Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Antiochus Epiphanes sends a senator to compel the Jews to paganism, and to consecrate the temple of Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius, and that of Gerizim to Jupiter Hospitalis. Therefore those who resist are slaughtered, hurled from heights, and burned. Among these, verse 18, the glorious death and martyrdom of Eleazar is recounted, who preferred to be tortured to death rather than eat pork in violation of the law.
Vulgate Text: 2 Maccabees 6:1-31
1. But not long after, the king sent a certain old Antiochene senator to compel the Jews to depart from their ancestral and divine laws; 2. and to defile the temple in Jerusalem and to name it after Jupiter Olympius; and the temple in Gerizim, as befitted the inhabitants of the place, after Jupiter Hospitalis. 3. But the onset of evils was most grievous and burdensome to all; 4. for the temple was full of the debauchery and revelry of the pagans, and of fornicators with harlots, and women thrust themselves into the sacred buildings, bringing in things that were not permitted. 5. The altar also was full of unlawful things, which were forbidden by the laws. 6. Neither were the sabbaths kept, nor were the ancestral feast days observed, nor did anyone simply profess himself to be a Jew. 7. They were led with bitter compulsion on the king's birthday to the sacrifices; and when the rites of Bacchus were celebrated, they were forced, crowned with ivy, to process in honor of Bacchus. 8. A decree also went out to the neighboring cities of the Gentiles, at the suggestion of the Ptolemies, that they should act in the same way against the Jews, making them sacrifice; 9. and that they should kill those who refused to adopt the institutions of the Gentiles; so there was misery to behold. 10. For two women were accused of having circumcised their sons; and they led them publicly through the city with their infants hanging at their breasts, and then hurled them from the walls. 11. Others, having gathered in nearby caves and secretly celebrating the sabbath day, when they were reported to Philip, were burned alive, because out of reverence for the religion and its observance, they feared to help themselves by force. 12. Now I beseech those who will read this book not to be horrified by these adverse events, but to consider that the things that happened were not for the destruction but for the correction of our people. 13. For not to allow sinners to have their way for a long time, but to apply punishments immediately, is a sign of great beneficence. 14. For the Lord does not wait patiently, as with other nations, to punish them in the fullness of their sins when the day of judgment arrives; 15. rather, He has determined for us that He should not punish us only after our sins have reached their full measure. 16. Therefore He never removes His mercy from us; but correcting us in adversity, He does not abandon His people. 17. But let these things be said briefly for the admonition of the readers. Now we must come to the narrative. 18. Eleazar, then, one of the chief scribes, a man advanced in age and noble in countenance, was being forced with his mouth held open to eat pork. 19. But he, embracing a most glorious death rather than a hateful life, voluntarily went forward to the punishment. 20. And considering how he ought to approach, patiently enduring, he resolved not to admit unlawful things for love of life. 21. But those who stood by, moved by a wrongful compassion, on account of their old friendship with the man, took him aside and asked that meats be brought which he was permitted to eat, so that he might pretend to have eaten, as the king had commanded, of the flesh of the sacrifice; 22. so that by this act he might be freed from death; and on account of their old friendship with the man, they showed him this kindness. 23. But he began to consider the worthy eminence of his age and old age, and the gray hairs of his inborn nobility, and the acts of his excellent conduct from childhood; and according to the ordinances of the holy law established by God, he answered quickly, saying that he wished to be sent ahead to the underworld. 24. For it is not worthy of our age, he said, to pretend, so that many young men might think that Eleazar at ninety years old had gone over to the ways of foreigners; 25. and they would be deceived by my pretense and by the brief time of this corruptible life, and through this I would bring a stain and a curse upon my old age. 26. For even if in the present time I should be delivered from the punishments of men, yet I shall not escape the hand of the Almighty either living or dead. 27. Therefore by departing life bravely, I shall show myself worthy of my old age; 28. and I shall leave to the young a brave example, if with a ready spirit I bravely meet an honorable death for the sake of the most grave and most holy laws. Having said this, he was immediately dragged to the punishment. 29. But those who were leading him, who shortly before had been more gentle, were turned to anger because of the words he had spoken, which they considered to have been uttered out of arrogance. 30. But as he was being killed by the blows, he groaned and said: O Lord, who have holy knowledge, You clearly know that, though I could be freed from death, I endure hard pains of the body; but in my soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of You. 31. And so this man departed this life, leaving the memory of his death not only to the young but to his whole nation as an example of virtue and fortitude.
