MACCABEES. 



from the reign of Antiochus Epiphancs, to the deatli of 

 Simon the high prielt ; that is, from the year of the world 

 3S29, to the year ,^869 ; 131 years before Chrift. The 

 fecor.d book of the Maccabees begins with two epiftles fent 

 from the Jews of Jerufalem to the .lews of Egypt and 

 Alexandria ; to exhort them to obferve the feaft of the dedi- 

 cation of the new altar ereiSed by Judas, on his purifying 

 the temple. The firll was written in the 169th year of the 

 era of the Seleucidx, i e. before Chrill 144 ; and the fecond 

 in the 1 88th year of the fame era, or i 25 before Chrift ; and 

 both appear to be fpurious. After thefe epililes follows 

 the preface of the author to his hiftory, which is an abridg- 

 ment of a larger work, compofcd by one Jafon, a Jew of 

 Cyrene, who wrote in Greek the hillory of Judas Macca- 

 biEUS, and his brethren, and the wars againll Antiochus 

 Epiphanes, and Eupator his fon. The two laft chapters 

 contain events under the reign of Demetrius Soter, the fuc- 

 ceflbr of Antiochus Eupator, and contain fuch varieties in 

 their ftyle, as render it doubtful whether they had the fame 

 author as the reft of the work. This fecond book does not, 

 by any means, equal the accuracy and excellency of the firlt. 

 It contains an hiitory of about fifteen years, from the exe- 

 cution of Heliodorus's commiffion, who was fent by Scleucus 

 to fetch away the treafures of the Temple, to the victory 

 obtained by Judas Maccabsus over Nicanor ; that is.. from 

 the year of the world 3 8 28, to the year 3843, 157 years 

 before Chrift. Cahnet. 



There are in the Polyglot bibles, both of Paris and Lon- 

 don, Syriac verfions of both thefe books ; but they, as well 

 as the Englifh verfions which we have among the apocryphal 

 writers in our bibles, are derived from the Greek. For a 

 further account of Judas MaccabiEUS, and of his brothers, 

 whofe hiftory is recorded in the tirll and fecond books of 

 the Miccabees, and alfo by Jofephus in his Antiquities ; 

 we refer to the article Jews, and alfo to the biographica' ar- 

 ticle Judas Maccab^eus. The third book of the Mac- 

 cabees contains the hiftory of the perfecution of Ptolemy 

 Philopater againft the Jews ni Egypt, and their futferings 

 under it ; and feems to have been written by fome Alexan- 

 drian Jew in the Greek language, not long after the time 

 of Siracides. This book, with regard to its fubjeA, ought 

 to be called the firft, as the things which are related in it 

 occurred before the Maccabees, whofe hiftory is recorded in 

 the firft and fecond books ; but as it is of lefs authority and 

 repute than the other two, it is reckoned after them. It is 

 extant m Syriac, though the trandator did not feem to have 

 well underftood the Greek language. It is in moft of the 

 ancient manufcript copies of the Greek Septuagint, particu- 

 larly in the Alexandnan and Vatican, but was never inferted 

 into the vulgar Latin verfion of the bible, nor confe- 

 quently into any of our EnglilTi copies. The firft authentic 

 mention we have of this book is in Eufjbius's Chronicon. 

 It is alfo named with two other books of the Maccabees 

 in the Sjth of the apoftolic canons. But it is ui.certaiii 

 when that canon was added. Grotius thinks that this 

 book was written after the two firft bonk'^, and (hortly after 

 the book of Ecclefiafticus, from which -.rcumftance it was 

 called tiie third boo.k of Maccabees. M reover, Jofephus's 

 hiftory of the martyrs that fuffered under Antiochus Epi- 

 phanes, is found in (ome manufcripf G.eek bibles, under 

 the name of ihs fourth book of the Maccabees. This book, 

 afcribed to Jofephus, occurs under the title " Concerning 

 the Empire or Government of Reafon ;" but learned men 

 have exprefled a doubt whether this was the book known 

 to the ancients as xhs fourth book of the Maccabees. Phi- 

 loftratus, Eufebius, and St. Jerom, knew the book " Con- 

 cerning the Governmeut of P..eafo:i,'' and afcribed it to 



2 



.lofephus, by the name of the book of the Maccabees. St. 

