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Not long after this, the king sent out an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God,
Verse 1. After, A. 3837.—Old, or senator. Greek “Atheneus,” or “an Athenian senator.”
Or, Geron an Athenian
and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Olympian Zeus, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Zeus the Protector of foreigners, even as the people who lived in that place did.
Verse 2. Olympius. They thought this idol agreed best with the idea of the God of heaven, changing the names of the deities, where they had dominion. Other nations made no resistance: but the Jews knew better. Calmet.—Garizim; that is the temple of the Samaritans. And as they were originally strangers, the name of Hospitalis (which signifies of or belonging to strangers) was applicable to the idol set up in their temple. Challoner.—The Samaritans in time of danger, denied that they had anything to do with the Jews, pretending to be of Sidonian extraction. They even requested that their temple might be dedicated to the Greek Jupiter. Jos. Ant. xii. 7.—Yet Epiphanes chose “the Hospitaller.” Calmet.—Sannaballat procured this temple to be erected in the days of Alexander; and Ananias built another in Egypt, under Philometor. Both were schismatical. Jos. Ant. xi. 8. and xv. 6. Worthington.
The visitation of this evil was harsh and utterly grievous.
For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the heathen, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and moreover brought inside things that were not appropriate.
Verse 4. Lewd. Priests on duty were not even allowed to approach to their wives, and the most pure women had no right to go into the interior of the temple. Calmet.—And. Greek “in the courts, and also bringing in improper things.” Bible.
Or, idled with their fellows
The altar was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws.
A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of their ancestors, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew.
Verse 6. Jew. None did this except he were legally questioned. It would have unnecessarily brought on a persecution. Bible.—The very name was become criminal, as that of Christian was afterwards. Calmet.
On the day of the king’s birth every month, they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices. When the feast of Dionysia came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy.
Verse 7. Sacrifices. Greek “each month, to the sacrifice (and feast) of entrails,” ( Bible.) which were given back to him who presented the victim. Grot.—The eastern kings celebrated their birth-days; Epiphanes did it every month. 1 B. 1:61. Matthew 14:6.—About. Greek “to follow the march;” πομπευειν. Calmet.—Prot. “to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy.” Ward (Err. p. 114) reads πομπαδυειν, and refers the reader to the lexicon to see if there be anything in it like the Catholic processions, or whether it signify so much as “to go about,” as other Prot. Bibles translate it. These interpreters frequently use Catholic terms, where they might render them odious. Id. Bible.
A decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the sacrifices,
Verse 8. Ptolemeans, who resided at Ptolemais. Calmet.—Most Greek copies have Ptolemee. Calmet. 4:45. Bible.—We find that many of the neighbouring nations invaded the Jews, but were repressed by Judas. 1 B. 5:15.
and that they should kill those who didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see.
For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These, when they had led them publicly around the city with the babes hung from their breasts, they threw down headlong from the wall.
Verse 10. Women. See 1 Maccabees 1:64. and so forth Calmet.—Besides the former massacres, (Calmet. 5) four great martyrdoms are here recorded: first, of two women, with the children; second, of others keeping the sabbath; third, of Eleazar, ninety years old; and fourthly, of the seven brethren, with their mother. Calmet. 7. Worthington.
Others who had run together into the caves nearby to keep the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of the honor of that most solemn day.
Verse 11. Philip, the governor of Jerusalem. Challoner.—Calmet. 5:22. Bible.—See 1 B. 2:31. Calmet.
I urge those who read this book to not be discouraged because of the calamities, but recognize that these punishments were not for the destruction, but for the chastening of our race.
Verse 12. Now. A necessary caution for the weak in times of persecution. Worthington.—See Calmet. 7:32. Judith 8:22 and 1 B. 2:52.
For indeed it is a sign of great kindness that those who act impiously are not let alone for a long time, but immediately meet with retribution.
Verse 13. Punished, lest they should become incorrigible. When God neglects to do this, his anger is most terrible. Ezekiel 16:42. Calmet.
