The name given to a Jewish family which started the rebellion against Antiochus Epiphanes the Seleucid-Syrian king who was forcing his pagan Greek politics into Palestine.
The rebellion began in 168 a. AD when Mattathias, an elderly priest, killed a royal commissioner and an apostate Jew as they were about to offer a pagan holocaust. After a few months of guerrilla warfare, the old priest died and his sons, Eleazar and Juan, were killed. The three remaining sons—Judas, Jonathan, and Simon—took their turns leading the insurrection; and all left a deep mark on Jewish history.
Judas earned the name Maccabee, or “the hammerer,” and was the only member of the family granted the term in the Apocrypha.
Later, posterity used the name as a surname for all three brothers. Judas was a good soldier and patriot, with a very clear policy of Jewish independence and religious reconstruction. Having defeated several military expeditions, he formally purified the temple from Syrian contamination and celebrated the occasion with a grand festival. This festival became a permanent feature, celebrated on December 25 and lasting eight days (1Ma 4:52-59; 2Ma 10:6; Joh 10:22).
Judas was later defeated and killed at Elasa (1 Mac. 3—John 9:22).
Jonathan succeeded his brother in 161 BC. JC and the Maccabean rebellion returned to the strategy of guerrilla warfare with which it had begun. Alexander Balas, with the support of Pergamon and Egypt, had aspirations to the Syrian throne.
Both Demetrius, the governor of Syria, and Alexander tried to gain Jonathan’s support. Demetrius offered him control of all the military troops in Palestine and the governorship of Jerusalem. Alexander added the offer of the high priesthood. Jonathan decided in favor of Alexander’s offer and that is how he became the founder of the Hasmonean priesthood.
Simon, the third brother, was a very capable diplomat and continued his brother’s policy which included taking advantage of Syria’s internal problems.
In 143 and 142 a. of JC he succeeded in establishing the virtual political independence of Judea. In 141, at a great gathering of princes, priests, and elders of the nation, Simon was elected high priest, military commander, and civil governor of the Jews, “forever and ever until a faithful prophet arises.” In this way the high priesthood became hereditary in Simon’s family. His son, the much celebrated John Hyrcanus, succeeded him and held the inherited authority for 30 years before passing it on to his son Aristobolus, who assumed the royal title. The Hasmoneans continued their dynasty until AD 34 when Herod and the Romans dethroned Antigones, the last in the line of Mattathias; but, in truth, the genuine Maccabees finished with Simon in 134.
This story is told along the same general lines in two separate accounts written by authors with different emphases and abilities, in 1 and 2 Maccabees. The first book is an honest historical work, detailing without embellishment the events of the moving battle for freedom. The second covers much of the same material but focuses the narrative in the direction of religious instruction and admonition.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(hammer).
Jewish family that led the revolt against Antiochus IV, king of Syria, and achieved the victory of the Jews: The father, Mattathias, and his 5 sons: John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar and Jonathan.
Judas was the first called “Maccabee”, perhaps because of the defeats inflicted on the Syrian armies, such as powerful “hammer blows”.
The revolt began in 168 BC, when the Temple was recaptured, and sacrifices resumed. Fact that all Jews continue to celebrate as the “Feast of Dedication”, “Feast of Lights”, or “Chanukah”, which is celebrated on December 25, 1Ma 4:51-58.
The 2 Books of Maccabees are accepted by Catholics and Orthodox as part of the Bible; Protestants do not accept them.
The First is the story of the reconquest of the Jews, beginning with Alexander the Great of Greece, and in chap. 4 describes the reinstatement of the Temple and the eternal sacrifice.
Second, it is a treasure, it is the book of the “power of God”, which describes 6 apparitions of angels. The chapters, 6 and 7 are the most endearing of the Bible: The 6, the courageous death of Eleazar, for refusing to eat pork. The 7th is the martyrdom of the 7 brothers with his mother, for not offering homage to the god of the pagans.
In 12:44-46 he shows us that it is a holy and pious work to pray for the dead.
In the year 63 the Romans took power, when Pompey conquered the Israelites.
