1 Maccabees 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The chapter opens the book by tracing the Greek kingdom from Alexander the Macedonian, who defeated Darius, divided his kingdom among his servants while still alive, and died, down to Antiochus Epiphanes. Some wicked men from Israel get the king's permission to live by the customs of the nations around them, and build a place for sports and training in Jerusalem. Antiochus strips the temple in Jerusalem, and two years later his chief tribute collector attacks and burns the city and turns the city of David into a fortress. Antiochus then orders his whole kingdom to be one people, bans the temple offerings, the sabbaths and circumcision, and orders death for those who keep the law; many in Israel chose to die rather than eat unclean food.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • Alexander was the son of Philip.
   • Alexander was a Macedonian.
   • Alexander came out of the land of Chittim.
   • Alexander defeated Darius king of the Persians and Medes.
   • Alexander reigned in Darius's place.
   • Alexander reigned first over Greece.
2. 1:2
   • Alexander fought many wars.
   • Alexander captured many strongholds.
   • Alexander killed the kings of the earth.
3. 1:3
   • Alexander advanced to the ends of the earth.
   • Alexander took spoil from many nations.
   • The earth was quiet before him.
   • Alexander was exalted.
   • Alexander's heart was lifted up.
4. 1:4
   • Alexander gathered an exceedingly strong army.
   • Alexander ruled over countries, nations, and princes.
   • They paid him tribute.
5. 1:5
   • After these things Alexander fell sick.
   • Alexander perceived that he was going to die.
6. 1:6
   • Alexander summoned his honoured servants.
   • Those servants had been brought up with him from his youth.
   • Alexander divided his kingdom among them.
   • He divided it while he was still alive.
7. 1:7
   • Alexander reigned twelve years.
   • Alexander died.
8. 1:8
   • Alexander's servants ruled, each one in his own place.
9. 1:9
   • After Alexander's death they all put crowns on themselves.
   • Their sons ruled after them for many years.
   • Evils were multiplied in the earth.
10. 1:10
    • Out of them came a wicked root.
    • That root was Antiochus, called Epiphanes.
    • Antiochus Epiphanes was the son of Antiochus the king.
    • Antiochus Epiphanes had been a hostage at Rome.
    • He began to reign in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
11. 1:11
    • In those days lawless men came out of Israel.
    • They persuaded many.
    • They said: let us go and make a covenant with the nations around us.
    • They said that since they separated from those nations many evils had come upon them.
12. 1:12
    • The proposal seemed good in their eyes.
13. 1:13
    • Some of the people were eager for this and went to the king.
    • The king gave them authority to observe the ordinances of the nations.
14. 1:14
    • They built a gymnasium in Jerusalem.
    • They built it according to the customs of the nations.
15. 1:15
    • They made themselves uncircumcised.
    • They forsook the holy covenant.
    • They joined themselves to the nations.
    • They sold themselves to do evil.
16. 1:16
    • The kingdom was established before Antiochus.
    • Antiochus planned to reign over Egypt.
    • He planned this so that he might rule two kingdoms.
17. 1:17
    • Antiochus entered Egypt with a great multitude.
    • He came with chariots, elephants, horsemen, and a great fleet.
18. 1:18
    • Antiochus made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt.
    • Ptolemy was put to shame before him and turned back.
    • Ptolemy fled.
    • Many fell wounded to death.
19. 1:19
    • They took possession of the strong cities in the land of Egypt.
    • Antiochus took the spoils of Egypt.
20. 1:20
    • After Antiochus had struck Egypt, he returned in the one hundred and forty-third year.
    • He went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude.
21. 1:21
    • He entered the sanctuary arrogantly.
    • He took the golden altar.
    • He took the lampstand of the light.
    • He took all the vessels of the lampstand.
22. 1:22
    • He took the table of the showbread.
    • He took the vessels for pouring drink offerings.
    • He took the bowls.
    • He took the golden censers.
    • He took the veil.
    • He took the crowns.
    • He took the golden ornamentation on the front of the temple.
    • He stripped all of it off.
23. 1:23
    • He took the silver and the gold.
    • He took the precious vessels.
    • He took the hidden treasures that he found.
24. 1:24
    • When he had taken everything he went away to his own land.
    • He made a great slaughter.
    • He spoke very arrogantly.
25. 1:25
    • Great mourning came upon Israel.
    • The mourning was in every place where they were.
26. 1:26
    • The rulers and elders mourned.
    • The virgins and young men were made feeble.
    • The beauty of the women was changed.
27. 1:27
    • Every bridegroom took up lamentation.
    • The woman sitting in the marriage chamber was in mourning.
28. 1:28
    • The land was shaken because of its inhabitants.
    • All the house of Jacob was covered with shame.
