Day 145: 2 Maccabaeus 1 - 3

Chapter 1



A Letter from Jerusalem to the Jews in Egypt
1 The Jews in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, To their Jewish kindred in Egypt, Greetings and true peace.
2 May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants.
3 May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit.
4 May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace.
5 May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil.
6 We are now praying for you here.
7 In the reign of Demetrius, in the one hundred sixty-ninth year, we Jews wrote to you, in the critical distress that came upon us in those years after Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom
8 and burned the gate and shed innocent blood. We prayed to the Lord and were heard, and we offered sacrifice and grain offering, and we lit the lamps and set out the loaves.
9 And now see that you keep the festival of booths in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred eighty-eighth year.


A Letter to Aristobulus
10 The people of Jerusalem and of Judea and the senate and Judas, To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of King Ptolemy, and to the Jews in Egypt, Greetings and good health.
11 Having been saved by God out of grave dangers we thank him greatly for taking our side against the king,
12 for he drove out those who fought against the holy city.
13 When the leader reached Persia with a force that seemed irresistible, they were cut to pieces in the temple of Nanea by a deception employed by the priests of the goddess Nanea.
14 On the pretext of intending to marry her, Antiochus came to the place together with his Friends, to secure most of its treasures as a dowry.
15 When the priests of the temple of Nanea had set out the treasures and Antiochus had come with a few men inside the wall of the sacred precinct, they closed the temple as soon as he entered it.
16 Opening a secret door in the ceiling, they threw stones and struck down the leader and his men; they dismembered them and cut off their heads and threw them to the people outside.
17 Blessed in every way be our God, who has brought judgment on those who have behaved impiously.


Fire Consumes Nehemiah's Sacrifice
18 Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the festival of booths and the festival of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19 For when our ancestors were being led captive to Persia, the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to anyone.
20 But after many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah, having been commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to get it. And when they reported to us that they had not found fire but only a thick liquid, he ordered them to dip it out and bring it.
21 When the materials for the sacrifices were presented, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the liquid on the wood and on the things laid upon it.
22 When this had been done and some time had passed, and when the sun, which had been clouded over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled.
23 And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer - the priests and everyone. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah.
24 The prayer was to this effect: "O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, you are awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, you alone are king and are kind,
25 you alone are bountiful, you alone are just and almighty and eternal. You rescue Israel from every evil; you chose the ancestors and consecrated them.
26 Accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and preserve your portion and make it holy.
27 Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look on those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.
28 Punish those who oppress and are insolent with pride.
29 Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised."
30 Then the priests sang the hymns.
31 After the materials of the sacrifice had been consumed, Nehemiah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured on large stones.
32 When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out.
33 When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemiah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice,
34 the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred.
35 And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts.
36 Nehemiah and his associates called this "nephthar," which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha.

Chapter 2



Jeremiah Hides the Tent, Ark, and Altar
1 One finds in the records that the prophet Jeremiah ordered those who were being deported to take some of the fire, as has been mentioned,
2 and that the prophet, after giving them the law, instructed those who were being deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord, or to be led astray in their thoughts on seeing the gold and silver statues and their adornment.
3 And with other similar words he exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts.
4 It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God.
5 Jeremiah came and found a cave-dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance.
6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the way, but could not find it.
7 When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy.
8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated."
9 It was also made clear that being possessed of wisdom Solomon offered sacrifice for the dedication and completion of the temple.
10 Just as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed, and the fire came down and consumed the whole burnt offerings.
11 And Moses said, "They were consumed because the sin offering had not been eaten."
12 Likewise Solomon also kept the eight days.
13 The same things are reported in the records and in the memoirs of Nehemiah, and also that he founded a library and collected the books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings.
14 In the same way Judas also collected all the books that had been lost on account of the war that had come upon us, and they are in our possession.
15 So if you have need of them, send people to get them for you.
16 Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. Will you therefore please keep the days?
17 It is God who has saved all his people, and has returned the inheritance to all, and the kingship and the priesthood and the consecration,
18 as he promised through the law. We have hope in God that he will soon have mercy on us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.


