Maccabean Revolt- 1 Maccabees 1-16

Notes

• Persecution & Revolt

The relatively benevolent Persian Empire was struck down in 331 B.C. by the Greeks under Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great.

The Holy Land came under the control of a series of increasingly hostile foreign kings. The history of this period, which closes out the Old Testament period and takes us to about 100 years before Christ, is told in the two books of Maccabees.

Maccabees, like the other books in the Bible, aim to give a religious interpretation of the history of the period.

The message is a familiar one - how God uses foreign kings to mete out punishment upon Israel for violating the Law, and how Israel is saved by returning to the covenant faith of its fathers (see 2 Maccabees 6:12; 7:32-38; 1 Maccabees 2:20,27,50; 4:10).

Summary

• Persecution & Revolt

Questions

1. What was the desolating sacrilege?
2. What happened to the Israelites who remained true to the Lord?
3. Who was Mattathias and how many sons did he have? Name them.
4. In 1 Maccabees 2, compare how the two groups of Israelites reacted to the same set of circumstances?
5. Which way was the right way to respond?
6. What were the motives behind the Maccabean wars?
7. What gave Judas Maccabeus his victories?
8. What did Judas Maccabeus do after the Israelites' enemies were once more defeated?
9. Who succeeded Judas Maccabeus as leader against the Greeks? 
10. With what ruling power did Israel make its final alliance?

Bibliography
Maccabees