Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Maccabees

Scriptural Research Institute

dec. 2019 · Septuagint Cartea 24 · Scriptural Research Institute

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3ʳᵈ Maccabees happens earlier than 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, set between 217 and 205 BC, and does not include Judas the Hammer (the Maccabee), or his brothers, which implies it is part of a larger collection of Maccabean texts, possibly Jason of Cyrene's now lost five-volume version of Maccabees. If it was part of Jason's version of Maccabees, then it was likely the second or third volume, as it is before Jason and his brothers enter the story, but its abrupt beginning indicates it was not the first volume. Unlike 1ˢᵗ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees does have a supernatural element, as messengers descend from the sky to save the Judahites, although the Judahites were apparently unable to see them. As the story told within 3ʳᵈ Maccabees cannot be historically proven, it is generally considered to be a work of historical fiction, however, this cannot be proven either.

Like 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees appear to be an anti-Phrygian work, or at least anti-Sabaoth/Dionysus, suggesting it is another relic of Jason's work, and Jason's work was anti-Sabaoth in nature. In 3ʳᵈ Maccabees, the worship of Sabaoth at the Temple in Jerusalem is mentioned, under his Greek name Dionysus, while Philip the Phrygian in 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees is sent to govern Jerusalem decades later, he does appear to have been in charge of the Temple in Jerusalem.

References to the Judean god Sabaoth appear at this point in the Greek language literature, either transliterated directly in the form of Sabaoth or translated into Greek as Dionysus. While there is a similar word in the ancient Israelite scriptures, it as translated as ṣbảwt, meaning 'armies,' when the Hebrew translations were made under the Hasmoneans, which is likely a direct translation of the Aramaic term. This god Sabaoth was considered at the time, to be the same god as the Phrygian god Sabazios, who the Greeks also considered a local variant of Dionysus. The fact that Dionysus was the Greek name of Sabaoth and Sabazios was recorded by the many Classical Era scholars, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, Lydus, Cornelius Labeo, and Plutarch.