Victor L. Parker, «Judas Maccabaeus' Campaigns against Timothy», Vol. 87 (2006) 457-476
Both 1 and 2 Maccabees mention various campaigns of Judas Maccabaeus against
an opponent called Timothy. The author argues that although 1 Maccabees in
several instances does provide more accurate detail, 2 Maccabees’ presentation
of these campaigns as chronologically discrete has the greater historical
plausibility. Additionally, 2 Maccabees alone preserves a record of a third,
historically plausible campaign against Timothy. Overall, 2 Maccabees deserves
more esteem as an historical source than it commonly receives.
Judas Maccabaeus’ Campaigns against Timothy (1)
Both 1 and 2 Maccabees contain accounts of campaigns which Judas
Maccabaeus waged against a particularly pertinacious opponent called
Timothy. Unfortunately, neither book offers an entirely clear account
of them. In particular the placement of the campaigns within the
history of the Maccabaean revolt raises problems of historical
interpretation since the two books present the campaigns in different
contexts. Discussion thereof thus necessarily involves an old
interpretative difficulty which has long vexed scholars: assessing
properly the historical worth of the two Maccabaean books.
1. Correspondences between 1 and 2 Maccabees
If we follow the strict order of events in 1 Maccabees, then
immediately after the Purification of the Temple (on the conventional
chronology December of the year 164 B.C.) (2) Judas and his fellow
rebels engaged in a number of campaigns against the peoples round
about Judaea:
5,3 the Idumaeans
5,4-5 the “sons of Baean†— presumably in the Transjordan (3)
5,6-8 the Ammonites (4), led by Timothy
(1) To my son Timothy, on whose name we had not yet agreed when I
completed this manuscript.
(2) 1 Macc 4,52; cf. 2 Macc 10,5. The conventional chronology is most
clearly explained in E.J. BICKERMANN, “Ein jüdischer Festbrief vom Jahre 124 v.
Chr.â€, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (Leiden 1980) II, 144. See also: R.
HANHART, “Zur Zeitrechnung des I und II Makkabäerbuchesâ€, Untersuchungen
zur israelitisch-jüdischen Chronologie (Berlin 1964).
(3) Cf. Jubilees, 29,10. In both cases the reference is to Num 32,3. See
G. HÖLSCHER, “Bemerkungen zur Topographie Palästinasâ€, ZDPV 29 (1906) 134;
F.-M. ABEL, “Topographie des campagnes machabéennes, 1â€, RB 32 (1923) 513.
K. GALLING, “Judäa, Galiläa und der Osten in Jahre 164/3 v. Chr.â€, PJ 36 (1940)
52, suggests, however, a localisation in the environs of Jericho near the “stone of
Bohan†— in Greek: Baiwn — see Josh 15,6; 18,17.
(4) The author of 1 Maccabees has a strong preference for “historical†names:
the Idumaeans (e.g. 1 Macc 5,3) are “the sons of Esauâ€; for Scythopolis he
routinely sets Beth-shan — although the latter name in his day belonged
exclusively to the past. Accordingly, the inhabitants east of the Transjordanian
highlands are “Ammonites†— even if the historical tribe of that name had long
since disappeared.