Bible In One Year Day 297 (1 Maccabees 16, Sirach 38-39, Proverbs 23: 29-35)

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Day 297:  Using Good Things for Evil 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 297 Peter in Rome

CHALLENGE: “The pope cannot be the successor of Peter as the bishop of Rome. Peter was never even in Rome.”

DEFENSE: The evidence indicates that Peter was in Rome at the end of his career, and that he was martyred there, along with Paul, around A.D. 67.

In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter writes, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.”

This is commonly understood as a greeting on behalf of the church in Rome to the churches to whom Peter was writing (1 Pet. 1:1). The term “Babylon” is understood as a code word for Rome, based on the fact that Babylon was a great persecutor of God’s people in the Old Testament. This usage also may be reflected in Revelation’s depiction of the Whore of Babylon (see Day 190).

The Church Fathers make it even clearer that Peter was in Rome. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing around A.D. 110 (a mere forty-three years after Peter’s martyrdom) writes a letter to the church at Rome in which he states: “I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments to you.

They were apostles; I am but a condemned man: They were free, while I am, even until now, a servant” (Letter to the Romans 4).

Around 170, St. Dionysius of Corinth wrote to Pope Soter and stated: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and taught us in Corinth. And they taught together in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time” (cited in Eusebius, Church History 2:25:8).

To quote a third source from the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote around A.D. 189: “Matthew also issued among the Hebrews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church” ( Against Heresies, 3:1:1). 

He also wrote: “The greatest and most ancient church known to all [was] founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul” (ibid., 3:3:2).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 295 (1 Maccabees 14, Sirach 34-35, Proverbs 23: 22-25)

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Day 295 Israel's Expectations

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 295 The Time of the Crucifixion

CHALLENGE: “The Gospels contradict each other on the time of the Crucifixion. Mark says Jesus was crucified at ‘the third hour’ (Mark 15:25), and all three synoptics record the darkness from ‘the sixth hour’ to ‘the ninth hour’ while he was on the cross (Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44), but John indicates that Jesus wasn’t yet crucified at ‘the sixth hour’ (John 19:14).”

DEFENSE: John uses a different way of reckoning hours than the synoptics.

There are four natural points where one could begin counting hours: midnight, sunrise, noon, and sunset. Each has been used by different cultures. In America, we use midnight and noon (thus “one o’clock” is the first hour to strike after both).

In first-century Judaea, the custom was to count twelve hours from sunrise, as illustrated in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20:1–16, where a man hires workers at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. The last group are said to work “only one hour,” while those hired earlier bore “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

The Roman practice, however, was to reckon the day as beginning at midnight (cf. Pliny the Elder, Natural History 2:79[77]). We can show that John was using this method in his Gospel and counting the hours from midnight: “For example, in John 1:39 a reckoning from the morning would make the ‘tenth hour’ four o’clock in the afternoon, but a reckoning from midnight would make it ten o’clock in the morning, the latter being more appropriate to the fact that the two disciples then stayed with Jesus ‘that day’ ” (Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 2nd ed., §19; Finegan also offers additional examples).

The timing of the Crucifixion is thus described in the synoptics using the Jewish system of counting hours and in John by the Roman system. Thus in John, Pilate brings Jesus out to the crowd at “about the sixth hour” after midnight (around 6 a.m.). According to Mark he is then crucified at “the third hour” after dawn (around 9 a.m.). And according to all three synoptics, darkness covered the land from the sixth to the ninth hours after dawn (from around 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 294 (1 Maccabees 13, Sirach 32-33, Proverbs 23: 17-21)

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Maccabean Revolt 

Judea Gains Independence

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 294 Church Councils

CHALLENGE: “Why should I listen to what a Church council says?”

DEFENSE: “Because Scripture supports the role of Church councils.”

Jesus did not reserve teaching authority to himself, but assigned it to the leaders he put in charge of his Church (see Day 281). He thus created a Magisterium (Latin, “teaching authority”) within his Church.

Usually this Magisterium is exercised personally—by individuals (originally by the apostles and later by the bishops who succeeded them). However, it is also God’s will that, when the occasion calls for it, the Magisterium be exercised in a collective fashion.

We see an example of this in Scripture when a dispute arises in the Christian community in Antioch over whether Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1).

Paul was involved in this dispute (Acts 15:2), and, as an apostle, was capable of teaching authoritatively on this point. Nevertheless, it was God’s will that the matter be dealt with in a collective fashion. Thus the Antiochian church sent a delegation, including Paul, to the church in Jerusalem. Paul states that, on this occasion, “I went up by revelation” (Gal. 2:2), suggesting that the impetus for the consultation came directly from the Holy Spirit.

