Chapter Seven
Professor Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin Explanatory Bible Commentary on the Third Book of Maccabees ◄ Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter VII The king’s letter favorable to the Jews (1—7). The execution of the apostates (8—13). The return of the remaining Jews to their homes (14—20).
1. “King Ptolemy Philopator to the commanders of Egypt and all those appointed to positions — greetings and good health. We ourselves are in good health, as are our children, for the great God prospers our affairs according to our desire.
1. “And our children...” τα τέκνα ημών ... In 217 or 216 BC, the year to which the event described in our book belongs, Ptolemy, as far as is known, did not yet have any children, at least not a single legitimate one. Later there was born to him by his sister-wife a crown prince, Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who at the death of his father (in 203 BC) was only 5 years old. — “The great God...” Here this is unquestionably Yahweh, whom the king now confesses as the true God (VI: 25).
2. Some of our friends, acting out of malice, frequently represented to us and persuaded us to gather all the Jews in the kingdom and to torture them with extraordinary punishments as traitors,
3. adding that until this was done, the affairs of our kingdom would never be set in good order, on account of the hostility they harbor toward all peoples.
3. On the hostility that the Jews harbored toward all peoples, many other ancient writers speak: cf. Tacitus, Hist. V, 5, 2; Dio Cass. 49, 22; Diod. 34, 1, p. 524; Philostr. Apoll. 5, 33; Josephus, Against Apion 2, 10, 14; 1 Thess. II: 15; Esth. III: 13; Juven. 14, 103 ff.
4. These men brought them here in chains, with violence, as slaves, or rather as plotters, and without any examination or investigation attempted to destroy them, devising cruelties more savage than even Scythian customs.
4. “Devising cruelties more savage than even Scythian customs...” Greek: νόμου σκυθών αγριωτέραν έμπεπορπημένοι ωμότητα ..., Slavonic more precisely: “girded with a savagery fiercer than the law of the Scythians...” — that is, as if they had clothed themselves (or armed themselves) with a cruelty more savage than Scythian customs. — The word νόμος — law — is frequently used in the sense of “custom.”
5. We strictly forbade this, and out of the goodwill we bear toward all people we immediately granted them their lives; and when we learned that the heavenly God is the faithful protector of the Jews and always defends them as a father defends his sons, and also taking into account their well-known goodwill toward us and toward our ancestors, we justly freed them from every charge of any kind whatsoever
6. and ordered everyone and each one to return to their own homes, so that nowhere should anyone in any way insult them or reproach them for what happened through no fault of their own.
6. “Reproach them for what happened through no fault of their own...” — that is, for the fact that they were condemned to punishment as traitors and rebels.
7. Know that if we undertake anything evil against them or in any way offend them, we shall have against us not a man but the Most High God, who rules over every authority, as the avenger of our deeds in all things and always without fail. Be in good health.”
8. Upon receiving this letter, the Jews did not hasten to depart at once, but asked the king that those of the Jewish race who had willfully abandoned the holy God and the law of God might receive through them the punishment they deserved,
8. “Receive through them the punishment they deserved...” — by virtue of the law of Moses in Deut. XIII: 6 ff.
9. adding that those who had transgressed the divine ordinances for the sake of the belly would never have good dispositions toward the king’s rule either.
9. “For the sake of the belly...” — that is, for the sake of sensual pleasures and excessive love of ease, or for temporary advantages (see II: 23). In later history a curious example of similar reasoning was offered by Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine the Great, who said: ne imperatori quidem fidos fore, qui Deo fidem non servarent (cf. Eusebius, Vit. Constant. I, 16).
10. The king found that they were speaking the truth, approved of them, and gave them full authority in everything, so that they might destroy throughout every place of his kingdom, without hindrance and without special royal permission or oversight, those who had transgressed the law of God.
11. Then, having thanked him as was proper, the priests and all the people’s multitude sang “alleluia” and joyfully departed.
12. Every fellow-tribesman from among those who had been defiled, whom they encountered on the road, they punished and killed as an example to others.
13. On that day they killed more than three hundred men and celebrated with joy, putting the impure to death.
14. They themselves, having remained faithful to God to the death and having received the full joy of salvation, set out from the city, crowned with all manner of fragrant flowers, with joy and shouts, with praises and melodious songs, giving thanks to God, the Father of their ancestors, the eternal Savior of Israel.
15. Having arrived at Ptolemais, called Rhodopheron (Rose-bearing) after the character of the place, where by their common agreement ships awaited them for seven days,
16. they arranged there a feast of salvation, for the king had generously provided them with everything that each person needed until reaching his home.
15. “At Ptolemais, called Rhodopheron after the character of the place...” Such a locality, abounding in rose plantations that produce the finest rose oil in the entire East, exists to this day in middle Egypt, in the district of Arsinoite, on the western bank of the Nile and on the northeastern shore of the great Canal of Joseph. This was probably the gathering point for the Jews returning to their homes.
17. Since they arrived here in peace, with appropriate acts of thanksgiving, they likewise established these days to be celebrated joyfully during their sojourn there.
18. Having consecrated these days and confirmed their vow by erecting a pillar at the place of the feast, they set out further by land and sea and river, each to his own home, unharmed, free, in full joy, protected by the royal command. At that time they also gained greater power and glory than before and became feared by their enemies, with no one oppressing them in the least with regard to their possessions,
18. “Having consecrated these days...” — that is, dedicating them to the Lord as festive days and decreeing that they be recognized as such for all future times.
19. and all received back their own property according to the register, so that those who had something of theirs returned it with the greatest fear, for the greatest God had manifested the greatest benefactions to them for their salvation.
19. “All received back their own property according to the register...” The author here assumes it to be known that at the time of the registration and arrest of the Jews (IV: 11) an inventory of their movable and immovable property had also been compiled and declared to belong to the treasury. This subsequently greatly facilitated each person’s recovery of his own. — “Returned it with the greatest fear...” — with fear, on the one hand, of the king’s displeasure, and on the other hand, of the wrath of God as well.
20. Blessed be the Savior of Israel for ever and ever! Amen.