The First Bool of Maccabees begins: “After Alexander, son of Philip the Macedonian, came from the land of Kittim and defeated Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king.” The Alexander referred to is the one known in history as Alexander the Great. These Books of Maccabees tell us of the struggle of the Israelites to preserve their culture and religion after being brought into the mighty empire of Alexander and his successors.

  The events we read about in the Books of the Maccabees are part of world history when Greece was the leading nation of the world. Greek influence was both political and cultural. The political influence was comparatively short-lived; the cultural has continued in varying degrees to our own times.

  In all, there are four Books of the Maccabees. The Jews have never accepted any of them as sacred and part of their inspired writings. Protestants, also, do not consider them as inspired, although they accord these books – at least the first two – a special place and esteem. The Catholic Church places the first two books in her canon of the Scriptures. The tradition of using these books as inspired is an ancient one going back as far as St. Clement of Alexandria (215 A.D.).

  The books owe their name to Judas Maccabeus, the third son of the priest Mattathias who in 167 B.C began the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid dynasty which came to power in Asia Minor including Palestine after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. At the time of the revolt, Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled the kingdom of the Seleucids.

  The First Book of Maccabees covers forty years from 175 B.C, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his brother Seleucus IV, to the year 134 B.C. when Simon, the brother of Judas Maccabeus was killed. The book was written in Hebrew but it has come down to us only in a Greek translation. The name of the author is unknown. A Palestinian Jew, he wrote after the year 134 but before the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey in 65 B.C. Otherwise, those words of praise of the Romans in Chapter 8 would not have been written. The book is invaluable as a history of the times if due allowance is made for the type of literature it represents.

  The kingdom of Antiochus IV Epiphanes was far-flung, diverse in ethnic and linguistic groupings, politically unstable. He decided to strengthen it by imposing under pain of death the cult of a Zeus  Olympios but also called Baal or Hadad. The province of Judah was especially troublesome because, there, religion and the striving for national independence were inseparable. On December 7, 167 B.C, an altar to Zeus was erected in the Temple in Jerusalem to replace the Holy of Holies. Worship of Zeus came to a climax each month on the twenty-fifth day with a celebration of the divinized king’s birthday.

    Some Jews gladly accepted the king’s decree. Others obeyed reluctantly. Many Jews chose death. A resistance movement sprang up under the leadership of the priest Mattathias. Its objective was to remove the sacrilegious altars, force observance of the Law, and strike down the apostates. The struggle soon assumed the proportions of an independent movement as the religious aspect merged with the political.

  Despite the space devoted to battles and political intrigue, the author of First Maccabees means to write a religious history: the nation is being punished for sin, the success of the resistance movement is due to God’s help. The author’s profound reverence for God is reflected in his never using the name of God in his writing. The closest he comes is the word Heaven.

  The Second Book of Maccabees is not a continuation of the first. It covers only about fifteen years, corresponding to the first seven chapters of the First Book. It begins a little earlier in history and ends with the defeat of Nicanor by Judas Maccabeus. The author is different. Again, we do not know who he is. The book was written originally in Greek and is presented as a summary of the five books of Jason of Cyrene. T

The author is more concerned with his religious intention to edify than with providing a precise history of the years covered. To try to line up the historical dates and sequences with the account in the first book would be to miss his point. He is concerned basically with an invitation and exhortation to observe the Feast of the Purification of the Temple and the rededication of its altar. He uses the history of Judas Maccabeus and his exploits to bring about this observance. To this day, the feast is observed in the Jewish religion under the title of Hannukkah which means “dedication.”

  The contribution of the Books of the Maccabees to the biblical narrative is recognized even by those who do not accept them as inspired. Both books have been used extensively in the liturgy of the Church. They testify to a lasting faith in God’s promise, His election, and His providence concerning the chosen people. God does not leave His just ones without His aid. His help can be sought in prayer and sacrifice. He even sends His heavenly hosts to fight for His people. Whoever falls in righteous battle or in persecution as a martyr can hope to be raised up to full health. There is intercessory prayer on earth by means of which we can help our departed brethren with prayer and sacrifices.