Ethnic identity in the Hellenistic world was closely bound up with ancestral laws. Since the time of Ezra, the ancestral law of Judea was identified with the Torah of Moses. In the pre-Maccabean period, however, the book of the Torah had largely an iconic function. The primary ethnic markers were the distinctive observances such as circumcision, sabbath observance etc. The persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes was an attempt to deny the people of Judea the right to have their own ancestral laws, and thereby to deny their distinctive identity. The reaction to the persecution led to a more intensive engagement with the written Torah, the rise of halachic exegesis and sectarian division based on differing halachic interpretations.

John J. Collins er Professor i Det Gamle Testamente ved Yale University. Han har publiceret bredt inden for områder som apokalyptik, visdomslitteratur, hellenistisk jødedom og Dødehavsskrifterne.