1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees is the closest thing we have to a straight history of the Jewish revolt against the Greek kings of Syria in the second century BC. It covers about forty years, from roughly 175 to 134 BC.

It opens with Alexander the Great, then moves quickly to Antiochus IV, who stripped the temple in Jerusalem, outlawed the Sabbath and circumcision, and set up a pagan altar on the altar of God. The book calls that altar the abomination of desolation, borrowing the phrase from Daniel.

Resistance begins with an old priest named Mattathias in the village of Modein, who refuses to sacrifice and flees to the hills with his sons. His son Judas, called Maccabeus, takes command and wins battle after battle against much larger armies. In 164 BC he retakes the temple mount, cleanses the sanctuary, and rededicates the altar with an eight-day festival that the book says should be kept every year. That festival is Hanukkah, and John 10:22 places Jesus in the temple at that feast in winter, walking in the shadow of this book.

After Judas falls in battle the story continues through his brothers Jonathan and Simon, who combine soldiering with diplomacy until Judea is effectively independent. Simon is assassinated at a banquet in the last chapter and his son John Hyrcanus takes over.

The style is restrained and deliberately old-fashioned, written to sound like Samuel and Kings. It was almost certainly composed in Hebrew around 100 BC, close to the events, though only the Greek translation survives. It is sympathetic to the family it describes, and never records a miracle. God is barely named directly, usually appearing behind words like heaven.