29. 1:29
    • After two full years the king sent a chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah.
    • The collector came to Jerusalem with a great multitude.
30. 1:30
    • He spoke peaceable words to them.
    • His words were deceitful.
    • They believed him.
    • He fell suddenly upon the city.
    • He struck the city very severely.
    • He destroyed many people of Israel.
31. 1:31
    • He took the spoils of the city.
    • He set the city on fire.
    • He pulled down its houses and its walls on every side.
32. 1:32
    • They took the women and children captive.
    • They seized the cattle.
33. 1:33
    • They fortified the city of David with a great and strong wall.
    • They fortified it with strong towers.
    • It became their stronghold.
34. 1:34
    • They put a sinful nation there.
    • They put lawless men there.
    • They strengthened themselves in it.
35. 1:35
    • They stored weapons and food in it.
    • They gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem.
    • They stored the spoils there.
    • They became a grievous snare.
36. 1:36
    • The place was an ambush against the sanctuary.
    • It was an evil adversary to Israel.
37. 1:37
    • They shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary.
    • They defiled the sanctuary.
38. 1:38
    • The inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them.
    • The city became a dwelling of strangers.
    • The city became foreign to those born in her.
    • Her own children left her.
39. 1:39
    • Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness.
    • Her feasts were turned into mourning.
    • Her sabbaths were turned into reproach.
    • Her honour was turned into contempt.
40. 1:40
    • Her dishonour was increased in proportion to her former glory.
    • Her exaltation was turned into mourning.
41. 1:41
    • King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom.
    • He wrote that all should be one people.
42. 1:42
    • He wrote that each one should abandon his own laws.
    • All the nations agreed according to the word of the king.
43. 1:43
    • Many of the Israelites consented to his worship.
    • They sacrificed to idols.
    • They profaned the sabbath.
44. 1:44
    • The king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.
    • The letters commanded them to follow laws foreign to the land.
45. 1:45
    • The letters commanded that burnt offerings, sacrifice, and drink offerings be forbidden in the sanctuary.
    • The letters commanded that they profane the sabbaths and the feasts.
46. 1:46
    • The letters commanded that they pollute the sanctuary and the holy ones.
47. 1:47
    • The letters commanded that they build altars, sacred precincts, and shrines for idols.
    • The letters commanded that they sacrifice swine's flesh and unclean animals.
48. 1:48
    • The letters commanded that they leave their sons uncircumcised.
    • The letters commanded that they make their souls abominable with every uncleanness and profanation.
49. 1:49
    • The purpose was that they might forget the law.
    • The purpose was that they might change all the ordinances.
50. 1:50
    • Whoever would not act according to the word of the king was to die.
51. 1:51
    • The king wrote in this same manner to his whole kingdom.
    • He appointed overseers over all the people.
    • He commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city.
52. 1:52
    • Many of the people gathered to them.
    • Those who gathered were everyone who had forsaken the law.
    • They did evil things in the land.
53. 1:53
    • They drove the Israelites into hiding places.
    • The Israelites hid wherever they could find refuge.
54. 1:54
    • On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they set up an abomination of desolation upon the altar.
    • They built idol altars in the cities of Judah on every side.
55. 1:55
    • They burned incense at the doors of the houses.
    • They burned incense in the streets.
56. 1:56
    • They tore in pieces the books of the law that they found.
    • They burned the books with fire.
57. 1:57
    • Anyone found with a book of the covenant was condemned.
    • Anyone who consented to the law was condemned.
    • The king's sentence was that such a person be put to death.
58. 1:58
    • They acted so by their power against the Israelites.
    • They did this month by month.
    • They did it to as many as were found in the cities.
59. 1:59
    • On the twenty-fifth day of the month they sacrificed on the idol altar.
    • The idol altar was upon the altar of burnt offering.
60. 1:60
    • They put to death certain women according to the commandment.
    • Those women had had their children circumcised.
61. 1:61
    • They hung the infants from their necks.
    • They plundered their houses.
    • They killed those who had circumcised the children.
62. 1:62
    • Many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves.
    • They resolved not to eat any unclean thing.
63. 1:63
    • They chose to die rather than be defiled with food.
    • They chose to die rather than profane the holy covenant.
    • They died.
64. 1:64
    • Very great wrath came upon Israel.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

