Maccabees
The Maccabees (
Etymology
The name Maccabee
Background
In the 2nd century BCE,
When
Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected taking the city (
Flavius Josephus, The War of the Jews, Book 1.1 §2
The author of the First Book of Maccabees regards the Maccabean revolt as a rising of pious Jews against the Seleucid king (who had tried to eradicate their religion) and against the Jews who supported him. The author of the Second Book of Maccabees presents the conflict as a struggle between "Judaism" and "Hellenism", concepts which he coined.[16] Most modern scholars argue that King Antiochus reacted to a civil war between traditionalist Jews in the Judean countryside and Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem,[17][18] though the king's response of persecuting the religious traditionalists was unusual in antiquity, and was the immediate provocation for the revolt.[19] According to Joseph P. Schultz, modern scholarship "considers the Maccabean revolt less as an uprising against foreign oppression than as a civil war between the orthodox and reformist parties in the Jewish camp",[20] but John J. Collins writes that while the civil war between Jewish leaders led to the king's new policies, it is wrong to see the revolt as simply a conflict between Hellenism and Judaism, since "[t]he revolt was not provoked by the introduction of Greek customs (typified by the building of a gymnasium) but by the persecution of people who observed the Torah by having their children circumcised and refusing to eat pork."[19]
In the conflict over the office of high priest, traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias contested with Hellenizers with Greek names like Jason and Menelaus.[21] Some scholars point to social and economic factors in the conflict.[10][22] What began as a civil war took on the character of an invasion when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews against the traditionalists.[23] As the conflict escalated, Antiochus prohibited the practices of the traditionalists, thereby, in a departure from usual Seleucid practice, banning the religion of an entire people.[10] The motives of Antiochus remain unclear: he may have been incensed at the overthrow of his appointee, Menelaus,[12] or – encouraged by a group of radical Hellenizers among the Jews,[16] he may have been responding to an orthodox Jewish revolt that drew on the Temple and the Torah for its strength.[10] Other scholars argue that, while the rising began as a religious rebellion, it was gradually transformed into a war of national liberation.[24]
According to 1 Maccabees, Antiochus banned many traditional Jewish and
Revolt
In the narrative of I Maccabees, after Antiochus issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from
The revolt involved many battles, in which the Maccabean forces gained notoriety among the Seleucid army for their use of guerrilla tactics. After the victory, the Maccabees entered Jerusalem in triumph and ritually cleansed the Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there and installing
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabee's victory over the Seleucids. According to rabbinic tradition, the victorious Maccabees could only find a small jug of oil that had remained uncontaminated by virtue of a seal, and although it only contained enough oil to sustain the Temple menorah for one day, it miraculously lasted for eight days, by which time further oil could be procured.[30]
Hasmonean dynasty
Following the re-dedication of the Temple, the supporters of the Maccabees were divided over the question of whether to continue fighting. When the revolt began under the leadership of Mattathias, it was seen as a war for religious freedom to end the oppression of the Seleucids. However, as the Maccabees realized how successful they had been, many wanted to continue the revolt and conquer other lands with Jewish populations or to convert their peoples. This policy exacerbated the divide between the Pharisees and Sadducees under later Hasmonean monarchs such as Alexander Jannaeus.[31] Those who sought the continuation of the war were led by Judah Maccabee.
On his death in battle in 160 BCE, Judah was succeeded as army commander by his younger brother, Jonathan, who was already high priest. Jonathan made treaties with various foreign states, causing further dissent between those who merely desired religious freedom and those who sought greater power.
In 142 BCE, Jonathan was assassinated by
Simon was murdered in 134 BCE by his son-in-law Ptolemy and was succeeded as high priest and king by his son
Biblical accounts
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 the Septuagint.[35] Both books are included in the Old Testament used by the Catholic and Orthodox churches,[36] since those churches consider the books deuterocanonical. They are not included in the Old Testament books in most Protestant Bibles since most Protestants consider the books apocryphal.
Multiple references to Hanukkah are made in the Mishna (Bikkurim 1:6, Rosh HaShanah 1:3, Taanit 2:10, Megillah 3:4 and 3:6, Moed Katan 3:9, and Bava Kama 6:6), though specific laws are not described. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees.[37] The New Testament mentions Jesus visiting the temple during Hanukkah (John 10:22-23).
Christian veneration and possible Jewish preceding tradition
The nine "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" in Christianity
The Holy Maccabees | |
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Pre-Congregation | |
Feast | August 1 |
The second and fourth books of the Maccabees recount the martyrdom of seven Jewish brothers, their mother and their teacher. Although these are not said to be of the Maccabee family, they are referred to in Christianity as the "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" or the "Holy Maccabees." According to one tradition, their individual names are Habim, Antonin, Guriah, Eleazar, Eusebon, Hadim (Halim), Marcellus, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar.[38]
The three Ethiopian books of Meqabyan (quite distinct works from the other four books of Maccabees), which are canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, also refer to the Maccabee martyrs. The first of these books states that their father was a Benjamite named Maccabeus and that three of the brothers, who are called Abya, Seela, and Fentos, were captured and martyred for leading a guerrilla war against Antiochus Epiphanes.
