Глава II

Continuation of the letter of the Palestinian Jews to the Egyptians (2 Mac. 2:1-19). Author's Preface (2 Mac2:20–33). 2Mac.2:1-3 In the records of the prophet Jeremiah it is found that he ordered those who were deported to take away from the fire, as shown, and as the prophet commanded, giving to those who were deported a law, so that they should not forget the commandments of the Lord and not be deceived in their thoughts by looking at the gold and silver images and their decoration. Saying other things similar to this, he exhorted them not to remove the law from their hearts. “In the records of the prophet Jeremiah there is...”, Greek: έν ταίς απογραφαίς ευρίσκεται ᾿Ιερεμίας – ότι ... instead of: ευρίσκεται ότι ᾿Ιερεμίας ..., i.e.: “in the records (of some unnamed writer) it is found that Jeremiah ordered...”, etc. The incident described here is really not found in the canonical books of the Old Testament; this makes the amendment of this verse quite plausible and thorough. 2Mac.2:4 It was also in the scripture that this prophet, according to the Divine revelation that came to him, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to follow him, when he ascended the mountain, from which Moses, having ascended, saw the inheritance of God. “It was also in the scripture...”, τή γραφή - not in the scripture primarily (canonical, sacred), but in the above-mentioned - απογραφαίς. – “He commanded the tabernacle and the ark to follow him...” More clearly, this “following” of the tabernacle and the ark is represented by Syncellus: ' θείαν κιβωτόν καί τήν σκηνήν καί ακολουθήσα αύτω (p. 409 ed. Bonn.), i.e. “Jeremiah commanded the priests to raise the divine ark and tabernacle and follow him." Some hint of this kind of adherence to the tabernacle in this place can be found in the mention of the “accompanying” of Jeremiah (v. 6), who could have been the bearers of the sacred parts of the tabernacle. - “Heritage of God” - κληρονομία, that is, the holy land given by God to His people for possession, inheritance. The mountain from which Moses was shown this “inheritance of God” is Nebo (Deut. XXXIV: 1). 2Mac 2:5-7 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a dwelling in a cave and brought in the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense, and blocked the entrance. When some of those accompanying him later came to notice the entrance, they could not find it. When Jeremiah learned about this, he reproached them and said that this place would remain unknown until God, having mercy, gathered a crowd of people. “Until God, having mercy, gathers together a multitude of people.” This gathering of the people and the return of God’s favor to them was expected from the Messiah, due to many prophecies about it. 2Mac 2:8 And then the Lord will show it, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as it appeared under Moses, as Solomon asked that the place be especially holy. During the time of Moses... at the consecration of the tabernacle by him - Ex XL: 34 etc.; Numbers IX: 15 et c.; XIV: 10. – “So that the place is especially holy...” – ' ο τόπος, i.e. the place of the church (v. 18; III: 2, 18, 30; V: 16, etc.). Description of the fulfillment of this request of Solomon - 1 Kings VIII: 10 etc.; as well as 2 Kings VI: 41-VII: 1 etc. 2 Mac 2:9 It was also said how he, full of wisdom, offered the sacrifice of renewing and finishing the church. “It was also said that he, full of wisdom...”, glory: having appeared, and having wisdom...; Greek: διεσαφητο δέ , και ώς σοφίαν έχων ανήνεγκε θυσίαν ...· More precisely: “it was found (in the records) that Solomon, as he who has wisdom, brought..." etc. - "He brought the sacrifice of renewal and completion of the church..." - εγκαινισμού καί της τελειώσεως. The latter was added to express the idea that only with the offering of the sacrifice of renewal was the church completely sanctified and became the place of God’s dwelling, in which prayers could now be offered. 2Mac 2:10 As Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, so Solomon prayed, and the fire that came down consumed the burnt offerings. You can read about this Lev IX: 24; 2Par VII: 1. – Nothing is mentioned in the book of Lev IX about the prayer of Moses at the consecration of the tabernacle, however, from v. 23. there it goes without saying that Moses and Aaron entered the tabernacle for no other reason than to pray (they entered... and left, and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared...). 