When the delegation arrived, the apostles and elders held a council to consider the question (Acts 15:6–21). After reviewing the matter, including what God had already revealed through Peter’s ministry (Acts 10–11), it was concluded that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised to be saved, an d a pastoral plan was devised for how Jews and Gentiles could live harmoniously in the Church.

They then sent a delegation back to Antioch along with a letter announcing the results of the council (Acts 15:22–31). Particularly noteworthy is this phrase from the letter: “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things” (v. 28).

The fathers of the council thus saw the Holy Spirit as working through their deliberations and validating the results of the council, though Luke gives no indication that any revelations were received during it.

Since Scripture reveals it is God’s will for the Magisterium of the Church to sometimes be exercised this way, the Jerusalem council became the model for all later Church councils.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 293 (1 Maccabees 12, Sirach 30-31, Proverbs 23: 13-16)

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Day 294: Discipline Grounded in Love

Bible In One Year Day 292 (1 Maccabees 11, Sirach 28-29, Proverbs 23: 9-12)

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War Elephants Maccabees 

Day 292: Power of Words

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 292 Why Isn’t Everything Infallible?

CHALLENGE: “If the Church can teach infallibly, why doesn’t it go ahead and teach everything infallibly?”

DEFENSE: Because it is not God’s will.

Consider a parallel: The New Testament authors wrote under the charism of inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16), which is greater than and includes infallibility. If it was God’s will, he could’ve had them write a single, systematic theology textbook with every proposition he wished to reveal to man carefully explained, yet he chose not to. We can speculate on why, but it is clear he chose not to or it would have happened. If that was God’s will when he was still divinely inspiring authors, it is hardly likely he would wish the Magisterium to attempt a parallel task today. This is confirmed when we consider the challenges the Magisterium would face if it tried to do so.

First, infallibility is a negative protection. It means God won’t allow the Magisterium to define something false, but it doesn’t mean the Magisterium doesn’t have to do its homework. A large amount of work must be done to prepare for a definition. The subject must be carefully considered from all angles in light of the sources of faith, the arguments examined, God’s guidance prayerfully sought, and so on. Trying to define every point of theology would be a massive undertaking that would consume the Magisterium’s energies and prevent the Church’s pastors from fulfilling their duties.

Second, if the Magisterium tried to circumvent this by defining things in a slapdash manner, the result would be slapdash definitions. Infallibility guarantees that a teaching is not false, not that it’s well phrased or timely in its delivery. The effort to define everything would produce poorly phrased teachings that were not properly introduced to the faithful. The pastoral damage would be enormous.

Third, the Magisterium can’t answer questions that haven’t been asked, and new questions arise constantly. For example, questions about how original sin works could not be considered until the concept of original sin was formulated from the sources of faith. Theologians prior to that time did not have the ability to pose or answer such questions. In the same way, the Magisterium today can’t define the answers to unasked questions (many of which may be prompted by the moral implications of new technologies).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 291 (1 Maccabees 10, Sirach 26-27, Proverbs 23: 5-8)

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Alexander the Great (Porus Charles)

Day 291 The Rise of King Alexander /center>

Bible In One Year Day 290 (1 Maccabees 9, Sirach 24-25, Proverbs 23: 1-4)

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Death of Judas Maccabeus by José Teófilo de Jesus

Day 290:  Judas Maccabaeus Dies 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 290 The Early Chapters of Genesis

CHALLENGE:“Genesis 1–11 contains many things that don’t correspond to the modern, scientific understanding of the world (such as talking snakes, a universal flood, and so on).”

DEFENSE: These chapters pertain to history in a true sense, but they are written according to a set of literary conventions that conveys truth using more symbolism than later passages.

The Magisterium has indicated this for Genesis 1, stating, “Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine ‘work,’ concluded by the ‘rest’ of the seventh day” (CCC 337). It has said the same for Genesis 3, stating, “The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man” (CCC 390).

The Magisterium has not yet similarly commented on other events in Genesis 1–11 (e.g., the Flood, the Tower of Babel), but it likely would take the same approach. Thus in 1950, Pius XII stated:The first eleven chapters of Genesis, although properly speaking not conforming to the historical method used by the best Greek and Latin writers or by competent authors of our time, do nevertheless pertain to history in a true sense, which however must be further studied and determined by exegetes; the same chapters, in simple and metaphorical language adapted to the mentality of a people but little cultured, both state the principal truths which are fundamental for our salvation, and also give a popular description of the origin of the human race and the chosen people (Humani Generis 38).

