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4 Maccabees 9 - The First Brothers' Confession

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The brothers answer with one voice, but the first to suffer still speaks to the others. “Imitate me, O brethren” turns his last words into an act of service. Chapter 9 follows the eldest and then the second brother, while the meaning of power is reversed: the king can injure them, yet their patience reveals how completely his own pride has mastered him.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Chapter 8 ended with the brothers ready to answer the ruler’s mixture of flattery and threats. Chapter 9 gives their common answer before narrating the first individual trials. Their speech belongs beside 2 Maccabees 7, where resurrection hope receives fuller expression. The two accounts should be allowed their own accents: here the author’s interest is especially in the judgment, memory, and mutual encouragement that keep the brothers faithful.

The elder Eleazar has already become a teacher beyond his death. The brothers refer to him as their aged instructor, and the first brother in turn gives courage to those who will follow. The narrative shows how a received way of life becomes personally owned without becoming a private achievement. They take knowledge as their guide and remember the people from whom they received it.

Geographical Significance

The ruler’s court remains the place of accusation and punishment. No exact city or surviving site is identified in this chapter. Its important change is relational: Antiochus tries to isolate each brother through pain, but speech continues to pass from one to the rest. The public place designed to spread fear becomes a place where one person’s fidelity strengthens another.

Light from the Word

One voice receives the elder’s example (4 Maccabees 9:1-9)

1 Why delayest thou, O tyrant? for we are readier to die than to transgress the injunctions of our fathers. 2 And we should be disgracing our fathers if we did not obey the law, and take knowledge for our guide. 3 O tyrant, counsellor of law-breaking, do not, hating us as thou dost, pity us more than we pity ourselves. 4 For we account your pity of us on the terms of unlawful escape to be worse than death.

5 And you think to scare us, by threatening us with death by tortures, as though thou hadst learned nothing by the death of Eleazar. 6 But if aged men of the Hebrews have died in the cause of religion after enduring torture, more rightly should we younger men die, scorning your cruel tortures, which our aged instructor overcame. 7 Make the attempt, then, O tyrant; and if thou puttest us to death for our religion, think not that thou harmest us by torturing us. 8 For we through this ill-treatment and endurance shall bear off the rewards of virtue.

9 But thou, for the wicked and despotic slaughter of us, shalt, from the Divine vengeance, endure eternal torture by fire.

The brothers answer Antiochus together. Their first words are not defensive: “Why delayest thou, O tyrant?” They are ready to die rather than transgress the injunctions of their fathers. The Law is not presented as arbitrary rule-keeping. It is ancestral formation, the way their fathers taught them to know God, worship God, and live as God’s people.

They say they should be disgracing their fathers if they did not obey the Law and “take knowledge for our guide.” This is not blind stubbornness. It is trained understanding. Their obedience has memory behind it. They belong to a people, a worship, and a pattern of life received before them.

They also name false pity. Antiochus thinks he is offering mercy by allowing unlawful escape. The brothers say such pity is worse than death. Mercy that asks a man to betray God is not mercy. It is only a softer form of violence.

Eleazar’s witness becomes their immediate teacher. The brothers ask whether Antiochus has learned nothing from Eleazar’s death. The old man has not disappeared from the narrative. He is now an argument in the mouths of the young.

The threats of judgment do not authorize the reader to become an executioner. The brothers put the ruler before divine justice because his office has not made his violence innocent. A Christian hearing the warning must include himself among those answerable to God. The passage’s contrast between the Hebrews’ fidelity and the tyrant’s impiety concerns this conflict; it is no license for contempt toward Gentiles or for claims of ethnic moral superiority.

The eldest makes his witness a gift to his brothers (4 Maccabees 9:10-25)

10 When they had thus spoken, the tyrant was not only exasperated against them as being refractory, but enraged with them as being ungrateful. 11 So that, at his bidding, the torturers brought forth the eldest of them, and tearing through his tunic, bound his hands and arms on each side with thongs. 12 And when they had laboured hard without effect in scourging him, they hurled him upon the wheel. 13 And the noble youth, extended upon this, became dislocated.

14 And with every member disjointed, he exclaimed in expostulation, 15 O most accursed tyrant, and enemy of heavenly justice, and cruel-hearted, I am no murderer, nor sacrilegious man, whom thou thus ill-usest; but a defender of the Divine law. 16 And when the spearmen said, Consent to eat, that you may be released from your tortures, 17 he answered, Not so powerful, O accursed ministers, is your wheel, as to stifle my reasoning; cut my limbs, and burn my flesh, and twist my joints.

18 For through all my torments I will convince you that the children of the Hebrews are alone unconquered in behalf of virtue. 19 While he was saying this, they heaped up fuel, and setting fire to it, strained him upon the wheel still more. 20 And the wheel was defiled all over with blood, and the hot ashes were quenched by the droppings of gore, and pieces of flesh were scattered about the axles of the machine. 21 And although the framework of his bones was now destroyed, the high-minded and Abrahamic youth did not groan.

