Page 34 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

what occurred in Jerusalem.

From 168-164 B.C., Judas Maccabeus (Maccabeus meaning “hammer”) led a revolt against the
Greeks and against the Hellenized Jews in Palestine. The books of I and II Maccabees attribute to
him a series of successive victories over the Greek forces resulting in the liberation of the Temple
and the restoration of Jewish Temple worship. This account of Judas Maccabeus appears slanted to
bolster the heroic image of the Maccabees and their ensuing Hasmonean dynasty which maintained
religious and political rule over Palestine from 140 B.C. until the beginning of the Herodian Dynasty
in 37 B.C.. (Herod the Great married a Hasmonean princess to bolster the legitimacy of his reign).

One piece of evidence that would bring into doubt the depiction of Judas Maccabeus as the
conqueror of the Greeks and the liberator of the Temple, is derived from the book of II Maccabees.
In a passage found there, mention is made of some letters between the Greeks and Jews that would
support the view that it was the High Priest Menelaus who brokered a deal with Antiochus V (who
succeeded to the throne upon the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes) and Lysias (a Greek
commander), restoring to the Jewish people their own religion and access to the Temple.

Some may think it strange that facts in II Maccabees would contradict the account of I Maccabees,
but this is explained by the two books having different authors with very different perspectives. It
is suggested by some scholars that I Maccabees was written by a Sadducee who was a sympathizer
with the Hasmoneans, some going so far to describe I Maccabees as a partisan document. In contrast,
II Maccabees is believed to have been written by a Pharisee. This latter book was written in Greek,
while it is asserted that I Maccabees was written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic, though only
Greek copies are extant at this date.

II Maccabees 11:29-32
Menelaus declared unto us, that your desire was to return home, and to follow your own business:
Wherefore they that will depart shall have safe conduct till the thirtieth day of Xanthicus with
security. And the Jews shall use their own kind of meats and laws, as before; and none of them any
manner of ways shall be molested for things ignorantly done. I have sent also Menelaus, that he may
comfort you.

This account supports the historical view that the Seleucids retained control over Palestine after the
Maccabean revolt, though their power was in decline as the power of Rome was increasing. The
Jewish observance of Hannukkah, is based upon the account of history that presents Judas
Maccabeus as the hero of the conflict against the Greeks. The celebration of Hanukkah is derived
from the following passage in the book of I Maccabees.

I Maccabees 4:36-59
Then said Judas and his brethren, Behold, our enemies are discomfited: let us go up to cleanse and
dedicate the sanctuary. Upon this all the host assembled themselves together, and went up into mount
Sion. And when they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up, and
shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest, or in one of the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers
pulled down; They rent their clothes, and made great lamentation, and cast ashes upon their heads,
and fell down flat to the ground upon their faces, and blew an alarm with the trumpets, and cried