Texts in Conversation
In 2 Maccabees God strikes down Heliodorus, a Greek official sent to seize the temple treasury, leaving him speechless on the ground. 3 Maccabees has God strike the Egyptian king Philopator the same way as he tries to enter the sanctuary.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Maccabees 3:29
Deuterocanon
28 and carried him away—this man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury with a great retinue and all his bodyguard but was now unable to help himself. They recognized clearly the sovereign power of God. 29 While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery, 30 they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.
3 Maccabees 2:22
Pseudepigrapha
21 Thereupon God, who oversees all things, the first Father of all, holy among the holy ones, having heard the lawful supplication, scourged him who had exalted himself in insolence and audacity. 22 He shook him on this side and that as a reed is shaken by the wind, so that he lay helpless on the ground and, besides being paralyzed in his limbs, was unable even to speak, since he was smitten by a righteous judgment. 23 Then both friends and bodyguards, seeing the severe punishment that had overtaken him, and fearing that he would lose his life, quickly dragged him out, panic-stricken in their exceedingly great fear.
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Notes and References
... The verb used to describe the divine affliction of the intruder shares the same basic stem (2 Maccabees 3:26, 34, 38 – μαστιγόω || 3 Maccabees 2:21 – μαστίζω), and similar expressions are used to characterize the resulting silence of each antagonist (2 Maccabees 3:29 – ἄφωνος || 3 Maccabees 2:22 – μηδὲ φωνῆσαι δύνασθαι). There are also parallel descriptions of the swift response of the each man's companions (2 Maccabees 3:31 – ταχύ || 3 Maccabees 2:23 – ταχέως), even though the specific actions associated with this haste are different. ...
Trotter, Jonathan Robert
The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora: Jewish Practice and Thought during the Second Temple Period
(p. 185) Brill, 2019
* 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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