Verse 1: The King Sent an Antiochene Senator
1. THE KING (Antiochus Epiphanes) SENT A CERTAIN OLD ANTIOCHENE (a senator; for the senate was a council of old men; for to the old belong wisdom and prudence) — in Greek Athenaion, that is, an Athenian, perhaps because he was originally from Athens but lived as a citizen in Antioch; or because his proper name sounded like Athenaeus. Our Mariana thinks he was Bacchides, who, when compelling the Jews to sacrifice to idols, was killed by Mattathias out of zeal, as was said in Book I, ch. 2, verse 25.
Verse 2: Defile the Temple, Name It After Jupiter Olympius
2. TO DEFILE, ETC., THE TEMPLE AND TO NAME IT AFTER JUPITER OLYMPIUS. — Antiochus therefore ordered the idol of Jupiter to be placed in the temple and worshipped, and the temple to be solemnly dedicated, and thenceforward the temple of Jupiter to be so called. Behold, this is "the abomination of desolation," that is, the abominable idol that destroys everything, predicted three hundred years before by Daniel, ch. 11, verse 31.
AND IN GERIZIM, AS BEFITTED THOSE WHO INHABITED THE PLACE, OF JUPITER HOSPITALIS — that is, the Gerizim temple of the Samaritans, about which see John 4:20. Antiochus ordered it to be dedicated to Jupiter Hospitalis, because the inhabitants of Gerizim and the Samaritans were guests and strangers. For they had been brought from Assyria to Samaria as guests and pilgrims by Shalmaneser, 3 Kings 17. Whence also the Samaritans in a letter written to Antiochus, which Josephus records in Book XII, ch. 9, call themselves "guests," that is, strangers and pilgrims. For Jupiter was called Hospitalis because, as a god, the care and protection of guests was his responsibility, so that no one would defraud or injure them with impunity. Whence Aeneas invokes him as he journeys abroad to Italy. For he says thus, Aeneid I:
Jupiter (for they say that you give laws to guests), May you will that this day be joyful For Tyrians and for those who set out from Troy.
Verse 7: Compelled to the Sacrifices on the King's Birthday
7. AND THEY WERE LED (the Jews in crowds and great numbers) WITH BITTER COMPULSION (that is, by violent coercion) ON THE KING'S BIRTHDAY (of Antiochus Epiphanes) TO THE SACRIFICES — which were offered to the idols, so that they would attend and cooperate in them and eat from them as if consenting to the idols and idolatry.
AND WHEN THE RITES OF BACCHUS WERE CELEBRATED, THEY WERE FORCED, CROWNED WITH IVY, TO PROCESS IN HONOR OF BACCHUS. — That is, when the Bacchanalia, that is, the festivals of Bacchus, were celebrated with drinking, dancing, playing, fornicating, etc., in all license of the flesh and liberty of concupiscence (whence Bacchus was called Liber, because he gave complete fleshly liberty to everyone in his feasts and sacred rites), the Jews were forced in honor of Liber or Bacchus to be crowned with ivy and thus to process around the temple or the city. For ivy was sacred to Bacchus, because by its coldness it resists wine and drunkenness, of which Bacchus was the god, as Pliny testifies, Book XVI, ch. 34, Tertullian, On the Crown of the Soldier, ch. 7, and Caelius Rhodiginus, Book XIV, ch. 49. For the Greeks, indulging in their revelries, that is, their drinking bouts (and especially Antiochus Epiphanes), worshipped Bacchus; whence they also invented the story that Bacchus was born among them from the thigh of Jupiter, says Dionysius. Bacchus therefore was called Liber, as if the god of liberty, or because wine dissolves cares and frees the mind from them and makes one bolder in every endeavor. Varro derives it from "slipping," because a slippery mind slides wherever it pleases. St. Augustine, Book VI of the City of God, ch. 9, teaches that he is called Liber "because in intercourse, through his benefit, males are freed by the emission of seed. The same thing in women is done by Libera, whom they also consider to be Venus." Moreover, how great was the shameful character of the rites of Liber, the same Augustine describes in Book VII of the City of God, ch. 21.
