II Maccabees 12-3: An Exegesis
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II Maccabees renders the compelling details surrounding the events culminating in the revolt of the Israelites led by Judas Maccabeus. Glorified by Dante in the Divine Comedy, Paradiso (18:40-2), Maccabeus surfaces as one of the everlasting heroes of world history, a figure who also merited an oratorio composed by the famed Handel in 1747. Despite the high level of visibility surrounding the historical figure of Judas Maccabeus, the three books of Maccabees have been eliminated from several Christian communities. In 1534 Martin Luther relegated these books to an appendix pronouncing them "not to be equated with Holy Scripture." In contrast, Catholic tradition has authorized their validity since the days of the early Church, still including them as "apocryphal works" determined to be "deutero-canonical" by the Council of Trent in 1546. Whereas Protestants questioned their legitimacy from the beginning, it was not until the 19th century that officials of the Russian Orthodox Church excluded Maccabees from their canons. The debate over the authenticity of the Old Testament Books of Maccabees illuminates the complexity of their archeological, linguistic, and theological hermeneutics. Examining II Maccabees 12:3 provides a condensed focal point for analysis of the Maccabean question. In The New Jerusalem Bible the passage reads "The people of Joppa committed a particularly wicked crime: they invited the Jews living among them to go ab
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The imagery of drowning by water evoked by II Maccabees 12:3 underscores the paradoxical centrality of water, functioning as both a life-giving and life-denying force, in many biblical passages. The Jews death by drowning contrasts the passage in Genesis 6: 13-16 where God instructs Noah to build an arc so that part of the population can be saved during the 40 days and nights of the flood. The theme of the covenant links these two seemingly divergent passages. The infidels at Joppa seek destruction against the Jews. Yet their destruction at the hands of Judas Maccabeus and his soldiers suggests that theirs was not a just fight. Noah is saved precisely because Yahweh saw him to be "a good man" who "walked with God." The God of the Old Testament can choose who is lawless and must be destroyed whereas the people of Joppa cannot. God's covenant symbolized by the rainbow which concludes the flood is a promise to watch over His chosen people.
II Maccabees 12:3 is delivered as a skirmish following the Jews' successful purification of the Temple, a feat later to be celebrated during the Festival of Lights. The passage in Exodus 14: 15-31 depicting "The Miracle of the Sea" is also associated with a major Jewish feast, that of
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Approximate Word count = 1477
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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