All citations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Manuscripts
The book is contained in Codices Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Venetus.[1]
Authorship
The book contains “[no] hints of authorship.”[2]
While a few manuscripts contain the book in Josephus’ works, Josephan authorship is “almost universally rejected.”[3]
Whoever the author was, he was a dedicated Jewish man who was committed to Torah observance. DeSilva notes that the author must’ve been immersed in the Hellenistic environment, because he knows so much about Greek philosophy. He adds, “The author writes artful and flawless Greek and displays an uncommon rhetorical ability.”[4]
Date
The author most likely wrote after 2 Maccabees, so it must date after that book. It could date as late as the time of the Second Jewish Revolt (AD 115-117) or the time of Hadrian (AD 130-135).[5]
Two Greek words (threskeia “religion” and nomikos “skilled in the law”) date to around the time of Augustus (30 BC-AD 14). Moreover, the unity of Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia into a single governmental unit occurred somewhere between AD 19-72.[6] DeSilva dates the book somewhere “in the first half of the first century C.E. is most likely.”[7]
[1] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355.
[2] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355.
[3] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355.
[4] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355.
[5] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355.
[6] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355-356.
[7] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 355-356.