Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Hebrews 11:35 as a Possible Interpolation



Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection. (Heb 11:35)

It is generally accepted that Heb 11:35 hearkens back to the Maccabean martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7. In his article demonstrating that 2 Maccabees 7 is a later interpolation, Daniel McClellan wrote the following about Heb 11:35 itself being a later insertion to Hebrews:


Evidence exists, as well, that the reference to the Maccabean martyrs is not part of the original version of the text. The asyndeton of vv. 32–38 refers exclusively to the prophets. Many of the references are unambiguous, but early Christian writings show many of the more vague references were understood as explicit allusions to specific prophets. 1 Clement 17:1, for example, refers to Heb 11:37b and attributes the allusion to Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel. Origen attributes Heb 11:37 to the prophets on three different occasions (To Africanus 9; Against Celsus 7.7 and 7.18), although he references a version of Hebrews that contains the interpolation επιρασθησαν. Clearly a reference to seven children and a woman from the Maccabean era is anomalous. Heb 11:35b is also superfluous to the literary unit, as a turning point exists in 11:36 that provides its own conjunction. (Daniel O. McClellan, "A Reevaluation of the Structure and Function of 2 Maccabees 7 and its Text-Critical Implications," Studia Antiqua 7/1 (2009):81-95, here, p. 91 n. 42)