 Gregory Nazian/.en, St. Ambrofe, and St. Chryfoftora, 

 in the charadtcrs they have given of the feven Maccabees, 

 and of old Eleazar, have plainly followed what we find in 

 this book. The author has enlarged and adorned the hif- 

 tory of Eleazar, and of the feven brothers tha Maccabees, 

 who are faid to have fuffered martyrdom with their mother, 

 as it has been faid, chiefly on the authority of Rufinus, 

 who has given the names of the feven brothers, and of their 

 mother, at .Xntioch. (2 Mac. vi. vii.) Others, however, 

 have fuppofed, that the fcene of the martyrdom of the feven 

 brethren was at Jerufalem. As it was defigned for an 

 example of terror to the Jews of Judaea, it would hnve lolt 

 its force, if it had been executed any where elfe befides 

 that country. Thofe who maintain that they fuffered at 

 Antioch, allege, that their tombs were (hewn there in the 

 time of St. Jerom, and that a church, dedicated under their 

 name, was found there in the time of St. Auftin. The 

 firft of the feven brethren, as the ftory is related, having 

 declared to the king that he would die fooner than violate 

 the laws of God, was feized by the executioners, who cut 

 out his tongue, and the extremities of his hands and feet, 

 and tore off the flvin of his hand. While ftill alive, after 

 being thus mangled, he was thrown into a burning pan, 

 heated over a fierie fire. Such is the account in 2 Mac. 

 vii. 2. -. The " Government of Reafon" declares, that 

 the executioner, having ftripped off his clothes, tied his 

 hands behind his back, and whipped him with fcourges, 

 without his indicating the leaft fign of pain. Afterwards 

 they fixed him upon a wheel, where, after having had his 

 limbs (liattered to pieces, heexpoftulated with Antiochus, re- 

 proached him for his barbarity, and infulted him on account 

 of all his unfuccefsful attempts. Then the executioner, 

 raifing the wheel upon which he was extended, and lighting 

 a fire under it, thus confumed him bv a new torture. He 

 died, exhorting his brethren to manifeft a fimilar conftancy. 

 The other brothers alfo fuffered by the moft cruel tortures 

 which the king could inflift ; but it is needlefs to recount 

 them. The motiier of thefe martyrs alfo fuffered death, ae 

 fome fay, by throwing herfelf into the fire, to evade the 

 cruelty pratlifed on her fons, and threatened to herfelf. 

 The church of Rome has celebrated a feaft, Auguft i, in 

 honour of thefe martyrs ; who were the firft, and for a long 

 time the only martyrs of the O d Teftament, in honour of 

 whom altars and temples were erefted ; and they are the 

 only faints of that kind, for whom there remains an office 

 or breviary commemorative in the Roman Breviary. The 

 fufferiiigs of thefe feven brethren, and hkewife of Eleazar, 

 related 2 Mac. c. vi. are entirely omitted in the firft book 

 of Maccabees ; although tlie author of it there writes of 

 the Jewifh affairs, and ot the fnfferings of the Jews in the 

 time of Antiochus. We add that there is not any notice 

 taken of this Eleazar, or thefe feven brethren, or their 

 mother, by Jofephus, in any of his authentic writings ; 

 though he had twice a fair occafion of mentioning them, 

 once in his " Hiftory of the Jewifh War," I. i. and again 

 in his " Antiquities," 1. xii. cap. 5'. It is prefiimed that he 

 would have mentioned a fad fo remarkable, if it had really 

 occurred. As to the work above-mentioned, " Of the 

 Empire of Reafon," which has been afcribed to him, many 

 learned men, as Cave fays, deny it to be his; and Mr. 

 Whi ton, in his Englifli tr.anllation of all the genuine writings 

 of Jofeptius, has omitted this. Dr. Lardner thinks that it 

 was the worn of fome Chriili 'n. This hiftory wants certain 

 internal charafters of credibility. The faft itfelf is very- 

 extraordinary, infomuch that it is very iraprcbable, and 

 almoft incredible. The whole ftory has the appearance of 



a contrived 