22 But, as though transformed by fire into immortality, he nobly endured the rackings, saying, 23 Imitate me, O brethren, nor ever desert your station, nor abjure my brotherhood in courage: fight the holy and honourable fight of religion; 24 by which means our just and paternal Providence, becoming merciful to the nation, will punish the pestilent tyrant. 25 And saying this, the revered youth abruptly closed his life.

The eldest brother is brought forward first. The cruelty is graphic, but the theological point is plain: the tyrant can dislocate members, but he cannot stifle reasoning. The brother says, “cut my limbs, and burn my flesh, and twist my joints,” but through all torments he will convince them that the children of the Hebrews are unconquered on behalf of virtue.

The language of virtue here must be read through worship. This is not a secular ideal of moral toughness. It is the virtue of a person whose body and mind belong to God. His courage is not self-made pride. It is loyalty formed by the Law and strengthened by the example of Eleazar.

Verse 23 turns his suffering into exhortation: “Imitate me, O brethren, nor ever desert your station.” The first brother does not die privately. He teaches while dying. The tyrant uses pain to isolate; the martyr uses the same moment to strengthen communion. His death becomes an act of brotherly service.

The phrase “holy and honourable fight of religion” names the kind of contest being fought. The fight is not against the torturers as persons; it is not revenge. It is the struggle to remain faithful when every visible incentive says to yield.

The phrase “as though transformed by fire into immortality” in verse 22 is a comparison. Fire is not the source of immortality, and injury does not purify a person automatically. First Corinthians 15:53-54 makes the Christian hope exact: the mortal will put on immortality, and death will be swallowed up in victory. The body being harmed here is the body God will raise, not disposable material left behind by a superior soul.

The “holy fight” also has clear New Testament companions. First Timothy 6:12 joins fighting the good fight to eternal life and public confession; 2 Timothy 4:7-8 joins the finished race to the crown the Lord gives. The common subject is persevering fidelity, not violence against people. The first brother’s exhortation serves that fidelity by helping others keep faith.

The second brother reveals the tyrant’s captivity (4 Maccabees 9:26-32)

26 And when all admired his courageous soul, the spearmen brought forward him who was second in point of age, and having put on iron hands, bound him with pointed hooks to the catapelt. 27 And when, on enquiring whether he would eat before he was tortured, they heard his noble sentiment, 28 after they with the iron hands had violently dragged all the flesh from the neck to the chin, the panther-like beasts tore off the very skin of his head: but he, bearing with firmness this misery, said, 29 How sweet is every form of death for the religion of our fathers! and he said to the tyrant,

30 Thinkest thou not, most cruel of all tyrants, that thou art now tortured more than I, finding thy overweening conception of tyranny conquered by our patience in behalf of our religion? 31 For I lighten my suffering by the pleasures which are connected with virtue. 32 But thou art tortured with threatenings for impiety; and thou shalt not escape, most corrupt tyrant, the vengeance of Divine wrath.

The second brother speaks with startling clarity. He says that every form of death is sweet for the religion of the fathers. The context distinguishes this language from a love of suffering for its own sake. The sweetness is not pain itself; it is the sweetness of fidelity, the knowledge that nothing is being lost which God cannot restore, and nothing is being gained by apostasy that could truly be called life.

He then reverses the meaning of torture. Antiochus thinks the brother is being tortured. The brother says the tyrant is more deeply tortured because his pride is being conquered by the brothers’ patience. This is one of 4 Maccabees’ strongest insights. A man can inflict pain and still be the more enslaved person. The soul ruled by impiety is not free simply because it has political power.

The brother says he lightens his suffering by the pleasures connected with virtue. This is ascetic language. The faithful do not pretend pain is unreal. Rather, the love of God and the joy of obedience can become stronger than the fear of pain.

The tyrant expected pain to establish his supremacy. Instead, every faithful answer forces him to confront a limit he cannot tolerate. His outward command becomes evidence of an inward incapacity to receive correction. The warning reaches anyone who makes another person’s agreement necessary to his own peace: power cannot heal a heart that has made control its food.

The declaration that death is “sweet” must remain within the confession of fidelity. It is not an invitation to desire death, a promise that suffering will feel pleasant, or a measure by which grieving people should be judged. The young man prizes belonging to God over apostasy. Life remains God’s gift, and another person’s distress calls for care rather than an examination of their courage.

Christological Reading

Christ’s Resurrection is the Christian ground for reading the brothers’ hope. The destruction of a body is not the destruction of God’s intention for the person. First Corinthians 15 places victory over death in the raising and transformation of the mortal body. In that light the first brother’s language of immortality becomes a longing that finds its fulfillment in Christ, not a claim that the fire itself saves.