The reason for the greater use of symbolism in these chapters is because of the remoteness of the events in time. This period is before Israel’s recorded history began, and truth concerning this period cannot be conveyed the same way it can for the period after detailed historical records began to be kept.

A different set of literary conventions were thus used for describing the period before the arrival of Abraham in Genesis 12. From Abraham to the time of Israel’s kings, less symbolism is used. And a more conventional way of recording history begins with the advent of the kings and the keeping of court records.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 289 (1 Maccabees 8, Sirach 22-23, Proverbs 22: 26-29)

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Day 289 Wise Influences 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 289 Eternal Life

CHALLENGE: “Christians can’t lose salvation. Scripture says, ‘He who believes in the Son has eternal life’ (John 3:36a), and if life is eternal, it can’t end.”

DEFENSE: This fails to understand both the biblical concept of eternal life and other things Scripture says.

A basic truth of linguistics is that you can’t define a term simply by looking at its parts; you must look at how it’s used in practice. To violate this principle is to commit the etymological fallacy (e.g., the word awful is a combination of awe and full; it originally meant something full of awe and that thus inspired reverence, but now it means something exceedingly bad).

Similarly, you can’t look at the phrase “eternal life” and define it just by looking at its parts. You must look at how it’s used in the New Testament. When you do this, it is clear that eternal life does not refer simply to unending bodily life. That is something even the damned will have after the resurrection of the dead, but it is clear the damned don’t have eternal life in the sense the New Testament is interested in (see, e.g., John 3:36b). Eternal life thus deals not just with a quantity but a quality or kind of life.

Further, while there are verses that speak of eternal life as a present possession of believers, there are also passages that speak of it as something they have not yet achieved. Thus Paul says that on the last day God “will give eternal life” to believers (Rom. 2:7) and “he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life . . . if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:8–9; cf. 1 Tim. 6:12, Titus 1:2, 3:7).

Thus we don’t yet have eternal life in the final sense. We may have a promise (1 John 2:25) and even a partial experience of it, but we can lose these through mortal sin (see Day 302). Thus John warns his audience: “Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).

To receive eternal life on the last day, Scripture says to “keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 288 (1 Maccabees 7, Sirach 19-21, Proverbs 22: 22-25)

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Maccabias vs Bacchides 

Day 288:  Battling Against Gossip 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 288 Quoting the Deuterocanonicals

CHALLENGE: “Jesus and the authors of the New Testament never quote from the deuterocanonical books, so they do not belong in the Bible.”

DEFENSE: The absence of a quotation does not prove that a book is noncanonical.

Jesus and the authors of the New Testament sometimes introduce quotations in a way that makes it clear they regarded the source as a book of Scripture. This is indicated when they use formulas like “scripture says” (John 19:37; Rom. 9:17, 10:11, 11:2) or “it is written” (Matt. 4:4; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27, etc.).

When these formulas are not present, it is not always clear they regard the source as Scripture. Indeed, they sometimes quote sources that are not Scripture. Thus Acts 17:28 quotes Epimenides, 1 Corinthians 15:33 quotes Menander, Titus 1:12 quotes Epimenides, Jude 9 quotes The Assumption of Moses, and Jude 14–15 quotes 1 Enoch.

If we restricted ourselves to books of the Old Testament that are quoted with formulas like “scripture says” or “it is written,” many books would have to be cut out of the canon.

However, even if we allow quotations without such formulas to count, twelve of the thirty-nine protocanonical books of the Old Testament—almost a third of the total—remain without quotations in the New.

These twelve are: Judges, Ruth, 2 Kings, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Obadiah, Jonah, and Zephaniah (cf. Gleason Archer and C.G. Chirichigno, Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament: A Complete Survey, xvii).

In the first century, books of the Bible were combined in ways they are not today. For example, 2 Kings was then part of 1 Kings, and Obadiah, Jonah, and Zephaniah were included with the other minor prophets in a book known as “the Twelve” (Aramaic, Trey ‘Asar).

Taking this into account, there would still be eight protocanonical books not quoted in the New Testament. Unless we are prepared to excise these books from the Old Testament, then we must acknowledge that the test proposed in this challenge does not work: An Old Testament book does not have to be quoted in the New Testament to be canonical.

