Books of the Maccabees

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.

List of books

The Books of the Maccabees refers to a series of deuterocanonical books which are contained in various canons of the Bible:

The first two books are considered canonical by the Catholic Church[5] and the first three books are considered canonical by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Georgian Orthodox Church is the only church which also considers 4 Maccabees canonical. All of the other books are considered biblical apocrypha. The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon includes none of the books which are listed above, instead, it includes three books of Ethiopic Maccabees (1 Meqabyan, 2 Meqabyan, and 3 Meqabyan), books which are distinct from those books which are listed above. There is also a non-canonical Jewish work which is titled the Megillat Antiochus ("The Scroll of Antiochus"). This book is read in some synagogues during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The book is unrelated to the "Books of Maccabees" except for the fact that it cites some quotations which are contained in 1 and 2 Maccabees, and it also describes the same events which are described in 1 and 2 Maccabees.[6]

First vs Second Books of Maccabees

The books of First and Second Maccabees are written noticeably different literary styles, but contain similar narratives.

In First Maccabees, the author presents an objective historical account of the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV. It deals with the rise and legitimacy of the Hasmonean dynasty, beginning with an account of the life of the Jewish priest Mattathias, a forefather of the Maccabean revolt. The sober style of First Maccabees takes influence from the authors of the Hebrew Bible.

In contrast, the author of Second Maccabees presents a heavily dramatic, emotional and theologically dense account of a period of time which is shorter but overlapping (180–161 BC). In Second Maccabees, the author portrays Judas Maccabaeus and the martyrs who fight alongside him as champions; they earn divine favor as a result. The book begins with two letters (Epistles I and II), but these are insubstantial in relation to the narrative.[7]

See also

References

  1. Fairweather, William (1911). "Maccabees, Books of" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 198.
  2. "Maccabees, Books of, 3-5.". International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Retrieved 7 May 2013 via BibleStudyTools.com.
  3. Davila, James R. "The More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project" (PDF). University of St. Andrews. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  4. John Malalas, Chronographia. Edited by Ludwig A. Dindorf. Vol. 15 of Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Bonn: Weber, 1831.
  5. Jerusalem Bible, 1966, "Introduction to the Books of Maccabees", p. 654
  6. "Scroll of Antiochus". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  7. Goldstein, Jonathan A. (1976). "Introduction," in I Maccabees. Garden city, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. pp. 12, 18–19, 24–26, 33, 79.
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