Introduction

In this paper I aim to lay out the similarities between the apocryphal works 4 Maccabees and the Testament of Job. I will not be so bold as to claim dependency of either work on the other, nor will I reach any conclusions regarding authorship, province, or date of either work. However, it is my goal to draw attention to the thematic and linguistic parallels between these two compositions and to ask whether they are simply a coincidence or if there is a more satisfying reason for the similarities. While we shall see that the textual evidence is probably too scant to draw any concrete conclusions, I do hope that by examining the two pieces closely we can begin to consider each composition in light of the other.

The History and Setting of 4 Maccabees and the Testament of Job

Before we delve into the texts, it would be beneficial to get a general idea of where scholarship on each work lies. It is generally agreed that the Testament of Job was written in Greek, in Egypt, some time around the shift in power from the Ptolemies to the Romans, and is an expansion of the biblical Book of Job.1 Most scholars think that it was written by a Judean, though there have been some who argued that it was a later Christian composition.2 The text survives on four Greek and ten Slavonic manuscripts, though most scholars focus on the Greek text.3 Most of the debate surrounding the Testament of Job involves its date of composition, rather than its provenance or authorship.4 A major textual clue for the historical context of the Testament of Job is the scene of temple destruction in 5:2. William Gruen supposes that this literary device makes reference to the revolts in Alexandria in 115-117 CE, and thus places the composition of the testament of Job some time in the 2nd century CE.5 Yet others point to an edict of Claudius in 41 CE, exhorting the Jews of Alexandria to stop this destructive and obstinate mutual enmity, as the terminus post quem for the composition of the Testament of
1 2

? ? 3 Haralambakis, 10-11 4 ? The author is unknown, but hopes of identifying a particular individual have all but fadedthus, with provenance being relatively agreed upon, the historical debate has shifted towards date. 5 Gruen170-176

Job.6 It seems impossible to pin down an exact date, but it is relatively safe to assume that the Testament of Job was written as a reaction to the new pressures that faced Judeans in Egypt shortly after the Roman takeover.7 In the case of 4 Maccabees, the author is similarly unknown,8 but arguments over provenance rather than date consume most scholars. Desilva has convincingly argued for a date between 19 and 72 CE, based on the names of the provinces given at 4:2.9 Like Job, 4 Maccabees is an expansion of material found in a canonical bookin this case, 2 Maccabees, especially chapters 5-18.10 It was also written in Greek and, like the Testament of Job, by a Judean.11 Earlier scholars thought that 4 Maccabees was written in Alexandria.12 However, more recent scholarship is leaning towards the consensus that it originated in Asia Minor.13 The best evidence for this is stylistic, especially with reference to the epitaph at 17:8-10.14 Though there are surely some who would disagree, we are safe to adopt the following assumptions about these two pieces: they were each written by a Judean, in the diaspora, in Greek, around the turn of the eras, and they each expanded on material that was already in the Septuagint.

Thematic Similarities

The first similarities that we will examine are thematic and structural. The theme of patience and perseverance in the face of great loss is often cited as a main theme within the Testament of Job.15 This is evidenced in particular by Jobs exhortation to his children at 7:10 to be patient in all that befalls you since patience is stronger than all else, as well as in the introduction where Job refers to himself as the one in which total endurance dwells (1:3). It is through Jobs unrelenting endurance as he sits for years on a dung heap suffering diseases, the loss of his family and possessions, and ridicule at the hands of his former peers, that he is finally
6 7

Gruen 170; Kugler and Rohrbaugh 46-47 n. 9 Though it could be argued that the themes within the Testament of Job are simply common Judean tropes, and our efforts to find a historical context for the Testament of Job are hopeless. 8 Early church fathers accredited the work to Josephus, but that view has become untenable in modern scholarship (Desilva, xii; Van Henten, 58) 9 Desilva xvi 10 Van Henten70-73; DeSilva, xxx. 11 ? 12 Van Henten 60, 78; DeSilva xvii. 13 DeSilva, xviii; Van Henten, 79-80. 14 Van Henten, 59-60, 80; DeSilva, xix. 15 Haas, 117; Kugler and Rohrbaugh 46-47 n. 9; Haralambakis, 125.

