An Early Protestant Bible Containing The Third Book Of Maccabees: With A List Of Editions And Translations Of Third Maccabees, Bruce Metzger

An Early Protestant Bible Containing The Third Book Of Maccabees

With A List Of Editions And Translations Of Third Maccabees

In M. Brecht's Text - Wort - Glaube Studien Zur Überlieferung, Interpretation Und Autorisierung Biblischer Texte, 1980, pp.123-133.

Among the voluminous works of Johann Brenz (1499-1570)^[1], the German theologian and Swabian Reformer, is a noteworthy edition of the Latin Bible, published at Tübingen in 1564. Despite several obviously useful features that it provides among its helps for the reader, the edition apparently had only a limited circulation. Since it was made by a Protestant, the helps were not acceptable to Roman Catholics, and German-reading Protestants used Luther's translation with prefaces to the several books. For whatever reason, very few copies of the edition survive today. The rarity of the edition can be gauged from its absence from otherwise extensive printed lists of Bibles and library collections. Bibliographies of Reformation literature make no mention of the edition, nor does T. H. Darlow and H. F. Moule's Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of the Bible in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. No copy of the edition is in the British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Bodleian, or in the university libraries at Cambridge, Göttingen, Glasgow, Munich, and Strasbourg. Until 1977 no American collection known to the present writer possessed a copy. What is even more surprising is that no mention of the edition is made in the Indices Librorum Prohibitorum. The Antwerp Index of 1570 lists almost all Protestant editions of the Bible, but not this one; the same applies to the Portuguese Index of 1581 and to the Spanish Index of 1583.^[2]

On the other hand the title of the edition is cited by A. G. Masch in his enlarged edition of Jacques Le Long's Bibliotheca sacra,^[3] and by Köhler in his Bibliographia Brentiana,^[4] where information is given that in Germany copies are at Esslingen and Helmstedt; to which the present writer can add the information that a copy is in the Evangelische Stift at Tübingen.

In 1977 the Robert E. Speer Library at Princeton Theological Seminary acquired a well-preserved copy of the volume, bound in sturdy pig-skin, and fastened with two brass clasps. The page measurements are 24.6 x 16.5 cm. (911/16 x 61/2 inches). With its covers it is 10.8 cm. thick (41/4 inches). The title page reads as follows:

This edition, the first Bible issued in Württemberg, was the work of a printer named Georg Gruppenbach, who followed as a pattern the Latin Vulgate Bible printed by Wolrab at Leipzig in 1544 (this, in turn, was based on the Stephanus 1540 edition). Even in details the Leipzig and the Tübingen editions agree. For example, both offer in the margin at Genesis 3: 15 the note »Hebr. ipsum« attached to the reading of the Vulgate ipsa (»she«, interpreted by Catholics as Mary, who would tread upon the head of the serpent), and both present the Greek text of the Prayer of Manasseh following 2 Chronicles. They differ, however, in that for the New Testament Wolrab's edition presents Erasmus's Latin translation in parallel columns along with the Vulgate.

Both the Leipzig and the Tübingen editions open with a Proœmium written by Johannes Brenz. In this foreword the authority of the Scripture is supported by such arguments as: the Apostles could not lie or speak in jest; they were eyewitnesses, and could have always been contradicted by contemporaries; they bore testimony to their teaching by their blood. Further proofs are to be found in the miracles of Jesus and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning his birth and ministry. Moses, who is cast in the role of legislator, is defended against reproaches of black magic and imposture. The latter part of the Proœmium provides brief summaries of the chief points in each Biblical books.^[5]

The sixteen pages of the Proœmium are followed by four pages of the »Summa totius sacrae Scripturae«, giving, so to speak, the pith and marrow of Biblical theology. Topics, each very briefly set forth, range from statements about God; the creation of mankind; sin; the promise of the Messiah; the Mosaic Law; Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit; faith, love, hope; justification; good works; Christ as master, high priest, mediator, and advocate; and finally judgment, eternal life, and eternal fire.

Next follow two indexes, one listing passages in the Old Testament which are cited by Christ or the Apostles, the other listing Old Testament passages to which allusion is made in the New Testament.

Then follow two tables of contents, setting forth the order of the books of the Old Testament and of the New Testament. The sequence of the books in each list agrees with that which is normal in the Latin Vulgate Bible except that 2 Maccabees is followed by 3 Maccabees. No mention is made of the Prayer of Manasseh. The front matter of the edition concludes with the text of St. Jerome's Prologus galeatus (in which he defines the contents and limits of the Old Testament) as well as his Preface to the Pentateuch. Thereafter, before each book or group of books, Jerome's appropriate preface is given.

