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      The First Book of Maccabees,⁷ which came into being between 140 and 63 BCE, gives an account of the background and course of the Maccabean uprising. In the style of the Chronicler and in the form of a series of stories, the book describes the conflict between the Judean Jews and the Hellenistic rulers, the heroic struggle of the three Maccabee brothers Judah, Jonathan, and Simon for the liberation of Judea from Seleucid dominance, and the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty up to the murder of Simon (175–135 BCE).

      Although there are no surviving text witnesses to the book, which was handed down only in the Christian tradition, the existence of a lost Hebrew original is suggested by its Hebraizing phraseology and diction and by the witness of St. Jerome (ca. 400 CE).

      At the center of the events narrated is the attempt by a segment of the Jerusalem aristocracy, with the support of the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to rescind the Torah as its constitution, to change the Temple state into a Hellenistic city, and to consolidate their own position of power (1:11–16). The First Book of Maccabees presents this failed coup by an aristocratic minority as a general religious persecution, at the same time equating the objectives of their religious opponents with those of the people as a whole. The Maccabee brothers and their opponents are constantly contrasted using stereotypes and polarization. The unknown author of the historical narrative focused on the assimilation efforts on the part of many of his compatriots, which he regarded as signs of religious and cultural decline, and so branded as illegitimate (cf. 1:11). In his Hasmonean-friendly account of the military and diplomatic events, he displayed how the Maccabee brothers succeeded in an anti-Hellenistic movement, defending against the violent efforts toward cultural and religious modernization within the Jerusalem upper classes. He stressed the political-national side of the action by citing a series of letters, alliance treaties, and decrees (e.g. 12:6–23).

      The opening, introductory part of the book (1:1–2:70) tells of the background to the uprising. The second part (3:1–9:22) deals with the military successes of the uprising and of the renewal of the Temple cult under the leadership of Judas. In the third part (9:23–12:53) there is an account of the consolidation of power and the founding of the high priesthood of the Hasmonean dynasty under Jonathan. The fourth part (13:1–16:24) is occupied with the Jews’ complete independence from the Syrians under the rule of Simon.

      A key function of 1 Maccabees consists in the internal political legitimation of the Hasmonean dynasty, which appealed to neither a royal (Davidic) nor a priestly (Zadokite) lineage. This work of propaganda can be seen as a literary effort to deal with the looming disintegration of the anti-Hellenistic following of the Maccabee brothers. The controversial Jewish dynasty was consistently represented as a house of religious zealots and fighters for Torah, temple, and cult. Judas Maccabeus appears as God’s instrument (3:18f. ). His brother Simon’s rise to power (13:1–9) was depicted as the fulfillment of the hopes of the pious rebels, even though it was a Hellenistic prince’s declaration of autonomy. After the failed attempt of the Hellenistic reformers to forcibly correct various fundamental stipulations of the Torah, further intellectual development of Judaism concentrated on the Torah itself.

      The Second Book of Maccabees⁸ also tells the story of conflict between the faithful inhabitants of Judea and the Seleucid kings from Antiochus IV Epiphanes to Demetrius I Soter. It is not, however, a continuation of the First Book of Maccabees, as it begins with the end of the rule of Seleucus IV Philopator (187–175 BCE) and goes on to offer an alternative account of the events described in 1 Macc 2:52–7:50. This work, originally written in Greek and also preserved only in the Christian tradition, represents a summary of the (lost) five-volume historical account of Jason of Cyrene (2:19–32).

      The book’s date is disputed. A possible window is from 124 BCE to the beginning of the first century CE. Linguistic peculiarities, the critical distance from Hasmonean rule, and the anti-Roman slant of the book point to its having come into being before 63 BCE. The audience of this account were the Alexandrian Jews, whose attention the author steered toward the fate of their brothers and sisters in the Land of Israel, and to the fortunes of the Temple as the focus of religious life.

