1 Maccabees

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'''First Maccabees''' or '''1 Maccabees''' is most famous as the source of the [[Jewish holidays|Jewish holiday]] of Hanukkah. Despite this, the book is not included as canon in the [[Tanakh]]. It is a deuterocanonical work in [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox]] tradition, and [[Apocrypha| apocryphal]] in [[Protestant]] tradition.
Unlike most of the [[Books of the Maccabees]], 1 Maccabees was written in [[Hebrew]] and translated into [[Fun:Greek| Greek]] as part of the [[Septuagint]]. The Hebrew version, lost for many years, was rediscovered in 1886.<ref>[http://nazarenespace.com/profiles/blogs/the-lost-hebrew-text-of-1st-maccabees-found The lost Hebrew text of 1st Maccabees found!]</ref>

Christian authorities did not give the book of 1 Maccabees full [[canon]]ical status, probably not because of objectionable content, but because - from the perspective of the compilers of the Bible - it was "too recent" or because the available text was written in Greek (rather than in [[Hebrew]] or in Aramaic).<ref>
[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/omitting-the-maccabees/ Why the Maccabees Aren't in the Bible].
</ref>
Also, the Maccabees founded the Hasmonean dynasty of rulers, which the unpopular king [[Herod]] married into,<ref>Adam Kolman Marshak, ''The Many Faces of Herod the Great''. William. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2015. {{isbn|9780802866059}}.{{quotebox|Herod could not secure the high priesthood for himself, but if he was to become a legitimate king it would have to be as a Hasmonean or at least as the legitimate successor of the Hasmoneans. To achieve such status, Herod used both his marriage and the children he produced from it to further insinuate himself into the ruling family and to bind his family closer to it.}}</ref>{{rp|111}} so political PR could have had something to do with it too. Protestants may have disliked some of the "proof texts" used by Catholics taken from the work.
==Summary==
The Maccabees headed up the [[Jewish]] rebellion against the Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes.

After Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, four of his generals divided his [[empire]] into sub-kingdoms for themselves. The area containing the modern state of [[Israel]] first came under the control of Ptolemaic Egypt, then - in 198 BCE — under the Antioch-based {{wpl|Seleucid dynasty||.}} in 198 BCE. King Antiochus IV (reigned 175 to 164 BCE, and self-styled ''Epiphanes'', which means something like "the glorious manifestation of god") wanted to Hellenize the [[Jew]]s. He prohibited [[circumcision]], placed idols representing Greek gods in the {{wpl|Second Temple}} in [[Jerusalem]], and banned the study of the [[Torah]].

A rebellion started, initially led by the priest Mattathias, and later by his sons, especially Judah, who became known as {{wpl|Judas Maccabeus}} — possibly meaning "Judah the Hammer". After a seven-year guerrilla struggle, the rebels, known to history as the "Maccabees", finally prevailed and purged the Temple of the idols. When they arrived at the Temple, they found that there was enough [[holy]] [[oil]] to provide light for one day, and replacements would not arrive for more than a week. According to tradition, [[God]] made the oil for one day last for eight days, hence the length of the holiday of [[Jewish holidays#Hanukkah |Hanukkah]] (the Festival of Lights).

==References==
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[[Category:Judaism]]
[[Category:Deuterocanon]]
[[Category:Apocrypha]]

Categories: Judaism, Deuterocanon, Apocrypha