Books of the Maccabees
Books of the Maccabees were originally five books of the Maccabees.[1] The first contains a history of the war of independence, commencing (B.C. 175) in a series of patriotic struggles against the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, and terminating B.C. 135.[1] It became part of the Vulgate Version of the Bible, and was thus retained among the Apocrypha.[1]
The second gives a history of the Maccabees' struggle from B.C. 176 to B.C. 161.[1] Its object is to encourage and admonish the Jews to be faithful to the religion of their fathers.[1]
The third does not hold a place in the Apocrypha, but is read in the Greek Church.[1] Its design is to comfort the Alexandrian Jews in their persecution.[1] Its writer was evidently an Alexandrian Jew.[1]
The fourth was found in the Library of Lyons, but was afterwards burned.[1] The fifth contains a history of the Jews from B.C. 184 to B.C. 86.[1] It is a compilation made by a Jew after the destruction of Jerusalem, from ancient memoirs, to which he had access.[1] It need scarcely be added that none of these books has any divine authority.[1]