Verse 8: A Decree Went Out to Neighboring Cities
8. A DECREE (to compel the Jews to worship Bacchus) WENT OUT TO THE NEIGHBORING CITIES OF THE GENTILES, AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE PTOLEMIES — two brothers, namely Ptolemy Philometor and Ptolemy Physcon, who reigned in Egypt. But since these were almost children at this time, and did not occupy the cities neighboring Jerusalem in Syria, and were moreover well-disposed toward the Jews, it is better to understand the Ptolemies here as those who were from the family of the aforesaid Ptolemies and who governed Cilicia and Phoenicia on behalf of Antiochus Epiphanes, especially Tyre and Sidon, such as the Ptolemy who is mentioned in ch. 4:45 and ch. 8:8. For since Antiochus Epiphanes was the uncle of Ptolemy Philometor and Physcon, from their relatives and household members he enrolled some in his court and set them over his provinces in Syria.
Verse 11: Burned Alive for Keeping the Sabbath
11. WHEN THEY HAD BEEN REPORTED TO PHILIP, THEY WERE BURNED ALIVE — because they observed the Sabbath and practiced Jewish customs, and therefore when attacked on the Sabbath they refused to defend themselves out of honor for the Sabbath, by which the law commanded rest from work, but allowed themselves to be killed on that day, as follows. This is the same Philip whom Antiochus had sent to harass the Jews, ch. 5, verse 22.
Verse 18: Eleazar, One of the Chief Scribes
18. THEN ELEAZAR (Eleazar in Hebrew means "God's help," which powerfully assisted this glorious athlete and martyr against temptations and torments) ONE OF THE CHIEF SCRIBES — (that is, of the Doctors and experts in the Law). Josephus, son of Gorion, Book III, chapters 2 and 4, calls him "a priest," indeed "a chief of the priests," namely of his course and class. For there were 24 classes of priests, each of which had its own chief. He adds that he was one of the 72 Interpreters who under Ptolemy Philadelphus translated the Holy Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek. However, if that were so, he would have needed to be 120 years old, not merely 90, as he himself says in verse 24. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 22 on the Maccabees, and St. Ambrose, Book II of On Jacob and the Happy Life, chapters 10 and 11, call him "father," that is, teacher and master of the seven Maccabee brothers who were martyrs, about whom see the next chapter; whence they said to Antiochus, says Nazianzen, "We are the disciples of Eleazar; the father fought first, the sons will fight afterward." And St. Ambrose: "We sons follow our father, we disciples follow our teacher."
WITH A NOBLE COUNTENANCE (in Greek, most beautiful in the appearance of his face) HE WENT VOLUNTARILY (in Greek, willingly) TO THE PUNISHMENT. — In Greek, to the tympanum. Now the tympanum was a type of torture in which men were strongly and rigidly stretched out, either on a table or bench, or bound to a post as if on a rack, and there beaten with clubs, just as stretched skins are beaten on a drum, as Serarius teaches from Polybius, Suidas, and Aristophanes. Some were also scourged there with whips or flayed alive, or burned with red-hot plates, as Josephus narrates was done to this Eleazar; or beaten with stones and hammers, and like a drum exposed to the blows and torments of all. Alluding to this, the Apostle says in Hebrews 11:35: "Others
Verse 20: He Determined Not to Admit Unlawful Things
20. AND CONSIDERING (our translator reads proptomenos; now they read proptysas, that is, spitting out, namely the meat that had been violently forced into his mouth) HOW HE OUGHT TO APPROACH (that is, foreseeing, pondering beforehand, meditating on how he ought to approach this fierce contest, namely as a boxer and athlete and martyr of God, who would be the first to undergo this combat of the faith and would give to others an example of unconquered constancy and fortitude, with a firm purpose of mind and a will completely resolved) HE DETERMINED NOT TO ADMIT UNLAWFUL THINGS FOR LOVE OF LIFE — namely, not to eat pork, which was forbidden to the Jews in Leviticus 11, especially because he was being ordered by Antiochus the tyrant to eat it in contempt of the law, so that by this eating he would signify that he was apostatizing from Judaism to paganism. Therefore Eleazar preferred to be tortured to death rather than to eat pork and comply with Antiochus.
