Hasmonean Martyrdom: Between Christian and Jewish Tradition

Daniel Boyarin, Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 94.

Antioch is a city in southern Turkey, near the border of Syria.

The writing is in Syriac script, but I transcribe here in Aramaic script for the ease of readers.

See Michael Abdala, “The Cult of Mart Shmuni, a Maccabean Martyr, in the Traditions of the Assyrian Churches of Mesopotamia,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 23.1 (2009): 22–39 [p. 23].

Aphrahat, On Wars, 5; Ephrem the Syrian, “On the Sons of Shmuni.”

  Gregory of Nazianzus, “Oration 15: In Praise of the Maccabees,” in St. Gregory of Nazianus: Select Orations, trans. Martha Vinson (Washington, D.C: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994).

He goes on to explain that pre-Jesus acts of faith were generally influenced by foreknowledge of Jesus’ future sacrifice:

Not one of those who attained perfection before the coming of Christ accomplished his goal without faith in Christ. While this statement is both arcane and even to a certain extent mystic, I for one consider it very persuasive, as do all who love Christ. For although the Logos was later openly proclaimed in his own era, he was made known even before to the pure of mind, as is evident from the large number of persons who achieved honor before his day. Such noble figures, then, are not to be overlooked because they lived before the time of the cross, but should rather be acclaimed for having lived in accordance with the cross…

John Chrysostom, “On Eleazar and the Seven Boys,” 5.

This is an abridged work, written in Greek, and based upon the writings of a Diasporan Jew from Cyrene named Jason. See discussion in Katell Berthelot, “The Maccabean Victory Explained: Between 1 and 2 Maccabees,” TheTorah (2022); Daniel R. Schwartz, “Judea versus Judaism: Between 1 and 2 Maccabees,” TheTorah (2022).

The speech reads:

^{2 Macc 7:36} For our brothers, after enduring a brief suffering for everlasting life, have fallen under God’s covenant, but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. ^7:37 I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our ancestors, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by trials and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, ^7:38 and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.

See Malka Z. Simkovich, “The Faith of the Martyred Mother and her Seven Sons,” TheTorah (2015).

See Marty Lockshin, “Chanukah: The Greek Influence of Martyrdom,” TheTorah (2017).

See discussion in Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, “2 and 4 Maccabees: Evolving Responses to Hellenism,” TheTorah (2017).

It appears in b. Gittin 57b and Lamentations Rabbah §1.

This mandate, known as yaharog ve’al ya’avor, is discussed in b. Sanhedrin 74a.

This interpretation actually has three separate attributions:

אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל וְאִיתֵּימָא רַבִּי אַמֵּי וְאָמְרִי לַהּ בְּמַתְנִיתָא תָּנָא

Rav Judah says that Samuel says, and some say that it was Rabbi Ami who says this, and some say that it was taught in a baraita.

The Talmud then seems to question the piety of this act, by quoting another authority who forbids it:

דְּאָמַר רָבָא: "כֹּל מִילֵּי לִיחְזֵי אִינִישׁ בְּנַפְשֵׁיהּ בַּר מִשְּׁחִיטָה וְדָבָר אַחֵר."

This is as Rava says: “A person may demonstrate anything using himself to illustrate the act except for slaughter and another matter (=sexual intercourse).”

This likely means they have a lasting effect or are remembered.

Accounts of these martyrs’ deaths are read in synagogues on Yom Kippur (see here) and the Fast of the Ninth of Av (see here), which commemorates the destructions of the Jerusalem Temples.

Early Jewish and early Christian traditions about martyrdom seem to be part of a broader discourse that reflects the deep connections between these two communities. As Daniel Boyarin has shown, both traditions valorize figures who escape martyrdom by using various modes of trickery. In one legend preserved in the Tosefta (Hullin 2:24), Rabbi Eliezer successfully escapes martyrdom after being arrested for heresy. The strands of ambivalence towards martyrdom that are found in rabbinic literature, though, are less apparent in early Christian traditions. According to Candida Moss, most accounts of Christian martyrdom at the hand of the Romans were invented. Sharing martyrdom stories was a way of empowering and encouraging a community that was not widely respected politically or socially.  Candida Moss, The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom (New York: HarperCollins, 2013). Rabbinic traditions about martyrdom were not necessarily invented, but embellished upon older traditions whose historicity is unknown.

Translations from 1 and 2 Maccabees are from NRSV.

A second century document that lists the days on which Jews may not fast, known as Megillat Ta’anit, states that בכ"ה ביה יום חנוכה תמניא יומין דִלָא לְמִסְפָּד: “On the twenty fifth of the month is Chanukah, eight days on which one does not eulogize.” For a discussion of the rabbinic reticence to talk about Chanukah, see Malka Z. Simkovich, “Uncovering the Truth About Chanukah,” TheTorah (2013).

