Changes

*[https://books.google.com/books?id=v-WRJhvfudIC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=temple+of+Nanaya&source=bl&ots=x_p73qgXAE&sig=om_5tLlXaDxAZy0H_Iy1k51yvW4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=klCwVJqLFsmlyASy74KQBg&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=temple%20of%20Nanaya&f=false The Pantheon of Uruk During the Neo-Babylonian Period, By Paul-Alain Beaulieu.]</ref><ref>See [https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+parthian+empire&rlz=1C1QJDB_enUS602US602&espv=2&biw=996&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=YGewVILaKYSuyQS2vILoBw&ved=0CDIQ7Ak&dpr=1#imgdii=_&imgrc=hE0L7HaVY3WbQM%253A%3BoYF4K5obTCoOmM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.iranchamber.com%252Fhistory%252Fsassanids%252Fimages%252Fsassanid_empire_map.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.iranchamber.com%252Fhistory%252Fsassanids%252Fsassanids.php%3B600%3B350 Map of Parthian Empire]</ref> The setting of this story is clearly not the same.

*[https://books.google.com/books?id=v-WRJhvfudIC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=temple+of+Nanaya&source=bl&ots=x_p73qgXAE&sig=om_5tLlXaDxAZy0H_Iy1k51yvW4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=klCwVJqLFsmlyASy74KQBg&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=temple%20of%20Nanaya&f=false The Pantheon of Uruk During the Neo-Babylonian Period, By Paul-Alain Beaulieu.]</ref><ref>See [https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+parthian+empire&rlz=1C1QJDB_enUS602US602&espv=2&biw=996&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=YGewVILaKYSuyQS2vILoBw&ved=0CDIQ7Ak&dpr=1#imgdii=_&imgrc=hE0L7HaVY3WbQM%253A%3BoYF4K5obTCoOmM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.iranchamber.com%252Fhistory%252Fsassanids%252Fimages%252Fsassanid_empire_map.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.iranchamber.com%252Fhistory%252Fsassanids%252Fsassanids.php%3B600%3B350 Map of Parthian Empire]</ref> The setting of this story is clearly not the same.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was not alive during the high priesthood of Aristobulus II 66–63 B.C. when the second letter of 2 Maccabees 1 was written. The Antiochus who died in the temple of Nanea was not Antiochus IV. The stories are of two different occurances with two different men who died at two different times and in two different places. They are not the same. The editor and author of 2 Maccabees does not identify them as representing the same event, nor should we. From the context the two letters of 2 Maccabees 1–2 were not part of the work by Jason of Cyrene epitomized by the author of 2 Maccabees, but were written approximately 36 and 95 years, respectively, after the events he documented in his history (Nicanor was defeated by Judas 160 B.C.).

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was not alive during the high priesthood of Aristobulus II 66–63 B.C. when the second letter of 2 Maccabees 1 was written. The Antiochus who died in the temple of Nanea was not Antiochus IV. The stories are of two different occurrences with two different men who died at two different times and in two different places. They are not the same. The editor and author of 2 Maccabees does not identify them as representing the same event, nor should we. From the context the two letters of 2 Maccabees 1–2 were not part of the work by Jason of Cyrene epitomized by the author of 2 Maccabees, but were written approximately 36 and 95 years, respectively, after the events he documented in his history (Nicanor was defeated by Judas 160 B.C.).

By an interpretive reading (''eisegesis'' <ref>See [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eisegesis Merriam-Webster definition: eisegesis]. ''Eisegesis'' occurs when a reader imposes his or her interpretation into and onto the text, such as the belief that the name "Antiochus" only means Antiochus IV Epiphanes, saying that it means what it does ''not'' mean ([[Proof text|reader-response Biblical interpretation]]). See four articles

By an interpretive reading (''eisegesis'' <ref>See [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eisegesis Merriam-Webster definition: eisegesis]. ''Eisegesis'' occurs when a reader imposes his or her interpretation into and onto the text, such as the belief that the name "Antiochus" only means Antiochus IV Epiphanes, saying that it means what it does ''not'' mean ([[Proof text|reader-response Biblical interpretation]]). See four articles

Though there is substantial overlap between 1 and 2 Maccabees (that is, the central events related in both works are the same), nevertheless the story told in 2 Maccabees both commences and concludes earlier in time than the story told in 1 Maccabees. 2 Maccabees is neither a sequel to nor a continuation of I Maccabees (unlike I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I and II Chronicles). It is a second book about the Maccabees, having been written somewhat later than the First Book of Maccabees.

Though there is substantial overlap between 1 and 2 Maccabees (that is, the central events related in both works are the same), nevertheless the story told in 2 Maccabees both commences and concludes earlier in time than the story told in 1 Maccabees. 2 Maccabees is neither a sequel to nor a continuation of I Maccabees (unlike I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I and II Chronicles). It is a second book about the Maccabees, having been written somewhat later than the First Book of Maccabees.

