Maccabees

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Maccabees, books of Four books recording the struggle of loyalist Jews against the forces of Hellenist absorption in the 2nd cent. BCE. Of these 1 and 2 Macc. (there is considerable overlap in telling the history) exist only in the Greek of the LXX, but were incorporated into the Vulgate and are reckoned by the Roman Catholic Church to be deuterocanonical and having the authority of scripture. They are placed in the Apocrypha by Reformed Churches.

The Greek OT includes 3 Macc., which is inappropriately named, since it is not concerned with the Maccabees but is a fictitious work compiled by a Jew in Alexandria at about the turn of the eras concerning the triumphs of Jews over their enemies about 220 BCE.

Also written about the time of Jesus, 4 Macc. is attached to the LXX as an appendix and enlarges on the sufferings of the Jews in the Maccabean period.

Access to historical records in Jerusalem about its political fortunes seems to be shown in 2 Macc., but only 1 Macc. contains reliable history of the Jewish opposition to the attempt by the kings of Syria to bring about religious unity in their empire by imposing Hellenistic religion and culture. The story begins in 167 BCE when Mattathias and his sons, who were members of a priestly family in the village of Modein, raised the flag of insurrection. The military leadership soon passed to the son Judas, who had the surname ‘Maccabaeus’, meaning a ‘hammer’, who launched a guerrilla campaign, recaptured Jerusalem, and rededicated the Temple (164 BCE), which the Syrians had defiled. After Judas was killed, the war was continued by his brothers Jonathan and Simon. The latter obtained some recognition by the Syrians but was murdered in 134 BCE, to be succeeded by his son, John Hyrcanus, who survived for twenty years and was both ruler and high priest. Under him the Hasmonean state (Hasmonean was the name of the Maccabean dynasty) flourished and expanded.

The purpose of 1 Macc. seems to be to justify the military adventures on the ground that political freedom was essential for Jewish religious freedom. There is no reference to a future life after death, but importance is attached to human values of courage and wisdom as displayed by the heroes of Mattathias' family. The purpose of 2 Macc. is to assert the importance of the Temple and the Law. Advice is given in 3 Macc. to Jews in the Dispersion when they are persecuted (3: 3), but 4 Macc. extols the sufferings of Jewish martyrs as being atoning sacrifices for the whole nation (6: 28–9). Cf. Heb. 12: 1–2.

Maccabees two books included in the Septuagint and placed as the last two books in the Old Testament of the Vulgate; they are not included in the Hebrew Bible and are placed in the Apocrypha in Protestant Bibles. First and Second Maccabees are both historical narratives. First Maccabees was originally written in Hebrew and is usually dated c.100 BC It begins with the rebellion of Mattathias (c.167 BC) and ends with the murder of Simon (135 BC). The book relates the struggles of the Maccabees, led by Judas Maccabeus, against Antiochus IV of Syria. The restoration of the Temple under Judas' leadership is described as the high point of his career. The careers of his brothers Jonathan and Simon, both high priests, are also narrated. First Maccabees is the best source for the period of history that it treats; it is careful in citing and dating. It includes an interesting account of the reputation of republican Rome and of Maccabean relations with that power. Second Maccabees was probably composed in Greek late in the 1st cent. BC Claiming to be the condensation of a history of the Maccabees by one Jason of Cyrene, it is a devout treatment of Judas Maccabeus' career and of Jews persecuted at the hands of Antiochus. The book begins with an apparently extraneous letter, from Palestinian Jews to Jews in E Egypt, referring to the feast of the restoration of the Temple in 165 BC A literary preface follows. An account of the troubles leading to the persecution is followed by two accounts of martyrdom. Finally Judas' glorious career is treated in a long passage that includes the horrible death of Antiochus and a vision of Judas. Second Maccabees sheds light on Jewish beliefs of the period—on creation, resurrection, prayers for the dead, and the ability of God's anger to be slackened in the face of suffering by Jewish martyrs. Third and Fourth Maccabees, also found in the Septuagint, were not included in St. Jerome's Vulgate and are usually classified among the Pseudepigrapha .