The proposed test thus does not exclude the deuterocanonical books, and we must be ready to consider the arguments for their inclusion in the canon (see Days 273, 296, and 305).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 285 (1 Maccabees 4, Sirach 10-12, Proverbs 22: 9-12)

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Day 285: The Story of Hanukkah 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 285 Can Science Eliminate God?

CHALLENGE: “Science has progressively explained more and more of the world, leaving less room for God. Why can’t science one day explain everything, eliminating the need for (and possibility of) God?”

DEFENSE: This objection makes several mistakes.

First, it commits the fallacy of “God of the gaps” thinking by supposing that scientific explanations somehow take something away from God. They don’t. God is the ultimate explanation for the world, including those things that science is capable of investigating (see Day 246).

Second, it assumes that science will continue to explain more and more, with no barriers to its future growth, but this is not to be taken for granted (see Day 97).

Third, while many physicists have harbored the dream of producing a “Theory of Everything”—a single set of formulas describing the behavior of all physical phenomena—there are serious doubts about whether such a theory is possible.

In 1931, the mathematician Kurt Gödel shocked his colleagues by demonstrating that there will always be mathematical truths that cannot be proved. (He did this using two proofs known as Gödel’s Incomple teness Theorems.) Mathematics is closely allied with physics, and some physicists have concluded that the same is true of their field—that there will always be physical truths that cannot be proved. Thus Stephen Hawking wrote:

Some people will be very disappointed if there is not an ultimate theory that can be formulated as a finite number of principles. I used to belong to that camp, but I have changed my mind. I’m now glad that our search for understanding will never come to an end, and that we will always have the challenge of new discovery (“Gödel and the End of the Universe,” available online).

Fourth, even if there was a “Theory of Everything”—a single, master law explaining the behavior of all physical phenomena—it would explain only that and no more. It would not explain why that law exists, why there is something rather than nothing, or what may take place outside the realm of nature.

Fifth, we have very good proofs for the existence of God, and the future growth of science will not change that. The scientific method is only capable of dealing with certain types of questions, and it cannot disprove truths that are established by other methods.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 284 (1 Maccabees 3, Sirach 7-9, Proverbs 22: 5-8)

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Mattathais 

Day 284:  Near Occasion of Sin 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 284 Justification in James and Paul

CHALLENGE: “James says we’re justified by faith and works (James 2:24), but that contradicts Paul, who says we’re justified by faith without works (Rom. 3:28, Gal. 2:16).”

DEFENSE: A careful examination shows the two are using key terms—faith, works, and justification—in different senses.

James uses faith to refer to intellectual assent to the truths of faith. Thus he says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19).

But Paul refers to what theologians call “formed faith” or “faith formed by charity.” Thus he says what counts is “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).

James uses works to refer to positive actions flowing from belief in God—good works—such as giving food and clothing to the needy (James 2:15–16) or the actions performed by Abraham and Rahab in God’s service (James 2:23, 25).

But Paul refers to “works of the law”—i.e., works done because they’re required by the Law of Moses (see Day 63). He thus sees works of the law as characteristic of Jews but not Gentiles (Rom. 3:28–29; Gal. 2:11–16), and the key work he is concerned with is the Jewish initiation ritual of circumcision (Rom. 2:25–29, 3:30; Gal. 5:6, 6:13–15).

James refers to a different kind of justification than Paul. In addition to the justification that occurs when we first come to God and are forgiven, there is an ongoing growth in righteousness throughout the Christian life. Thus James refers to Abraham as being justified when he offered Isaac on the altar (James 2:21). However, this was in Genesis 22, long after Abraham was initially justified. Indeed, he had been explicitly pronounced righteous as early as Genesis 15:6.

But Paul is principally concerned with initial justification—the kind that occurs when we first come to God. Thus he speaks of justification in the context of Christian conversion (1 Cor. 6:9–11, Gal. 2:16), and he stresses that circumcision does not need to be part of Christian initiation (Gal. 5:4, 6:15).

James thus holds that intellectual faith alone does not save and that our ongoing, postconversion growth in righteousness is furthered by doing good works, while Paul holds that if we have faith working through love, then we have been forgiven and do not need to obey the Jewish law to be justified.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 283 (1 Maccabees 2, Sirach 4-6, Proverbs 22: 1-4)

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Day 283:  Mattathias Attacks 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 283

The Benefits of Religion

CHALLENGE: “Religion is a destructive force that harms people.”

DEFENSE: This is not supported by the evidence.

