...2 Maccabees is a deuterocanonical book of the Bible which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. Read full entry
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- 1.2 Maccabees - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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I_Maccabees
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- 2 Maccabees on Early Jewish Writings: a comprehensive sourcebook for ancient ... from Jason's work, the original from which the epitome of II Maccabees was made ...
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How can II Maccabees 6:13 be "For it is a token of his
great goodness, when wicked
doers
are not suffered any long
time, but forthwith punished."
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If a wicked doer's life is cut
short and goes to Hell, how is
that great goodness ?
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I don't know how authoritative one should take the book of Maccabees, but the interpretation should be simple. The reason a persons life is sometimes cut short is because of their wickedness. In an act of compassion, so that the person is not tried even more harshly, the life is cut, so that they have no more chance to sin. Judaism does not believe in hell. We believe in what is considered a purification process for the soul. The person dies, the soul descends, and G-d in his mercy, submits it to what may seem like hell, but in reality, it's just a way to clean the soul. |
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Explanation of Maccabees II?
Hello! History is not my
strong point. I have read
Maccabees II but don't
completely understand it. If
someone can please explain it
a little better for me to
understand what is occurring
that would be great!
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Explanation of Maccabees II? --Unlike I Maccabees, the book known as II Maccabees was written in Greek. For the history of the war it is of less value than I Maccabees, though some recent writers (in particular Niese) have maintained the opposite opinion. It adds, however, important particulars regarding the events that led up to the Maccabean revolt. Besides this, II Maccabees, written quite independently of I Maccabees, is a strong support of the general truth of the familiar story of the revolt, though II Maccabees is embellished with angelical and miraculous ornament foreign to the first book. Its style is rhetorical, its purpose didactic. It emanated from Alexandria and was addressed to the Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora. It was designed to impress on them the unity of Judaism, the importance of Jerusalem as the center of religious life, and the duty of observing the two feasts of Ḥanukkah and Nicanor's Day (nullsee Nicanor). That the book has a Pharisaic color is undoubted, but not in the sense of being a partizan pamphlet in reply to I Maccabees, which, indeed, the author of II Maccabees most probably did not know. Moreover, II Maccabees takes no account of Mattathias, nor, indeed, of any of the band of heroes except Judas; and this is not easily forced into evidence of Pharisaic partizanship. On the other hand, in II Macc. xiv. 6 Judas is represented as the leader of the Hasidtæans, who have many points in common with the Pharisees, and from whom the Hasmoneans were soon alienated. Of specifically non-Sadducean doctrines, II Maccabees has a very clear expression of belief in the resurrection. Death is a 'short pain that bringeth everlasting life' (II Macc. vii. 36; comp. other passages in the same chapter and xiv. 46). Judas is represented (II Macc. xii. 43 et seq.) as making offerings for the dead because 'he took thought of the resurrection.' The reference to such offerings is, however, without parallel in Jewish literature, and nothing is otherwise known of such offerings being made at the Temple in Jerusalem (see Israel Lévi, 'La Commemoration des Ames dans le Judaïsime,' in 'R. E. J.' xxix. 48). The book is usually held to belong to the latter part of the first century B.C.; Jason (of whose work it purports to be an epitome) wrote at least a century earlier. Niese places II Maccabees at the date 125-124 B.C., thus regarding it as older than, as well as superior to, I Maccabees. In this preference of the second to the first book, Niese stands practically alone, but he has done great service in vindicating the importance and value of the former (comp. also Sluys, 'De Maccabæorum Libris I et II Quæstiones,' Amsterdam, 1904). It remains to add that the authenticity of the letters prefixed to II Maccabees has been fiercely assailed. Yet it is coming to be recognized that the letters have a clear bearing on the design of the book, as explained above, and it is quite conceivable, though very improbable, that they were part of the original work of Jason. On these letters see, besides earlier literature, Herkenne, 'Die Briefe zu Beginn des Zweiten Makkabäerbuchs,' Freiburg, 1904. One point remains. The martyrdoms described in II Maccabees, especially of the mother and her seven sons, have given the book undying value as an inspiration and encouragement to the faithful of all ages and creeds. As will be seen below (in connection with IV Maccabees), this feature of the Maccabean heroism made a special appeal to the Christianity of the first four centuries. 'The figure of the martyr, as the Church knows it, dates from the persecution of Antiochus; all subsequent martyrologies derive from the Jewish books which recorded the sufferings of those who in that day were strong and did exploits' (E. Bevan, 'House of Seleucus,' 1902, ii. 175). |
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