apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

DATE OF THE MARTYRDOM. 711
p. 717) both correctly translate the expression not by ' sabbatum
magnum' but by 'sabbatum majus,' 'a high sabbath.'
Schiirer therefore {Passastreitigkeiten p. 204 sq, in Zeitschr. f. Hist.
Tlieol. 1870) is justified in laying stress on the absence of the article in
'
this case. A great ' or ' a high sabbath ' is an expression which explains
itself. Such was the sabbath mentioned in John xix. 31 ^v yap
fjL€yaXi] 1] ijixipa cVetVou tov crafifidruv.
Such would be any sabbath
which coincided with a festival or other marked day in the Jewish
calendar. There might therefore be several ' great sabbaths ' in the
course of a particular year. Can we determine the sabbath meant in
this instance
If Salmon's theory were correct (see above, p. 691
it sq), would be
the first sabbath in Nisan, the first sabbath in the year. We have been
obliged however to abandon this theory.
Volkmar (see Egli in Zeitschr.
f. JViss. Thcol. XXV. p. 246) would explain it as ' the first sabbath in the
'
season of the Fast.' It is so called, he supposes, having regard to the
fi^ydX-rj ijfxipa twv dCv/xwv, the 15th Nisan, the first great day on which
there was no more fasting.' This is the only explanation given, and
I confess that I do not understand it. A far more probable solution
was suggested by E. Liveley (f 1605), Hebrew Professor at Cambridge.
He calculated that, according to the modern Jewish calendar, in a.d. 167
the 15th Adar, or the Feast of Purim, would be a sabbath and would
fall on February 22'. But this year for the martyrdom must be rejected,
and moreover the great sabbath is the day not of his apprehension, but
of his martyrdom, not Feb. 22, but Feb. 23. Still with the proper rectification
this identification with the Feast of Purim is
by
far the most
probable explanation of the difficulty; and, as such, is favourably entertained
by Zahn (note on Mart. Polyc. 8). Wieseler indeed, though
allowing that the term (rd(3(3aTov fxiya might well be used of a sabbath
which coincided with the Feast of Purim, says, ' This festival could
hardly fall as early as 23 February, since according to rule Nisan 15
must take place ('Statt haben sollte ')
after the vernal equinox.' This
statement is over bold.^ A study of the excellent article on the Jewish
^
Ussher de Maced. et Asian. Ann. p.
367 ' Juxta rationes hodierni computi Judaici,
anno Mundi 3927, die 15 mensis
Adar, hoc est aerae Christianae CLXVii
die 22 mensis Februarii, festum Purim cum
die Sabbati concurrebat; quem idcirco
magnum Sabbatum fuisse dictum scripsit
in chronologia nondum edita vir doctissimus
Edouardus Liveleius.' The work
seems to remain still
unpublished (ms
Dubl. Univ. Libr. F. 88, 89). On this
learned man and his works see Cooper's
Athciiac Cautahrigienses li.
p. 407 sq.
Wieseler (p. 59) calls him '
Livel'.
"
According to Jahn's Tafeln (1856)
the 14th Adar has with the existing