EXHIBIT A
One important item for consideration is the theology coming out of the Maccabean period. During the mid-second century BCE, the Seleucid empire adopted a policy of cultural homogenization under Greek culture. One by-product of this was severe persecution of Jews who persisted in observing the Torah.
The accounts of persecution during this era are horrific: the Jerusalem temple was defiled with pagan sacrifice, and idolatrous altars were set up throughout the cities of the land; copies of the Torah were ripped up and burned, and those who possessed them were put to death; those who followed the Torah also faced the death penalty; women who were found to have circumcised their children had their infants hung around their necks and were slain (q.v., I Maccabees 1:41-64).
Some faithful Jews, known as the Maccabees, resisted militarily, and they eventually prevailed in securing religious freedom from the Seleucids. But the nation was left with a glaring theological problem. In the Hebrew bible, one found the recurring theme that faithlessness brought punishment from God in the form of external oppression. But under the Seleucid persecution, it was not the faithless who were suffering, but rather those who strove to be faithful to God. These circumstances demanded theological answers, as people sought to account for the misery of the faithful in some meaningful way.
One early way of finding meaning was to assert that the affliction of the faithful served to turn aside the wrath of God upon the nation of Israel. This is first found in the book of II Maccabees, dated perhaps a century before the birth of Jesus (though the theological move may be drawn from such antecedents as Isaiah 52 & 53). One of the most famous episodes in II Maccabees is a stylized account of martyrdom under the Seleucids. In this account, a mother sees her seven sons, one-by-one, put under torture to pressure them into eating pork and rejecting faithfulness to God’s law. Although their torments are horrific (including scalping, dismemberment, and frying the victim in a pan), each of the martyrs remains faithful and refuses to succumb to the Seleucid agenda. The final son makes a climactic statement before he dies:
In this statement, we find a couple of important ideas. First, the people is viewed as a comprehensive whole: on the one hand, it is “justly” punished all-together for the sake of the unfaithful; on the other hand, it is hoped to be relieved all-together for the sake of the faithful. Second, there is an implicit sequence of giving (in light of both the Greek grammar and Middle Eastern custom): first, the martyrs give their ultimate faithfulness to God in death; in response, God gives his ultimate faithfulness in delivering Israel. If this is not quite a contractual exchange, it nevertheless fits the social patterns of obligation in gift-giving.“[O]ur brethren, who have suffered a short pain now, are dead under God’s covenant of everlasting life; but you[, O persecutor], through the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your pride. But I, like my brethren, give [as the first giver] my body and life for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God, that he would be merciful to our nation, speedily … and that in [or rather, “by”] me and my brethren, the wrath of the Almighty – which is justly brought upon our people all-together – may cease” (q.v., 7:37-39).
This strand of tradition is developed more extensively in the book of IV Maccabees, a Jewish document dated somewhere from the first century BCE to the early second century CE. Although this text deals with the same classic martyrdoms as II Maccabees, it supplies more details in the departments of both torture and theology.
The first passage that merits our attention involves an elderly martyr, also mentioned in II Maccabees, who proclaims in the course of his mistreatment:
Here we find some intriguing language on the part of the martyr. The thought behind it may still be drawing from the same basic roots as II Maccabees 7, with God being moved by the suffering of his faithful martyrs to relent toward the whole people. As such, the diction of “life” and “other-life” [literally, psyche and antipsyche] might not be substitutionary, but rather invoking a sense that the one corresponds to the other, giving counterbalance to the whole (cf. “type” and “anti-type” in the New Testament).”You know, O God, that when I might have been saved, I [nevertheless] am slain for the sake of the law by tortures of fire. Be merciful to your people, and be satisfied [enough] concerning them in [or rather, “by”] our punishment. Let my blood be a purification for them, and take my life [or perhaps, “soul”] [as] an ‘other-life’ [or perhaps, ‘other-soul’] of theirs” (q.v., 6:26-29).
Then again, the martyr speaks of his blood as “a purification.” Though this very well may be alluding to levitical ritual, this might not necessarily be understood as magical in nature, but rather as relational: by observing the courageous and faithful example, the wayward might be convicted and/or encouraged to forsake their faithlessness and become steadfast like the martyr.
But even if the intent here might not be substitutionary or magical, one can at least see how such ideas might arise from this language.
Also, we may note that the martyr's death takes place even though he "might have been saved," which would have been significant to those who might have seen the true character of the martyr's relationship with God being called into question, in light of his sufferings.
A second passage from IV Maccabees is relatively mundane; here, one of the seven sons makes a brief appeal for his people:
This adds little to what we have previously seen, but it reinforces the role of the martyr as an advocate for the people.”But I call upon the God of my fathers, so that he becomes merciful to my people” (q.v., 12:18 ).
