Books Of Maccabees

The four Books of Maccabees, biblical writings, relating the history of Judea in the Hellenistic period. These books have certainly been written by several authors. The first is the work of a Jewish author around 100 , after the restoration of the kingdom of Judah independent. The Maccabees are named after Judas Maccabeus , whose brother Simon dynasty founded the Hasmonean who ruled Judea from 140 to 36 BC. AD.

The first two books tell the Maccabean revolt. The original texts of these first two books, which were probably written in Hebrew , given the idiomatic forms present in the text has been lost.

The four books of Maccabees included in the Septuagint are treated differently by the different religious traditions:

• none of the four books is not part of the canon Hebrew ;
• the Catholicism included the first two in its barrel, among Deuterocanon ;
• the Orthodox have chosen among the four books Deuterocanonical books ;
• the Protestantism has excluded the four books of the Maccabees of their guns and calls, with other writings of the same era, books intertestamental.

Jews and Protestants, if they do not include these books in their canon, generally regard these works as reliable historical sources. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabean revolt.

Introduction

The first book tells the story of events that serve a period of about forty years since the advent of Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( 175 ) until the death of Shim'on and the advent of John Hyrcanus ( 134 ). Based largely on sources annalistic it primarily describes the struggles for the liberation of Israel, then under the domination of the Seleucid kings of Syria. The admiration of the author for Rome (ch. 8) can be understood before the conquest achieved by Pompey in 63 BCE. It is believed that the book has been composed around the year 100 and translated shortly thereafter. The original in Hebrew is lost.

The second book, which covers the period from the end of the reign of Seleucus IV to -160 , is given to the epitome () of the book in Greek Hellenized Jew Jason of Cyrene. Rather than chronic, it is a liturgical booklet aimed at synagogues in the diaspora, like the scroll of Esther. He discusses at length the stories of martyrdom: that of El'azar (6.18 to 31), one of seven brothers and their mother (Ch. 7), suicide for religious reasons of Razis (14.37 -46). There are also elements of a systematic theology: God is creator (7.23), it does not need anything (14.35) and is transcendent (Hypsistos), Lord of Spirits (3.24). Messengers or angels are present, but the messianic hope is mentioned only 1.27 to 29. A major theme is the resurrection of the dead and prayers for them to do (from 12.44 to 45). The importance of the Temple is underlined (3.12), depending on the chosen people of eminence in the center of which dwells the Lord.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus uses the first book in his Jewish Antiquities (XII) and his Jewish War (I).

See also

• Maccabees
• Third Book of Maccabees
• Fourth Book of Maccabees
• Canon (Bible)

External Links

• Translation Chouraqui
• First Book of Maccabees
• Second Maccabees
• Third Maccabees
• Fourth Book of Maccabees