Category Archives: I Maccabees

II Maccabees and the Afterlife

Posted on December 23, 2014 by jamesbradfordpate

I finished the Deutero-canonical book of II Maccabees last night.  I was not planning to read II Maccabees during Hanukkah, which commemorates some of the historical events that II Maccabees is about.  It just happened that way.  I started the … Continue reading →

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Enoch, Jubilees, and the Mosaic Torah

Posted on November 12, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

I read two essays that I really enjoyed in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees.  The first one was Gabriele Boccaccini’s “From a Movement of Dissent to a Distinct Form of Judaism: The Heavenly Tablets in Jubilees … Continue reading →

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Oniads Vs. Hasmoneans

Posted on October 4, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

On page 498 of his Anchor Bible commentary on II Maccabees, Jonathan Goldstein speculates that the break between Onias IV and the Hasmoneans occurred after their battle with Nicanor. When Alcimus was installed as high priest, the Oniads and the … Continue reading →

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Some Interesting Points in Goldstein’s II Maccabees

Posted on September 28, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

I started Jonathan Goldstein’s Anchor Bible commentary on II Maccabees. Goldstein dates I Maccabees to 90 B.C.E., Jason of Cyrene’s work to 86 B.C.E., and the abridgement of Jason’s work that we recognize as II Maccabees to 78/7-63 B.C.E.  Goldstein … Continue reading →

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Scattered Ramblings on II Maccabees

Posted on December 15, 2011 by jamesbradfordpate

For my write up today on The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume Two: The Hellenistic Age, I’ll focus on the book of II Maccabees. On pages 294-295, Jonathan Goldstein defines a difference between I Maccabees and II Maccabees: “The author … Continue reading →

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The Maccabees and Discerning God’s Will

Posted on December 14, 2011 by jamesbradfordpate

In my reading of The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume Three: The Hellenistic Age, a theme that I often encountered was discerning the will of God.  In this post, I’ll be drawing from Jonathan Goldstein’s contribution to the volume, “The … Continue reading →

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Antiochus, Transubstantiation, Edenic Sabbath

Posted on December 11, 2008 by jamesbradfordpate

1. Source: Isaiah Gafni, “Historical Background,” Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, ed. Michael E. Stone (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984) 7-8. “The change in Seleucid policy may be attributed at least in part to external events. Following the defeat of … Continue reading →

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Stoic Martyrs

Posted on November 21, 2008 by jamesbradfordpate

Source: John Sellars, Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) 108-109. “If I am doing my best to be a rational being who is free and independent of others, then I will sometimes have to make choices that may appear … Continue reading →

Posted in Comps, Greco-Roman, I Maccabees, II Maccabees, III Maccabees, IV Maccabees, Religion | 2 Comments

Self-Defense on the Sabbath

Posted on November 6, 2008 by jamesbradfordpate

Source: H. Graetz, History of the Jews, volume II (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1893) 2. This isn’t on my reading list, but I don’t care because I’ve wanted to read Graetz’s history for a long time–ever since I … Continue reading →

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Paper on IV Maccabees: Looking for Diodorus

Posted on October 5, 2008 by jamesbradfordpate

Diodorus of Sicily was a Greek historian who lived in the first century B.C.E. In his Bibliotheca Historica, Book 40, he discusses the Jews. Martin Hengel cites him to say that some Jews believed the Hasmoneans were violating their ancestral … Continue reading →

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