Texts in Conversation
1 Maccabees closes the story of Judas by saying his deeds were too many to record, a common way of ending stories in Jewish and Greek writings. John’s gospel uses similar language, saying the world could not hold all that could be written about Jesus.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 9:22
Deuterocanon
18 Judas fell, and the rest fled. 19 Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother, and buried him in the tomb of his ancestors at Modin. 20 They wept for him. All Israel made great lamentation for him, and mourned many days, and said, 21 “How the mighty has fallen, the savior of Israel!” 22 The rest of the acts of Judas, and his wars, and the valiant deeds which he did, and his greatness, are not written; for they were exceedingly many. 23 It came to pass after the death of Judas, that the lawless emerged within all the borders of Israel. All those who did iniquity rose up.
Date: 134–63 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
John 21:25
New Testament
20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. (This was the disciple who had leaned back against Jesus’ chest at the meal and asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”) 21 So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours? You follow me!” 23 So the saying circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours?” 24 This is the disciple who testifies about these things and has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
Date: 90–110 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... When writers had more data before them than they could record, they often noted that they were being selective. Thus, for example, the exploits of Judas Maccabeus were too many to narrate all of them (so 1 Maccabees 9:22), or no human could recount all the sufferings of the Achaians (Homer, Odyssey 3.113-17). Greek, Jewish and Samaritan writers often included hyperboles like this one as well, sometimes speaking of how the world could not contain the knowledge a particular *rabbi had of the *law, and so forth ..."
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014), 313.
* 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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