Josephus adds, in his book On the Maccabees, ch. 5, that Antiochus urged Eleazar with various arguments to eat pork, and especially this one, that God would grant him pardon because he would have eaten pork not willingly but under compulsion. But Eleazar replied to the king: "We, Antiochus, who are persuaded that we must live according to the divine law, consider that no compulsion is more powerful than to obey our law; whence we judge that it must on no account be violated." He adds the reason: "For it teaches us temperance, so that we rule over all pleasures and desires, and it so trains us in fortitude that we willingly bear all labors. It also so teaches us justice that we magnificently worship Him who alone is God." And shortly after: "But I will not allow you to mock me so; nor will I violate the sacred oath of our ancestors concerning the observance of the law, not even if you gouge out my eyes and roast my entrails. I am not so old and feeble that the vigor of piety fails me. Prepare your wheels, and fan the fire more fiercely: I am not so sorry for my old age that on its account I should violate the law of my country. I will not lie to you, O teaching law; nor will I forswear you, dear temperance; nor will I disgrace you, O reason devoted to wisdom; nor will I deny you, O venerable priesthood and knowledge of the laws: my ancestors will receive me pure, not fearing this deadly violence of yours." He adds in ch. 6: "When Eleazar had thus spoken against the tyrant's exhortation, the attendants cruelly dragged him to the tortures, and first, stripping him, holding his arms on both sides, they beat him with whips, while a herald meanwhile cried out that he should obey the king's commands. But that magnanimous Eleazar, as if being tortured in a dream, was not moved at all; but with fixed eyes that old man gazed upon heaven, while meanwhile
his flesh was being torn by the beatings, and his sides were wounded by the flowing blood. And when, his body unable to bear the pain, he had fallen to the ground, yet he maintained a right and unmoved reason. Here a certain cruel attendant leapt upon the fallen man's loins and kicked him to make him rise. But he bore the pains, and despising that violence he endured the tortures, and the old man conquered the torturers who beat him, so much so that even they admired the excellence of his spirit." Josephus adds more here which Scripture does not have, for the reliability of which we must therefore rely on him. Alluding to the words of Josephus, St. Ambrose, Book II on Jacob, ch. 11, asserts that Eleazar said: "We are not led by inclination, but we are held by reverence for the law, which commands that we abstain from pork. If you think it a small thing that we eat pork, he who despises the law in small things, how will he observe it in great things? Our abstinence is a discipline of chastity. I am not so old that the fortitude of my spirit does not grow young. Old age ought to be a harbor, not a shipwreck of one's previous life. I will not deny you, O law of my country; I will not forswear you, O holy institutions of our ancestors; I will not dishonor you, O priestly vestments; I will not stain you with the dust of faithlessness, O gray hairs." And so he would not even pretend, when other meats were offered; and thus, says Ambrose, "dying in the torments, he became for others a lesson in perseverance, who had been chosen as an example of weakness."
Verse 23: He Wished to Be Sent to the Underworld
23. SAYING THAT HE WISHED TO BE SENT AHEAD TO THE UNDERWORLD — that is, that he wished to die and be sent to the limbo of the fathers rather than eat pork against the law. The Carthusians imitate Eleazar, who steadfastly refuse meat, even when prescribed by a doctor as necessary for a sick person's life, and prefer rather to die in order to keep their vow of not eating meat intact and inviolate. For it is permitted to place life after religion and a vow: as St. Casimir, when sick, preferred to die so as to keep his vow of virginity, when the doctors asserted that he could not be cured from the disease he suffered unless he took a wife; to all of them he replied with this one thing: "I choose to die a virgin," namely:
Both living and dying: I will live with the virgin Jesus, For whose love I gladly choose to die a virgin.