"Chettiim" is the Greek form of Kittim, originally the people of Kition on Cyprus, and later a broad Jewish name for the lands and peoples across the sea to the west, here Macedonia and Greece. Darius is Darius III, the last king of the Persian empire, whom Alexander defeated in a series of battles between 333 and 331 BC. "The first over Greece" means the first to rule a Greek empire of this kind; Alexander's father Philip had already made Macedon master of the Greek cities.

1:3

"His heart was lifted up" is a fixed biblical phrase for arrogance, not for high spirits. "The earth was quiet before him" means resistance had stopped, that is, the world lay subdued.

1:4

Tribute was the regular payment an empire required from the peoples under it, part tax and part public admission of submission.

1:6

Alexander died in 323 BC leaving no heir able to rule, and his generals fought over the empire and split it into rival kingdoms. That he handed it out himself while still alive is how this writer tells it; other ancient accounts describe the division differently.

1:7

Alexander reigned from 336 to 323 BC and died at about thirty-two.

1:8

Alexander's helpers cut his huge kingdom into pieces. Each man ruled one piece by himself.

1:9

Putting a crown on your own head meant claiming the title of king in your own right, rather than governing a province on someone else's behalf.

1:10

Antiochus IV, who ruled the Seleucid kingdom centered on Syria and Mesopotamia. "Epiphanes" is a royal title he took meaning roughly "[the god] made visible." He had lived at Rome as a hostage, one of the royal relatives handed over to guarantee the treaty Rome imposed on his father Antiochus III after defeating him. "A wicked root" is a plant image: a shoot growing out of that family stock. The dates in this book count from the start of the Seleucid kingdom in 312/311 BC, so the hundred thirty-seventh year is 175 BC.

1:11

"The heathen" here translates a Greek word meaning simply the nations, that is, everyone who is not Jewish; it carries no suggestion of savagery. The covenant these men propose to set aside is the agreement binding Israel to God, whose visible marks were circumcision, sabbath keeping and the food laws. Those marks were exactly what kept Jews socially separate from their neighbors, which is what "since we departed from them" refers to.

1:13

The king's "licence" was formal royal permission, in practice permission to reorganize Jerusalem along the lines of a Greek city with Greek institutions.

1:14

A gymnasium was the center of Greek civic life: an exercise ground, school and social club where young men trained, competed and were educated. Building one was not simply a matter of sport; it was adopting the whole Greek way of forming citizens.

1:15

Athletes at a gymnasium trained and competed naked, so circumcision was visible and drew Greek ridicule. Some Jewish men underwent a painful surgical procedure to restore the appearance of a foreskin. Since circumcision was the bodily sign of the covenant, this was understood as formally renouncing it.

1:16

Antiochus ruled the Seleucid kingdom, stretching from Syria into Mesopotamia. Egypt was ruled by a rival Greek dynasty, the Ptolemies. The two had fought over Palestine, which lay between them, for over a century.

1:17

War elephants were the heavy weaponry of the age, used by Greek armies to break infantry lines and to panic horses that had never met them.

1:18

Ptolemy VI, then a young king under the control of his ministers. "Put to shame" means defeated in the field, not embarrassed.

1:20

The hundred forty-third year of the Seleucid count is 169 BC.

1:21

The sanctuary is the temple in Jerusalem. The golden altar stood inside the building and was used for burning incense; it was a different object from the large altar in the courtyard outside where animals were offered. The lampstand is the seven-branched lamp kept burning in the temple.

1:22

The KJV's "shewbread" is bread set out, twelve loaves laid on a table in the sanctuary and replaced each week. "Pouring vessels" held the wine poured out as an offering; "vials" are bowls; "censers" are dishes for burning incense. The veil was the heavy curtain screening the innermost room. "Pulled off" describes stripping the gold plating from the temple front.

