MACCABEES, BOOKS OF 613 MACCABEES, BOOKS OF
book (e. g. i':s beginning with 6 dt ^iXoTrartop, and its reference, in tcov TrpoaTroStSiiyfisvwv, ii,25,to some pas- sage not contained in the present narrative), which has led to the supposition that it is either a mere fragment of a larger work (Ewald, Davidson, etc.), or that the be- ginning only has been lost (Grimm, Keil, etc.). Against this, however, Gratz riglitly urges that it most thor- oughly and in a most complete manner carries through its design.
All the attempts to determine the age of the book are based upon pure conjecture, and entirely depend upon the view entertained about its contents, as may be seen from the two extremes between which its date has been placed. Tluis Allin {Judgment of the Jewish Church, p. 67) will have it that " it was written by a Jew of Egypt, under Ptolemy Philopator. i. e. about B.C. 200 ;" while Grimm places it about A.D. 39 or 40.
V. Camnicity. — Like the other Apocrypha, this book was never part of the Jewish canon. In the Apostolic canons, however, which are assigned to the 3d century, it is considered as sacred writing (Can. 85) ; Theodoret, too (died cir. A.D. 457), quotes it as such {in Dan. xi, 7). Still it was never accepted in the Western churches, and formed no part of the Koman Vulgate ; it was there- fore not received into the canon of the Catholic Church, nor inserted as a rubric in the Apocrypha contained in the translation of the Bible made by the Heformers.
VI. Versions and Literature. — The Greek is contained in the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS., and is given in Valpy's edition of the Sept. The oldest version of it is the Syriac, which is very free, and fuU of mistakes; it is given in the London Polyglot, and has lately been published by De Lagarde, Libi-i Veteris Testamenti Apoc- rj/phi (London, 18(51). The first Latin version of it is given in the Complutensian Polyglot ; another Latin ver- sion, by F. Nobilius, is given in the London Polyglot ; the first German translation, as far as we can trace it, is given in the Zurich Bible printed by Froschover (1531) ; another, by Joacliim Ciremberger, appeared in Witten- berg (1554); De Wette, in the first edition of his trans- lation of the Bible, made conjointly with August! (1809- 14), also gave a version of this book, which is now ex- cluded from his Bible ; and another German version is given in Gutmann's translation of the Apocrypha (Alto- na, 1841). The first English version was put forth b}^ Walter Lynne in 1550, which was appended, with some few alterations, to the Bible printed by John Daye (1551), and reprinted separately in 1563 ; a new and better version, with some notes, was published by Whis- ton, Authentick Records (Lond. 1727), i, 162-208 ; a third version, made by Crutwell, is the Bible with Bp. Wilson's Notes (Bath, 1785) ; and a fourth version, with brief but useful notes, was made by Cotton, The Five Books of Maccabees (Oxford, 1832).
Of exegetical helps we mention Eichhorn, Einleitung in d. apoicr. Schriften d.A.T. (Leips, 1795), p, 278-289 ; Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iv, 535 sq. ; Herz- feld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i, 457, etc. ; Griitz, Ge- schichte der Juden (2d edition, Leips. 1863), iii, 444, etc. ; Gaab, Ilandhuch zum philologischen Verstehen der apo- knjphischeii-Schriften d. A . T." (Tubing. 1818), ii, 614 sq.; and especially Grimm, Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Hand- buch zu den Apokrijphen d. A.T. (Leips. 1857), p. 213 sq.
MACCABEES, the FOURTH Book of {a), though not given in the Roman Vulgate, and therefore not in- serted in the Apocrypha contained in tlie Bibles trans- lated by the Reformers, yet exists in (ireek in two lead- ing texts. One, which, on account of its more extensive circulation, may be called the received or common text, is contained in the early edition of the Sept. printed at Strasburg, 1526, Basel, 1545 and 1550, Frankfurt, 1597, Basel, 1582, and in the editions of Josephus's work, and is given in its purest form in Bekker's edition of Jose- phus (Leips. 1855-56, 6 vols.). The other is the Alex- andrian, or that of the Codex Alexandrinus, and is tlie more ancient and preferable one ; it is contained in the editions of the Sept. by Grabe and Breitinger, and is
adopted, with some few alterations after the common text, in Apel's edition of the Apocrypha (Leipsic, 1837), See Schaack, De libro fit,' MuKKajiaiovQ qui Josepiho tri- huitur (Kopenhagen, 1814).
I, Title. — This book is called 4 Maccab. {MaKKaj3ai- tov 8' if T(TapT7] tCjv MaKKa(3aiKU)v /Ji'/SXoc) in the va- rious MSS., in the Codex Alexandriinis, by Philostorgius and Syncellus (p, 629, 4, and 530, 17, ed. Dind.) ; in Cod. Paris. A, it is denominated 4 Maccab., a Treatise on Reason (Mo/c/ca/Saioji^ rirapToc iripi (jw(ppovog Xoyu- pov), by Eusebius {Hist. Ecclesiast. iii, 10, b) and Jerome {Catal. Script. Ecclesiast.} it is called On the Supv-emacy of Reason {ttcoI avTOKpc'iTopoQ Xoyicrpov), and in the editions of Josephus's works, Josejjhus's Treatise on the Maccabees (<i>Xa/3. 'luxylftrov tig MaKKafiaiovg Xvyog).
II, Design, Division, and Contents. — The design of this book is to encourage the Jews, who — being surrounded by a philosophical heathenism, and taunted by its moral and devout followers with the trivial nature and appar- ent absurdity of some of the Jlosaic precepts — were in danger of being led astray from their faith, to abide faitiifully by tlie Mosaic law, and to stimulate them to observ^e in every waj'^ their ancestral religion, by con- vincing them of the reasonableness of their divine law, and its unparalleled power to control the human pas- sions (comp. xviii, 1, 2). To carry out this design the book is divided into tivo pai-ts, opening with an intro- duction, as follows :