THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
suppression of the Jewish religion became the cause of the open revolt against Syrian overlordship, describes the changing results of this revolt under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus until his death (161 B.C.); then the further course of the Maccabean efforts under the guidance of Jonathan, brother of Judas, who, by adroitly taking advantage of circumstances, was able to obtain from the Syrian kings recognition of his status as prince and high priest of the Jews (161-143 B.C.); finally the history of the high priest Simon, a third brother (143-135 B.C.). The narrative is rich in detail and by its unadorned simplicity wins a confidence which, so far as Jewish history is concerned, is not shaken by the fact that the author shows himself badly informed on matters concerning foreign nations, such as the Romans. The exaggerate^ numbers even do not detract from its credibility in other things. That a narrative which enters so into detail must be based upon other sources is a matter of course, though nothing more definite can be stated concerning the character of the sources. A reference to these seems to be indicated in ix, 22 (cf. Grimm, in Fritzsche, Exegetisches Handbuch, iii, 22 sqq.). The book compares to good advantage with other historical books in that it fixes all important events according to an established chronology, the Seleucidan era, which begins in the autumn of 312 B.C. But I Maccabees apparently makes the era begin in the spring of that year. The time of composition can be fixed with great probability within very narrow limits. On the one hand the author knew a chronicle of the acts of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.; cf. xvi, 24). From this can be inferred that he wrote after John's reign. On the other hand, he certainly wrote before the expedition of Pompey, since the Romans were for him friends and protectors of the Jewish people. The composition belongs therefore to an early decade of the first pre-Christian century. That the book was originally written in Hebrew is evident from its linguistic character, a conclusion confirmed by the testimony of Origen and Jerome; the former (in Eusebius, Hist, eccl., VI, xxv, 3) gives the Hebrew title of the book, the meaning of which, on account of the uncertainty of the text-tradition, is difficult to ascertain. Jerome says in the Prologus galeatus : " I Maccabees I found in Hebrew; II Maccabees is Greek, as can be proved from the very language." The Greek translation was used by Josephus (cf. Grimm, in Fritzsche, Exegetisches Handbuch, p. 28; H. Bloch, Die Qucllen des Flavius Josephus, Leipsic, 1879, pp. 80-90). It is strange that Josephus knows hardly anything of chaps, xivxvi. J. von Destinon (Die Quellen des Flavius Josephus, Kiel, 1882, pp. 60-91) supposed therefore that the book originally did not have these chapters and that the first copy differed also in other respects from the present. But the very free use made by Josephus offers no sufficient support for this theory. A Hebrew recension which A. Schweizer (Untersuchungen uber die Reste eines hebrdischen Textes vom ersten M akkabderbuch, Berlin, 1901) considers original was made in the Middle Ages from the Latin (cf. TLZ, 1901, p. 605; REJ, xliii, 1901, pp. 215-221).
10. II Maccabees: This book is parallel with I Maccabees except that it begins a little earlier; viz., with the last year of Seleucus IV, Philopator, brother and predecessor of Antiochus Epiphanes, and closes much earlier; viz., with the victory of Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor (161 B.C.). It therefore covers a much shorter period than the first. In its literary, historical, and religious character it differs much from I Maccabees. It is more rhetorical, and its language and style prove that it was originally produced in Greek. In credibility it stands far below I Maccabees. It narrates in part the same events, in part different events, and in a different order. On the whole, in cases of conflict between the two, it is better to follow I Maccabees, though it may be admitted that in some details the second may here and there follow a better tradition. The means by which to decide with certainty in every case no longer exist; and the second book deserves a less degree of confidence, because its purpose is by no means exclusively historical. The author's interest was evidently more narrowly religious than that of the first. His immediate object was not to narrate the deeds of a glorious past, but to influence the present religiously.
Of the sources, the author himself says (ii, 19 sqq.) that his book is only an epitome of the large work of Jason of Gyrene, which in five books narrated the history of the Maccabean struggles in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Antiochus Eupator. Unfortunately, this Jason of Cyrene is otherwise wholly unknown. This much can be said of the time of the epitomist with some certainty, that he wrote before the destruction of Jerusalem, as may be inferred from the purpose of the book and also from xv, 37. Josephus seems to have read neither the work of Jason nor that of the epitomist . It is possible that the description of the tyrants who persecuted the pious and virtuous, given in Philo, Quod omnis probus liber, xiii, depends upon II Maccabees (so P. E. Lucius, Der Essenismus, Strasburg, 1881, pp. 36-39). Heb. xi, 35 sqq. seems to refer to II Mace, vi and vii. The first express quotation is found in Clement of Alexandria (Strom., V, xiv, ANF, ii, 467): " Aristobulus, who is mentioned by the composer of the epitome of the books of the Maccabees " (cf. II Mace, i, 10).
11. Ill Maccabees: If II Maccabees falls short of credibility when compared with the first, the third can lay still less claim to the character of a historical document. It has the name " Book of the Maccabees " very improperly and only because it treats also of the oppression and deliverance of believing Israelites. It has nothing to do with the time of the Maccabees. The contents are as follows: Ptolemy IV, Philopator (222-205 B.C.) visits the temple at Jerusalem after his victory over Antiochus the Great at Raphia (217 B.C.). Being seized with a desire to penetrate into the Holy of Holies, and not heeding the entreaties of the people to forego his outrageous purpose, the king is punished when about to carry out his design by falling paralyzed to the ground. Enraged at this, on his arrival in Egypt, he wreaks his vengeance on the Alexandrian Jews. But all his