Tag Archives: Maccabees

“A great multitude, which no one could number….”

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After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands…. (Apocalypse 7:9)

The book of the Apocalypse is built on a series of sevens–seven letters, seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets, etc. Often there is a pause or intermission between the sixth and seventh event in each series and the seer describes another vision or event that interrupts the series-of-seven. This vision of the great multitude comes as such a pause between the sixth and the seventh seals which the Lamb is opening. This vision of the multitude has two aspects: the seer beholds the 144,000 redeemed from the tribes of Israel and then he beholds the great multitude from all the nations and languages.

The 144,000 is symbolic of all Israel; it is the 12 tribes x 12 apostles x 1,000. It is complete. Full. It is a vast throng of believers, too many to actually count. Modern readers often see the 144,000 as the Jewish-Christian version of the “great multitude” of Gentile-Christians which the seer also beholds. But the original intent of the author was unlikely to distinguish Jewish and Gentile believers. One of the important concerns of the Gospel-Epistles-Apocalypse of St. John is who the authentic heirs of Abraham are; who are the “real Jews” is an issue in all the texts attributed to St. John and the answer is always, “Those who accept Jesus as the Messiah, whether they are biological descendants of Abraham or not, are the true Israel.”

The 144,000 have been marked with the seal of the Lamb–a common description of the anointing with oil/chrism following baptism. Having been sealed with chrism, the 144,000 make their confession, i.e. are slain because they acclaim Jesus as the Messiah. Martyrs for the true faith much as the Maccabees were martyred for refusing to compromise the faith to accommodate with the Greco-Syrian culture prevalent in their society.

The great multitude robed in white with palm branches are also martyrs. (Some readers suggest the 144,000 are the saints on earth and the great multitude are those same saints in heaven.) The palm branches, always indications of victory (1 Maccabees 13:51, 2 Maccabees 10:7), also suggest the feast of Tabernacles (Succoth), which is celebrated in the autumn. Succoth involved processions with palm branches and the building of booths for the people to live in for 8 days (Leviticus 23:33-36, Nehemiah 8:13-18). It was the celebration of God’s care for Israel in the wilderness after the exodus; it was also understood as a celebration which anticipated the Messiah (Zechariah 14:16-19). In both cases, it is God dwelling with his people which is the focus of the celebration.

There are Christian celebrations of Passover-Easter and Shavuot-Pentecost but no Christian equivalent of Succoth; the Church herself is the ongoing feast of Succoth. The Church is the company of those “who shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water [he] will guide them” (Isaiah 49:10). It is in the New Jerusalem that Tabernacles is fulfilled, when God will provide “water from the spring of the water of life” (Apoc. 21:6) and wipe away all tears (Apoc. 21:4).

Hannukah in August?

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Statue of Moses by Michelangelo, in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. The relics of the Maccabees were kept in this same church.

The veneration of the Maccabean martyrs is unique in the Judeo-Christian tradition: they are the only martyrs commemorated by Jews and Christians alike. The seventh chapter of the Second Book of Maccabees (in the Old Testament) tells the story of seven faithful Jewish brothers who maintained their fidelity to the Law of God in the face of persecution during the tyranny of Antiochus IV in the second century B.C. The New Testament book of Hebrews commends these martyrs of Maccabees as exemplars of living faith (Heb 11:35).

These seven Jewish brothers and their mother were arrested and ordered to eat the un-kosher flesh of a pig. The horrific murder of these Maccabean martyrs was so terrible and gruesome that we derived an English word from it—-macabre.

The festival of Hanukkah in December celebrates the revolt led by the Maccabees against the Syrian emperor Antiochus IV. Christians have long commemorated the Maccabees on August 1 and the relics of the 7 Maccabee brothers, with their mother and teacher were long kept in the Church of St. Peter’s Chains (Rome). The relics were sent to Germany to be housed in a church in Cologne (the same city where the relics of the Magi are kept); evidently the Maccabean relics had been kept in Cologne before they had been sent to Rome.

By keeping the Maccabean relics and the statue of Moses in the Church of St. Peter’s Chains, we can see the connection between the Law of Moses and those Maccabean martyrs who died for refusing to abandon that Law. Even more, their memory is joined with the imprisonment and eventual martyrdom of the Apostle Peter. (We know that the festival of Hanukkah was still fairly new in the first century AD but that Jesus celebrated it with the apostles in John 10:22-23.)

You can find a very interesting article (in German!) here about the relics of the Maccabees that includes close-up photos of the golden reliquary which contains their bones. (If you open the page using Chrome, it will offer to translate the page for you–I want to thank my daughter Rebekah for teaching me that trick!)

The reliquary itself is fascinating. It was apparently made in 1500; it is a wooden box in the form of a church, covered with gilded copper plates. The walls of the shrine and top portions are composed of 40 scenes in which the story of the Maccabee brothers and their mother is placed in parallel with the suffering of Christ and His mother Mary. One of the most obvious examples is the contrast of the flagellation of the Maccabee brothers and the flagellation of Jesus. On the front of the shrine is the Coronation of Mary and the Coronation of the Maccabees, while on the back the Ascension of Christ is depicted with the heavenly glorification of the Maccabees.

The shrine for the Maccabees’ relics in St. Andrew’s Church (Cologne, Germany).