The Compiler's Preface
19 The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
20 and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,
21 and the appearances that came from heaven to those who fought bravely for Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes,
22 and regained possession of the temple famous throughout the world, and liberated the city, and re-established the laws that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them –
23 all this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book.
24 For considering the flood of statistics involved and the difficulty there is for those who wish to enter upon the narratives of history because of the mass of material,
25 we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers.
26 For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep,
27 just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others. Nevertheless, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil,
28 leaving the responsibility for exact details to the compiler, while devoting our effort to arriving at the outlines of the condensation.
29 For as the master builder of a new house must be concerned with the whole construction, while the one who undertakes its painting and decoration has to consider only what is suitable for its adornment, such in my judgment is the case with us.
30 It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground, to discuss matters from every side, and to take trouble with details,
31 but the one who recasts the narrative should be allowed to strive for brevity of expression and to forego exhaustive treatment.
32 At this point therefore let us begin our narrative, without adding any more to what has already been said; for it would be foolish to lengthen the preface while cutting short the history itself.

Chapter 3



The Sacrilege of Heliodorus in Jerusalem
1 While the holy city was inhabited in unbroken peace and the laws were strictly observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of wickedness,
2 it came about that the kings themselves honored the place and glorified the temple with the finest presents,
3 even to the extent that King Seleucus of Asia defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses connected with the service of the sacrifices.
4 But a man named Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who had been made captain of the temple, had a disagreement with the high priest about the administration of the city market.
5 Since he could not prevail over Onias, he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia,
6 and reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of untold sums of money, so that the amount of the funds could not be reckoned, and that they did not belong to the account of the sacrifices, but that it was possible for them to fall under the control of the king.
7 When Apollonius met the king, he told him of the money about which he had been informed. The king chose Heliodorus, who was in charge of his affairs, and sent him with commands to effect the removal of the reported wealth.
8 Heliodorus at once set out on his journey, ostensibly to make a tour of inspection of the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in fact to carry out the king's purpose.
9 When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation.
10 The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans,
11 and also some money of Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. To such an extent the impious Simon had misrepresented the facts.
12 And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple that is honored throughout the whole world.


Heliodorus Plans to Rob the Temple
13 But Heliodorus, because of the orders he had from the king, said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king's treasury.
14 So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds. There was no little distress throughout the whole city.
15 The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly vestments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them.
16 To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart, for his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul.
17 For terror and bodily trembling had come over the man, which plainly showed to those who looked at him the pain lodged in his heart.
18 People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the holy place was about to be brought into dishonor.
19 Women, girded with sackcloth under their breasts, thronged the streets. Some of the young women who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows.
20 And holding up their hands to heaven, they all made supplication.
21 There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish.


The Lord protects His Temple
22 While they were calling upon the Almighty Lord that he would keep what had been entrusted safe and secure for those who had entrusted it,
23 Heliodorus went on with what had been decided.
24 But when he arrived at the treasury with his bodyguard, then and there the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astounded by the power of God, and became faint with terror.
25 For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien; it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold.
26 Two young men also appeared to him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on either side of him and flogged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him.
27 When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up, put him on a stretcher,
28 and carried him away - this man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury with a great retinue and all his bodyguard but was now unable to help himself. They recognized clearly the sovereign power of God.


Onias Prays for Heliodorus
29 While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery,
30 they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.
31 Some of Heliodorus's friends quickly begged Onias to call upon the Most High to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath.
32 So the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus, offered sacrifice for the man's recovery.
33 While the high priest was making an atonement, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, "Be very grateful to the high priest Onias, since for his sake the Lord has granted you your life.
34 And see that you, who have been flogged by heaven, report to all people the majestic power of God." Having said this they vanished.


The Conversion of Heliodorus
35 Then Heliodorus offered sacrifice to the Lord and made very great vows to the Saviour of his life, and having bidden Onias farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king.
36 He bore testimony to all concerning the deeds of the supreme God, which he had seen with his own eyes.
37 When the king asked Heliodorus what sort of person would be suitable to send on another mission to Jerusalem, he replied,
38 "If you have any enemy or plotter against your government, send him there, for you will get him back thoroughly flogged, if he survives at all; for there is certainly some power of God about the place.
39 For he who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that place himself and brings it aid, and he strikes and destroys those who come to do it injury."
40 This was the outcome of the episode of Heliodorus and the protection of the treasury.