For a brief introduction, see Zeev Safrai, “The Scroll of Antiochus and the Scroll of Fasts,” in The Literature of the Sages, Part 2, ed. Shmuel Safrai, Zeev Safrai, Joshua Schwartz, and Peter J. Tomson, Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum (Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum/Fortress press, 2006), 238–241; Aryeh Kasher, “The Historical Background of ‘Megillath Antiochus,’” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 48 (1981): 207–230.

In Hebrew translation (found on Sefaria):  

^{מגילת אנטיוכוס לד} וְגַם אִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה בֵן אַחֲרֵי־מוֺת בַּעְלָהּ וַתָּֽמָל אוֺתוֺ לִשְׁמוֺנָה יָמִים וַתַּֽעַל עַל־חוֺמַת יְרוּשָׁלַֽיִם וּבְנָהּ מָהוּל בְּיָדָהּ׃ ^לה וַתַּֽעַן וַתֹּאמַר לְךָ אוֺמְרִים בַּגְרִיס הָרָשָׁע אַתֶּם חוֺשְׁבִים לְבַטֵּל מֵאִתָּֽנוּ הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר כֹּרַת עִמָּֽנוּ בְּרִית אֲבוֺתֵינוּ לֹא־נְבַטֵּל מִמֶּנּוּ שַׁבָּת רֹאשׁ־חֹֽדֶשׁ וּמִילָה מִבְּנֵי בָנֵינוּ לֹא יוּסָר׃ ^לו וַתַּפֵּל בְּנָהּ לָאָֽרֶץ וַתִּיּפוֺל אַחֲרָיו וַיָּמֽוּתוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם כְּאֶחָד וְרַבִּים מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ עוֺשִׂים כֵּן בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וְלֹא שִׁנּוּ בְּרִית אֲבוֺתָם׃ 

Trans. Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski at here.

As Aryeh Kasher notes, the Syrian version of 1 and 2 Maccabees refers to Bachides as Bacherius (בכריוס), and Sefer Yosiphon refers to him as Bakirus (בקירוס). Kasher, “The Historical Background of ‘Megillath Antiochus,’” 227.

In Hebrew translation:

^{מגילת אנטיוכוס לז} בַּזְמַן הַהוּא אָמְרוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵֽלֶּה לָאֵֽלֶּה בֹּאוּ וְנֵלֵךְ וְנִשְׁבּוֺת בַּמְּעָרָה פֶּן נְחַלֵּל אֶת־יוֺם הַשַּׁבָּת וַיַּלְשִׁינוּ אוֺתָם לִפְנֵי בַגְרִיס׃ ^לח אָז בַּגְרִיס הָרָשָׁע שָׁלַח אֲנָשִׁים חֲלוּצִים וַיָּבֹאוּ וַיֵּשְׁבוּ עַל־פִּי הַמְּעָרָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵיהֶם יְהוּדִים צְאוּ אֵלֵינוּ אִכְלוּ מִלַּחְמֵנוּ וּשְׁתוּ מִיֵּינֵנוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂינוּ תִּהְיוּ עוֺשִׂים׃ ^לט וַיַּעֲנוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלֶּה לָאֵלֶּה זוֺכְרִים אֲנַחְנוּ אֲשֶׁר צִוָּֽנוּ יְיָ עַל־הַר סִינַי שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ וּבַיּוֺם הַשְּׁבִיעִי תִּשְׁבּוֺת עַתָּה טוֺב לָֽנוּ אֲשֶׁר נָמוּת בַּמְעָרָה מֵאֲשֶׁר נְחַלֵּל אֶת־יוֺם הַשַּׁבָּת׃ 

Another exception is in piyyut (liturgical poetry). See Ophir Münz Manor, “In Praise of the Hasmoneans: Chanukah Beyond Rabbinic Literature,” TheGemara (2017).

The glosses on Megillat Taanit (25^th of Kislev, ad loc.) have seven spears.

While the rabbis were also skeptical of martyrdom, they were, perhaps, just as skeptical of militarism, which had led to Judea’s destruction in the Great Revolt and then again in the Bar Kochba Revolt. Wary of the toll that clashes with the Roman empire had taken on the population of Judea, the rabbis insisted that, outside of the three core prohibitions, God wanted Jews to express their religious piety by staying alive.

The earliest citation of Megillat Antiochus is in the early 9^th century Babylonian work Halakhot Gedolot.