Глава VI

Prayer of Eleazar the priest (3Mac 6:1-14). Salvation of the Jews (3Mac 6:15–37). 3Mac 6:1 Meanwhile, a certain Eleazar, a respected man, one of the priests of the country, having already reached old age and adorned in his life with every virtue, invited the elders standing around him to call on the Holy God and prayed like this: “Of the priests of the country...” Among the Jews of the diaspora were many from the priestly class, who did not cease to be called ???, in Greek ιερείς, and if they were from the main families, then αρχιερείς. The elders mentioned next to them (πρεσβύτεροι) were in charge of the affairs of the synagogue together with the arch-synagogue. These are, as it were, the geronts and archons of the Alexandrian Jewish community. 3Mac 6:2 “The omnipotent and most high King, God Almighty, who graciously rules over all creation! look, Father, on the seed of Abraham, on the children of sanctified Jacob, on the people of Your holy inheritance, wandering in a foreign land and unrighteously destroyed. For the various names of God, see 2 Mac. I: 24 et d. – “Gracefully governing all creation...” T ή v πασαν διακυβερναν οικτιρμοίς κτίσιν..., glor.: “Whoever builds all creation in generosity...” If God governs all creation graciously, then with his special in relation to Israel, this gave special grounds in such extraordinary circumstances to hope that He would not refuse His mercy. - “The people of your holy inheritance...”, the people who constitute Your sacred property, dedicated by You to Your ownership. About the name “Father” - see V: 4. 3Mac.6:3 You destroyed Pharaoh, the former ruler of Egypt, who had many chariots, who was exalted by his lawless insolence and arrogant speeches, with his proud army, drowning him in the sea, and showed the light of mercy to the family of Israel. 3Mac.6:4 You overthrew the cruel king of Assyria, Sennacherib, who was vainglorious about his countless armies, who conquered the whole earth with the sword and rose up against Your holy city, uttering blasphemies in pride and insolence, clearly showing Your power to many nations. Wed. 1Mac VII: 41; 2Mac VIII: 19. – “Thy Holy City” – 1 Mac II: 7; 2Mac I: 12 . Before “deposed” here in the Russian translation, “Lord” (δέσποτα, Slav. “Lord”) is omitted. 3Mac.6:5 You preserved the three youths in Babylon, who voluntarily gave up their lives to fire so as not to serve vain idols, unharmed to the last hair, by watering the kindled furnace, and turning the flames on all enemies. Compare Dan I: 6; III: 12 etc.; 23 and 24 art. – “To vain idols...”, κενοίς... glor.: “bad.” The neuter gender of the Greek κενός means vain, vain, empty, non-existent, hence “idols”. In verse 9 μεταίοις has a similar meaning (cf. Am II: 4: τά μάταια αυτών), proper. their deception, lies; slav.: flattery, charm. - “Having watered the lit stove... - cf. Dan III: 50. – “Kept unharmed up to the hair…” inclusive, cf. Dan III: 94. - “The flame turned on all enemies...”, cf. Dan III: 22, 48. 3Mac 6:6 You brought Daniel, who was cast into the den to be torn to pieces by lions by the slander of envy, into the light unharmed; You, Father, also showed Jonah, when he was hopelessly languishing in the belly of a whale living in the depths of the sea, to all his relatives. Wed. Dan VI: 2–28. About Jonah - cf. Ion II ch. - “To Jonah, when he was hopelessly languishing in the belly of the whale that lived in the depths of the sea...”, Greek: τόν τε βυθοτρεφούς έν γαστρί κήτους ᾿Ιωναν τηκόμενον άφειδώς ..., τ more precisely glorious: “To Jonah, mercilessly melting in the belly of the whale of the sea...”. - “He was shown to all his relatives unharmed.” The book of the prophet and the Old Testament in general do not convey anything about this. 3Mac 6:7 And now, the avenger of injuries, abundantly merciful, patron of all, appear quickly to those who are of the race of Israel, who were wronged by the vile, lawless pagans. “Appear...”, that is, with His saving power for Israel, and with His punishing power for the pagans. 3Mac 6:8 If our life in exile was filled with wickedness, then, having delivered us from the hand of our enemies, destroy us, O Lord, with the death that pleases You, “In migration...”, κατά τήν αποικίαν, own. during his stay in a foreign land, and precisely as a result of this stay. The prayer book admits that despite all the precautions, the Jews could not avoid many of the unclean influences of the paganism that surrounded them. In this case, the desire is expressed to better suffer from the hand of God any punishment - up to and including death, than to endure such punishment from the hands of the pagans, who could attribute this to the power of their gods (v. 9). 3Mac 6:9-11 Let not the superstitious praise vain idols for the destruction of Your beloved, saying: Their God did not deliver them, but You, the Eternal, who have all power and all authority, look now: have mercy on us, because of the senseless violence of the lawless, who are deprived of their lives like criminals. 3Mac 6:12-14 Let the Gentiles now fear your invincible power, O Glorious One, who has the power to save the race of Jacob. The whole multitude of babies and their parents beg You with tears: let it be clear to all the pagans that You are with us, Lord, and have not turned Your face away from us; do as You have said, O Lord, that even in the land of their enemies You will not despise them.” “As You said...”, cf. Lev XXVI: 44: “And while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them and will not abhor them to the point of destroying them...” Similar - see Deut. XXX: 2-4. 3Mac 6:15 Eleazar had just finished praying when the king came to the lists with the beasts and all the terrible army. “With all the terrible army...”, Greek: σύν παντί τω τής δυνάμεως φρυάγματι ..., glory. more precisely: “with... all my pride...” 3Mac 6:16-17 When the Jews saw him, they raised a loud cry to heaven, so that the nearby valleys echoed, and aroused uncontrollable compassion throughout the entire army. Then the great Almighty and true God, revealing His holy face, opened the heavenly gates, from which two glorious and terrible Angels descended, visible to everyone except the Jews. “Having shown His holy face...”, i.e., “looking up cheerfully and mercifully,” cf. Numbers VI: 25; Ps XXX: 17; LXXIX: 4, 8, 20. 