Texts in Conversation
In 2 Maccabees, Antiochus boasts that he can control the sea, a power linked to God, and his death shows his claim was empty. In Matthew, the disciples react with awe when Jesus calms the sea because the act shows real authority rather than pride.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Maccabees 9:8
Deuterocanon
5 But the All-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with a fatal and invisible stroke. As soon as he had finished speaking this word, an incurable pain of the bowels seized him, with bitter torments of the inner parts— 6 and that most justly, for he had tormented other men’s bowels with many and strange sufferings. 7 But he in no way ceased from his rude insolence. No, he was filled with even more arrogance, breathing fire in his passion against the Jews, and giving orders to hasten the journey. But it came to pass moreover that he fell from his chariot as it rushed along, and having a grievous fall was tortured in all of the members of his body. 8 He who had just supposed himself to have the waves of the sea at his bidding because he was so superhumanly arrogant, and who thought to weigh the heights of the mountains in a balance, was now brought to the ground and carried in a litter, showing to all that the power was obviously God’s, 9 so that worms swarmed out of the impious man’s body, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh fell off, and by reason of the stench all the army turned with loathing from his decay.
Date: 160–63 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 8:27
New Testament
23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. 25 So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” 26 But he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was dead calm. 27 And the men were amazed and said, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” 28 When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The significance and efficacy the motif of Yahweh commanding the sea and walking on the sea becomes more apparent when we analyze how 2 Maccabees uses this motif to attack the legitimacy of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Though 2 Maccabees predates the gospels, it is more fruitful to discuss how the motif is used therein after discussing the gospel use. The legitimating function of the motif in the gospels and the delegitimating function of the motif in 2 Maccabees play upon the same notions of Yahweh’s authority over sea. Second Maccabees inverts the legitimating function in order to criticize Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This inversion and the delegitimating function become more apparent when contrasted with the gospel's examples. Antiochus IV Epiphanes is portrayed wielding illegitimate power when he is accused of imagining that he possesses authority over the sea ..."
Debra Scoggins Ballentine, The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 180–181.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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