At the close of the volume, after the Apocalypse, stand two indexes. The former, printed in three columns per page, is an extensive list of Hebrew, Chaldaic (Aramaic), and Greek proper names, each with its (supposed) meaning given in Latin. The latter is a useful index to things and ideas which are contained in the Old and New Testaments.

The edition presents the usual division of books into chapters, but not into verses. The several sections within a chapter are marked in the margin with AB C . . . G, spaced so that, whether the chapter is long or short, the divisions are more or less equal in length within each chapter. References to parallel passages, as well as variant readings, stand in the margins throughout the volume. Two half-title pages are present, one for »Prophetae omnes« and the other for the New Testament (»Novum Iesu Christi Domini nostri Testamentum omne«).

According to information presented by Kolb,^[6] the printer of the volume received a subvention of 300 florin from the Church (gemeine Kirchenkasten). One thousand copies were allocated to the monasteries, and paid for by them. A further 76 copies were allocated to the Kirchenrat, at 18 batzen (a Swiss coin worth four kreutzers). From this number 30 copies were sent to Mömpelgard.

One of the special features of this edition is, as was mentioned earlier, the presence of the text of the Third Book of Maccabees, which concludes the Old Testament (it is followed by the colophen »Veteris Testamenti finis«). This so-called Third Book of Maccabees has no relation to the other four^[7] books of Maccabees, all of which deal, at least in part, with the revolt of Judaea against Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria ftom 168-167 B.C., whereas this book deals with events half a century earlier.^[8] The title, which is a misnomer, was no doubt given to the work because the book deals with the oppression of Jews by a foreign power. Third Maccabees, written by an unknown author in a pseudoclassical style of Greek, purports to be a historical account of the persecution and miraculous salvation of Egyptian Jewry during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopater (221- 205 B.C.). It relates how Ptolemy IV, attempting to enter the sanctuary of the Temple at Jerusalem (217 B.C., after the bartle of Raphia), is miraculously repulsed. In consequence he determines to wreak his vengeance on the Jews of Alexandria, and of Egypt as a whole, first by interfering with their religion and altering their political status, and afterwards by letting loose drunken elephants to trample them to death in the Hippodrome of Alexandria. After his intentions have been several times thwarted by Providence, the king repents and becomes the patron of the Jews, who return in safety and rejoicing to their homes. The local feast of the Alexandrian Jews, of which the book purports to explain the origin (6:36), is connected by Josephus (Contra Apionem, ii. 5) with an event that took place under Ptolemy Physcon (145-116 B.C.).

From a theological standpoint, the book represents the strict and conservative school of the Hasidim, devoted to the law and opposed to attempts at hellenizing. Although it belongs to Alexandria, it shows no trace of typically Alexandrian ideas. Strangely enough, there seems to be no reference to this book in ancient Jewish sources. Even more strange is the circumstance that it should ever have found entrance into Christian circles. It is listed in the Biblical catalogue in the Apostolic Canons (can. 85), in the Stichometry of Nicephorus, in the Synopsis Athanasii, and is mentioned by Eusebius in his Chronicle (ii. 122). Theodoret of Antioch summarizes the book and treats it as historical (Com. in Dan. xi). As can be seen, the attestation is overwhelmingly Eastern; in fact, the only Western attestation to the canonicity of 3 (and 4) Maccabees is the eight-century Liber de numeris.^[9]

The text of 3 Maccabees is found in manuscripts of the Septuagint (A, V, and many minuscules). There are free and expanded renderings in the Syriac Peshitta as well as in most manuscripts of the Armenian Bible. Today the book is regarded as authoritative (deuterocanonical) by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The following is a list of Bibles, Old Testaments, and other publications that contain the text of 3 Maccabees. An analysis of the list discloses that even after the Council of Trent, which on April 8, 1546, declared that only 1 and 2 Maccabees should be received as authoritative, not a few Bibles in the West continued to be published containing 3 Maccabees. This is true for Bibles in Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Latin. The most recently published Bible in English that contains 3 Maccabees (as well as 4 Maccabees and Psalm 151, texts highly regarded by Eastern Churches) is the 1977 Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Enlarged Edition, Revised Standard Version, edited by H. G. May and B. M. Metzger (Oxford University Press) - which has received commendation of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Church leaders as the first truly »common Bible«.

