2 Maccabees as a Judean Work

In this article I make the case that 2 Maccabees was composed in Judea, and more specifically in circles associated with the Hasmonean court, through three lines of argument. First, I argue that the Judean social elites and scribes in the Hellenistic period had a far greater command of Greek than is usually assumed, as evidenced by the Romance of Joseph the Tobiad and by works written in Hebrew that show a deep knowledge either of Greek historiography or of Greek philosophy. I also argue that the Hasmoneans, like other local rulers, would certainly have needed Greek-speaking writers in their service. Various scenarios are explored, including the possibility that Jason of Cyrene himself was employed at the Hasmonean court. Next, I reiterate the case that major narrative sections in 2 Maccabees are shaped by the narrative pattern of the ruler founding the temple, and that this pattern could only be used at the Hasmonean court, not in a Greek cultural setting. Furthermore, the presence of the narrative template offers an alternative explanation for several aspects of the text that modern scholars have taken as evidence that the work was composed in a diaspora setting. Two examples are examined: 2 Maccabees, alleged “lack of interest in and knowledge of the geography of Palestine;” and the author’s attack on Jason’s establishment of the gymnasium in Jerusalem. Finally, I explore the overlooked reception of the Danielic textual network in 1 and 2 Maccabees, in the construction of Antiochus IV as a universal evildoer, and in the account of Antiochus IV’s death in 2 Maccabees. While this matter is not decisive for the view that 2 Maccabees was composed in Judea, it lends further weight to this theory.