Hebrew Bible: Daniel and Maccabees

Daniel and 1-4 Maccabees

12/05/2011

Final Papers:  DUE MONDAY 12/12 BY 11:59PM

   Absolutely no papers will be accepted late.  If all else fails, submit a paper with simply "land and children" and receive a D. :)

   Remember to check Blackboard, and write out 8 pages (and no more).

Final Exam:  THURSDAY 12/15 FROM 3-5, SAME ROOM

   On Wednesday, all the questions for the final will be posted on Blackboard.

Daniel and Maccabees -- same time period; same social and religious issues

Post-Persian History

•  Alexander the Great
• conquered the ancient world ~ 330 BCE
• died in 323 BCE
• split kingdom between two generals
• Ptolemies, ruling from Egypt, had control over Palestine (Jewish land) from 323-198 BCE
• Seleucids, ruling from Syria, had control over Palestine starting in 198 BCE
• Antiochus IV Epiphanes
• son of the Seleucid king who overtook Palestine
• ruled from 174-164 BCE
• the name Epiphanes was self-given name glorifying his "incarnation of wisdom and piety"
• in actuality, Antiochus was like an Ancient Hitler
• he sold the position of high priesthood to the highest bidder
• Jason paid to be the high priest; he urged Hellenization (Greek culture)
• opened a gymnasium in Jerusalem
• for exercise
• men exercised nude --> circumcision deemed abbrasive to the "perfect body" ideal of the Greeks
• Jews stop circumcising
• others have reversals....
• opened a school of thought in Jerusalem
• encouraged worship of Greek god Dionysus in Israelite temple
• hoped that Jerusalem would become like the shining Greek example of Polis
• Internal priestly skirmish seen as a revolt against Grecian rule
• Antiochus reacted by desecrating the Israelite temple
• took sacred dishes and tools (?)
• supposedly sacrified a pig to his god there
• he outlawed Judaism and ordered everyone to worship Zeus
• his actions paved the way for the Maccabean revolt
• Mattathias violently attempted to stop Hellenization
• Judah, his son, effectively led a revolt agains Antiochus' rule
• Israelite local rule lasted from 167-63 BCE
• Maccabee family ruled until Pompeii (Rome) conqured in 63 BCE

Daniel

   Chapters 1-6 -- court tales (like short stories)

   Chapters 7-12 -- Apocalypses (Gr. "Revelation").  Two types:

         -- revelation of the heavens

         -- often symbolic revelation of end times, either historical events or "The End" (like Daniel)

   Chapters 2-7 Aramaic; the rest in Hebrew.  One Theory as to why:

      -- ch. 1 composed later

      -- 2-6 independent tales (circulating in Persia, Aramaic being the local language)

      -- 7 written in Aramaic to tie in the later apocalypses

      -- 11-12 are appended apocalypses (in Hebrew)

Dating:  ch. 2-6 -- 5th century BCE (that is, after the Persians but before the Greeks)

              ch. 7-12 -- much later

Daniel's apocalypses

• statue of metals describe political history
• gold = Babylon;
• other metals are Media, Persia, Greece, and Ptolemies/Seleucids
• little horn = Antiochus
• prediction that he will die in Israel
• yet he dies in Persia
• **evidence of ch. 7-12 composition date in 2nd century BCE
• Nebuchadnezzar goes crazy and eats grass
• actually, the final Babylonian king, Nabonidus goes crazy
• but he is cured by conversion to YHWH by a Jewish man
• **first direct reference to resurrection in Hebrew Bible**
• **apocalypses advocate political quietism
• the Jewish practice of NOT revolting
• the idea was that God would intervene, and even if not, resurrection was promised in the end

1 Maccabees

• first written in Hebrew, but since it was lost, the oldest manuscript is in Greek
• covers 185-135 BCE (before Antiochus)
• **gives details of the revolt
• heroes are the Maccabees
• not in cannon -- probably because of the advocation of rebellion  (maybe that's why Daniel is in the cannon instead)

2 Maccabees

• covers same events as 1 Mac, but narrower time frame -- 175-161 BCE
• written in Greek by a man named Jason
• like a summary of the events
• anti-Greek tones

3 Maccabees

• not in the Protestant or even Catholic cannons
• nothing to do with Maccabees!
• **discribes the life of the Diaspora in Egypt

4 Maccabees

• Greek wisdom literature
• discusses the revolt

Daniel additions

• in the furnace -- a pslam/prayer added
• Bel and the Dragon (NRSV pg 1552)
• Bel = Babylonian Marduk
• a detective story
• Daniel outwits Bel (?)
• Susana
• saved by Daniel's wisdom