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In Numbers 16, Moses is very angry with Dathan and Abiram and asks God to reject their offering. 4 Maccabees makes the same episode an example of reason mastering anger, since Moses leaves the outcome to God rather than acting on his anger.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Numbers 16:15
Hebrew Bible
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up.” 15 Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”
4 Maccabees 2:17
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
15 Reason appears to be master of the more violent emotions, like love of empire, empty boasting, and slander. 16 For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant emotions, as it does wrath; for it masters even this. 17 Thus Moses, when angered against Dathan and Abiram, did nothing to them in wrath, but regulated his anger by reasoning. 18 For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be superior to the emotions, and to correct some and destroy others.
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Notes and References
“... The first example is Moses, remembered in Num 12:3 as an exemplar of meekness (he was “πραΰς beyond all the people upon the earth”). This was not because he never experienced anger, but because he did not allow anger to lead him to act unjustly. The author very briefly recalls the episode of Korah’s challenge to Moses and Aaron’s leadership, recounted in Num 16:1–35. Moses is indeed angry with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (see Num 16:15a), but does not act personally upon this anger to avenge himself against the challengers (vengeance being the goal of anger according to Aristotle, Rh. 2.2.1), submitting the matter to God and allowing God to adjudicate. He does not allow his anger to drive him to usurp God’s privileges of deciding cases and avenging wrongs (see Deut 32:35). ...”
DeSilva, David A.
4 Maccabees: Introduction and Commentary on the Greek Text in Codex Sinaiticus
(p. 101) Brill, 2006
* 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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