Books of the Maccabees

Interestingly, it is far easier than we think.

And based on the things I'm gonna share with you today, you will understand why something like the Book of Maccabees is actually not scripture.

Have you heard of the Lost Books of Noah? And my father had it, and I read it.

I mean, the Lost Books of Noah and all of the rest.

Yes.

Another example, Maccabees.

The book of Maccabees.

Maccabees by himself wrote there.

And so Israel will change hands between the two big empires several times.

It is during this time when the Book of Maccabees takes place.

So let's switch gears and let's talk about the books of the Apocrypha.

Who wrote those?

And he defiles the temple.

Now, almost certainly what that means is he put up a statue of Zeus in the temple.

The book of Maccabees also describes an abomination, like a horrible abomination, which is probably that statue.

But some people have taken it to mean that Antiochus sacrificed a pig.

Yeah, some books that were around, actually the Christians put in their version of the Old Testament, but Jews did not.

Like the book of Maccabees, for example.

I believe that's in the Christian version of the Old Testament, but it's not canonized in our Old Testament.

Officially? Officially?

The book of Maccabees is not in what is normally known as the Christian Bible.

The book of Maccabees isn't in it.

There are some Bibles that have the Apocrypha, and Maccabees is in that.

Oh, so it's

Does anybody know where it went? Of course not.

It's in the Book of Maccabees, 2 Maccabees.

This is why Protestants don't know where the Ark went, because it's in the Catholic Old Testament.

And that's also why Catholics don't know where the Ark went, because it's in the Catholic Old Testament.

But I don't know if they did something specifically to, um, that would, that would, uh, go against God.

But if, if you have a Protestant Bible, you will not have the Book of Maccabees, but other Bibles have the Book of Maccabees.

And I think it's important, even if it isn't the ins- if it was determined that it wasn't the inspired word of God, it's still a, um, historical kind of a book that gives us some information, and I think it's important to kind of, to know what's in it.

So a quick summary of the Book of Maccabees.

The Maccabees were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who led a successful revolt in the second century BC against the Seleucid Empire or the Syrian Greeks.

They were led by the priest Mattathias and his son Judah, the Hammer or Maccabee.

And I think there are women who would do that too.

I think particularly of the mother of the seven sons in the Book of Maccabees, right? Where they're murdering her sons, and she's like-

Encouraging them-

... "Keep going, sons"

So let's see if we can get there.

Okay, so now today we're gonna talk about that apocrypha book that is, you know, not supposed to be read among Protestants, according to some Protestants, and that is, of course, the Book of Maccabees.

Now, I recently heard a fellow who was doing a video, and about, I would say probably two-thirds of his video came from teachings that I have done in previous videos.

[laughs] And I say, "Okay, more power to him," right? More power to him, and let him do what he needs to do.

Well, for the Romans, I guess this bacon was a big deal because when Antiochus came back into rule the Seleucid Empire, he was demanding that pigs be slaughtered on the altar in the temples of Jupiter so that you could eat pork.

And so one of the big transitions and one of the big things that was important to him was to cause the people of the Seleucid Empire to begin to eat pork.

Now, this is detailed in the book of Maccabees.

I'm not making this stuff up.

About two hundred BCE, the Bible, the Jewish Bible, was sealed, and no more books were allowed to be added to it.

Um, and that's why the Book of the Maccabees is not part of the Bible.

Uh, the Book of Judith is not part of the Bible.

It happened later.

Okay, 2,400 years ago, that's when the Jews rebuilt the second temple.

That's when no more books were added to the written law.

So any books which came after that, like the book of the Maccabees, as I mentioned, were not included in the written law.

Now we come to the oral law.