3Mac 6:18 They stood against the army, and filled the enemies with confusion and fear, and bound them with immovable bonds; the king’s body was also seized with trembling, and his irritated insolence fell into oblivion. “They tied them with immovable bonds...”, that is, they brought them into such a state that they could not move their legs or take a single step. 3Mac 6:19-22 Then the elephants turned on the armed forces accompanying them, trampled them and destroyed them. The king's anger turned into pity and tears for what he had previously managed to accomplish. For when he heard the cry of the Jews and saw them all bowing to death, he began to cry, angrily threatened his friends and said: you abuse your power and have surpassed the cruelty of the tyrants and you are trying to deprive me of your power and life, secretly plotting something that is not useful for the kingdom. “To deprive of power and life, secretly plotting something that is not useful for the kingdom...” The well-being of the kingdom and its head is brought here by the king into an inextricable link. 3Mac 6:23-24 Those who so faithfully guarded the fortifications of our country, who madly gathered here, removing everyone from home? Those who from ancient times surpassed all nations in their devotion to us in everything and often suffered the most severe oppression from people, who subjected them to such undeserved shame? Josephus Flavius, Arch XII, 1, speaks especially much about the loyalty of the Jews to their kings. 3Mac 6:25 Loose, loose the unrighteous bonds, send them away in peace to their homes, asking forgiveness for what was done before; free the sons of the heavenly Almighty, the living God, who from the times of our ancestors until now has given continuous prosperity and glory to our kingdom. “To your own homes...”, είς τα ίδια..., more precisely slav.: “to their own...”. 3Mac 6:26 This is what the king said. At that very moment, the permitted Jews, having been delivered from death, glorified their Holy Savior God. “Resolved at that very minute...” If we keep in mind the many prisoners in chains, how many we have to assume are the executors of the royal command to release those chained “at that very minute!” It is also obvious from this that the number of Jews doomed to death must be greatly exaggerated. 3Mac 6:27-28 After this, the king returned to the city and called the manager of the expenses, and ordered that for seven days wine and other things necessary for the feast should be given to the Jews, stipulating that they should celebrate their salvation in full joy in the same place where they expected to die. Then they, who had previously been in reproach and were near hell, or better yet, descending into hell, instead of a bitter and lamentable death, instituted a feast of salvation and, full of joy, shared the place for reclining that had been prepared for their death and grave. "Those who descended into hell...", βεβηκότες..., glory. more correctly: “those who descended...”, i.e., as if they had already descended into hell. - “The feast of salvation...”, that is, a feast in celebration of salvation. 3Mac 6:29-30 Leaving the most pitiful song of lamentation, they began the song of the fathers, praising the Savior of Israel and the Wonderworker of God, and, rejecting all lamentation and weeping, they formed choirs as a sign of peaceful joy. Likewise, the king, having prepared a crowded feast for this occasion, expressed his gratitude to heaven for the glorious salvation solemnly granted to them. “He expressed his gratitude to heaven...”, ε i ς o υρανόν α v θωμολογείτο ..., glory. “I confessed to heaven...”, that is, looking at heaven, I confessed the good deed of God, glorifying God for salvation (cf. Luke II: 38). - “For salvation...” The king’s salvation consisted in the fact that, in the confusion with the elephants, he did not die, like many of the troops accompanying him, and also in the fact that his unrighteous deed was stopped in time and did not allow the full righteous wrath of the Most High God to be brought upon him. 3Mac 6:31-33 Those who doomed them to destruction and to be food for birds of prey and joyfully took a census of them, now, overwhelmed with shame, they groaned, and the insolence that breathed fire was extinguished with shame. And the Jews, as we said, having formed the aforementioned choir, celebrated the festival with joyful hymns and psalmody. They even made a public decree so that throughout their generations and generations they would joyfully celebrate the designated days, not for drinking and satiety, but in memory of the salvation that had come to them from God. “In every population of them from generation to generation...”, επί πάσαν τήν παροικίαν αύτων εις γενεάς ..., glory. more precisely: “in every migration throughout their generations...”, i.e. for the entire time of their stay in a foreign land. 3Mac 6:34-35 Then they presented themselves to the king and asked to be allowed to go home. Their census was carried out from the twenty-fifth day of the month Pakhon to the fourth day of the month Epipha, for forty days; Their destruction was appointed from the fifth day of the month of Epithus to the seventh, for three days, on which the Lord of all gloriously showed His mercy and saved them unharmed and completely. Pachon was the ninth, and Epithus was the eleventh Egyptian-Alexandrian month of the year. The first began on April 26th, the second on June 25th of the Julian calendar. The number of days of the Egyptian month is 30; from the 25th Pachon to the 4th Epithus - exactly 40 days, during which the census of the Jews took place. 3Mac 6:36-37 They celebrated, being satisfied with everything from the king, until the fourteenth day, on which they submitted a request for their release. The king, deigning to them, generously wrote in their favor, with his signature, the following message to the city leaders: