First Maccabees
🔗Overview
The book of First Maccabees is included in the UPDV since it fills in important events in the history of Israel between the time of Malachi and the New Testament.
However, in reviewing the text, four sections were identified as not belonging to the original composition — due to historical inaccuracy, factual errors, diplomatic fiction, or local anomaly. Of approximately 925 verses in the book, 38 are excluded — the remaining 96% of the text is included.
🔗Criteria for Exclusion
The following factors were evaluated in identifying text that was not likely to be original:
Suspect introductory style. Sections of text introduced by an unusual style of writing were flagged, including evaluating the way subjects were referred to at the beginning of new context.
Vocabulary and grammatical patterns. A computational stylometric analysis of the full Greek text found a single authorial hand throughout (see the 1 Maccabees Stylometry article). However, localized departures from the author's normal word choice, grammar, or sentence structure were examined as possible signs of interpolation or later addition. Only one excluded section (9:34) rests on stylistic grounds; the other exclusions rest on historical and diplomatic evidence.
Absence from Josephus. Josephus made First Maccabees his principal source for Antiquities of the Jews Books 12–13, covering the Hasmonaean period.josephus-src However, he did not reproduce every section of the work as it stands in the transmitted Greek text — some omissions reflect his own editorial and theological modifications, while others may reflect that the copy of First Maccabees available to him differed from the text handed down to us.josephus-nodet
Abrupt context or flow. Where the context or flow of thought seemed unusually abrupt or out of place, the text was examined more closely.
🔗Excluded Sections
The sections not included are: 1:5–6, 8:1–16, 9:34, and 12:5–23. Additional information is provided in the footnotes at these texts.
🔗Chapter and Verse Numbering
The book's historical chapter and verse numbering has generally been followed. This allows easier comparison to other versions and use of reference works.
There is no present intention of including in the UPDV any of the books commonly known as Second, Third, or Fourth Maccabees. The name "First Maccabees" was retained since that is what it is commonly known as today.
🔗Source Text
First Maccabees was not included in the ASV, which was the starting point for the rest of the UPDV (except Wisdom of Sirach). The following text was used as the starting point for First Maccabees:
The Holy Bible Translated, from the Latin Vulgate; Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and other Editions in Divers Languages. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1914.
josephus-src Goldstein, I Maccabees, Anchor Yale Bible 41 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), Introduction §III: "In the Antiquities he made First Maccabees his principal source for the entire period covered by it."
josephus-nodet Étienne Nodet, "Josèphe et 1 Maccabées," Revue Biblique 122, no. 4 (2015): 507–539.