Bibliography: See studies by J. A. Goldstein (1976, 1983); J. H. Charlesworth, ed., Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Vol. II, 1985).

Maccabees, Books of. Four Books, so called after the hero of the first two, Judas Maccabaeus, are found in some MSS of the Septuagint. The first three are included in the Canon of the E. Church, and the first two in that of the RC Church and the Apocrypha of (non-RC) English Bibles. 1 Macc. is a history of the Jews from the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes (175 BC) to the death of Simon Maccabaeus in 135 BC. It describes the desecration of the Temple and the resistance of Mattathias and his sons. Written probably c.100 BC, it is a primary source for the period. 2 Macc. covers the history of the Maccabaen wars from 176 to 161 BC, ending with Judas Maccabaeus' victory over Nicanor. It is an epitome of a larger work and appears to have been written before 63 BC. 3 Macc. describes the attempt of Ptolemy IV to enter the Sanctuary of the Temple (217 BC), his frustration, and his attempt to take vengeance on the Jews of Egypt. Written between 100 BC and 70 AD, it is probably thus named on the analogy of the events described with those of the Maccabaean period. 4 Macc. is a philosophical treatise on the supremacy of devout reason over the passions, illustrated by examples from the history of the Maccabees.

The Books contain important teaching on immortality (2 Macc. 7: 9 and 23 and 4 Macc.) and on prayers for the dead (2 Macc. 12: 43–5).

Maccabees A Jewish dynasty founded by JUDAS MACCABAEUS (the Hammerer). In 167 BC the Syrian king Antiochus IV plundered the Temple in Jerusalem, set up an altar to the Greek god Zeus, and proscribed Jewish religious practices. A Jewish revolt began, led by Mattathias, an elderly priest, and guerrilla tactics were used against the Syrians. When Mattathias died in 166, his second son, Judas, assumed leadership. After a series of successful encounters with Syrian forces Judas retook the Temple area in 164 and cleansed the Temple in a ceremony that has from that time been commemorated annually as the feast of Hanukkah. Judas died in 160 and his brothers continued the struggle until independence from the Syrians was achieved, the third brother, Simon, becoming high priest, governor, and commander. The conquests and forced conversions of later rulers caused much discontent, and the dynasty ended with the arrival of the Romans in 63 BC.

Maccabees, Books of Four historical books, the first two (I and II) of which are included in the Roman Catholic Deuterocanonical books of the Bible and the Protestant Apocrypha. Maccabees I and II are modelled on the Old Testament books of Chronicles and are a valuable historical source. They record the Jewish dynasty of the Maccabees. In 165 bc, Judas Maccabee led a revolt against the Seleucid occupation of Jerusalem. His reconsecration of the temple (165 bc) is celebrated by the Jewish feast of Hanukkah. Judas and his two brothers, Jonathan and Simon, were murdered (161 bc, 143 bc, 135 bc respectively) in Judaea's resistance to Syrian domination. Maccabees III and IV are Pseudepigrapha.

Maccabee a member or supporter of a Jewish family of which Judas Maccabaeus was the leading figure, which led a religious revolt in Judaea against the Syrian Seleucid king Antiochus IV c.167 bc, as recorded in the Books of the Maccabees (see below). The term is occasionally found in extended use, the earliest of which as applied to the Methodists is recorded by John Wesley.

The Maccabees are four books of Jewish history and theology, of which the first two are included in the Apocrypha.

Maccabees, Books of. Jewish apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works containing the history of Simon the Hasmonean and Judah Maccabee. 1 Maccabees, originally written in Hebrew, covers the period of Jewish history from the accession of King Antiochus Epiphanes (c.175 BCE) to the death of Simon the Hasmonean in 135 BCE.

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