restored. He abandons Hellenistic norms regarding wealth and honor and chooses instead to obey his God unflinchingly.16 The endurance that he exhibits by retelling his lifes story seems to provide an example for diasporic Judeans to emulate.17 A similar theme emerges in 4 Maccabees. In this case, the author is primarily concerned with demonstrating that pious reason controls the passions (1:1)18 and that following ancestral Law is the best way to exercise ones reason (2:23). He attempts to prove his thesis by using examples, namely two martyrdomsone of Eleazar (5:1-7:23) and the other of seven brothers and their mother (8:1-14:11). The narrative context is as follows: A tyrant (Antiochus) has outlawed the practice of Judean ancestral Law and is torturing pious Judeans because they refuse to eat pork. Throughout the narrative, a single bit is enough to free each martyr from his misery, but of course they refuse. The focus on the martyrs endurance in these episodes is remarkably similar to Jobs life story. The author lauds Eleazar for enduring pain unto death in order to maintain Gods law (7:22), and the same goes for the seven brothers (14:1-11). In each composition emphasis is placed on the protagonists willingness to suffer pain and loss in order to maintain a proper relationship with God. A further echo, though not as strong as the thematic link explained above, is the conspicuous place of reason in each text. To be fair, is it made much more explicit in 4 Maccabees, as it figures very prominently in the thesis (i.e., is master over the passions). The martyrs sufferings are presented as rational choices rather than fanatical, faithbased responses to persecution (7:16-23; 13:1-7), and the word appears at least 38 times in the 18 chapters of the book. Job employs in a similar manner, if more subtly. For instance, as I mentioned earlier, his decision to endure the trials that Satan sets before him was based on the rational knowledge that he will end up twice as blessed as he previously was (4:6). Furthermore, there is evidence that Jobs normative state is one of patient reasoning power, as he regains this state after learning the shocking news that his wife has become another mans maidservant (21:2-4). Finally, when the kings visit Job and question his sanity, instead of telling them that an angel had appeared to him and told him that everything was going to turn out fine,
Comment [RK1]: Do you mean to imply that in Job it is the latter (fanatical, etc.)? Probably not, but as youve phrased it one might conclude that is the case.

16

It is interesting to note that he makes this choice through logic, not faithan angel has told him that he will be repaid twofold if bears his sufferings nobly. This type of appeal to reason would be sit well with those versed in Hellenistic Philosophy 17 Haralambakis, 135-136 18 A very stoic viewpoint.

he attempts to engage in a kind of debate that would have been familiar in the Hellenistic philosophical circles at Alexandria.19

Stylistic Similarities

The following aspects are painted with an even broader brush than the ones examined above, but nonetheless they shed light on the overall similarities between 4 Maccabees and the Testament of Job. First, Haralambakis has noted that there are two main agones in the Testament of Job involving its protagonist: The first, running from 17:1 to 27:10, pits Satan against Job and his wife in a primarily physical contest.20 The second, running from 28:1 to 44:1, is the kings visit to Job and their concern that he is not of sound mind. This is primarily a psychological contest.21 Likewise, 4 Maccabees is made up of two main contests. The first is between Eleazar and Antiochos, and the second sees Antiochos competing with the seven brothers and their mother. While both conflicts are at once physical and psychological, it is noteworthy that the pinnacle of suffering is depicted as the mother watching her sons being tortured to death, which is surely more a psychological than physical challenge. Thus it becomes apparent that the narrative structure of both works is, broadly speaking, similar. The second stylistic similarity that is worth noting is each authors tendency to employ what could be termed hyperbolic description. This is especially evident in TJob 9:1-15:10, when Job lists the impossible extravagance of his wealth and good deeds, and again in 21:1-28:1 as the author describes the horrors visited upon Job by Satan. In each instance the facts are grossly exaggerated in what must surely have been a conscious rhetorical decision made by the author to enlarge every bit of material that he borrowed from the Book of Job. In 4 Maccabees, the author describes the tortures of the martyrs in a similarly extravagant fashion, describing their entrails being skewered, their eyes gouged out, their tongues cut off, their limbs slowly rent from their bodies, and the resulting pile of limbs and bodies once the seventh son was disposed of. The tortures that the author of 4 Maccabees forces upon his martyrs are greatly exaggerated over those described in his source (2 Maccabees 6:18-7:42).22 Thus we see in each author a
19 20 21