1:24

"Spoken very proudly" refers to boastful, contemptuous speech, the standard biblical way of describing a conqueror who thinks himself above any god or law.

1:26

The list is a conventional picture of national mourning. "The beauty of women was changed" means they left off ornament and their faces were altered by grief.

1:27

The marriage chamber is the room prepared for a bride. A wedding was the high point of public joy, so wedding songs turning into laments is the usual way of saying that all celebration had stopped.

1:28

"The house of Jacob" is the people of Israel spoken of as one family descended from the patriarch Jacob.

1:29

The Greek title is literally "chief of the Mysians," probably the commander of mercenary troops from Mysia in Asia Minor; ancient copyists and the KJV read it instead as chief collector of tribute. The account in 2 Maccabees names the officer Apollonius.

1:33

The city of David is the older southern ridge of Jerusalem, overlooking the temple from close by. The fortress built there, known as the Akra, held a foreign garrison for more than twenty years and dominated the temple courts.

1:34

"A sinful nation, wicked men" describes the garrison: foreign soldiers together with Jews who had abandoned the law.

1:35

"Victuals" is food stores. "A sore snare" means a grievous trap, something that lay waiting to catch them.

1:37

Bloodshed made a holy place ritually unclean in Jewish law, so killing around the temple did not merely horrify, it put the building out of use for worship until it could be cleansed.

1:39

The sabbath is the seventh day, kept free of work. Feasts are the fixed annual festivals with their pilgrimages and sacrifices.

1:41

Ancient empires normally let subject peoples keep their own laws and gods, which is why a decree that everyone adopt one set of customs is presented here as something extraordinary.

1:43

To profane something is to treat as ordinary what has been set apart, in this case working and trading on the sabbath as on any other day.

1:45

A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar; a drink offering was wine poured out. Sacrifice every morning and evening was the fixed core of temple worship, so forbidding it shut the temple down as a working institution.

1:46

The Greek can mean the priests, who were consecrated for temple service, or the people of Israel as a whole, who were also called holy; the wording leaves it open.

1:47

"Groves" here renders a word for pagan sacred enclosures or temples. Pigs were among the animals Jewish law forbids as food, so forcing pig sacrifice was a deliberate test of loyalty. "Unclean beasts" means the animals the law rules out of the diet, not animals that are dirty.

1:48

Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Stopping the practice would end the covenant sign within a single generation.

1:51

The overseers were royal inspectors appointed to see the decree carried out locally, town by town.

1:54

Casleu, usually spelled Chislev, is the ninth month of the Jewish year, falling in late November and December; the hundred forty-fifth year is December 167 BC. "The abomination of desolation" is a phrase borrowed from the book of Daniel. The Greek words mean a detestable thing that leaves a place ruined and deserted, and the phrase may play on the name of a foreign god, "lord of heaven." In practice it was a pagan altar or cult object erected on top of the great altar of sacrifice.

1:55

Burning incense at house doors and in the streets brought the new worship out of the temple and into every household, so that conformity could be seen by the neighbors.

1:56

The books of the law were handwritten scrolls of the first five books of the Bible. Each one was expensive and slow to produce, so destroying them struck at a community's whole supply of its own text.

1:57

"The book of the testament" is the KJV's phrase for the book of the covenant, meaning a scroll of the law. Simply possessing one carried the death penalty.

1:58

"By their authority" means by armed force under royal warrant, and "every month" points to regular sweeps through the towns rather than a single raid.

1:59

The twenty-fifth of Chislev. Exactly three years later Judas Maccabeus cleansed the temple and dedicated a new altar on the same date, which is the origin of the festival of Hanukkah.

1:61

The dead infants were hung from their mothers' necks as the women were led out to die. "Rifled" means ransacked and stripped of everything of value.

1:62

"Unclean" means food that the law forbids, pork above all. Under the decree, eating it was the public act by which conformity was demonstrated, so refusing it became the plain test of loyalty.

1:64

In biblical usage "wrath" often names the disaster itself rather than an emotion; the sentence says that a catastrophe of the first order had fallen on the nation.