3 Maccabees and the Jews of Egypt

Abstract

N. CLAYTON CROY. 3 Maccabeca. Septuagint Commentary Series. Boston and Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006. Pp. xxii + 143.JOSEPH MELEze MODRZEJEWSKI. Trofie/ne livre des Maccabeo). La bible d'Alexandrie 15.3. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2008. Pp. 190.3 Maccabees was written in Greek by an anonymous Jew from Alexandria. These two premises are agreed upon by almost all scholars who deal with this book. On other questions concerning 3 Mace opinions are more diverse: what was its purpose? how historically accurate is it? what was the Sitz im Leben of the its author? The answers to each of these questions derive from the dating of 3 Mace, and on this topic scholars propose dates that sprawl from the second century B.C.E. to the middle of the first century CE. - dates which often depend on the answers to the questions above. We have here then a circular argumentation, and there is yet no consensus about 3 Mace's date. The dividing line is 30 B.C.E., when Ptolemaic Egypt became a Roman province. Dating on either side of this line elicits a different understanding of the purpose of the author and the situation of the Egyptian Jewish community of his time.1The ramifications of these questions reach far beyond 3 Mace itself. They relate to other writings that belong to Jewish Hellenistic (mostly Alexandrian) literature, such as the letter of Aristeas and 2 Maccabees, and to the history of the Jewish communities in Egypt, their relations with the rulers there (either Ptolemaic or Roman), their attitude toward their host society and the internal relations within their own community. These raise also the subject of the Hellenization of Judaism in general and in the Diaspora in particular. How do we define the Hellenization ol the Jews? What did they preserve of their own culture and what was adapted from the victorious Greek civilization? What components of the Greek East did they adapt or reject? (Why, for example, did Jews adapt its language and reject its religion?) Some insight into this questions can surely be extracted from 3 Maccabees. Jewish Hellenistic literature and Diaspora Judaism has long attracted scholarly interest and continues to do so,2 and the two books on 3Macc reviewed here contribute, each one in its own way, to our understanding of this text and beyond.The first, by Croy, includes a short introduction (pp. ix- xxii) and a long commentary (pp. 39-121). Between the two parts the reader will find a Greek text of 3 Mace and an English translation on the facing pages (pp. 2-33). The printed Greek text is not a critical edition of the text but a reproduction of only one manuscript, the Alexandrinus, a somewhat awkward decision despite the occasional references to alternative readings in the commentary. Both the text and the translation contribute to the convenience of readers who, while using the commentary, wish to refer to the text of the book itself. The second book, by Modrzejewski, is arranged differently. The introduction is detailed (pp. 29-127) and the concise commentary (pp. 128-74) accompanies a French translation and refers often to the relevant sections of the introduction.The introduction of Modrzejewski's book is updated and innovative. The author's expertise in papyrology and history of law brings new insights to his discussion. It contributes on the one hand to a deeper understanding of 3 Mace and the history of Egyptian Jewry, and illuminates aspects of the administration of the Ptolemaic regime in Egypt on the other. Modrzejewski refers to the Herakleopolis papyri, first published in 2001, that mention the Jewish politeuma there, a key to understanding the status of JeAiVS and the Jewish communities in Egypt (the xdra) and in Alexandria (pp. 76-82). His discussion on this subject may terminate the argument about the definition of the politeumata. It should be clarified that the argument about this question is not about the right of the Jews to live according to their ancestral laws but about the significance of defining a Jewish community politeuma for its rights and conduct. …