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG HIST HOMB HOAT
see, API “CRIFOS
vet, Name of a Jewish family (also called Hasmoneans, after its more or less mythical predecessor), who freed their homeland from the cruel yoke of the Syrians in the second century BC The account of their exploits is found in the historical book of 1 Maccabees, and its continuation in the most legendary account of 2 Maccabees. (See APí“CRIPHOS.) Antiochus Epiphanes IV king of Syria was truly, according to the prophecy of Dn. 8:23, “a king of haughty countenance.” Determined to exterminate Judaism definitively, he sacked the Jerusalem Temple in 167 BC, erected a statue of Olympian Zeus in the sacred precinct, and offered pigs on the altar (cf. Dn. 11:31 “the abomination bleak”). Mattathias, the first of the Maccabees, was an old retired priest in the town of Modin, who had the courage to raise the banner of rebellion. He killed a Syrian officer who wanted to impose the decrees of Antiochus, and fled with his five sons to the mountains of Judea. A national resistance movement was organized in the country, and in various places pagan altars were destroyed, and the Jewish cult was re-established. Mattathias died in 166 BC, and he entrusted his sons with the undertaking of the liberation war. Judas, called Macabeo (from the Hebrew “maqqaba”: “hammer”) took command. He achieved a series of victories all the more remarkable since the Jews had not reaped anything but defeats for three centuries. In the year 165, on the 25th of Kislev, he cleansed the Temple that had been profaned three years earlier, and re-established the daily sacrifice in Jerusalem. At the time of Christ, the Feast of Dedication was still celebrated, which remembered this event (Jn. 10:22). Judas perished in battle in 161 BC His brother Jonathan succeeded him at a time when two suitors were vying for the throne of Syria; Demetrius and Alejandro Balas. The latter tried to get the support of Jonathan, until then an outlaw, and proposed official recognition as “high priests of the people” and governor general of Judea. Thus the line of Aaron was set aside; he had discredited himself after having exercised this ministry throughout 13 centuries. Jonathan made alliances with Sparta and Rome and strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem. He was treacherously assassinated by Trypho, a Syrian general, in 142 BC, who wanted to seize the throne. Simon, the last survivor of the five sons of Mattathias, then took power. He got recognition of the independence of Judea in exchange for his alliance with Demetrius II, who still had to fight Trypho. Simon seized the citadel of Jerusalem, which the Syrians had held for 26 years. The port of Joppa came under the control of the Jews; trade developed and a prosperous stage came. The hereditary high priesthood was officially given to the Hasmonean family. Simon died tragically, assassinated by his son-in-law Ptolemy in 135 BC Simon’s son and successor was John Hyrcanus (135-105 BC). He managed to conquer Samaria, destroying the temple erected on Mount Gerizim (cf. Jn. 4:20). He also subdued Idumea, converting the inhabitants of it and imposing circumcision on them; these descendants of the Edomites became the most patriotic of the Jews (cf., however, Num. 20:14-21). John Hyrcanus stopped paying tribute to the kings of Syria, who had been losing more and more power, and began to mint coins. Because of his policy, the Pharisees (who had hitherto been called Hassidim, “pious”) withdrew their support from him, which made him lean on the Sadducees. These came above all from groups close to the high priest; they belonged to the noble class, and claimed descent from the priest Zadok. They wanted to adapt to the circumstances and encouraged Hellenizing tendencies. The last Maccabees gave the sad spectacle of the decline of a noble family. Aristobulus I (105-104 BC), ambitious and unscrupulous, assumed the title of king. He starved his own mother to death in prison and killed one of his brothers. He died of illness after a year of reign. Alexander Jannaeus (104-78 BC) was also cruel, dissolute and domineering. There was a time when his territory encompassed more than the ancient Twelve Tribes. Supported by the Sadducees and hated by the Pharisees, he had to face a bloody civil war for six years. For the first time the Jews applied crucifixion: Alexander Jannaeus had 800 of the leading Pharisees crucified in Jerusalem. His widow Alexandra (78-69 BC) succeeded to the throne and reigned prudently. At her death, her two children disputed the power: the firstborn, the weak Hyrcano II, had been designated as king and high priest; the youngest, Aristobulus II, unleashed a civil war to put himself in his place. The Idumean chief Antipater was induced to intervene, and in the course of this struggle both brothers resorted to the arbitration of Pompey and the Roman might. Arriving before Jerusalem in the year 63 BC, Pompey took the side of Hircano II. He seized the city after a three-month siege, then massacred 12,000 Jews, daring to penetrate the Temple to the Holy of Holies. According to Tacitus, he was astonished to find nothing behind the veil: neither a statue nor any object of worship (“vacam sedem, inania arcana”: an empty sanctuary, an absence of mysteries). Hyrcanus II, kept in his position as high priest, had to change his title of king to that of “ethnarch”, and content himself with governing the small territory of Judea. Galilee and Samaria became separate provinces: Jewish independence was over, and Pompey brought to Rome, in his triumphal procession, Aristobulus II, King of the Jews. Hyrcanus II (63-40 BC) was just a plaything in the hands of Antipater, whom Rome had appointed as procurator. A son of Aristobulus, Antigonus (40-37 BC) managed to prevail for a time with the help of a Parthian army, but the Roman senate…