Difference between revisions of "Razis"

<p> ( ῾Ραζείς, Vulg. ''Razias'' )'','' "one of the elders of Jerusalem," who killed himself under peculiarly terrible circumstances, that he might not fall "into the hands of the wicked" (&nbsp;2 [[Maccabees]] 14:37-46). In dying he is reported to have expressed his faith in a resurrection (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 14:46) — a belief elsewhere characteristic of the Maccabean conflict. This act of suicide, which was wholly alien to the spirit of the [[Jewish]] law and people (&nbsp;John 8:22; comp. EIwald, ''Alterth.'' p. 198; Grotius, ''De Jure Belli,'' II, 19:5), has been the subject of considerable discussion. It was quoted by the [[Donatists]] as the single fact in [[Scripture]] which supported their fanatical contempt of life (Augustine, ''Ep'' '''.''' 104, 6). [[Augustine]] denies the fitness of the model, and condemns the deed as that of a man "non cligende mortis sapiens, sed ferendae humilitatis impatiens" (Augustine, ''L.C.;'' comp. ''C. Gaud.'' i, 36-39). At a later time the favor with which the writer of 2 Maccabees views the conduct of Razis — a fact which Augustine vainly denies — was urged rightly by [[Protestant]] writers as an argument against the inspiration of the book. Indeed the whole narrative breathes the spirit of pagan heroism, or of the later zealots (comp. Josephus, [[War]] , 3:7; 4:1, 10), and the deaths of [[Samson]] and Saul offer no satisfactory parallel (comp. Grimm, ''Ad Loc.'' </p>