The book of 4 Maccabees is a homily or philosophic discourse praising the supremacy of pious reason over the passions. While once accepted as a deuterocanonical book by the Orthodox, it is increasingly relegated to an appendix of apocryphal works, due to its use of pagan thought.

Synopsis

The work consists of a prologue and two main sections. The first advances the philosphical thesis, while the second illustrates the points made using examples drawn from 2 Maccabees (principally, the martyrdom of Eleazer and the Maccabeean youths) under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The last chapters concern the authors impressions drawn from these martyrdoms. The work thus appears to be an independent composition to 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, merely drawing on their descriptions to support its thesis.

Authorship and criticism

According to some scholars, the last chapter shows signs of later addition to the work, though this is disputed by the authors of the Jewish Encyclopedia. The dispute is based on the weak ending the book would have without the "added" chapter, as well as arguments based on style. The change of direction with chapter 27 supports the view of the work as a homily held before a Greek-speaking audience on the feast of Hanukkah, as advanced by Ewald and Freudenthal, where this would be a rhetorical element to draw the listeners into the discourse. Others hold that a homily would have to be based on scriptural texts, which this work is only loosely.

In style, the book is oratorical, but not so much as 3 Maccabees. A good amount of Stoic philosophy is cited by the author, though there is little original philosophical insight in the text. The writer appears to be an Alexandrian Jew who used the philosophical ideas of the time to clothe his religious ideas. This characterization is practically without parallel in Jewish literature, and it is cited as the best example of syncretism between Jewish and Hellenistic thought. Perhaps the closest match is the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews.

The book is ascribed to Josephus by Eusebius and Jerome, and this opinion was accepted for many years, leading to its inclusion in many editions of Josephus' works. More modern critical scholarship points to great differences of language and style, so that this identification is largely abandoned today. The book is generally dated between the first century BC and the first century AD, due to its reliance on 2 Maccabees and use by Christians. It was probably written before the persecution of the Jews under Caligula, and certainly before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Doctrinal content

The writer believes in the immortality of the soul, but denies the Pharisaic belief in the resurrection of the body. Good souls are said to live forever in happiness with the patriarchs and God, but even the evil souls are held to be immortal. The suffering and martyrdom of the Macabees is seen by the author to be vicarious for the Jewish nation.

The current form of the book contains a few phrases that Jewish scholars cite as Christian interpolations, due to their similarity with teachings of Jesus. For instance 7:19, "for, as our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they live to God", or 17:25, "and they saw this, too, that they who die for God, live to God, as Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs" (from Sir Lancelot Brenton's 1899 translation). Compare Matthew 22:31-32: "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (KJV). The Christians venerated the Maccabeean martyrs until at least the fourth century and homilies by Gregory Nazianzus and John Chrysostom are preserved for their feast day on August 1.