Presentation Title: Reading 2 Maccabees Apocalyptically

Abstract: Heavenly warriors, ominous portents, and prophetic dreams feature prominently in the Second Temple Jewish literature classified as apocalyptic. Yet, for all that 2 Maccabees exhibits all these tropes, they are rarely considered apocalyptic in this literary context, and so the Greek-language, Jewish historiography is not labelled an apocalypse. Drawing on the work of Najman (“The Idea of Biblical Genre,” 2011), Scott (“Second Temple Jewish Messianism as Social Political Discourse,” 2022), and Glass (“Analepsis, Prolepsis, and Eschatological History in the Epitome of 2 Maccabees,” forthcoming), this paper demonstrates the benefits of reading 2 Maccabees apocalyptically. In analysing the connected themes of proximity to and distance from Jerusalem and the temple, and the immediacy or deferral of heavenly assistance, I argue that 2 Macc shares eschatological, temporal, and spatial ideas found in so-called apocalyptic literature.

To do so, this paper first outlines how epiphany reduces the spatio-temporal distance between the distinct spheres of Heaven and Earth. With this framework in place, I then consider where and when the epiphanic aid rendered to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the temple, and Maccabeus and his soldiers blurs the boundary between heavenly and earthly space and time. In this section, I argue that spatial proximity and/or temporal immediacy depicts a fulfilled covenantal relationship between Israel and God, whereas spatial distance and/or temporal deferral is associated with Israel’s ruptured relationship with God. Finally, I connect these aspects of 2 Macc with other early Jewish apocalyptic literature. Outlining 2 Macc’s conception of the Otherworld and its imbricated connection with This-world positions this historiography within the constellation of apocalyptic imagery. In connecting historiography and apocalypse, this paper contributes to methodological discussions of genre and its utility, and how themes co-exist across early Jewish sources.