In the list the items are given chronologically under each language. Following the initial notation as to the kind of publication stand the names (when known) of the editor and/or translator and of the printer and place of publication. The work of compiling the list extended over many months and involved visits to the libraries of the American Bible Society, the British Bible Society, the Foundation of Reformation Research (St. Louis, Missouri), Pusey House and Wycliffe Hall (both in Oxford), and the university libraries at Birmingham, Cambridge, Glasgow, Oxford, and Tiibingen. Finally mention should be made of the assistence kindly given by Dr. Errol F. Rhodes, Mrs. S. Allen Chambers, Jr., and Dr. Allen Wikgren, each of whom provided one or more items for the list.

List of Editions and Translations of 3 Maccabees

1517

Complutensian Polyglot Bible, Francisco Ximenes, vol. 4; Arnoldus Guillelmus de Brocario (Alcalà).

1571

Antwerp Polyglot Bible, Benedictus Arias Montanus; Christopher Plantin (Antwerp).

1587 (1586)

Vetus Testamentum iuxta Septuaginta, ex auctoritate Sixti V. Pont. Max. editum; Francisci Zannetti (Rome). [For a list of several dozen editions based on the Sixtine ed., see Eb. Nestle, Urtext, pp. 65ff.].

1596

Hamburg Polyglot, ed. David Wolder, part 5, Appendix; Jacob Lucius Juni (Hamburg).

1628

Vetus Testamentum secundum LXX, et ex auctoritate Sixti V. Pont. Max. editum, vol. 2; Claudium Sonnium (Paris).

1804

Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi, ed. Jo. Christian. Guilielm. Augusti (Leipzig).

1805

Old Testament, Juxta exemplar Vaticanum, ex editione Lamberti Bos; Libri apocryphi (Oxford).

1837

Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi Graece, ed. Henricus Eduardus Apel (Leipzig).

1871

Libri Apocryphi Veteris Testamenti Graece, ed. Otto Fridolinus Fritsche (Leipzig).

1871

The Apocrypha: Greek and English in Parallel Columns, S. Bagster & Sons (London).

1805

Bible, Zohrab (San Lazzaro, Venice). (Engl. trans. in The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament, by Jacques Issaverdens, Venice, 1901).

1874

De apocriefe boeken des Ouden Verbonds, trans. by Joh. Dyserinck (Haarlem).

1549

The volume of the bokes called Apocryipha: Coteining these bokes following. The thyrd boke of Esdras. . . The .iii. boke of Machabees; John Daye and W. Seres (London). [3 Macc. translated by Edmund Becke.]

1550

The Thyrde Boke of the Machabees, printed with: A brief and compendiouse table in manner of a concordaunce . . . by Henry Bullynger . . . Imprinted at London for Gualter Lynne.

1551

Matthew's (or Tavener's) Bible, with Edmund Becke's trans. of 3 Macc.; Jhon Daye (London).

1563

The Third Book of the Maccabees, . . . in H. Bullinger's Brief Concordance. . .; John Tysdale (London).

1727

Third Book of the Maccabees, in William Whiston's Collection of Authentick Records Belonging to the Old and New Testament, i, pp. 162-199 (London).

1785

Bible, with notes by Thomas Wilson, ed. by Clement Crutwell, who also translated 3 Macc.; R. Crutwell (Bath).

1871

The Apocrypha: Greek and English in Parallel Columns, S. Bagster & Sons (London). [trans. by Sir Launcelot C. L. Brenton.]

1901

The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the Armenian MSS of the Library of St. Lazarus, trans. by Jacques lssaverdens (Venice).

1913

Third Maccabees, trans. by Cyril W. Emmet, in R. H. Charles (ed.), Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. i (Oxford).

1916

Third Maccabees, Translations of Early Documents, series ii, C. W. Emmet (London).

1977

Oxford Annotated Bible, with the Apocrypha, Expanded Edition, ed. H. G. May and B. M. Metzger (New York).

1742

Livres apocryphes de I'ancien Testament in francrois, avec des notes, vol i, pp. 198-240 (Paris).

1856

J. Po Migne, Encyclopédie théologique, 3^e série, vol. xxiii, cols.715-38.

1529

Zurich, Swiss-German Bible, vol. 5, Apocrypha trans. by Leo Juda [whose version was also published separately by H. Steiner, Augsburg 1529]; Christoffel Froschauer (Zurich).

1552

Bible, Froschauer (Zurich) [reprinted several times, 1543, 1545, 1552, 1560].

1565

Bible, Johann und Heinrich denen Sternen Gebrudern (Luneburg). [In smaller type after the Prayer of Manasses: »Anhang oder Zugabe dreyer Bucher 3 und 4 Ezra und 3 Macc.«]

1596

Hamburg Polyglot, ed. David Wolder, part 5, Appendix; Jacob Lucius Juni (Hamburg).