From before the time of the
]Theory: Jewish ancient veneration
While studying a floor mosaic discovered during the 2012-2016 campaigns at the
Hasmonean rulers
- Alexander Jannaeus
- Aristobulus I
- Aristobulus II
- Hyrcanus II
- John Gaddi
- John Hyrcanus
- Jonathan Apphus
- Judas Maccabeus
- Mattathias
- Salome Alexandra
- Simon Thassi
See also
- al-Midya, possibly the site of the mausoleum of the Maccabees
- My Glorious Brothers, novel by Howard Fast
- Jewish national movements
References
- ISBN 978-1430324966.
- ISBN 978-0415276757.
- ISBN 978-1-7252-7601-7.
The Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea from the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC until 37 BC.
- ^ Latin: Maccabaeus; Greek: Μακκαβαῖος Makkabaios; from Hebrew maqqeb et, "hammer" (Oxford English Dictionary).
- ^ See 1 Maccabees 2:4
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ ISBN 1578191092.
- ^ Exodus 15:11
- ^ "What does "Maccabee" mean? – Ask the Rabbi". Oztorah.com. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ a b c d e Tcherikover, Victor Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, New York: Atheneum, 1975
- I Maccabees, i, 15
- ^ a b c Oesterley, W.O.E., A History of Israel, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1939.
- ^ De Lange, Nicholas, Atlas of the Jewish World, Oxford: Andromeda, 1992
- ^ I Maccabees, i, 30–32
- ^ a b "Maccabean Revolt". Oxford Bibliographies.
- ^ ISBN 1-85410-530-2
- ISBN 0-688-08506-7.
- ISBN 0-671-87303-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-674-01517-7.
- ISBN 0-8386-1707-7.
Modern scholarship on the other hand considers the Maccabean revolt less as an uprising against foreign oppression than as a civil war between the orthodox and reformist parties in the Jewish camp
- ISBN 0-310-23825-0.
- ISBN 0-8028-2400-5.
- ISBN 0-310-34770-X.
- ^ Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans: Primary Readings, By Louis H. Feldman, Meyer Reinhold, Fortress Press, 1996, p. 147
- ^ I Macccabees. 1:57
- .
- ^ "1 Maccabees 1:60–61 (New Revised Standard w/ Apocrypha)". biblestudytools.com.
- ^ I Maccabees, 1, 41–50
- ^ "Jewish Virtual Library". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ "Talmud, Tractate Shabbat". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ Cohen, Shaye J.D., From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Second Edition. Westminster John Knox Press, 2006)
- ^ Jews in the Mediterranean diaspora: from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE – 117 CE) John M Barclay University of California press pg 247
- ^ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, xlv.12. Archived 2017-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Josephus' Jewish War 1.14.4: Mark Antony " …then resolved to get him made king of the Jews… told them that it was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king; so they all gave their votes for it. And when the senate was separated, Antony and Caesar went out, with Herod between them; while the consul and the rest of the magistrates went before them, in order to offer sacrifices [to the Roman gods], and to lay the decree in the Capitol. Antony also made a feast for Herod on the first day of his reign;"
- ISBN 9781597521185.
E. AN ALEXANDRIAN CANON? Some assert that the Greek translation of the Old Testament (called the Septuagint or LXX) offers evidence that the canon of diaspora Judaism
- ^ Stergiou, R. (1997), "The Old Testament in the Orthodox Church"., accessed 10 December 2020
- ^ Dolanksy, Shawna (23 December 2011). "The Truth(s) About Hanukkah". Huffington Post.
- ^ "The Seven Holy Maccabean Martyrs". Holytrinityorthodox.com. 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vatican, 1969), p. 132
- ^ a b c d e Braginskaya, Nina V. (19 December 2017). "Нина Брагинская о загадочной мозаике из библейской деревни" [Nina Braginskaya about the mysterious mosaic from the biblical village] (in Russian). Moscow: Higher School of Economics (HSE), Institute of Classical Orient and Antiquity. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
Further reading
- Bickerman, Elias J. 1979. The God of the Maccabees: Studies on the Meaning and Origin of the Maccabean Revolt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
- Cohen, Shaye J. D. 1987. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Philadelphia: Westminster.
- Grabbe, Lester L. 2010. An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus. London: T & T Clark.
- Harrington, Daniel J. 1988. The Maccabean Revolt: Anatomy of a Biblical Revolution. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier.
- Johnson, Sara Raup. 2004. Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity: Third Maccabees In Its Cultural Context. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Stewart, Tyler A. (18 April 2017). "Jewish Paideia: Greek Education in the Letter of Aristeas and 2 Maccabees". Journal for the Study of Judaism. 48 (2): 182–202. JSTOR 26551205.
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Maccabees, The
- Meistermann, Barnabas (1910). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. .
- Fairweather, William (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). pp. 197–198. .