This is an age old problem. It happens at different levels: personal, social, national and even global. The duration and intensity vary. Some last briefly but many others seem endless. Some sufferings are more difficult to endure because they are very senseless. They are senseless in the sense that we don't know how they come about and we don't see what good they bring. When we witness innocent people suffer for no reason, we will be weighed down by a burden of puzzlement. Naturally, we will look up to heaven and demand an answer. In most of the time, heaven is silent.
The Maccabees books are very graphic in their description of tortures. In this second book of the Maccabees, after describing how the 90-year-old scribe Eleazar died, the author continues with the martyrdom of a heroic mother and her 7 sons. This time, they were anonymous. The first book of Maccabees talks about the event between 137th (1 Maccabees 1:8) to 177th (1 Maccabees 16:14) year of the Greek Empire.
Let us assume that the author of Maccabees starts counting the Greek Empire after the rise of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. Then the first book of Maccabeestalks about the four decades between 196 B.C. and 156 B.C., well within the Seleucid Empire. The second book of Maccabees mentions the years between 151st (2 Maccabees 14:4) to 188th (2 Maccabees 1:9) year of the Greek Empire. 145 B.C. still falls within the Seleucid Empire.
The work on Septuagint began in the third century B.C. and finished before 132 B.C. Therefore, most of the Jews in the Maccabean stories spoke Greek. It is interesting to note that under torture and interrogation, the second son answered in Hebrew.
He (the second son) replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, "No." Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done (2 Maccabees 7:8).
She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them (2 Maccabees 7:24).
Again, the mother spoke in Hebrew. So, who were these Jews that kept speaking in Hebrew during this period of Hellenization? Did they belong to the priestly family?
Let us assume that the author of Maccabees starts counting the Greek Empire after the rise of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. Then the first book of Maccabeestalks about the four decades between 196 B.C. and 156 B.C., well within the Seleucid Empire. The second book of Maccabees mentions the years between 151st (2 Maccabees 14:4) to 188th (2 Maccabees 1:9) year of the Greek Empire. 145 B.C. still falls within the Seleucid Empire.
The work on Septuagint began in the third century B.C. and finished before 132 B.C. Therefore, most of the Jews in the Maccabean stories spoke Greek. It is interesting to note that under torture and interrogation, the second son answered in Hebrew.
He (the second son) replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, "No." Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done (2 Maccabees 7:8).
She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them (2 Maccabees 7:24).
Again, the mother spoke in Hebrew. So, who were these Jews that kept speaking in Hebrew during this period of Hellenization? Did they belong to the priestly family?
The author puts into the lips of the second, the fourth sons and the mother, the hope of resurrection.
And when he (the second son) was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe willraise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." (2 Maccabees 7:9)
And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!" (2 Maccabees 7:14)
"I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you.
Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws." (2 Maccabees 7:22-23)
The mother and her 7 sons were able to make sense of their sufferings. They took the sufferings as a disciplinary action from God. For example, the sixth son had the following to say.
After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, "Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened (2 Maccabees 7:18).
Tortures are more bearable when you can make sense of them. Sustained by the hope of resurrection, we can become martyrs heroically.
And when he (the second son) was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe willraise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." (2 Maccabees 7:9)
And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!" (2 Maccabees 7:14)
"I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you.
Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws." (2 Maccabees 7:22-23)
The mother and her 7 sons were able to make sense of their sufferings. They took the sufferings as a disciplinary action from God. For example, the sixth son had the following to say.
After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, "Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened (2 Maccabees 7:18).
Tortures are more bearable when you can make sense of them. Sustained by the hope of resurrection, we can become martyrs heroically.
Dear Lord, Your sufferings bring God and sinners together again. Sufferings become redemptive. May we be able to overcome the fear in our hearts and have the courage to choose the right and the good things. Amen.
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