2Mac 2:11 And Moses said, Because the sin offering was not consumed as food, it was consumed by fire. In the Pentateuch of Moses the saying given here is not found anywhere. In the most suitable parallel place here - Lev X: 16 etc. there is only a narrative of how Moses, after Aaron brought a goat as a sin offering, was angry with the priests because this sacrifice was all burned, and not consumed by the priests themselves, as a “great shrine,” according to the command of God. Aaron's explanation regarding this omission satisfied Moses, and although the book of Leviticus only briefly expresses this satisfaction with the words: “And Moses heard and approved” (v. 20), in this verse 11 it also appears to be the approval of God, a visible sign of which was the burning of this victim along with the others (cf. Lev X: 16; IX: 15, 24). – “Sacrifice for sin” – Greek: τό περί τής αμαρτίας, slav. more precisely: “that which is for sin” - that which was offered for sin. This form, or even simpler - περί αμαρτίας, - y LXX is very often found to designate a sacrifice for sin (Lev V: 11; VII: 37, etc.). 2Mac 2:12 In the same way Solomon also triumphed for eight days. The festival of the consecration of the church under Solomon, according to 2 Chronicles VII: 8 et c., actually lasted 7, not 8 days. There are eight days here, apparently with those mentioned in v. 9. Chapter VII Couples in the afternoon after the celebration. 2Mac.2:13 It is also narrated in the records and memorial books of Nehemiah how, in compiling a library, he collected stories about kings and prophets and about David and letters from kings about sacred offerings. “In... the memorial books of Nehemiah...”, έν τοις ᾿υπομνηματισμοίς o ι κατά τον Νεεμίαν – similar to the Gospel inscriptions: κατα Ματθαίον, κατα Μάρκον, etc. This assumes that there were other writers in the field of the same material; in this case, κατά τον Νεεμίαν forces one to assume either the existence of another work of pseudo-Nehemiah, or here it is meant to distinguish the work of Nehemiah from some Greek adaptation of the canonical Nehemiah with large inserts, like the 3rd book of Ezra. – “Tales about kings and prophets and about David...” The Russian translation of this passage greatly distorts the idea of ​​the original: Nehemiah collected the “books” of the Kings (here, of course, probably the Judges), and not legends; then, he collected not “tales” “about the prophets”, or more precisely “books” (βιβλία), but “prophets”, that is, the prophetic books of the Old Testament; finally, he collected not “books about David” (“tales”), but “David”, for which purpose it is deliberately repeated in the original - τα τού Δαυίδ, i.e. the Writings of David, or the Psalms - the Psalter (cf. Lk XXIV: 44). Further to all this are added the letters of the kings about sacred offerings - επιςτολαί βασιλέων περί αγημάτων, where, in all likelihood, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are meant, the contents of the letter of the Persian kings from Cyrus to Artaxerxes, and a description of their favorable relationship to the church and the people of Judah. Here, therefore, there is important evidence and indication of the collection of the canonical books of the Old Testament (canon) in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah and precisely by the works and authority of the latter. The fact that the Pentateuch (νόμος) is not mentioned among the listed books has the simple explanation that the “law” has long been the basis of the entire life of Israel, for which purpose it was handed over to the Jewish immigrants by the prophet Jeremiah (v. 2). And the very “collection” of the books by Nehemiah was actually their addition to the “law” that existed before, which is expressed by the original verb έπισυνήγαγε (“added to”). 