month of the year, twelve times in all. This could have been either by special decree of the king himself, who believed too strongly in his own divinity (on coins he is styled θεός), or through the particular zeal of his overseers, who exploited this feast to most easily discover and punish those who disobeyed the king.

2 Maccabees 6:8. Such a decree also went out to the neighboring Greek cities, at the instigation of Ptolemy, that they should act in the same way against the Jews and compel them to sacrifice to idols, The neighboring Greek cities were probably the Philistine and Phoenician cities that had been Hellenized since the time of Alexander the Great, and where a considerable number of Jews lived. — “At the instigation of Ptolemy...” — that notorious enemy of the Jews, the son of Dorymenes (IV:45 ff.).

2 Maccabees 6:9–10. and those who refused to go over to Greek customs were to be killed. Then one could see real calamity. Two women were accused of having circumcised their children; and for this, they hung their infants at their breasts and, having led them publicly through the city, threw them down from the wall. Examples of the cruelties that accompanied the enforcement of the royal decree (cf. 1 Macc 1:60 ff.).

2 Maccabees 6:11. Others who had run to nearby caves to keep the seventh day in secret were betrayed to Philip and were burned alive, since they considered it wrong to defend themselves out of respect for the holiness of the day. On Philip — see V:22. On the death of many Jews out of reverence for the holiness of the sabbath — see 1 Macc 2:31 ff.

2 Maccabees 6:12–17. I urge those who happen to read this book not to be dismayed by these calamities, but to recognize that these sufferings were not meant for the destruction but for the chastening of our nation. For the fact that those who act impiously are not left long without punishment but are quickly overtaken by retribution is a sign of great beneficence. For not as with other nations does the Lord wait long to punish them until they have filled the measure of their sins; so too he did not decide concerning us to punish us afterward, when we would have reached the end of our sins. He never withdraws his mercy from us, and though he chastises with misfortune, he does not abandon his people. However, let these words serve as a reminder to us: after these few words let us return to the narrative. The writer sets forth his view on the moral and educative significance of the sufferings being endured — a view fully consistent with the biblical understanding of the matter (VII:33; Wis 11:11 ff.; XII:22; cf. Isa 54:7 ff.).

2 Maccabees 6:18. There was a certain Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man already well advanced in age but of very fine bearing; they forced him to open his mouth to eat pork. “Eleazar...already well advanced in age...” According to verse 24, he was already 90 years old.

2 Maccabees 6:19–23. Preferring a glorious death to a defiled life, he went forward willingly to the place of torture and spat out the food, as those who have the resolve to refuse what it is not lawful to taste out of love for life ought to do. Those who were presiding over the unlawful sacrifice, knowing this man from long ago, drew him aside privately and urged him to bring meat prepared by himself which he was permitted to eat, and to pretend that he was eating the sacrificial meats appointed by the king, so that by doing this he might be rescued from death and, through their old friendship with him, benefit from their kindness. But he, having resolved on a course worthy of his age and the dignity of his revered old age and the glory of his grey hairs, and his upbringing in virtue from childhood, and above all the holy legislation given by God, responded accordingly and said: send me without delay to my death; He said: “send me without delay to my death...” Greek: ταχέως λέγων προπέμπειν είς τόν αδην; Slavonic: “quickly, saying: I choose to be sent down to Hades...” Eleazar explains his resolve to die by two reasons: 1) that such hypocrisy is unworthy of his age and might lead young people into cowardice and apostasy from the faith (vv. 24–25); 2) that God’s judgment cannot be escaped either in this life or, all the more, in the life to come (v. 26). How so in the future life? — This is made clear in what follows, VII:14, where the faith of the Jews in the future resurrection is also plainly expressed: “for one dying at the hands of men it is a sweet hope to look to God that he will raise him up again; for you there will be no resurrection to life...”

2 Maccabees 6:24–27. for it is unworthy of our age to pretend, lest many of the young, learning that the ninety-year-old Eleazar has gone over to paganism, should themselves through my pretense, for the sake of a brief and paltry life, be led astray through me — and I should bring dishonor and a stain upon my old age. For even if at this present time I should escape the torment of men, I shall not escape the hand of the Almighty, either in this life or in death. Therefore, by courageously parting with life now, I shall show myself worthy of old age, “Worthy of old age” — which, in the belief of the Jews, was given as a reward for faithfulness to the law and for piety.

2 Maccabees 6:28–31. and will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws. When he had said this, he went at once to the torture. And those who were leading him, who had shown him kindness not long before, changed their attitude to hostility because of what he had said, for they considered these words to be madness. When he was already at the point of death from the blows, he groaned and said: It is known to the Lord, who has perfect knowledge, that though I could have been delivered from death, I am enduring these cruel bodily sufferings under the lash, while in my soul I bear them gladly out of fear of him. So he died, leaving in his death not only to young men but to the great majority of the nation an example of nobility and a memorial of virtue.