martyrdom of Eleazar

E108412

The martyrdom of Eleazar is a biblical account of an elderly Jewish scribe who chooses torture and death rather than violate the Law by eating forbidden meat under Seleucid persecution.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
martyrdom of Eleazar canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Jewish religious story
Jewish scribe
biblical narrative
elderly man
martyrdom account
associatedWith Maccabean Revolt
surface form: Maccabean crisis
associatedWithLaw Torah dietary laws
canonicalStatus apocryphal for most Protestant traditions
deuterocanonical in Catholic tradition
part of the Orthodox biblical canon
commemoratedIn some Christian lectionaries
describedIn 2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees 6:18–31
didacticTarget young Jews under persecution
ethicalEmphasis acceptance of suffering for righteousness
refusal of hypocrisy
followedBy martyrdom of the seven brothers in 2 Maccabees 7
genre didactic narrative
hasMainCharacter Eleazar
influenced later Jewish and Christian martyrdom ideals
involves execution
refusal to eat pork
torture
languageOfOriginalText Greek
literaryFunction edifying example
encouragement to remain faithful under persecution
location Hellenistic–Roman Judea
surface form: Hellenistic Judea
moralChoice death rather than violate the Law
refusal to pretend to eat forbidden meat
precededBy narratives of Hellenistic decrees against Jewish practices in 2 Maccabees
relatedWork martyrdom of the seven brothers and their mother
religiousTradition Christianity
Judaism
roleIn martyrdom of Eleazar
setDuring Seleucid persecution
reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
symbolizes integrity in public witness
steadfastness in covenant loyalty
textualSource Septuagint tradition of 2 Maccabees
theme courage in old age
example to the young
faithfulness to the Law
martyrdom
obedience to God
refusal to eat forbidden food
religious persecution

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

2 Maccabees containsStoryOf martyrdom of Eleazar