      The beginning of the book contains one genuine (1:1–9) and one fictitious letter (1:10–2:18) from the Jews of Jerusalem to their brethren in the Egyptian Diaspora. Chapter 3 relates the background story of the failed sacking of the Temple by Heliodorus, which champions the inviolable sanctity of the sanctuary. The first main part (4:1–10:9) deals with the desecration of the Temple, religious persecution under the Seleucids, the victory of Judas Maccabee, and the resumption of sacrifices in accordance with the ancestral law. The second main part (10:10–15:36) offers an account of the defense of the Temple by the rebels. The book ends with a concluding note by the author (15:37–39).

      In the Second Book of Maccabees a prime concern was to glorify the Jerusalem Temple as a sign of the covenant faithfulness of God (10:1–9) . The message aligns with the Deuteronomistic model of history: if the people are guilty, they are punished by God; if they repent, they are saved. The failings of an individual bring culpability upon the community as a whole (4:16f.; 7:18; 10:4). At the same time, the narrator emphasizes how important it is that the righteous remain true to their religion (6:24–28). While the Jewish heroes resist Hellenization, the author writes in the style of the Hellenistic historians, unashamedly bringing in Greek notions of the underworld (6:23) and adopting a Hellenistic perspective—speaking several times of »barbarians« (2:21; 4:25; 10:4).

      The Second Book of Maccabees contains the first clear reference to creatio ex nihilo (7:28) and is one of the early witnesses to Jewish hope for the bodily resurrection of the pious (7:9, 11, 14, 23, 29, 36; 14:37–46). It is a lively testimony of Jewish faith, as well as being a model of Greek historiography and one of the most important sources of information on the Seleucid monarchy.

      The Third Book of Maccabees,⁹ in genre the etiology of an annual Diaspora festival, tells in Greek of the persecution of the Alexandrian Jews and their faith by a pagan king (Ptolemy IV Philopator, 221–204 BCE). It narrates their salvation through a divine miracle of deliverance, which saves the pious from being murdered in the Alexandrian hippodrome. The text’s references to 2 Maccabees (e.g. 2 Macc 3:1–40; 6:1–9; 9:3f. ) and numerous allusions to the Letter of Aristeas (see below; e.g. Arist 22–25; 83–91; 128–166; 184–186) as well as the narrowing of the geographical framework indicate that the work was composed in Egypt toward the end of the first century BCE.

      The content of the book goes back to pre-Maccabean times and recounts events that are supposed to have taken place in 217 BCE. Its five-part structure complies with the principles of ancient drama and rhetoric. The festival legend is meant to be a way of strengthening faith in God’s help in times of distress. Throughout the work, the author emphasizes the equal fate of the Palestinian and the Egyptian Jews, in particular their faith as experienced and practiced.

      Third Maccabees is regarded as a cult etiology; in fact, however, the etiological element is only a medium for an internal Jewish controversy. The book re-examines Jerusalem’s claim to religious leadership in the Diaspora as well as at home and draws attention to the exemplary nature of Egyptian Judaism.

      The Book of Judith¹⁰ is found only in the LXX and the »old« translations that depend on it—in Latin, Syriac, etc. It was written toward the end of Persian rule. The novelistic didactic narrative is about the rescue of the city of Bethulia (i.e. Jerusalem) from the Assyrian army of Holofernes by young, rich, clever, brave, and godly Judith.

      Handed down in various forms of the Greek text, the book of Judith contains syntax and vocabulary elements that make it appear to be a translation of a Semitic original (as Jerome says in his preamble to the Latin translation of the Bible). However, it uses the LXX rather than the MT, and also uses stylistic figures that are not »translation Greek.« The present Greek text of Judith is an independent version of a lost Semitic model.

      Arguments in favor of a post-150 BCE date for the origin Greek Judith are—besides the borrowing of Hellenistic motifs (cf. 12:15–19)—echoes of Dan 2f. (Nebuchadnezzar’s dream), and the books of Maccabees. The narrator’s historical situation is probably

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