Every institution—churches, hospitals, schools, governments—makes mistakes and harms people on occasion. However, to claim an institution is fundamentally harmful, one needs to provide evidence it does more harm than good.

Further, one would need to show not just that individual examples of an institution do more harm than good (individual churches, hospitals, schools, or governments may, in fact, be destructive).

Instead, one would need to show that the institution itself, conceived generally, is, on balance, harmful. This claim is implausible when applied to major, widespread human institutions. People aren’t stupid, and if an institution were fundamentally harmful then it would not become a major, widespread one. People would abandon it before it ever got that far.

The reason people support and patronize institutions is they perceive the benefits the institutions bring to their lives. Some are so successful that they have become human universals—institutions that appear in every culture in history. Examples include religion, medicine, education, and government.

In particular historical circumstances, the track record of these institutions is decidedly mixed (paleolithic medicine was nowhere near as good as modern medicine), but they still have provided enough benefit that they achieved universal status.

Indeed, it’s hard to see how an institution that did net harm could become a universal, because biological and cultural evolution would select against it (i.e., people who did not practice some form of it would outcompete and out-reproduce those who did, and the institution would die out).

In the case of religion, it’s easy to see how it provides benefits to people even in this life. These include helping individuals find meaning and purpose, helping groups bond together and share resources, and helping societies promote moral behaviors (“Honor thy father and mother”) and discourage immoral ones (“Thou shalt not kill”).

Also, statistically speaking, religious individuals live longer on average than non-religious ones.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Bible In One Year Day 282 (1 Maccabees 1, Sirach 1-3, Proverbs 21: 29-31)

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 282

Petros versus Petra

CHALLENGE:“Peter can’t be the rock that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16:18. He uses the word petros (small stone) for ‘Peter’ but petra (large rock) for ‘rock.’ Why would he change the word if he was referring to Peter both times?”

DEFENSEa; This challenge has several problems and does not prove its case.

Protestant scholar D.A. Carson notes: Although it is true that petros and petra can mean “[small] stone” and “[large] rock” respectively in earlier Greek, the distinction is largely confined to poetry.

Moreover the underlying Aramaic is in this case unquestionable; and most probably kêphā’ was used in both clauses (“you are kêphā’ and on this kêphā’”), since the word was used both for a name and for a “rock.” The Peshitta (written in Syriac, a language cognate with Aramaic) makes no distinction between the words in the two clauses. The Greek makes the distinction between petros and petra simply because it is trying to preserve the pun, and in Greek the feminine petra could not very well serve as a masculine name (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Matt. 16:18).

He further notes: “Had Matthew wanted to say no more than that Peter was a stone in contrast with Jesus the Rock, the more common word would have been lithos (“stone” of almost any size). Then there would have been no pun—and that is just the point!” (ibid.).

Although Jesus’ words could have been translated into Greek using petros in both cases (“You are petros and on this petros”), petra may appear in the second instance simply to avoid using the same word too closely in quick succession. Avoiding repetition by using a synonym is often an important element of style (so much so that it is the reason pronouns exist).

Even if we were to grant that petros and petra referred to small and large stones respectively, this would not show Peter isn’t the rock. That interpretation assumes antithetic parallelism, where the two are contrasted (“You are a small stone, but on this other big rock . . . ”). However, it could just as well be synthetic parallelism, where the second idea builds on the first (“You may appear to be a small stone, but on the big rock you really are . . . ”).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist 

Day 77 - 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge - 1 Maccabees 13 - 16 Great Adventure A Journey Through the Bible

Day 77 

90 Day Bible Reading Challenge 

1 Maccabees 13 - 16 

Bible Time Period:  Maccabean Revolt 

Mattathias and his sons stood up against the threats of Hellenization:  Help me resist worldliness in the culture and follow only you. 

Reflection
After Jonathan’s death, his brother Simon, the last remaining son of Mattathias, becomes supreme leader of the Jews under Roman authority.  He is named at the same time high priest, governor and Ethnarch (a political ruler over a common ethnic group).  That the roles of king and priest are combined in one man is unique to this time.  Simon Maccabeus’ son John Hurcanus serves, like his father, as both king and high priest.  He is the founder of the Hasmonean dynasty.

1 Maccabees takes the story up to 135BC.  The Hasmoneans continued to rule semi-autonomously for a number of years and became essentially independent in about 110 BC.  In 63 BC, two brothers fought for the throne and Rome intervened.  The battle ended with Hyrcanus II (a Hasmonean) in power but with Judah a Roman protectorate.  Hasmonean rule ended in 37 BC when the pro-Roman Herod the Great was made king of the Jews.