For in the case of the other nations, the Sovereign Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have attained to the full measure of their sins; but not with us,
Verse 14. Sins. God seems at present to take no notice of the crimes of the Gentiles, or he exterminates them at once, as he did the Chanaanites, Sodom, and so forth But the Jews he corrects for their amendment and trial. The sages of paganism never inculcated such excellent maxims.
that he may not take vengeance on us afterward, when we have come to the height of our sins.
Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but though he chastens with calamity, he doesn’t forsake his own people.
However let this that we have spoken suffice to remind you; but after a few words, we must come to the narrative.
Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well advanced in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.
Verse 18. Scribes; a priest. Saint Ambrose—He suffered at Antioch, before the king. Calmet. 7:1. Joseph. l. 2.—The Fathers highly extol his fortitude and virtue, styling him the father of the seven brothers, and the protomartyr of the old law. Calmet.—Yet we find others unnamed suffering before him. verse 10. Bible.—Eleazar was learned in the Scriptures, and in all divine and human knowledge. Worthington.
But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with defilement, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat out the flesh,
Verse 19. Hateful. Greek “criminal life, and went first of his own accord to be bastinaded;” τυμπανιζεσθαι. Bible.—Saint Paul probably alluded to this torment, Hebrews 11:35. It was used among the Jews. Calmet. Diss.
as men ought to come who are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.
Verse 20. Life. He would not eat swine’s flesh to save it. Greek “But spitting it out, (as those ought to come forward who expect to be tortured; or avenged. αμυνεσθαι) of which things it is not lawful to taste through love of life.” Bible.
But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was proper for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king;
Verse 21. Wicked pity. Their pity was wicked, in as much as it suggested that wicked proposal of saving his life by dissimulation. Challoner.—To feign or make outward shew of consenting to a false religion, is never lawful. Worthington.—Greek “They were set over that wicked feast or sacrifice,” σπλαγχνισμω, ( Bible.) in which the entrails were eaten. Calmet.—In this sense the term is used verse 7 and 8 by the Vulg. Here Pity is preferred, as the man seemed to be actuated by it. Bible.—This generous martyr would not scandalize the weak, by doing a thing in itself lawful, which would have been deemed a prevarication. He was guided by those excellent maxims which Christ, Saint Paul, and S. Saba (Mart. Ap. xii.) have inculcated and practised. Matthew 18:7. Romans 14:14 and 1 Corinthians 8:4. 10. Calmet.
that by so doing he might be delivered from death, and so his ancient friendship with them might be treated kindly.
But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them to quickly send him to Hades.
Verse 23. The other. Lit. “hell,” or the grave. Bible.—Under the old law the saints could not enter heaven, but at their departure were detained in limbo. Worthington.—Some holy doctors have declared that they would rather go to hell than commit a sin. S. Ans.—They understand by hell the torments of that place, but not the opposition to God’s will, which is found in the damned, and constitutes one of the greatest of their pains. Bible.
The Greek text appears to be corrupt.
Some authorities read manner of life.
Greek legislation.
“For it doesn’t become our years to dissemble,” he said, “that many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of ninety years, had gone over to an alien religion;
Verse 24. Age. “Old age ought to be the haven, not the shipwreck, of a former life.” Saint Ambrose de Jacob. Worthington.
and so they, by reason of my deception, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, would be led astray because of me, and I defile and disgrace myself in my old age.
For even if for the present time I would remove from me the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I wouldn’t escape the hands of the Almighty.
Verse 26. Dead. Nothing could be more express for the torments after death. As the time of the Messias drew near, these truths were more developed. Calmet. 7:9. Wisd. 5:16. Psalms 1:6. Calmet. Grot. Matthew 12:32.
Therefore, by bravely parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,
and leave behind a noble example to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the revered and holy laws.” When he had said these words, he went immediately to the instrument of torture.
Greek one that has left behind.
When they changed the good will they bore toward him a little before into ill will because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness,
The Greek text of this verse is uncertain.
and when he was at the point to die with the blows, he groaned aloud and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, while I might have been delivered from death, I endure severe pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of him.”
Verse 30. Pains. Some of the martyrs seem not to have felt their torments. God made them suffer no more than they could bear. Bible.
Or, blows
So this man also died like this, leaving his death for an example of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.