“... Especially two passages in 4 Maccabees come close to the Lukan controversy with the Sadducees. In his eulogy of the martyred Eleazar, the writer speaks of the pious who believe “. . . that to God they do not die, as our patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob died not, but live to God” ([...] 4 Macc 7:19). Similarly, the mother and her seven martyred sons knew that “. . . those who die for God’s sake live to God [...] just as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs” (4 Macc 16:25). In a third passage, the patriarchs are said to be ready to receive the righteous dead. The brothers, who are preparing themselves for martyrdom, console each other and declare: “As we die in this fashion Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will receive us, and all our fathers will praise us” (4 Macc 13:17). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also have a prominent role in the eschatology of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. For example, “Judah” tells his sons how in the last days “. . . Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will be resurrected to life and I and my brothers will be leaders [wielding] our scepter in Israel” (T. Jud. 25:1). Differently from the 4 Maccabees, this passage teaches that also the patriarchs await resurrection (in some kind of an intermediate state?), and will enter the blessed life with the other resurrected ones. ...”