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About The Books of Maccabees: Containing the Books of 1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees (Unabridged)

1 Maccabees - The book presents the Jewish leaders Judas, Jonathan, and Simon as devout people and has little sympathy for people who favor Hellenization, but nowhere does the text mentions divine intervention. Chapter one to two: The Hellenization of Judah and the non-violent resistance by Mattathias is covered; Chapter three to nine: Tells of the Military actions by Judas the Maccabaean ("battle hammer:): after 166 where the temple is purified; Chapter nine to 12: recounts the continued warfare led by Judas' brother Jonathan (160-143), who, benefiting from wars of succession in the Seleucid Empire, restores the fortunes of the Jewish nationalists and adds to their territories; Chapter 13-16: The third brother, Simon, achieves political independence and founds the Hasmonaean dynasty. 2 Maccabees - The book has a much greater interest in theology than first Maccabees. Second Maccabees is not as well written and has a less polished form. The pagans are defined as "blasphemous and barbarous nations", but there are also severe censures of apostate Jews. We find a theological features in second Maccabees such as the resurrection of the body in 7.11; 14.46. This stand in stark contrast first to Wisdom and Philo, both of which teach the immortality of the soul. We have concepts of eternal life and death and in 12.43 the intercession of the living for the dead, an element on which the Catholic church bases the belief in purgatory and prayers for the dead. 3 Maccabees - The book is a misnomer because the book has nothing to do with the Maccabees, who are never mentioned in it. The book is a story about a situation in which the Jewish people, this time in Egypt, were in danger of being annihilated by a Hellenistic monarch, who was attempting to top their religious convictions and practices. 4 Maccabees - The book belongs to the Maccabees series only because it deals with the beginning of the persecution of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.