The suicide of Razis is described in 2 Maccabees, as part of its narrative of the Maccabean Revolt. According to the book, the Seleucid governor Nicanor was after Judas Maccabeus, who led the revolt. Nicanor sent 500 troops to arrest and execute Razis, a Jerusalem elder known as "the father of the Jews," to make an example out of him and strike a blow to the Jewish community.
Preferring a noble death over capture, Razis first tried to fall upon his sword, and when that failed and soldiers set fire to his tower, he hurled himself off the wall into the enemy ranks below. Surviving the fall despite severe injuries, Razis charged through the crowd, tore out his own entrails, and threw them at the soldiers while praying for his resurrection with his dying breath.
The overall account is rather abrupt without much setup, possibly due to the epitomist omitting text as part of the abridgment. Historians have interpreted Razis as a model citizen of the Jewish state (polis), while also exploring the meaning of the suicide ritual in Jewish tradition. By turning violence entirely upon himself, his death is seen as an act of martyrdom where his spilled blood and entrails served to spiritually defile and neutralize his gentile adversaries.
Scholars write that the story is unique in Jewish tradition, as well as outside of it. The origin of Razis's name is also debated, and scholars have proposed Hebrew, biblical, and Persian origins for it.
Meaning of Razis's name The name Razis is not documented for any other Jew. Some scholars relate the name to the Hebrew word razi () in Isa 24:16, the meaning of which is unclear, with Jonathan Goldstein further tying the name to the repeated ("I pine away, I pine away") in the same verse, proposing that Isa 24:16-18 prophesies Razis's death. Other scholars have proposed Hebrew terms: Wilibald Grimm suggested that its meaning is "destruction", while Carl Friedrich Keil proposed ratsa (), meaning "favour". Avemarie, van Henten, and Furstenberg stated parallels can be drawn between "Razis" and the Hebrew root , used in Rabbinical literature to mean "appease" or "effect atonement".
Some scholars, such as Martin Schwartz, argue that the name originates from Persian; Raz means "secret" in Persian. Aya Barsky-Elishav, writing that this may be an indicator of his occupation, centrality in Jerusalem or relations with Judas Maccabeus, proposes that the name's meaning points to Razis being a spy for Judas.
Background
In 2 Maccabees, Razis's death takes place amid Seleucid oppression of the Jewish people. Measures were introduced to abolish Jewish law and practices, making Greek customs obligatory. These measures profaned the temple, banned Jewish festivals and Sabbath observance, and may have even forbidden openly confessing to being a Jew. Jews were compelled to consume defiling foods and renounce Judaism, or be tortured to death.
2 Maccabees 14 describes the events leading up to the suicide of Razis. Following the rise of the new Seleucid king Demetrius I Soter in 162 BCE, Alcimus applied and regained the high priesthood. After regaining his status, Alcimus convinced the king that peace in Judea required eliminating Judas Maccabaeus. Nicanor was appointed governor of Judea to defeat Judas. While adopting a peaceful approach at first, a second visit by Alcimus to the king forced Nicanor to act against Judas; Judas subsequently went into hiding. When the temple priests refused to surrender Judas, Nicanor swore that he would raze the sanctuary to the ground, tear down the altar, and erect a temple to Dionysus in its place. The priests prayed to God to defend the temple.
The attempted arrest of Razis and his suicide are then described. Razis's story gave Judas and his men time to move to Samaria, and gave Nicanor time to hear of that. A battle between Judas Maccabeus's men and Nicanor then ensued, the Battle of Adasa.
Events The text tells that prior to the incident, Razis, a Jerusalem elder, "had been brought in a decision for Judaism". It is unclear what this passage means. Several scholars have proposed that this may indicate that Razis had been tried under previous Seleucid administrations, but this interpretation leaves open the question of why Razis didn't end up like those who had been tried in chapters 6 and 7. Razis was a revered figure among the Jews and was called "the father of the Jews" due to how much he loved his people.
Nicanor ordered over 500 soldiers to arrest him in order to set an example and strike a blow against the Jewish community. Preferring to die nobly rather than be captured and subjected to outrages by his enemies, Razis fell upon his own sword. Due to the haste and distress of the moment, the sword did not hit any vital organs and failed to kill him. The soldiers then surrounded and besieged the multi-story tower (pyrgos) where Razis was located, setting fire to the doors to trap him inside.
In response, Razis climbed up to the wall of the structure and hurled himself down into the mass of enemy soldiers below. The soldiers quickly pulled back to avoid his falling body, clearing a space where Razis then hit the ground. Despite severe injuries from both the sword wound and the fall, Razis survived, rose in a fury, and ran through the ranks of the enemy crowd as his blood spilled on them. Reaching a steep rock, Razis used both hands to tear out his own entrails and hurled them into the crowd of soldiers. With his final breath, he called upon the "Lord of life and spirit" to restore his body parts to him after his death.
