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The book tells the story of the conquest of Palestine by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the attempt by the Greeks to impose Greek culture on the Jews, and the Jewish revolt against that domination. The name "Maccabee" probably means "hammer" and is properly applied only to the first leader of the revolt, Judas, third son of the priest Mattathias. The name has come to be used for his brothers as well, which accounts for the title of the book. The doctrine expressed in the book reflects traditional Jewish teaching, without any of the new doctrines found, for example, in 2 Maccabees.
The book covers the whole of the revolt, from 175 to 134 BC and highlights that the salvation of the Jewish people in this crisis came from God through Matthatias' family, particularly his sons Judas, Jonathan and Simon, and his grandson John HyrcanusJohn Hyrcanus Yohanan Girhan (reigned 134 BC 104 BC, died 104 BC) was a Hasmonean ( Maccabeean) leader of the 2nd century BC. Apparently the name "Hyrcanus" was taken by him as a reignal name upon his accession to power. He was the son of Simon Macabee an.
In the first chapter, Alexander conquers the territory of Palestine, only to be eventually succeeded by the Seleucid Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrates the TempleThe Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 515 BC and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Jewish worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot''. The first Temple was destroyed when the Jews by setting up a "horrible abomination". Scholars infer that in the original Hebrew, the term used for "horrible abomination" would have sounded similar to "Lord of heaven", so that this term would refer to an image or altar of ZeusZeus Kronios (descendant of Cronus), or simply Zeus or Zdeus ( Greek ) or Dias (Greek ) ("divine king") is the leader of the gods and god of the sky and thunder in Greek mythology. Etymology Zeus is the continuation of Dyeus, the supreme god in Indo-Europ. Further, Antiochus introduced Hellenistic practices such as gymnasiumGymnasium can have following meanings: Gymnasium (ancient Greece)—an educational and sporting institution in Ancient Greece Gymnasium—a school of secondary education found in several European countries (approx. equal to high school ( USA), secondary schoos into Jerusalem, thus causing many of the young to fall away from their faith.
Mattathias calls the people forth to holy war against the invaders, and his three sons begin a military campaign against them. After one complete loss because the defenders refused to fight on the SabbathThis article concerns the Sabbath in Christianity. For the Sabbath in Judaism, see Shabbat. For other uses see Sabbath (disambiguation In both Judaism and Christianity, the Sabbath ( Hebrew " Shabbat") is a religious day of rest that usually occurs on the, when Antiochus attacked, Judas reasons that they must fight when attacked. In 165 BCCenturies: 3rd century BC 2nd century BC 1st century BC Decades: 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 170 BC 169 BC 168 BC 167 BC 166 BC 165 BC 164 BC 163 BC 162 BC 161 BC 160 BC Events December Ju the Temple is freed and reconsecrated, so that ritual sacrifices may begin again. Judas seeks an alliance with the Roman Republic to remove the Greeks. He is "succeeded" by his brother Jonathan, who becomes high priest and also seeks alliance with Rome and Sparta. Simon follows them, receiving the double office of high priest and prince of Israel. (Simon and his successors form the Hasmonean dynasty, which is not always considered a valid kingship by the Jews, since they were not of the lineage of David.) He leads the people in peace and prosperity, until he is murdered by agents of Ptolemy, who had been named governor of the region by the Greeks. He is succeeded by his son, John Hyrcanus.