These are the heroic acts of heroes in chastity, temperance, and fortitude.
Verse 26: I Shall Not Escape the Hand of the Almighty
26. FOR EVEN IF IN THE PRESENT TIME I SHOULD BE DELIVERED FROM THE PUNISHMENTS OF MEN, YET I SHALL NOT ESCAPE THE HAND (the most fierce vengeance) OF THE ALMIGHTY EITHER LIVING OR DEAD. — For Eleazar would have sinned mortally against God if he had eaten pork at the command of Antiochus; because Antiochus ordered it to be eaten in contempt of the law and of God, so that by that act, as if by a sign, he would testify that he was apostatizing from the law and from God to Antiochus and his gods.
Verse 28: He Was Dragged to the Punishment
28. HE WAS DRAGGED TO THE PUNISHMENT (in Greek, to the tympanum, about which see verse 19). — Josephus adds, in his book On the Maccabees, ch. 6: "Seeing his magnanimity, those who would not be moved even by their own compassion applied fire to him, and burned him placed upon cruel instruments, and poured foul odors into his nostrils. He, already burned to the bones and about to give up his soul, with eyes fixed upon God said: You know, O God, that when I could have escaped, I chose to die by the torments of fire for the sake of the law. Therefore be merciful to Your people, satisfied with our punishment on their behalf. Make my blood their expiation, and accept my life in exchange for theirs. Having said these things, the holy man died nobly." So says Josephus, which does not quite fit with the tympanum, unless we say that those placed on the tympanum were customarily tortured not only with clubs but also with fire and with every kind of punishment, which is clearly true from the Authors and the Acts of the Martyrs. Whence Lipsius, in his book On Torture, says: "The tympanum encompasses all these kinds of torments."
Verse 30: I Endure Hard Pains of the Body
30. I ENDURE HARD PAINS OF THE BODY; BUT IN MY SOUL I GLADLY SUFFER THESE THINGS BECAUSE OF MY FEAR OF YOU. — Illustrious therefore and glorious was this martyrdom of Eleazar, who as a leader went before the seven brothers and others to the same martyrdom. Wherefore he is called by Nazianzen "the firstfruits of the Martyrs of the Old Testament," just as Stephen is of the New. For although Abel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets suffered martyrdom before Eleazar, yet Eleazar was the first who expressly, for the true faith and religion in God, publicly against Antiochus who wished to overthrow it, underwent the solemn contest of martyrdom.
Hear Nazianzen: "This Eleazar is the firstfruits of those who suffered before Christ, just as Stephen is of those who suffered after Christ, a man who was a priest and advanced in years, gray both in hair and in prudence, who formerly offered sacrifices and prayers for the people, but now also offered himself to God as a most perfect victim and expiatory offering for the whole people, a favorable prelude to the contest, an exhortation both by speaking and by silence: and moreover offering his seven sons as the fruit of his teaching, a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, more splendid and purer than every legal sacrifice. For it is most equitable and most just to attribute the virtues of children to their parents."
Hear also the praises which Josephus rightly gives to Eleazar, in his book On the Maccabees, ch. 6: "O priest worthy of the priesthood! You did not defile these sacred teeth, nor did you contaminate with the eating of unclean things the belly that was the host of religion. O harmonizer of the law, O zealous student of the divine word! It befits those who fulfill the sacred ministry of the law with their own blood, and resist the pains of death with noble sweat, to be such as you. You, O father, gloriously confirmed the goodness of our laws by your patience, and established their sanctity with the gravity of your words, and by your deeds you won credibility for the teachings of the divine discipline. O old man more powerful than torture, O elder more fierce than fire, O Eleazar greater than the passions! O happy old age, which a faithful seal of death has completed!"