2Mac 2:14 In like manner also Judas gathered up everything that was lost because of the war we had, and we have it. “Judas collected everything that was lost (τα διαπεπτωκότα, i.e. βιβλία), on the occasion (δια) of the war that happened among us...” Here we mean the unfortunate time of Antiochus Epiphanes, when there were many copies of St. The Scriptures perished due to the decree of Antiochus on their search and destruction. But despite all this, the books were preserved and are now offered to the Egyptian Jews. 2Mac 2:15-17 Therefore, if you need it, send people to deliver for you. Intending to celebrate purification, we wrote to you about this; You too will do well if you celebrate these days. But God, who preserved all His people and restored to all the inheritance and the kingdom and the priesthood and the sanctuary, “Inheritance and kingdom and priesthood and sanctuary...” (Slav.: “sanctification”) καί τόν ᾿αγιασμόν, - that royal and priestly dignity of the chosen people, which is spoken of in Exodus XIX: 5-6 (' εσεσθέ μοι βασίλειον ιερατευμα καί έθνος ᾿άγιον ). This also shows that the translation of the word ‘αγιασμόν – sanctuary’ is incorrect: the Slavic “consecration” is more correct. – Κληρονομία – property of Jehovah. 2Mac 2:18 As he promised in the law, we trust in God, He will soon have mercy on us and gather us from under heaven to a holy place. “He promised in the law” - διά νού νόμου - actually through the law, or by means of the law, subject to Israel’s faithfulness to it. - “To a holy place” - είς τον ᾿άγιον τόπον, where the church is. – “He will soon have mercy” – ταχέως ελεήσε – here the expectation of the coming of the Messianic kingdom in the near future is expressed; This expectation was given strong grounds by the fact that God “delivered” them “from great troubles and cleansed the holy place from pagan altars, idols and idolatry. 2Mac 2:19-20 For He has delivered us from great troubles and cleansed the place. About the deeds of Judas Maccabee and his brothers and about the cleansing of the great church and the renovation of the altar, About the nickname Μακκαβαίος - see 1 Mac II: 3 and about the brothers of Judah - 1 Mac II: 2-5. - “The cleansing of the great church and the renovation of the altar” is spoken of in 1 Mac IV: 42 et c. - “Great” - for the sake of its purpose to serve for the worship of the true God. 2Mac.2:21-22 also about the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and against his son Eupator, and about the appearances from heaven of those who fought for the Jews so zealously that, being very few in number, they cleansed the whole country and pursued numerous crowds of enemies, “About the appearances from heaven” - narrated III: 24 etc.; V: 2–4; XI: 8; XV: 12–16. - “For the Jews” - υπέρ τού ιουδαισμού - for Judaism, for the faith, laws and customs of the Jews (cf. VIII: 1; XIV: 38), in contrast to Hellenism - έλληνισμός, IV: 13; VI: 24, or foreignness in general - άλλοφυλισμός. – “Numerous crowds of enemies” – τα βάρβαρα πλήθη – glory. more precisely - “I drive away a lot of barbarians.” The barbarians here are the Syrian troops, so named for their cruelty and rudeness, and in general the enemies of the Jews (cf. Eze XXI: 31; Ps CXIII: 1, and also 2 Mac IV: 25; V: 22; X: 4 and 3 Mac III chapter). 2Mac 2:23-25 ​​And they rebuilt the church, glorious throughout the whole world, and liberated the city, and restored the laws that were tending to destruction, when the Lord with great condescension had mercy on them; We will try to briefly outline all this described by Jason of Cyrene in five books in one book. For, bearing in mind the multitude of numbers and the difficulty arising from the abundance of content for those wishing to engage in historical narratives, “Many numbers” - in indications of years, months, numbers of troops fighting, etc. 2Mac 2:26-33 We are concerned to bring spiritual edification to those who want to read, relief to those who are trying to retain in memory, and benefit to everyone who happens to read; although for us, who have taken upon ourselves the work of reduction, this is not an easy task, requiring tension and vigilance, just as it is not easy for someone who is preparing a feast and desires the benefit of others. But, bearing in mind the gratitude of many, we willingly undertake this work, leaving an accurate statement of the details to the historian and trying to follow the examples of the abbreviated presentation. For just as the builder of a new house must take care of the entire structure, and the one who must engage in carving and painting must seek only what is needed for decoration, so we think about ourselves. To go into depth and talk about everything and examine every detail is characteristic of the beginning writer of history. The one who makes the abbreviation should be allowed to pursue only the brevity of speech and avoid detailed research. So, in connection with what has been said, we will now begin the narrative: for it is unreasonable to increase the preface to the story, and shorten the story itself.