volume 14, issue 2, 2022, pages 157-179

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsBTGS2821
Published online: 2022-12-01
Published in print: 2022-12-30

Abstract: 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 recounts the martyrdom of the scribe Eleazar who refused to eat pork from ritually sacrificed swine. Given the late composition of this text concerning dietary laws, Torah and other customs were already firmly established. Yet, the martyrdom accounts recounted in 2 Macc seem to betray as many authorial intentions as the accounts recounted. What is surprising is that Eleazar’s rightful resistance does not seem to be guided primarily by pure ethical concerns where deception per se is shunned, but rather by a twofold concern for self-preservation, namely vis-à-vis both men and God. This text will be related to what is probably the only other biblical text that merges deception with the observance of Torah, namely Tamar’s enticement of Judah (Gen 38) by which she seeks to secure her right for levirate marriage, or better still, for offspring issuing from such an arrangement. It will be argued that, though offspring or the young are at the centre of both plots, the intention of safeguarding Torah as such varies in both and is guided by different intentions. Moreover, the dynamics of deception too will be studied, noting that it is judged and employed differently by Eleazar and Tamar. And though their fates differed, Torah won the day. However, the use of deception must be seen within the larger framework of the theological intentions of Genesis and 2 Maccabees respectively. Advances made in the social and cultural anthropology of the Bible and the Greek world have contributed to building a better picture of the dynamics of self-appreciation in the context of human relations. Insofar as Eleazar was careful not to forgo his hard-gained kudos and feared facing the judgement of God, this account functions as a kind of fence around Torah, without implying the creation of new laws and customs as the rabbinic term does. Guarding one’s dignity and one’s acclaimed moral status becomes a vehicle that would ensure the protection of Torah-inspired mores.