Texts in Conversation
2 Maccabees refers to Judea as the “holy land,” a rare expression also found in Wisdom of Solomon. 2 Maccabees uses the term to elevate the status of Judea by associating it with the sanctuary and the people linked to it.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 12:3
Deuterocanon
1 For your incorruptible spirit is in all things. 2 Therefore you convict little by little those who fall from the right way, and, putting them in remembrance by the things in which they sin, you admonish them, that escaping from their wickedness they may believe in you, O Lord. 3 For truly the old inhabitants of your holy land, 4 hating them because they practiced detestable works of enchantments and unholy rites— 5 merciless slaughters of children and sacrificial banquets of men’s flesh and of blood—
2 Maccabees 1:7
Deuterocanon
5 and listen to your requests, and be reconciled with you, and not forsake you in an evil time. 6 Now we are praying for you here. 7 In the reign of Demetrius, in the one hundred sixty-ninth year, we the Jews have already written to you in the suffering and in the distress that has come upon us in these years, from the time that Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom, 8 and set the gate on fire, and shed innocent blood. We prayed to the Lord, and were heard. We offered sacrifices and meal offerings. We lit the lamps. We set out the show bread. 9 Now see that you keep the days of the feast of tabernacles in the month Chislev in the one hundred eighty-eighth year.
Search:
Notes and References
"... Three more elements in the material on Jason merit attention: the identification of Judea as “the holy land,” the role of prayer, and the ascribing of Jason’s defeat to the Lord rather than to a human agent (1:7–8). The summary refers to Jason rebelling against both Israel and the Seleucid authorities, which are the entities implied in “the holy land and the kingdom” (1:7). The “kingdom” refers to the territory under Seleucid jurisdiction throughout 2 Maccabees (4:7; 9:25; 10:11; 11:23; 14:6, 26). “The holy land” occurs nowhere else in 1 and 2 Maccabees. (In the LXX, “The holy land” in 2 Maccabees 1:7 occurs elsewhere only in Zechariah 2:16 and in Wisdom of Solomon 12:3) Nevertheless, this expression refers to the territory associated with the “holy place” in the second letter (1:29; 2:18). In the epitome, “holy” variously qualifies the city of Jerusalem (3:1; 9:14, 16; 15:14), the Temple (13:10; 14:31; 15:32) and the Jewish inhabitants of the land (15:24). Hence, by employing the expression “holy land,” the authorities in Jerusalem endow the territory of Judea with an unprecedented sacred status that their Jewish counterparts in Egypt need to acknowledge ..."
Duggan, Michael W.
"Hanukkah in 1 and 2 Maccabees: An Intertextual Reading" in Corley, Jeremy, and Geoffrey David Miller (eds.) Intertextual Explorations in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature
(pp. 172-201) De Gruyter, 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,