Gary Morrison, «The Composition of II Maccabees: Insights Provided by a Literary topos», Vol. 90 (2009) 564-572
II Maccabees is an unusual text, its composition and content are topics of extensive discussion. This paper identifies a literary construct that we attribute to the epitomiser. Its identification allows us to assign various parts of the text to the same hand giving us more insight into both the text’s composition and the epitomiser’s ability as an historian and writer. Furthermore, the identified literary topos suggests that recent attempts to minimise the extent to which II Maccabees represents any conflict between the Greeks and the Jews, Judaism and Hellenism may need to be reconsidered, some apparent instances of favourable relations between the Jews and other nations (in particular the Hellenes) are not what they seem.
568 Gary Morrison
Onias III, a virtuous and law-abiding former high priest. In the account
Menelaus, who had scurrilously succeeded Jason as High Priest (2 Macc
4,23-24) arranges for one Andronicus to murder Onias, probably to cover up
thievery from the Temple that he had undertaken to pay promised bribes, a
theft that Onias was about to expose (2 Macc 4,32-34). We are then informed
that: ‘The wicked murder of this man not only caused resentment among the
Jews but even among many from other nations’. The passage continues to
place further emphasis on the wickedness of the deed by becoming more
specific as to whence some of the sympathy derived: even the Greeks, we are
told, detested this crime (14).
One possible reading of this narrative suggests that here we have an
example of friendly relations between the other nations and the Jews (15).
However, recognising that this passage is another example of our topos
suggests another interpretation: The dignity of Onias is magnified by
suggesting the unlikely; first foreigners and then specifically Greeks condemn
his murder. Friendship isn’t being presented here; rather the passage depends
on improbability and exaggeration to reinforce the point: ‘even those godless
murderous Greeks who have caused us so much pain and suffering, who
themselves have killed so many of our people, even they thought that this
murder of that most upstanding Onias was callous and unjust’. Furthermore,
this interpretation is supported by the overall context of the chapter. The
author has not long finished emphasising the hostility of the Jews towards
Hellenic customs, condemning Jason for introducing Hellenic practices into
Jerusalem and undermining ancestral ways (2 Macc 4,7-20). Our author is not
now likely to be praising anything Hellenic, let alone the Greeks themselves;
the subtlety of our literary topos is more probable.
The same conclusion applies to two other examples that some see as
demonstrative of Jewish ‘friendly relations’ with Gentiles (16). The first is a
continuation of the account of the Jewish accusers of Menalaus, who were
condemned to death by Antiochus (2 Macc 4,39-48). Following on from this
description we learn that Antiochus’ condemnation resulted in even the
Tyrians showing sympathy in the form of a splendid funeral (2 Macc 4,49).
Our reading would not see this as sympathetic support, rather an instance of
unlikely generosity emphasising the unjustness of Antiochus’ actions. After
all, the Tyrians are, elsewhere, presented as supporters of pagan rituals (2
Macc 4,18-20) and had brought some of the Temple’s treasures (2 Macc
4,32); acts inconsistent with Jewish ideals (17).
(14) See 2 Macc 4,35-36: “The wicked murder of this man not only caused resentment
among the Jews but even among many from other nations. (36) When the king returned
from Cilicia, the Jews from Antioch sent him a petition about the indefensible killing of
Onias, a crime detested even by the Greeks†diΔ h}n aijtivan ouj movnon Ioudai'oi, polloi; de; kai;
tw'n a[llwn ejdeivnazon kai; ejdusfovroun ejpi; tw/' tou' ajndro;" ajdivkw/ fovnw/. tou' de; basilevw"
ejpanelqovnto" ajpo; twn kata; Kilikivan tovpwn ejnetuvgcanon oiJ kata; povlin Ioudai'oi
summisoponhrountwn kai; tw'n ÔEllhvnwn uJpe;r tou' para; lovgon to;n Onian ajpektonh'sqai.
v
(15) So (e.g.) GOLDSTEIN, II Maccabees, 241.
(16) See (e.g.) S.R. JOHNSON, Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity
(Berkeley, CA 2004) 38-39; GOLDSTEIN, I Maccabees, 34; GOLDSTEIN, II Maccabees, 200-
201, 241.
(17) The Tyrians are only mentioned in Chapter 4 (2 Macc 4,18.32.44.49). Little can be
gleaned about Jewish attitudes towards the Tyrians in these references — although buying