A final passage from IV Maccabees sums up the significance of the martyrs:
In this passage, we have the diction of justification, seemingly quite alike to Pauline diction. We may imagine that here we run into the same interpretive challenges as with Paul, as to whether the diction implies a mere declaration of righteousness (through perhaps a legal fiction), or a transformation into actual righteousness.”Here an aged priest and an aged woman and seven children are buried …. These also justified out their nation, looking unto God and enduring torments unto death. … [T]hrough them the enemy did not overcome our nation … and their country was purified - just as they became the ‘other-life’ [or perhaps, ‘other-soul’] of the sin of the nation, and through the blood of those pious ones, and the propitiation of their death, the Divine Providence thoroughly saved the previously-afflicted Israel” (q.v., 17:8-22).
Then once more we have “purifying” language, and the introduction of the martyrs as the “anti-psyche” of the nation. But beyond this we now have their death described as “propitiation.” The diction here may be understood in the conventional sense as appeasing God. However, the Greek term is also used in the Septuagint to refer to the mercy-seat, i.e., the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. So here we may have a portrayal of their death in a parallel to the temple ritual, as the locus where reconciliation with God is observed and celebrated – or (in some minds) accomplished.
Finally, we have the diction of salvation being applied to the martyric accomplishments.
Looking at these Maccabean materials, then, we can see precursors and/or parallels to language and thought in the New Testament regarding Jesus’ death. However, we may point out that these martyrs are not held to be sinless, yet they are efficacious in their roles. Furthermore, we may note that these Maccabean martyrs, though couched in allusion to levitical sacrificial ritual, were ultimately not seen as eclipsing the temple ritual. Finally, we may reiterate that the theological interpretation of these martyrs’ significance came out of a desire to assign meaning to heartrending experience.
EXHIBIT B
Our second item for consideration is the treatment of atonement in the Rule of the Community, dated around 100 BCE. This document was apparently quite popular amongst the population who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls; in fact, only four biblical books can boast a greater number of copies amongst the current collection.
In a first selection, we find:
In this passage, we find the members of the Community to have some manner of atoning role on behalf of others, though we lack an explicit explanation of how this is understood.”This is the rule for the men of the Community who volunteer to turn from all evil and to keep hold of all he commanded for his pleasure: …to establish a foundation of truth for Israel, for the Community of the eternal covenant; to atone for all who volunteer for holiness in Aaron, and for the house of truth in Israel, and for those who join them for community… (q.v., 1QS 5.1-6).
In a second selection, we find that:
In this passage, we find the concept of satisfying for sin in a multifold fashion: by doing justice (likely intending to include observance of the law) and by proper, measured conduct on the one hand; and by undergoing refining distress on the other hand. So here we have a sense of sin being satisfied for through positive behavior and through experiencing trial.”In the Community council [there will be] twelve men and three priests, perfect in everything that has been revealed from the law to implement truth, righteousness, justice, merciful love, and unassuming behavior of one to another – to guard faithfulness in the land with firm inclination and repentant spirit, and to satisfy for sin by doing justice and [by] distress of the [refining] crucible, and to walk-about with everyone in the measure of the truth and in the weighed appraisal of the occasion” (q.v., 1QS 8.1-4).
A third selection is most likely referring to the Community as a whole, or to its council:
This passage sheds a bit more light on the atoning function, extending it to the land.”…to be an everlasting planting [cf. Jubilees 16:26], a holy house for Israel and a foundation of [the] holy-of-holies for Aaron, a witness of truth for justice, and chosen [by the] pleasure [of God] to atone for the land…” (q.v., 1QS 8.5-6).
A fourth and highly important selection refers to the members enrolled in the “Community of holiness”:
In this passage, we find the atoning role of the members linked to their positive behavior, viz., adherence to the measures of the Rule. This positive behavior is also described as yielding more divine pleasure than the sacrificial system (which is not overly novel in light of material in the later Hebrew bible).”When these become in Israel as all these weighed appraisals [i.e., the stipulations of the Rule] – to establish a spirit of holiness unto eternal truth; to atone for guilt of crime and infidelity of sin; and for [divine] pleasure toward the land, more than flesh of burnt-offerings and fats of sacrifice and offerings of lips; for justice, like a righteous appeasement; and perfection of way, like a pleasing freewill offering – in that occasion, the men of the Community will withdraw, a holy house for Aaron…” (q.v., 1QS 9.3-6).
Altogether, then, we may note that for the Rule of the Community (and, presumably, for those who esteemed it) atonement is linked to positive behavior on the one hand, and on the other hand (in not-quite-as-explicit terms) to experiencing trial.
CONCLUSION
In this brief survey, we have encountered currents of thought from the Second Temple period that may shed light on the development of theories of atonement at the time of the early church.
The Maccabean tradition featured martyrdom as a venue for reconciling the nation to God, and even spoke of the martyric experience in the language of levitical sacrificial ritual.
The Dead Sea Scrolls give example of how faithful conduct and undergoing refining distress could be viewed as atoning for and/or satisfying for sin.
Of course, the surfacing of these concepts amongst either the Maccabees or the Dead Sea population does not demonstrate that such ideas are theologically valid or invalid. But recognizing their presence amongst Jewish culture of the first century may yield some insight into the theological development of the early church.
[edited once 03/29/07]
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