St Athanasius on courage given by the Cross

St Athanasius describes the courage of Christian martyrs in On the Incarnation 27-28 as evidence that the crucified and risen Lord has broken death’s dominion. His point is not that some people possess an unusually fearless temperament. The change is Christ’s gift, received even by the young and by those whom the surrounding culture considered weak. This is a thematic Christian witness, not direct commentary on 4 Maccabees. He writes:

For man is by nature afraid of death and of the dissolution of the body; but there is this most startling fact, that he who has put on the faith of the Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and for Christ’s sake is not afraid of death.1

The author’s account of devout reasoning and Athanasius’ account of faith in the Cross have different centers of explanation. Christian ascetic life receives reason itself as needing healing and strength from the risen Christ. This confidence does not make fear a sin in every sufferer or turn death into a good to be sought. It makes fidelity possible because Christ, rather than death, holds the final word.

The Church’s Voice in Worship

This passage has no established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary.

On Mesra 8, the Coptic Synaxarium commemorates “The Martyrdom of Sts. Eleazar, Salome, His Wife, and Their Children.” This falls on August 14 in 2026, 2027 and 2028. St-Takla’s English narrative calls them Lazarus the Elder and Salomi and names their seven children. Lazarus is a Greek shortened form of Eleazar, but the family descriptions are not identical: 2 Maccabees presents Eleazar as an aged scribe, and 4 Maccabees calls him a priest, without identifying him as the brothers’ father; the mother is unnamed in those books. The Coptic narrative makes him Salomi’s husband and the children’s father. Its description of Antiochus as “King of Rome” is an anachronism, not a detail to import into the biblical history. The narrative nevertheless remembers their refusal of apostasy and says that “they received the crown of martyrdom.” This commemoration is not a lectionary reading of 4 Maccabees and does not give it the canonical standing of 1 and 2 Maccabees.2

The readings for Mesra 8 are Psalm 4:3, 6-7 and Matthew 11:25-30 at Vespers; Psalm 112:1-2 (LXX 111:1-2) and Mark 10:13-16 at Matins; and Hebrews 11:32-12:2, 1 Peter 4:12-19, Acts 19:23-41, Psalm 66:12-14 (LXX 65:12-14), and Matthew 18:10-20 at the Liturgy. Hebrews’ remembrance of those tortured in hope of a better resurrection and the Psalm’s passage through fire and water offer a fitting way to hear the martyrs’ witness. That connection is a reading of these texts together, not a claim that the lectionary supplies an official explanation of 4 Maccabees.3

The Byzantine tradition also commemorates the seven Maccabean martyrs, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar on August 1.4

The Coptic Synaxarium’s language of receiving the crown of martyrdom belongs naturally beside the first brother’s exhortation to a holy contest. The crown honors fidelity to God, not the extent of injury. Matthew 10:24-33, the Vespers Gospel on Babah 26 and Abib 19, likewise joins fearless confession to the Father’s knowledge of His children. These connections interpret the chapter through the Gospel rather than assigning this book a reading it does not have.5

Spiritual Fruit

The first brother spends his remaining strength helping the others keep faith. In ordinary life this may mean telling the truth about a difficult obedience without turning it into a story about your superiority. A recovering person’s honest account, an elder’s quiet persistence, or a friend who refuses a dishonest gain can become courage another person borrows until it becomes their own.

The second brother exposes a more hidden bondage. Notice what happens when someone will not agree with you. If correction provokes an urgency to dominate, explain again, humiliate, or secure the last word, the tyrant’s inward captivity has a smaller counterpart in you. Stop before sending the next message. Pray for the other person by name, and allow truth to stand without the pleasure of winning.

If you are frightened or mourning, receive the passage as a promise of God’s faithfulness, not a verdict against your feelings. The Church carries the weak through prayer, presence, the sacraments, and needed professional care. Courage is often a gift received through others.

The first brother can no longer protect the family from the king. He can still strengthen its love of God. Lord Jesus, make our obedience useful to one another. Free us from the need to control, and keep the hope of the Resurrection alive where fear has worn us down.

Translation Notes

The full Brenton chapter is retained. Dash punctuation in 9:16 has been normalized without changing the words. “As though” in 9:22 marks a comparison, not a description of fire producing immortality. The judgment and death language belongs to the narrative’s confrontation with coercion and must not be detached into a command to seek death.

Footnotes

  1. St Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word 28.2, read with 27-28, translated by Archibald Robertson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 4 (1892), New Advent. ↩

  2. Coptic Reader, Synaxarium title for Mesra 8; St-Takla, English Synaxarium, Mesra 8, for the distinct narrative and quoted crown-of-martyrdom conclusion. For the name relationship, NAS Exhaustive Concordance, entry 2976, Lazaros, describes a contraction of Hebrew Eleazar. ↩

  3. Coptic annual readings for Mesra 8, August 14, 2026; the same nine appointments occur on August 14 in 2027 and 2028. ↩

  4. Orthodox Church in America, Seven Holy Maccabee Martyrs, August 1, for the broader Orthodox commemoration. ↩

  5. Coptic readings for Babah 26 and Abib 19, Vespers Gospel, Matthew 10:24-33. ↩

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