Unlike I Maccabees, which was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek, 2 Maccabees was written in Greek. Therefore the author must have been a Greek-speaking Jew. In order to write 2 Maccabees, he relied upon the five-volume history, long since lost, written in Greek by a Jewish historian named Jason of Cyrene (2 Maccabees 2:23). This demonstrates that the otherwise unknown Jason was reasonably learned, and may well have lived-or at least studied-in the large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, which is made all the more likely by the fact that 2 Maccabees begins with copies of two letters written from Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Egypt (2 Maccabees 1:1-36; 2:1-18), and doubtless were read to the assembled worshipers in the synagogues there. Finally, from the content of his book it is evident that the author held beliefs very similar, if not identical, to those of the Pharisees and the later rabbis of Orthodox Judaism, so that he himself may have been a Pharisee.

Unlike I Maccabees, which was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek, 2 Maccabees was written in Greek. Therefore, the author must have been a Greek-speaking Jew. In order to write 2 Maccabees, he relied upon the five-volume history, long since lost, written in Greek by a Jewish historian named Jason of Cyrene (2 Maccabees 2:23). This demonstrates that the otherwise unknown Jason was reasonably learned, and may well have lived-or at least studied-in the large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, which is made all the more likely by the fact that 2 Maccabees begins with copies of two letters written from Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Egypt (2 Maccabees 1:1-36; 2:1-18), and doubtless were read to the assembled worshipers in the synagogues there. Finally, from the content of his book it is evident that the author held beliefs very similar, if not identical, to those of the Pharisees and the later rabbis of Orthodox Judaism, so that he himself may have been a Pharisee.

===Second Maccabees and the Early Church===

===Second Maccabees and the Early Church===

Although this book began to be excluded by the rabbis from the canon of Hebrew Scriptures after the rise of Christianity at the end of A.D. the 1st century—apparently because it was written in Greek, and after the time of Ezra and Malachi, and not in Israel or Judah—it had been included in the earlier rabbinical Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint used by the Jews of the Diaspora. The early Christians used the same Septuagint to preach the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, where Greek was the lingua franca, and thus from the very beginning of Christianity the Second Book of Maccabees was already a part of the Bible of the apostles, and it has been so retained in the Old Testament of the Greek Bible since the 1st century. As has already been mentioned above, there are many theological and eschatological points of contact between 2 Maccabees and the beliefs of the early Christians. The early Church could point to 2 Maccabees 5:19 as support for their belief that the Temple had been superceded by the risen Messiah. They could also see the close resemblance between the words of the Maccabean Martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7 and the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:28, an understanding which is part of the ancient Christian traditional reading of these texts.

Although this book began to be excluded by the rabbis from the canon of Hebrew Scriptures after the rise of Christianity at the end of A.D. the 1st century—apparently because it was written in Greek, and after the time of Ezra and Malachi, and not in Israel or Judah—it had been included in the earlier rabbinical Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint used by the Jews of the Diaspora. The early Christians used the same Septuagint to preach the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, where Greek was the lingua franca, and thus from the very beginning of Christianity the Second Book of Maccabees was already a part of the Bible of the apostles, and it has been so retained in the Old Testament of the Greek Bible since the 1st century. As has already been mentioned above, there are many theological and eschatological points of contact between 2 Maccabees and the beliefs of the early Christians. The early Church could point to 2 Maccabees 5:19 as support for their belief that the Temple had been superseded by the risen Messiah. They could also see the close resemblance between the words of the Maccabean Martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7 and the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:28, an understanding which is part of the ancient Christian traditional reading of these texts.

The practice of offering sacrifices for, praying for, and willingly submitting to suffering on behalf of sinners—both for sinners who are still alive and for sinners who are already dead—is  another point of continuity of doctrine between 2 Maccabees and Christianity. But this practice has its deeper roots in the days of Abraham, as can be seen in Genesis 18:23-32 and 20:7, and is mentioned with approval in 2 Maccabees 3:31-33; 7:38; and 12:40-46, and it may be found even today in Orthodox Judaism and most of Christianity. For some students of history and of the Bible the Apostle Paul also seems to allude to this practice in 1 Corinthians 15:29, where he mentions Christians undergoing penitential "baptisms" on behalf of the dead, interpreting these in the sense of Mark 10:38, and Colossians 1:24, as meaning self-sacrificial suffering fully united to the single unique atonement of Christ himself suffering for and with and in them as his body, rather than literal water baptisms. However, other readings of this text see in it the practice of an intercessory and substitutionary water baptism of salvation for the souls of those who had died without being able to receive it, as a divinely ordained legal procedure on their behalf, which is the reading of members of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]].

The practice of offering sacrifices for, praying for, and willingly submitting to suffering on behalf of sinners—both for sinners who are still alive and for sinners who are already dead—is  another point of continuity of doctrine between 2 Maccabees and Christianity. But this practice has its deeper roots in the days of Abraham, as can be seen in Genesis 18:23-32 and 20:7, and is mentioned with approval in 2 Maccabees 3:31-33; 7:38; and 12:40-46, and it may be found even today in Orthodox Judaism and most of Christianity. For some students of history and of the Bible the Apostle Paul also seems to allude to this practice in 1 Corinthians 15:29, where he mentions Christians undergoing penitential "baptisms" on behalf of the dead, interpreting these in the sense of Mark 10:38, and Colossians 1:24, as meaning self-sacrificial suffering fully united to the single unique atonement of Christ himself suffering for and with and in them as his body, rather than literal water baptisms. However, other readings of this text see in it the practice of an intercessory and substitutionary water baptism of salvation for the souls of those who had died without being able to receive it, as a divinely ordained legal procedure on their behalf, which is the reading of members of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]].