Comment [RK2]: Agones is the right form for the pl nom

? Haralambakis, 115. Haralambakis, 115. 22 deSilva, 141; xvii

tendency for ekphrasis (vivid description), as he expands the details found in his canonical sources in order to enhance his rhetorical narrative.23 The final stylistic similarity is really more of a comment on the genre of each piece. There has been much debate over the proper genre to which to assign each of these compositions, and it is worth repeating some of the scholars conclusions. The Testament of Job has been considered a Testament, Midrash, novel, and even a parody.24 Indeed, perhaps the most astute observation to be made regarding the genre of the Testament of Job is that it is ambiguous.25 But if we discard the term genre, we can at least see that the Testament of Job is a narrative that aims to edify its readers by providing a moral example to be followed.26 The genre of 4 Maccabees is likewise disputed, with claims for a sermon, encomia, and epitaphos logos all having been leveled.27 Epitaphos logos is defined by deSilva as a story of [a] praiseworthy life and death of [its] subject, [that] lay[s] out the values that the subject showed themselves to hold dear.28 This sounds suspiciously similar to the ways in which Haralambakis defines testament, and also to what we see happen in the Testament of Job.29 Thus, if we simply look at what each author is trying to do, we can see that each is using canonical biblical characters in order to create an exemplary model of a human being. While the author of 4 Maccabees surely does not want his fellow Judeans to be tortured to death (just as the author of the testament of Job did not want his audience to lose all of its possessions), he does hope that his readers will be inspired by the martyrs story and aspire to emulate their adherence to the law. So if we avoid strict genre labels when examining these two works, we can loosely categorize them each as example stories.30

Linguistic Similarities

It is the linguistic similarities, however, that really catch the eye. Though it is dangerous to use vocabulary and terminology to draw definite conclusions, looking at some of the words
23 24

Comment [RK3]: Avoid pronoun and verb, noun and verb contractions in formal papers.

deSilva, 141. Haralambakis, 126-133. 25 Haralambakis, 133 citing Edouard Dhorme, A commentary on the Book of Job. cxiii 26 Haralambakis, 135-136. 27 Ven Henten, 60-63; deSilva, xxi. 28 deSilva, xxii 29 Haralambakis, 127-128 30 Haralambakis, 135.

