1 Maccabees: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible Commentary | AYBC)

by Daniel R. Schwartz

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 2022

Overview

A new translation and commentary on I Maccabees that offers a fresh interpretation of the author’s values and purpose.

First Maccabees, composed in the second century BCE, chronicles four decades of clashes between Hellenistic Syria and Judea, from Antiochus Epiphanes’s ascent to the throne in 175 BCE to the Hasmoneans’ establishment of an independent Judean state, ruled by Simon and his sons.

In this volume, Daniel R. Schwartz provides a new translation of the Greek text and analyzes its historical significance. In dialogue with contemporary scholarship, the introduction surveys the work’s themes, sources, and transmission, while the commentary addresses textual details and issues of historical reconstruction, often devoting special attention to the lost Hebrew original and its associations. Schwartz demonstrates that 1 Maccabees, despite its Hebraic biblical style and its survival within the Christian canon, deviates from biblical and Judaic works by marginalizing God, evincing scorn for martyrs, and ascribing to human power and valor crucial historical roles. This all fits its mandate: justification of the Hasmonean dynasty, especially the Simonides.

Key Features

• Addresses textual details and issues of historical reconstruction
• Surveys the work’s themes, sources, and transmission
• Provides a new translation of the Greek text

Praise for the Print Edition

An outstanding work of excellent quality, with fresh and coherent interpretations and exemplary engagement with scholarly literature.

—Jan Willem van Henten, University of Amsterdam

Product Details

• Title: 1 Maccabees: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
• Author: Daniel R. Schwartz
• Series: Anchor Yale Bible
• Volume: 41B
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 480
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. 1 Maccabees › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9780300159936, 0300159935
• Resource ID: LLS:ANCHOR1MA
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-03-23T16:35:26Z

About Daniel R. Schwartz

Daniel R. Schwartz is Herbst Family Professor of Judaic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include Jewish history of the Second Temple period. He is the author of Jewish Identities in Antiquity, The Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman World, andAgrippa I: The Last King of Judaea.