1684

Bible, Andreas Hügenet, ed. by Johann Piscator (Bern). [3 Macc. precedes 1 and 2 Macc.]

1743

Bible, Christoph Saur (Germantown, Pennsylvania). [The first Bible in a European language printed in America; contains Luther's translation, with 3 Macc. from the Berleburg Bible, 1742.]

1809-14

Bible, trans. by J. C. W. Augusti and W. M. L. de Wette; Engelmann und Meder (Heidelberg).

1818

Handbuch zum philol. Verstehen der Apokr. Schriften des A. T., Joh. Friedr. Gaab (Tübingen).

1869

Vollständiges Bibelwerk für die Gemeinde, ed. Chr. C. J. Bunsen, II Abt., III Theil, Die Apokryphischen Bücher, ed. H. J. Holtzmann (Leipzig).

1898

Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments, E. Kautzsch, vol. ii (Tübingen).

1928

Altjudisches Schrifttum außerhalb der Bibel, trans. Paul Riessler (Augsburg).

1517

Complutensian Polyglot Bible, Francisco Ximenes, vol. 4; Arnaldus Guillelmus de Brocario (Alcala).

1570

Antwerp Polyglot Bible, Benedictus Arias Montanus, vol. 4; Christopher Plantin (Antwerp).

1577

Old Testament, part 2, Immanuel Tremellius and Franciscus Junius; And. Wechelus (Frankfort on Main).

1579

Old Testament, part 2, Immanuel Tremellius and Franciscus Junius; Henry Middleton (London). [3 Macc. precedes 1 and 2 Macc.]

1584

Bible, vol. 2, Franciscus Vatablus; Gaspar à Portonarijs suis & Guilielmi Rouillij (Salmantica).

1596

Hamburg Polyglot, ed., Daniel Wolder, part. 5, Appendix; Jacob Lucius Juni (Hamburg).

1660

Biblia Maxima versionum ex linguis orientalibus . . . ed. Joanne de la Haye, vol. 12 (Paris).

1581

Bible, auspices of Konstantine, Prince of Ostrog, printed by Fedorov (Ostrog).

1657

London Polyglot Bible, ed. Brian Walton, vol. 4; Thomas Rycroft (London), with a Latin translation.

1861

Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi, Syriace, ed. Paul A. de Lagarde (Leipzig and London).

Footnotes

[1] For an index to his works, printed and in manuscript, and to works about him, see W. E. Köhler, Bibliographia Brentiana (Berlin, 1904). There is no complete edition of Brenz's productions, though selected works in eight large folio volumes were published at Tübingen in 1576-1590. A Studienausgabe is currently under way, edited by Martin Brecht and Gerhard Schäfer (Tübingen, 1970 -).

[2] Cf. Fr. Henrich Reusch, Die Indices librorum prohibitorum des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts (Nieuwkoop, 1961).

[5] Whether these argumenta, as they are called, are the work of Brenz or of another has been questioned; see Jürgen Quack, Evangelische Bibelvorreden von der Reformation bis zur Aufklärung (Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte, 43; Heidelberg, 1975), pp. 128 f., who attributes them to an anonymous writer. (I owe this reference to the kindness of Prof. Dr. Brecht.)

[6] Chr. Kolb, Die Bibel in der Evangelischen Kirche Altwürttembergs (Stuttgart, 1917), pp. 8 f.

[7] For an English translation of the little-known Fifth Book of Maccabees, see Henry Cotton's The Five Books of Maccabees (Oxford, 1832).

[8] For this reason several editions of 3 Macc., identified in the list below, place it before 1 and 2 Macc., and Cotton (op. cit.) renames it »First Maccabees.«

[9] For the text of Liber de numeris, which probably originated in Irish circles on the continent (?Salzburg) about A.D. 750, see Ernst von Dobschütz, Das Decretum Gelasianum (Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. 38, Heft 4 [1912]), p. 68, lines 81-85. According to Martin McNamara, we cannot say whether the two books were known in Ireland itself (The Apocrypha in the Irish Church [Dublin, 1975], p. 28).

[10] A curiosity in Bible publishing is Bassandyne and Arbuthnot's 1579 Bible (the first Bible printed in Scotland), containing the text of the 1560 Geneva version; at the bottom of the last page of 2 Maccabees is printed the title: The thirde boke of the Maccabees newlie translated out of the original Greke. But the book itself (which was not part of the Geneva version) is not included.