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The Books of the Maccabees or the Sefer HaMakabim (the Book of the Maccabees) recount the history of the Maccabees, the leaders of the Jewish rebellion against the Seleucid dynasty.
The First Book of Maccabees was written in Hebrew by a Jew from Jerusalem, probably around the beginning of the first century before Christ. However, only translations are extant as well as the Greek text that provides faith for the Church.
- Overview
- The First Book of the Maccabees
- The Second Book of the Maccabees
- The Third Book of the Maccabees
- The Fourth Book of the Maccabees
The Books of the Maccabees, four books, none of which is in the Hebrew Bible but all of which appear in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. The first two books only are part of canonical scripture in the Septuagint and the Vulgate (hence are canonical to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and are included in the Protestant Apocrypha.
I Maccabees presents a historical account of political, military, and diplomatic events from the time of Judaea’s relationship with Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria (reigned 175–164/163 bce) to the death (135/134 bce) of Simon Maccabeus, high priest in Jerusalem. It describes the refusal of Mattathias to perform pagan religious rites, the ensuing Jewish revolt against Syrian hegemony, the political machinations whereby Demetrius II of Syria granted Judaea its independence, and the election of Simon as both high priest and secular ruler of the Judaean Jews.
I Maccabees is the only contemporary source for the civil wars in Judaea, and the only surviving one for Judaean-Syrian relations after the reign of Antiochus IV. The historical integrity of the book, which was compiled from official written sources, oral tradition, and eyewitness reporting, is attested to by the absence of almost all of the conventions of the Hellenistic rhetorical school of historiography and by its uncritical use by the later Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
II Maccabees focuses on the Jews’ revolt against Antiochus and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 bce by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. In general, its chronology coheres with that of I Maccabees. An unknown editor, the “Epitomist,” used the factual notes of a historian, Jason of Cyrene, to write this historical ...
III Maccabees has no relation to the other three books of Maccabees, all of which deal with the revolt of Judaea against Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It purports to be a historical account of the repression and miraculous salvation of Egyptian Jewry during the reign (221–205 bce) of Ptolemy IV Philopator. Ptolemy supposedly threatened the Jews with loss of citizenship after Palestinian Jews refused to permit him to enter the sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem. He relented after angels intervened on behalf of the Jews.
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IV Maccabees has scanty historical information and belongs to the Maccabees series only because it deals with the beginning of the persecution of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It possibly was written during the reign of the Roman emperor Caligula (37–41 ce). Throughout the early Christian period, IV Maccabees was wrongly attributed to Josephus.
The work’s main religious theme is that the martyr’s sufferings vicariously expiated the sins of the entire Jewish people.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ads · Books of the maccabees
Sep 3, 2021 · The five books of Maccabees in English. Bible. Maccabees. Maccabees 1-2 are included in the Deuterocanonical books; 3-4 are Apocryphal books excluded from the Deuterocanonicals; 5 is also known as the Arabic II Maccabees, and is included in the Paris and London Polyglots. Cf.
THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES. The name Maccabee, probably meaning “hammer,” is actually applied in the Books of Maccabees to only one man, Judas, third son of the priest Mattathias and first leader of the revolt against the Seleucid kings who persecuted the Jews (1 Mc 2:4, 66; 2 Mc 8:5, 16; 10:1, 16).
The Maccabean story is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees, which describe in detail the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the lighting of the menorah. These books are not part of the Tanakh ( Hebrew Bible ) which came from the Jewish canon; however, they were part of the Alexandrian canon which is also called ...
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Jul 5, 2023 · From priests to kings, the Maccabees created an independent Jewish kingdom in the second century BCE. Their success was a testament to their zeal—and some significant external factors. The Book of 1 Maccabees tells the story of their rise, while archaeology places the story within a larger historical and political context.
