they were, beaten with clubs. Hesychius : srv^a^iff <rav, sffpatpiffdqffav. The Vulgate, they were distended (distenti sunt) : for as in a drum the parchment or skin is distended, so in this kind of punishment the bodies were distended, that they
1. Tt&tuv . . Trotpt/xjSo'h.oig 'iyJhiva,v
2. TSctpxx, . • iiytvJi@-/iffotv itrftvpoi Iv
3. '2t>c[6\]/ii>'j . .
4. 'Iscptfag . . I' (f)vyov
5. A«y<S . .
6. Sos^oy^A . .
7. IIpO(pY!T6>V . .
e(p p st^atv aro^otrot
might more readily receive the blow. The apostle refers to Eleazar in the persecution of Antiochus, 2 Mace, vi., of whom at ver. 20 we have the following account : he came of his own accord to the torture (S-T/ TO TV^KUVOV) ; again at ver. 28 : and at ver. 30, but when he was at the point of death by the blows, he groaned) and said, It is manifest to the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, that though I might have been delivered (dMroXudqieti) from death, 1 endure these severe pains in my body, being beaten, etc. Furthermore, as ru/wr«w^t/v is to beat with clubs, so a-rroru//,- iravifyivy is to kill with clubs ; and the apostle uses the simple verb, because after rv^dvcav nttyav (comp. ver. 36), after they had made trial of this species of torture, they might, if they were disposed to break their faith, have even still accepted of deliver ance (avoXvTpuffiv). See Suicer's Thesaurus, which also proves the fact from Gataker, that this word is frequently used to ex press any violent death. I fancy the reason is, because clubs are a kind of arms most generally met with in all tumults and in a concourse of people : at least in this very passage the apostle seems to point to all kinds of death caused by tumults and in flicted by clubs (in which is included the mode adopted by Antiochus [the tympanum], and mentioned as surpassing the other instruments of torture), and in the following verse he comes to more exquisite punishments [punishments more refined in cruelty]. But the passive form has the middle signification : Then suffered themselves to be beaten with clubs. So also ver. 37,
t/ «4/ '
comp. ver. 36. — rqv dwrol.vrpuffiv, deliverance) Eleazar, as we have already seen, used the word acroXudSji/a/. The writer of the second book of Maccabees took care to make it appear, that he stood in need of some indulgence ; he pleads his excuse, ii. 24 — 31 — 33 : but yet the history of the Jewish people from the building of the second temple to the beginning of the New Testament is ex ceedingly valuable. — xpeirrovos, better) This resurrection is better than that which restores mortal life. There is a reference to the beginning of this verse. The antithesis is plain : Women re ceived their dead and recovered them from the resurrection (resuscitation) to a temporal life ; [in antithesis to] : Martyrs, who were subjected to death, set before their minds a better resurrec tion, not to temporal but to eternal life. Comp. 2 Mace. vii. 9, 11, 14,29, 36.