The Fifth Book of the Maccabees is an ancient Jewish work relating the history in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.

Content

The book chronicles the events from Heliodorus' attempt to rob the Temple treasury in 186 BC to the death of

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

's two sons about 6 BC. Similar to other

Books of the Maccabees The Books of the Maccabees or the Sefer HaMakabim (the ''Book of the Maccabees'') recount the history of the Maccabees, the leaders of the Jewish rebellion against the Seleucid dynasty. List of books The Books of the Maccabees refers to a series o ...

, this work aims at consoling Jews in their sufferings and encouraging them to be steadfast "in their devotion to the Mosaic law".

Textual history

The book survives in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, but was probably composed in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, judging from numerous

Hebraism Hebraism �hiːbreɪz(ə)mis a lexical item, usage or trait characteristic of the Hebrew language. By successive extension it is often applied to the Jewish people, their faith, national ideology or culture. Idiomatic Hebrew Hebrew has many idiom ...

s. As no trace of a Hebrew text exists, some scholars (e.g. Zunz,

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielko ...

and

Samuel Davidson Samuel Davidson (September 18061 April 1898) was an Irish biblical scholar. Life He was born at Kellswater, County Antrim, the son of Abraham Davidson, into a Scots-Irish presbyterian. He was educated at the village school, under James Darrag ...

) consider the work to have been in Arabic from Hebrew memoirs. The author probably was a Jew living some time after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The book bears some relationship to the history of

Josippon ''Josippon'' ( ''Sefer Yosipon'') is a chronicle of Jewish history from Adam to the age of Titus. It is named after its supposed author, Josephus Flavius, though it was actually composed in the 10th century in Southern Italy. The Ethiopic vers ...

.James R. Davila
'The More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.'
U of St. Andrews. Last accessed: 7 May 2013. The book is considered canon by the Syriac Orthodox Churc

Controversy

Some believe that the work is little more than a summary of the events in the first four Books of Maccabees and the relevant chapters in

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

. Only chapter 12 is original but also "teems with errors of various kinds". Others hold this to be extremely unlikely, and believe it may have relied upon

Jason of Cyrene Jason of Cyrene ( el, Ἰάσων ὁ Κυρηναῖος) was a Hellenistic Jew who lived around the middle of the second century BCE (fl. ~160–110 BCE?). He is the author of a five-volume history of the Maccabean Revolt and its preceding ...

Justus of Tiberias Justus of Tiberias (Tiberias, ca. 35 AD - Galilee, ca 100 AD) was a 1st century Jewish author and historiographer. All that we know of his life comes from the ''Vita'' which Flavius Josephus apparently wrote in response to the assertions made by Ju ...

, and/or

Nicolaus of Damascus Nicolaus of Damascus (Greek: , ''Nikolāos Damaskēnos''; Latin: ''Nicolaus Damascenus'') was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He w ...

. There is much debate on the relation of this book to

. Many scholars on Josippon believe it is nothing more than an epitome of it. Some scholars think that this is impossible, due to the conclusion that 5 Maccabees predates Josippon, believing it to be the other way around, with Jossippon summarizing multiple works, including 5 Maccabees.

Title

The designation ''5 Maccabees'' was introduced in 1832 by Henry Cotton Henry Cotton, trans
''The Five Books of Maccabees in English, with Notes and Illustrations''.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 1832. and perpetuated by Samuel Davidson and others. Alternative titles include ''Arabic 2 Maccabees'' and ''Arabic Maccabees''. The name is also used to denote a text contained in the ''Translatio Syra Peshitto'', edited by Ceriani, which however is nothing more than a Syriac version of the 6th book of Josephus' Jewish War.

References

5 Lost Jewish texts

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20140810152435/http://www.nieuw-apostolisch-bijbelverbond.org/5-maccabees {{Tanakh-stub