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Introductory Notes and Comments
The First and Second Books of the Maccabees are accounts of the same events written by two different authors. They are recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox Churches.
[Edited from the Wikipedia article]
The Book of the Maccabees (Sefer Hamakabim) is a history of the Maccabees, the leaders of the Jewish rebellion against the Seleucid dynasty.
History
The Book of the Maccabees refers to a series of deuterocanonical books contained in various canons of the Bible, only four of which are found on this website. the reason that the Maccabbees books are not in the Hebrew canon (the Tanakh) is simply that the sages who developed that canon decided to exclude anything written after the time of Ezra 480–440 BCE. According to Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, the twenty-four book canon of the Hebrew Bible was fixed by Ezra and the scribes in the Second Temple period. According to the Talmud, much of the Tanakh was compiled by the men of the Great Assembly (Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah), a task completed in 450 BCE, and it has remained unchanged ever since. The Maccabean Revolt occurred after the Hebrew canon was set. First, Second, and Third Maccabees were included in the Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the Tanakh compiled in the third century BCE.
• 1 Maccabees, originally written in Hebrew and surviving in a Greek translation, relates the history of the Maccabees from 175 BCE until 134 BCE.
• 2 Maccabees, a Greek abridgment of an earlier history in Hebrew, relates the history of the Maccabees down to 161 BCE, focusing on Judas Maccabaeus, discussing praying for the dead, and offerings.
• 3 Maccabees, a Greek book relating to a 3rd-century BCE persecution of the Jews of Egypt.
• 4 Maccabees, a philosophic discourse praising the supremacy of reason over passion, using the Maccabean martyrs as examples.
• 5 Maccabees, an Arab language history from 186 BCE to 6 BCE. The same title is used for a Syriac version of 6th book of Josephus’ Jewish War.
• 6 Maccabees, a Syriac poem that possibly shared a lost source with 4 Maccabees.
• 7 Maccabees, a Syriac work focusing on the speeches of the Maccabean Martyrs and their mother
• 8 Maccabees, a brief account of the revolt drawing on Seleucid sources, preserved in the Chronicle of John Malalas (pp. 206–207 in Dindorf).
First vs Second books of Maccabees
The books of the First and Second Maccabees dffer different accounts. The authors display notably different beliefs. The narratives do not match. Differences include the description of martyrdom. In First Maccabees, the author does not mention the value of martyrdom. The author insinuates that martyrdom was useless. In First Maccabees, pious Jews’ martyrdom does not stimulate God to act in the Maccabean revolt. Pious Jews, in the author’s eyes, had to obey the Hasmoneans, whom he believed were favored by God. Religious devotion was not sufficient to emancipate the Jews. In contrast, Jason of Cyrene, the author of the Second Book of Maccabees, believed that martyrs were heroes and had power.
Jason depicts Onias III and other martyrs alongside Judas Maccabaeus as champions; earning divine favor as a result. He bitterly denies that Pietist martyrs were less favored to the Hasmoneans by God. The tone of each record is in contrast. The author of First Maccabees presents an objective and sober account, taking influence from the recorders of the Tanakh. Second Maccabees is notably subjective and emotional. For instance, Jason of Cyrene has an emotional outburst in his narrative, where he powerfully supports the belief in resurrection, which is denied in First Maccabees. He continues, providing proof that Judas held the same belief. These two books are unlike in composition. First Maccabees begins with the rise and legitimacy of the Hasmonean dynasty, originating with a narrative of the Jewish priest Mattathias, a forefather to the Maccabean revolt. Second Maccabees begins with two letters, Epistle I and Epistle II. These letters are insubstantial aspects in relation to the narrative.
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