Woman with seven sons
The woman with seven sons was a
The story likely occurred around the beginning of the Antiochian persecution of Jews (c. 167/166 BCE) that preceded the Maccabean Revolt.[1] Although unnamed in 2 Maccabees, the mother is known variously as Hannah,[2] Miriam,[3] Solomonia,[4] and Shmouni.[5]
Other versions of the story appear in Jewish sources such as the Talmud and Josippon.
Narrative
2 Maccabees
The book
The narrator mentions that the mother "was the most remarkable of all, and deserves to be remembered with special honour. She watched her seven sons die in the space of a single day, yet she bore it bravely because she put her trust in the Lord."[6] Each of the sons makes a speech as he dies, and the last one says that his brothers are "dead under God's covenant of everlasting life".[7] The narrator ends by saying that the mother died, without saying whether she was executed, or died in some other way.
Talmud and Midrash
The Talmud tells a similar story, but with refusal to worship an idol replacing refusal to eat pork. Tractate Gittin 57b cites Rabbi Judah as saying that "this refers to the woman and her seven sons". The woman is not named and the king is referred to as the "Caesar". In this version of the story, each son goes to his death while citing a different verse from the Torah prohibiting idolatry. The Caeasar takes pity on the seventh son and, offers to drop his royal seal on the ground so that the son can pick it up and thus accept his royal authority. He refuses, proclaiming that the glory of heaven is more important to him than the glory of a mortal king. As he is being led off to be killed, his mother tells him: " My son, go and say to your father Abraham, you bound [a son] to one altar; I bound [sons] to seven altars." The story concludes with the woman's suicide: she "went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was killed." A heavenly voice then proclaims, "A joyful mother of children (Psalms 113:9)."[8]
A similar version of the tale occurs in the midrashic text Lamentations Rabbah (Chapter 1). In this version the woman is named Miriam bat Nahtom (Miriam, the Baker's Daughter). The story concludes similarly to the version in the Talmud, but in this version the youngest son holds a long conversation with the Caesar, proving from Biblical verses the superiority of his God and the system of reward and punishment. When the moment arrives for him to be executed, the mother insists that she be killed first. The Caesar refuses on account that the Bible prohibits killing an animal and its offspring on the same day (see Leviticus 22:28). The mother retorts "Fool! Have you already fulfilled all the commandments and only this one remains?"[9]
Other versions
Other versions of the story are found in 4 Maccabees (which suggests that the woman might have thrown herself into the flames, 17:1) and Josippon (which says she fell dead on her sons' corpses[2]). The Josippon version of the story probably was paraphrased from a Latin version of 2 Maccabees, and was notable as the first major exposure of medieval Jewish audiences to the story.[10][11]
Names
Various sources have proposed names for this woman. In
In the Syriac 6 Maccabees, the sons are named Gadday, Maqqbay, Tarsay, Hebron, Hebson, Bakkos and Yonadab.[14]
Legacy
The woman with seven sons is remembered with high regard for her religious steadfastness, teaching her sons to keep to their faith, even if it meant execution. The Maccabees story reflects a theme of the book, that "the strength of the Jews lies in the fulfillment of the practical
Jewish tradition has de-emphasised the books of Maccabees as non-canonical texts, particularly after the rise of
For the Christians, the books of Maccabees stayed as part of scripture due to their place in the Septuagint, at least until the
It is probable that
According to Antiochene Christian tradition, the relics of the mother and sons were interred on the site of a synagogue (later converted into a church) in the Kerateion quarter of Antioch.[2] On the other hand, tombs believed to be those of these martyrs were discovered in San Pietro in Vincoli in 1876.[20] An additional tomb believed to be that of the woman with her seven sons is located in the Jewish cemetery of Safed.
Holy Maccabean Martyrs
The Holy Maccabees | |
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Pre-Congregation | |
Feast | August 1 |
Although they are not the same as the Hasmonean rulers called Maccabees, the woman and her sons, along with the Eleazar described in 2 Maccabees 6, are known as the "Holy Machabees" or "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church celebrates the Holy Maccabean Martyrs on
According to
According to the
The three Ethiopian books of
Various mystery plays in the Middle Ages portrayed the Maccabean martyrs, and depictions of their martyrdom possibly gave rise to the term "macabre", perhaps derived from the Latin Machabaeorum.[28]
See also
- List of names for the Biblical nameless
- Felicitas of Rome
- Symphorosa
References
- ISBN 978-3-11-037555-8, retrieved 2023-12-15
- ^ a b c d Gerson D. Cohen, Hannah and Her Seven Sons at Jewish Virtual Library
- ^ a b Tal Ilan, "Hannah, Mother of Seven", at the Jewish Women's Archive
- ^ a b c Seven Holy Maccabee Martyrs, at the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America website.
- ISBN 9780631234234.
- ^ 2 Maccabees 7:20, New English Bible.
- Authorised Version. George Bull says of this verse, "I scarce know where to find an instance of greater faith" (in the resurrection and immortality) "and fortitude in any of our Christian martyrologies than here." Sermon VIII, cited in The Old Testament According to the Authorised Version With Brief Commentary by Various Authors. The Apocryphal Books: Esdras to Maccabees (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1902).
- ^ Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Gittin Folio 57.
- ^ Lamentations Rabbah (Chapter 1). Accessed 2 May 2023.
- ISBN 978-90-04-21104-9.
- ^ Stemberger, Günter (1992). "The Maccabees in Rabbinic Tradition". The Scriptures and the Scrolls: Studies in Honour of A.S. van der Woude on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. E. J. Brill. p. 192–203.
- ^ Armenian Church Liturgical Calendar July 2008
- ISBN 9780664257811.
- ^ Witold Witakowski (1994), "Mart(y) Shmuni, the Mother of the Maccabean Martyrs, in Syriac Tradition", in R. Lavenant (ed.), VI Symposium Syriacum 1992: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity, 30 August – 2 September 1992 (PIOS), pp. 162–163.
- ^ Yehoshua M. Grintz, Maccabees, Second Book of at Jewish Virtual Library
- ISBN 978-0-230-60279-3.
- ISBN 9781119099826.
- ^ Hilary of Poitiers. On the Trinity. Book IV, 16.
- ^ Patrick Henry Reardon. Creation and the Patriarchal Histories: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Genesis. Conciliar Press, 2008. pp.34-35.
- ^ Taylor Marshall, The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of the Catholic Christianity (Saint John Press, 2009), p. 170.
- ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Οἱ Ἅγιοι Ἑπτὰ Μακαβαίοι. 1 Αυγούστου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
- ^ "7 Holy Maccabee Martyrs." OCA Feasts and Saints.
- ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132
- ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
- ^ The website of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore lists them as "Habim, Antonin, Guriah, Eleazar, Eusebon, Hadim (Halim) and Marcellus." The Seven Holy Maccabean Martyrs
- ^ Maronite Church, Fenqitho, v. 1, Lilyo of the Feast of Shmooni and Her Seven Sons
- ]
- ^ The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Fifth edition; 2002) states that the origin of "macabre" perhaps has reference to "a miracle play containing the slaughter of the Maccabees." Volume 1, p. 1659.