1 Maccabees is more than a history of the leadership and battles of the Maccabees (and the Hasmonean dynasty)during the 2^nd century BC.  Its greater purpose is to showcase the providence and protection of God and the importance of staying true to the Covenant even to death.  This period helps to set the scene for the fulfillment of God’s promises in the New Testament.  With the Maccabean Revolt, the Old Testament period ends on a high note with great examples of courage and faith.  

Today's Reading

1 Maccabees 13 - 16

Commentary 

Discussion Boards Day 77
Saint Paul Center For Biblical Theology - Lesson Five Part VIIC Hasmonean Times

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Day 76 - 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge - 1 Maccabees 9 - 12 Great Adventure A Journey Through the Bible

Day 76 

90 Day Bible Reading Challenge 

1 Maccabees 9 - 12 

Bible Time Period:  Maccabean Revolt 

Mattathias and his sons stood up against the threats of Hellenization:  Help me resist worldliness in the culture and follow only you. 

The Success of the Maccabees 
At first the resistance was individual and unorganized.  But soon one family became the standard bearers for the revolt. An old priest named Mattathias and his five sons retreated to the countryside and started organizing the resistance.  It was an obviously hopeless effort:  they could never succeed against the power of the world's greatest empire.  The only reason for resisting was that it was better to die than to be unfaithful to God. 

Yet against all odds the revolt did succeed.  Trusting in God, the sons of Mattathias began to take back bits and pieces of territory.  Judas Maccabeus, the most talented soldier among them, gained amazing victories against the pagan armies.  Within three years, the faithful Jews were able to purify and rededicate the Temple.  Jewish families still celebrate that event as the festival of Hanukkah. 

When Judas died, the victories continued under his brothers.  The pagan kings were forced to come to terms with the Maccabees, as Judas and his brothers were called. Soon they controlled most of Judah.  From there they pressed their successes outward, until they had actually conquered most of the territory of David's kingdom.  They made alliances with Sparta and with Rome, a rising power in the west.  The Greek kings were forced to admit what had already in fact happened:  Israel was now an independent power.  About 125 years before the birth of Christ, an independent Israel had finally been restored.  
(Understanding the Scriptures The Didache Series, page 278)

Today's Reading

1 Maccabees 9 - 12 

Commentary 

Discussion Boards Day 76
Saint Paul Center For Biblical Theology - Lesson Five Part VIIB Persecution and Revolt

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The Holy Seven Maccabee Children, Solomone their mother, and Eleazar their Teacher - Icon

Day 74 - 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge - 1 Maccabees 1 - 4 Great Adventure A Journey Through the Bible

Day 74 

90 Day Bible Reading Challenge 

1 Maccabees 1 - 4 

Bible Time Period:  Maccabean Revolt 

Mattathias and his sons stood up against the threats of Hellenization:  Help me resist worldliness in the culture and follow only you. 

Period Preview 

The Babylonian exile came to an end when Cyrus, King of Persia, came to power and freed the Judeans to return and rebuild the Temple.  Those who made the journey south did so in three stages.  Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, they rebuilt the Temple and the Jerusalem walls and learned from God’s Law.  At the close of our reading, we saw the people confess their sins and make another covenant – a binding agreement – with the Lord.

After this “remnant” of Jews returned to the land, they lived in relative peace for a century and were quite faithful to the Covenant.  Around 336 BC, Alexander the Great swept across Asia, conquering nations and extending the rule of a new power, Greece.  He aimed to unify the world under Greek language and culture – a process we know as hellenization. The practice continued to a varying extent under his successors and reached its height under Antiochus Epiphanes, who came to power in 175 BC.  He began a policy of radical hellenization under which he determined to eradicate the Jewish religion. This sets the scene for our next period:  Maccabean Revolt.  The time period begins with the actual revolt of the Maccabees and takes us up to the end of the Old Testament.

The crowing event of this period comes in chapter 4 with the purification of the Temple three years after its desecration.  According to the Talmud, oil that was only enough for one lamp lasted miraculously eight days.  The event is commemorated today as Hanukkah – the Festival of Lights.

 Today's Reading

1 Maccabees 1 - 4 

Commentary 

Discussion Boards Day 74

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For items devotional items related to the Catholic Church 

please visit Lynn's Timeless Treasures  

Back to Index 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge

Art
Mattathias Followers - Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld