According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the early victories of Judah Maccabee were not in open battle, but rather in surprise night raids against villages and border towns in order to destroy the pagan altars and drive out the Seleucids and their sympathizers. He pushed Hellenistic culture and pagan worship on his subjects. Jonathan, and later Simeon [Maccabee], were recognized by the Seleucids as high priests and even as governors. Judah, because of his ferocity, zeal and heroism in battle, earns the nickname Maccabaeus (Maccabee) or "hammer.". It is important to note that the ancient rabbis both approved of the miracle of Khanuka, for obvious reasons, and disapproved of its consequences. Maccabean Revolt - Wikipedia Joined by a ragtag army of others like them, simple farmers dedicated to the laws of Moses, armed only with spears, bows and arrows, and rocks from the terrain, the Maccabees, as Mattathias' sons, particularly Judah, came to be known, fought a guerrilla war against the well-trained, well-equipped, seemingly endless forces of the mercenary Syrian army. The Acra was still in enemy hands, and Jonathan sought to wall it off from the city. [9] In the 1930s the Maccabees began absorbing some smaller fraternal benefit societies, including the Brotherhood of America in 1935, the Slavic Progressive Beneficial Union in 1937 and the Michigan Union Life Association in 1941. One final collection of Maccabean stories are collected in the biblical canon of Ethiopian Jews and Christians. There are, of course, other reasons too why ancient Jews may have rejected these books: Perhaps the books (and the holiday) were perceived to be too recent. Prophecy: Jer. It will take Herod three years, however, to conquer Judea and Jerusalem. Knights of the Maccabees was a fraternal organization formed in 1878 in London, Ontario, Canada. Who are the Maccabees? Additionally, a lot of rabbis simply didn't care for the Hasmonean dynasty established by Judah and his brothers. This dynasty would last for just over 100 years before being overtaken by the Herodian dynasty, which ended the independent Judea by making it a client state of the Roman Empire. Antiochus, king of the Selecuids, soon after his Hellenizing campaign begins, outlaws Jewish religious practices. First, once we get the fuller story, we can appreciate why ancient Jews shied away from reciting these books or even otherwise elaborating on the details of the revolt when celebrating Hanukkah. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. . Degree of Protection - In the Degree of Protection, the candidate was introduced to the demands of Honor, Courage, and Obedience. As My Jewish Learning explains, the story of the miracle of the oil, so central to the modern celebration of Hanukkah with its 9-branched menorah and abundance of oily fried foods, didn't arise until centuries after the institution of the celebration. The Maccabees were not of a high priestly family. -??? He saw himself as a charismatic, divinely appointed leader, like Gideon of old. This is how we have the Apocrypha. This marked the first step toward the eventual takeover by Rome. Each of these books holds interest for Christians, but each holds interest for Jewish readers as well. Just as Israel reacted to Arab aggression, the Maccabees reacted to Antiochus's religious oppression. Jonathan more than sustained the dignity of Judas. This story tells that when the temple was recaptured from Antiochus IV after the Hasmonean victory, it was to be rededicated to the worship of God. When Antiochus Epiphanes died in 164 bce, others administered the kingdom because his son, Antiochus Eupator, was still a minor. According to 1 Maccabees, there were some early groups of Jewish rebels who refused to fight on the Sabbath, and perished accordingly (1 Maccabees 2:2938) until the Maccabean patriarch Mattathias decided to change the law and permit defensive warfare on the Sabbath (2:3941). Fortunately, the most central, beloved ritual of this holidaylighting that special lamp with nine candlesis rather amenable to the COVID-19 era. Lysias, the Syrian general, was now the real power. The Greeks were an empire, a world power; the Jews were a band of upstarts. Worst of all, however, Antiochus desecrated the holy Jewish temple in Jerusalem by placing a statue of Zeus on the altar and sacrificing a pigthe prototypical unclean animalthere before despoiling it of all its sacred vessels, gold and silver, and the seven-branched golden menorah that was the symbol of the temple. Around 168 the Jews are ordered to substitute their religious observances with pagan rituals. The answer might depend on who you are. The mother was forced to watch each of her seven sons die one by one in front of her, which she suffered stoically and without giving in to the demands of the Gentiles. He will be the last of a line of Maccabees to serve as both a ruler and High Priest. The Talmud has a bit more to sayincluding the famous story of the small, miraculous cruse of oil that lasted a full eight days. In some instances, the books are separated out from both the Old Testament and the New Testament into an appendixthe Apocrypha. you can also find out more about them in the bible: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=4219672, Your email address will not be published. Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. He would pause in his guerrilla tactics to assemble his men to watch and pray and to read the Torah (the divinely revealed Law of Moses) together. These days its not that hard to come by stand-alone editions of the Apocrypha. Who Were the Maccabees? - Christian Publishing House Blog More than Hanukkah heroes, the Maccabees were a family of Jewish priests who overthrew Seleucid rule and established an independent Jewish dynasty in the Holy Land during the second and first centuries BCE. The Seleucids, one of the four spawning empires, took over the portion in which Israel resided as a part of their Hellenistic empire. FOR many, the period of the Maccabees is like a black box hidden between the completion of the last books of the Hebrew Scriptures and the coming of Jesus Christ. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Jonathan switched up tactics from the way his brother had done things, gaining great success by making clever alliances and bargains with his enemy's enemies. When King Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple and forbade circumcision and Sabbath observance, the . By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. (1 Macc 2:1-3). However, certain factions of Hellenized Jews rankled under the leadership of Judah and sought sympathy from the next Seleucid king, Demetrius I. The finds discovered at the site of Umm el-'Umdan in modern Modi'in are described in "Modi'in: Hometown of the Maccabees" by Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah and Alexander Onn in the March/April 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Monumental Tombs from Maussollos to the Maccabees: Heroes of Hanukkah Open Era of Jewish Display Tombs. Jonathan was succeeded as leader by his older brother Simon Thassi, who finally managed to capture the Seleucid citadel in Jerusalem, thereby ridding Judea of the last bits of foreign control (though at the expense of increased Hellenization through foreign alliances with Rome and Sparta), establishing an independent Judea for the first time in 500 years. [] #1. http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/modiin-whe… []. Maccabees - Wikipedia For the church fathers, the Maccabees became significant as a paradigm for Christian martyrdom. Mattathias, the man who is creditted with starting the Maccabean revolt, can trace his lineage back to Aaron's grandson Phinehas (1 Maccabees). (1 Chronicles 24:7) On his own initiative Simon brought peace and security to Jerusalem. While we will never know for sure why Jews excluded these books and why Christians preserved them, the good news is that we have these books today. Modiin is famous as the hometown of the Maccabees. The word "Maccabee" is traditionally understood to mean "hammer," which the Jewish Virtual Library explains refers to the hammer-like blows he dealt their enemies. It is at this low point in the forced Hellenization of the Jewsaccording to 1 Maccabees 1:11-15, some Jews even reversed their circumcisions in order to appear more Greekthat a family of heroes rises to the stage. Judas, as the new military commander of the revolt, immediately employs his military genius. Had ancient Jews wanted to recite a story of Hanukkah during the festival, perhaps one or another of these booksor some othermight have made it into the canon. a Jewish priest named Mattathias, along with his five sons, begins a revolt against the Seleucid Empire and its king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The brothers are tortured, burned in a fire pit, and go to Heaven. Tearing his clothes in mourning at the sight of this holy place in ruins, Judah sent men to fight the Greek forces at the citadel of Jerusalem while he and some priests purified the temple. So according to this source, Hanukkah began as a belated celebration of the fall festival of booths (Sukkot). He falls fatally ill from the news of this loss and dies fully believing his death is divine justice for his mistreatment of the Jews. The story of Hanukkah is a complex one, involving internal Judean conflict that eventually resulted in Antiochus IV forbidding many Jewish religious practices and taking over the Jerusalem temple, desecrating it. Why is it that a Jewish tradition that thrives on reciting stories stops short of retelling this one? Why did he crack down on Jerusalems Temple? More than Hanukkah heroes, the Maccabees were a family of Jewish priests who overthrew Seleucid rule and established an independent Jewish dynasty in the Holy Land during the second and first centuries BCE. Books of Maccabees - Encyclopedia of The Bible - Bible Gateway At the Supreme Tent in July 1881 the Michigan delegates obtained an amendment to allow individual Great Camps to establish their own beneficiary programs, anticipating that the national organization would become defunct.
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who were the maccabees