Maccabees

Where They Appear

The Books of Maccabees are not included in the New Korean Revised Version, a Protestant Bible. Catholic Bibles include them as 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. Editions of the Korean Common Translation that include the Apocrypha contain them under the titles 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The Orthodox Church also accepts 3 Maccabees and in some cases prints 4 Maccabees as an appendix. Although 3 and 4 Maccabees share the name, they are separate works with different content.

Contents

• 1 Maccabees: The book opens during the Intertestamental Period, when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV prohibited Jewish observance of the Law and defiled the Jerusalem Temple (around 167 BC). It recounts the revolt led in response by the priest Mattathias and his sons. It goes on to tell how his son Judas Maccabeus recovered and rededicated the Temple (1 Maccabees 4:52–59) and describes the activities of his brothers Jonathan and Simon.
• 2 Maccabees: The book describes itself as an abridgment of a five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene (2 Maccabees 2:23). It retells the story of the persecution and the restoration of the Temple. Its best-known passages are the martyrdoms of the aged Eleazar, who died rather than break the Law, and of seven brothers and their mother (2 Maccabees 6–7).

Background

The name "Maccabee" derives from Judas's nickname. A widely held theory traces it to a Hebrew or Aramaic word meaning "hammer," but this is uncertain. 1 Maccabees is thought to have been written originally in Hebrew, but the original text has not survived; the book has come down to us in the Greek Septuagint. 2 Maccabees was written in Greek from the outset.

Significance in the Wider Biblical Context

The rededication of the Temple recounted in 1 Maccabees is the origin of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which is the Feast of Dedication mentioned in John 10:22. Many interpreters hold that Hebrews 11:35, "others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection," alludes to the martyrdom accounts in 2 Maccabees. "The abomination that maketh desolate" in Daniel 11:31 is also frequently read in connection with Antiochus's desecration of the Temple.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• Catholic Church: The Council of Trent (1546) reaffirmed 1 and 2 Maccabees as canonical. The Catholic Church cites the atoning sacrifice offered for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12:43–46 as one of the grounds for prayer for the dead and for the doctrine of purgatory.
• Protestantism: Because these books are not part of the Hebrew Old Testament, Protestants do not regard them as canonical. Martin Luther presented the Apocrypha as books that are not equal to Holy Scripture but are profitable to read. The Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter 1, section 3) states that the Apocrypha, not being divinely inspired, have no authority in the church. For this reason, Protestants do not accept the doctrinal grounds mentioned above.
• Anglicanism: The Thirty-Nine Articles state that the Apocrypha are to be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but are not to be applied to establish any doctrine.

In the Korean Church

In Korean Protestantism, the books are mainly introduced when explaining the history of the Intertestamental Period or the background of the Feast of Dedication.