THE BOOKS OF MACCABEES

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THE BOOKS OF MACCABEES
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DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS

• Tobias
• Judith
• Sequel of Esther
• The wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)
• Wisdom of Joshua son of Sirach
• Baroukh
• Sequel of the Book of Daniel
• Maccabees first and second
• Psalm 151,

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The Books of Maccabees

• The Books of Maccabees, though regarded by Jews
  and Protestants as apocryphal, i.e., not inspired
  Scripture, because not contained in the
  Palestinian Canon or in list of books drawn up at
  the end of the first century A.D., have
  nevertheless always been accepted by the Orthodox
  and Catholic Churches as inspired, on the basis
  of apostolic tradition.

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Daniels Vision

• Predicted by the prophet Daniel 232-33
• This images head was of fine gold, its chest and
  arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
  its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and
  partly of clay.
• Babylonian rule
• Persian rule
• Greek rule
• Roman rule(Christ is born)

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Perisa/Greece

• 1st Verse
• Now it came to pass, after that Alexander the son
  of Philip the Macedonian, who first reigned in
  Greece, coming out of the land of Cethim, had
  overthrown Darius king of the Persians and Medes

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Maccabees I and II

• 1 and 2 Maccabees are historical narratives and
  tell the inspiring story of the Jewish people
  fighting for the right to worship God.

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1 Maccabees

• First Maccabees was originally written in Hebrew
  about 100 B.C.
•     It begins with the the reign of Antiochus IV
  in 175 B.C, the rebellion of Mattathias in 167
  B.C. and ends with the murder of Simon in 135
  B.C. and the reign of his son, John Hyrcanus I in
  134 B.C..

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Antiochus IV Epiphanes

• Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, decided to
  force the Jews to give up their religion and
  start worshipping Greek gods.

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Antiochus IV Epiphanes

• He killed 40,000 Jews, enslaved 40,000 others
• He desecrates the Temple by setting up an
  "abomination of desolation" (an idol).
• Antiochus forbids both circumcision and
  possession of Jewish scripture.
• Turned the Jerusalem Temple into a temple for the
  Greek god Zeus, and ordered Jews to offer
  sacrifices to the Greek deities. 
• He also forbids observance of the sabbath and the
  offering of sacrifices at the Temple.

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Antichrist

• Antiochus IV Epiphanes is a central figure in the
  Book of Daniel as the type of the Antichrist
• Antiochus died in 163 B.C., so his ruling over
  Israel lasted 3.5 years, the same period of time
  the Antichrist will reign
• Before the Maccabees the resistance to the
  Antichrist was passive, with prayers and patience
  
• afterwards it was active, with prayers and
  fighting... always with the trust in the Lord.

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Maccabee

• One Jewish man, Mattathias, his five sons, mainly
  (Judah, Jonothan, Simon) and grandchildren, who
  were nicknamed the Maccabee (meaning "the
  hammerers"), overthrew the Syrians
• Mattathias calls forth the people to holy war
  against the invaders. and his three sons begin a
  military campaign against them.
• There is one complete loss of a thousand Jews
  (men, women and children) to Antiochus when the
  Jewish defenders refuse to fight on the Sabbath.

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1 Maccabee

• In 165 B.C. the Temple is freed and
  reconsecrated, so that ritual sacrifices may
  begin again.
• The festival of Hanukkah ,the Feast of Lights in
  December, is instituted by Judas Maccabeus and
  his brothers to celebrate this event. It is only
  described in the Bible in the Books of Maccabees.
  
• Overthrew the Syrians, restored the Temple, and
  ruled Israel themselves until the Romans and
  Herod took over in 37 B.C

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2 Maccabees

• 2 Maccabees is a theological jewel    - The
  teachings on the resurrection of the just on the
  last day (2Mac.79,11,14,23 1446).    - The
  intercession of the saints in heaven for people
  living on earth (1511-16).    - The power of
  the living to offer prayers and sacrifices for
  the dead (1239-46).    - Faith in God (6,
  7).    - Judgment of God, rewards and punishment
  (7)     - God made all things "from nothing"
  (728).

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2 Maccabees

• It gives also important information on the Ark
  of the Covenant Where it is now, hidden by
  prophet Jeremiah, and his impressive specific
  prophesy about the end of times, of the Great
  Miracle to come! (chapter 2).

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2 Maccabees

• Martyrdom of Eleazar (2Mac.6)... Martyrdom of
  Christians 2Mac.Part 1        Martyrdom of the
  Mother and her 7 Children (2Mac.7)...  Martyrdom
  of Christians 2Mac.Part 1
• The suffering by Jewish martyrs helps the Jewish
  cause and helps humanity in general (2Mac.6-7).
  2Mac.Part 1
• Resurrection of the just on the last day    -
  the King of the universe will raise us up to an
  everlasting renewal of life (2Mac.79...711,14,23
  , 1243, 1446).

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2 Maccabees

• Punishment of God    - looked at the king, and
  said, "Because you have authority among men,
  mortal though you are, you do what you please.
  But do not think that God has forsaken our
  people. Keep on, and see how his mighty power
  will torture you and your descendants!"
  (2Mac.716-17)... But for you there will be no
  resurrection to life!" (714).
• The intercession of the saints in heaven for
  people living on earth (1511-16).     - What he
  saw was this Onias...  was praying with
  outstretched hands for the whole body of the
  Jews. (2Mac.1512).       - "This is a man who
  loves the brethren and prays much for the people
  and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God."
  Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to
  Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he
  addressed him thus "Take this holy sword, a gift
  from God, with which you will strike down your
  adversaries."  (2Mac.1514-16).

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Martyrs

• To came to pass also, that seven brethren,
  together with their mother, were apprehended, and
  compelled by the king to eat swine's flesh
  against the law, for which end they were
  tormented with whips and scourges.
• But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus
  What wouldst thou ask, or learn of us? we are
  ready to die rather than to transgress the laws
  of God, received from our fathers.
• He commanded to cut out the tongue of him that
  had spoken first and the skin of his head being
  drawn off, to chop off also the extremities of
  his hands and feet, the rest of his brethren, and
  his mother, looking on.
• And when he was now maimed in all parts, he
  commanded him, being yet alive, to be brought to
  the Are, and to be fried in the frying pan and
  while he was suffering therein long torments, the
  rest, together with the mother.

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Martyrs

• So when the first was dead after this manner,
  they brought the next to make him a, mocking
  stock and when they had pulled off the skin of
  his head with the hair, they asked him if he
  would eat, before he were punished throughout the
  whole body in every limb.
• Now the mother was to be ad above measure, and
  worthy to be remembered by good men, who beheld
  seven sons slain in the space of one day, and
  bore it with a good courage, for the hope that
  she had in God
• And she bravely exhorted every o of them in her
  own language, being filled with wisdom and
  joining a man's heart to a woman's thought,
• She said to them I know not how you were formed
  in my womb for I neither gave you breath, nor
  soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of
  every one of you.
• But the Creator of the world, that formed the
  nativity of man, and that found out the origin of
  all, he will re- store to you again in his mercy,
  both breath and life, as now you despise your-
  selves for the sake of his laws

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Conclusion

• 1 Maccabees is a historical Jewel.
• 2 Maccabees is a theological Jewel.