Analysis The overall account is rather abrupt without much setup, possibly due to the epitomist omitting text as part of the abridgment; it does not explain if Nicanor had a more specific reason than distaste for the Jews to order the arrest of Razis, if Razis knew of Judas's location, why 500 men were necessary, or how Razis ended up in a fortified tower. His extended death scene was possibly influenced by the death of Menoeceus in Euripides' play The Phoenician Women (), who is described as having a similar fate of a failed sword stroke followed by throwing himself into the enemy.; ; Shatran proposes that Razis was targeted since he was "one of Nicanor's most fierce opposers".
Theological reception Theologically, the epitomist approves of Razis's suicide.; This stance was not uncommon in Judaism, which allowed suicide in certain dire situations, and certain branches of early Christianity; the 4th-5th century Donatists are reported as being famous for resorting to suicide rather than dishonor, and often used Razis as an example. However, the epitomist's endorsement of Razis's action was awkward in the Catholic Church, which both considered the book divinely inspired but also sharply disapproved of direct suicide.; cf. While Josephus' negative opinion on suicide may explain why he didn't discuss Razis, the 10-13th-century Josippon wrote on Razis without disapproving his suicide. Barsky-Elishav says that had the author not expressed their appreciation to the suicide, it may have been minimized or not recorded at all. According to Robert Barry, the suicide "was seen as a death virtually commanded by Yahweh, as was Samson's".
Ritual and Jewish perspective
The narrative of Razis's suicide in 2 Maccabees 14:37–46 can be understood as both an instrumental and performative exit ritual responding to external Seleucid threats and internal (Alcimus's) apostasy. Faced with imminent capture by Seleucid forces under Nicanor, Razis chooses death over enslavement and desecration, echoing the biblical precedent of Saul by first attempting to fall upon his sword to preserve his status as a free man. When this initial stroke fails, he leaps from the stronghold walls and runs through the enemy ranks, spilling his own blood that, from a Jewish ritual perspective, serves to defile and spiritually neutralize his Gentile adversaries.
In his final act, Razis hurls his disemboweled entrails () at the surrounding crowd, using his inner physical organs to inflict impurity upon as many enemies as possible. This ritual and the defilement of the enemy soldiers imply that they have been defeated. Viewing this from a Jewish perspective, may be related to the Hebrew word , which can refer to a person's insides in the literal sense but also in a figurative sense, as the location of a person's life, soul or spirit. Jan Willem van Henten writes that Razis's self-disembowelment and the hurling of his organs toward the crowd is without a peer in Jewish tradition and that it is difficult to find similar stories outside of the tradition as well.
Razis, acknowledging that the all-knowing and all-powerful god is watching his sacrifice for the Jewish cause, then asks for his body back after death in 2 Maccabees 14:46. The term in verse 46 is a hendiadys referring to the breath of life. This presentation, van Henten says, "builds on the presentation of the creation of humankind in Genesis 2:7, where God breathes life into Adam". From this point of view, he writes, the verse "may point to God's act of breathing life into the bodies of the martyrs and Razis for a second time, analogously to the breath of life narrated in Genesis 2:7".
According to Barsky-Elishav, Razis sanctified God during his life, and first and foremost he did not want to die. But, she says, he was willing to do it for the sake of his group, the Jewish people. His first choice was to live, but when he couldn't live a normal Jewish life, he chose to sanctify God in his death.
Hellenistic influence Roger Tomes writes that Razis's suicide is "regarded as a noble act" due to how it "called for courage" and how he escaped "outrages unworthy of his noble birth" by the Seleucids, unlike Eleazar, who handed himself over to the enemy. Tomes identified this with the aristocratic Greek concepts of a noble birth as an important virtue. He further writes that Razis's motivation for his suicide, to escape these outrages, differs from that of the seven Maccabean brothers and is similar to that of the Greek general Alcetas, who "laid hands on himself first in order not to come into the power of his enemies while still living". Barsky-Elishav says that Razis is similar to Eleazar in that he "did not want his old age to bring shame upon his youth". Goldstein says that if Razis possessed knowledge of Judas' whereabouts, he may have killed himself to prevent being coerced to tell. Otherwise, if Razis did not know where Judas is, Goldstein says his suicide could've been done to prevent him being held hostage for a ransom of Judas' whereabouts.
The account of Razis's death in 2 Maccabees 14:37–46 portrays an act of violence directed against the self that functions as an atoning sacrifice for the Jewish people, distinct from the negative portrayals of suicide in the Hebrew Bible. This interpretation arises from the convergence of an evolving Jewish theology of martyrdom, where self-sacrifice for the sanctification of the Divine is vindicated by the expectation of bodily resurrection, and Hellenistic conceptions of a noble death (eugenôs) aimed at restoring honor and collective balance.