that both authors use is an illuminating endeavor. The first linguistic similarity is perhaps simply a result of the common themes of endurance and patience in the two works. This has resulted in an abundance of the terms (verb) and (noun), as well as and , all terms for patience/endurance. These words appear relatively frequently in both the Old and New Testaments and thus not much weight should be placed on their appearance in these two works. There are, however, two passages in particular that merit our special attention. The first of these occurs at 4 Maccabees 6:1-30, a section titled by deSilva Eleazar Agonistes. What first catches the eye is in 6:25, when the guards pour foul-smelling, boiling liquids into his nostrils.31 The key term is , which appears nowhere else in the Septuagint.32 It does, however, appear in the Testament of Job at 31:2, 32:8, 34:4, and 35:2. If we look back at the preceding sentences (a section that is thematically similar to the Testament of Job, featuring an old man being tortured due to his refusal disobey the law), we begin to notice quite a few Greek terms that are also present in the testament of Job. appears conspicuously at 6:9, as does at 6:13. In 6:10 Eleazar becomes like a noble (athlete) who, as he is beaten, conquers the torturers thanks to his and his . Compare this to TJob 27.4 and following, when Satan complains that Job has become like an who defeats another athlete after having his limbs mangled by displaying great . There are three more relatively minor lexicographical similarities that appear in this passage: at 6:7, at 6:20 and the imperative at 6:22. These terms occur in TJob at 21:4, 32:11, and 25:10, respectively.33 The second passage that demands our attention occurs shortly afterwards in 4 Maccabees at 7:1-5. In this passage the author employs a metaphor of a ship, just as the author of the Testament of Job does at 18:6 and following. While the vocabulary is not as similar as in the previous passage, the similarity of the metaphor is striking. In 4 Maccabees, Eleazar steers the ship of piety () in a sea () of passions as he is assailed by the high waves () of the tyrants tortures, but he eventually steers his vessel into the harbor of immortal victory. In the Testament of Job, the protagonist also finds himself at mid-seas () in a ship, and seeing a huge wave () abandons all the cargo of his ship that he might
31 32

Comment [RK4]: No need for quotation marks around Greek terms.

Trans: deSilva. Again, this is perhaps another instance of hyperbolic description. The only other place in occurs in a pseudepigraphal writing (besides the Testament of Job) is the Testament of Benjamin (8:3). 33 It is worth noting that 1/3 of the instances of in the Septuagint appear in the Book of Job. In 4 Maccabees as well as TJob the imperative command to die is preceded by a .

survive and enter a [implicitly holy] city. This passage is remarkable because is quite a rare term, appearing only in 4 Maccabees in the Septuagint.34 There are again minor lexicographical similarities among these passages: For instance, the use of / to introduce the metaphor and the presence of in in each passage. Furthermore, the sense of an otherworldly reward for ones sacrifices, implicit in TJob, but explicit in 4 Maccabees, is present in both passages.35 It is hard to make definitive claims based on these two passages. However, it should become clear that there are at least broad similarities between these two works. Most significant is the presence of two remarkably rare terms in each ( and ). But the minor similarities in vocabulary, as well as the common tropes of an athlete winning through his endurance rather than his ability to overcome his opponent,36 and hardships resembling the terrifying waves of the open sea, should not be overlooked. Again, we should not become overzealous in our attempts to pin down a reason for [these] similarities, but we should at least consider them when studying these works.37

Conclusion

Do any of these similarities make clear the date, author, or provenance of either of the works in question? In a word, no. While Norden and Breitensteins arguments for an Asian provenance based on the language of the fictional epitaph in 4 Maccabees (17:8) are not airtight, they are difficult to disprove as well. While I do find the similar style, language, and themes between the Testament of Job and 4 Maccabees suggestive of a common provenance, there is no reason to suppose that Judean intellectuals from different regions could not have had an influence on each other. Regarding the debate over the date of Testament of Job, even if interdependency could be established between TJob and 4 Maccabees, the question of which came first would still remain. Thus, I think that in the end we are forced to resort to the rather ambiguous claim that each author drew from both the Septuagint and non-Judean Hellenistic sources and was interested in expanded material from canonical scripture. Yet I do think that
34 35 36

It appears in the Testament of Naphtali (6:5) and the Book of Solomon (5:8) in other Judean literature. Jobs vision of an eternal heavenly throne is elaborated in Chapter 33. Think Rocky I-V! 37 Ellis, Hunter. The Ecclesiazusae and the Republic, International Journal for the Humanities 9 (2011): 186.

Comment [RK5]: Well, Id avoid this claim for two reasons: you already rightly caution against making too much of lexical commonalities that are not exclusive (and remember how many times at leas duswdia appears otherwise); and the dating of T12P for many makes the relationship unlikely, if not downright impossible.

scholars have failed to notice the significant similarities between these two compositions, and that if we proceed in our studies of these works bearing them in mind, it may produce fruitful results.