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Easton's Bible Dictionary
This word does not occur in Scripture. It was the name
given to the leaders of the national party among the Jews who suffered in the
persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded to the Syrian throne B.C.
175. It is supposed to have been derived from the Hebrew word (makkabah) meaning
"hammer," as suggestive of the heroism and power of this Jewish family, who are,
however, more properly called Asmoneans or Hasmonaeans, the origin of which is
much disputed.
After the expulsion of Antiochus Epiphanes from Egypt by the Romans, he gave vent
to his indignation on the Jews, great numbers of whom he mercilessly put to death
in Jerusalem. He oppressed them in every way, and tried to abolish altogether
the Jewish worship. Mattathias, an aged priest, then residing at Modin, a city
to the west of Jerusalem, became now the courageous leader of the national party;
and having fled to the mountains, rallied round him a large band of men prepared
to fight and die for their country and for their religion, which was now violently
suppressed. In 1
Maccabees 2:60 (2:50)
is recorded his dying counsels to his sons with reference to the war they were
now to carry on. His son Judas, "the Maccabee," succeeded him (B.C. 166) as the
leader in directing the war of independence, which was carried on with great heroism
on the part of the Jews, and was terminated in the defeat of the Syrians.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(a hammer) This title, which was originally the surname
of Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias, was afterward extended to the heroic
family of which he was one of the noblest representatives. Asmonaeans or Hasmonaeans
is the Proper name of the family, which is derived from Cashmon, great grandfather
of Mattathias. The Maccabees were a family of Jews who resisted the authority
of Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria and his successors who had usurped authority
over the Jews, conquered Jerusalem, and strove to introduce idolatrous worship.
The standard of independence was first raised by Mattathias, a priest of the course
of Joiarih. He seems, however, to have been already advanced in years when the
rising was made, and he did not long survive the fatigues of active service. He
died B.C. 166, having named Judas --apparently his third son--as his successor
in directing the war of independence. After gaining several victories over the
other generals of Antiochus, Judas was able to occupy Jerusalem except the "tower,"
and purified the temple exactly three years after its profanation. Nicanor was
defeated, first at Capharsalama, and again in a decisive battle at Adasa B.C.
161, where he was slain. This victory was the greatest of Judas successes, and
practically decided the question of Jewish independence; but shortly after Judas
fell at Eleasa, fighting at desperate odds against the invaders. After the death
of Judas, Jonathan his brother succeeded to the command, and later assumed the
high-priestly office. He died B.C. 144, and was succeeded by Simon the last remaining
brother of the Maccabaean family, who died B.C. 135. The efforts of both brothers
were crowned with success. On the death of Simon, Johannes Hyrcanus, one of his
sons, at once assumed the government, B.C. 135, and met with a peaceful death
B.C. 105. His eldest son, Aristobulus I., who succeeded him B.C. 105-101, was
the first who assumed the kingly title, though Simon had enjoyed the fullness
of the kingly power. Alexander Jannaeus was the next successor B.C. 104-78. Aristobulus
II. and Hyrcanus III. engaged in a civil war On the death of their mother, Alexandra,
B.C. 78-69, resulting in the dethronement of Aristobulus II., B.C. 69-69, and
the succession of Hyrcanus under Roman rule but without his kingly title, B.C.
63-40. From B.C. 40 to B.C. 37 Antigonus, a son of Aristobulus II., ruled, and
with his two grandchildren, Aristobulus and Mariurnne, the Asmonaean dynasty ended.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
mak-a-be'-us (Makkabaios), mak'-a-bez (hoi Makkabaioi):
The name Maccabeus was first applied to Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias generally
called in English the Maccabees, a celebrated family who defended Jewish rights
and customs in the 2nd century BC (1 Macc 2:1 - 3). The word has been variously
derived (e.g. as the initial letters of Mi Khamokha, Ba-'elim Yahweh! "Who is
like unto thee among the mighty, O Yahweh ?"), but it is probably best associated
with maqqabhah "hammer," and as applied to Judas may be compared with the malleus
Scotorum and malleus haereticorum of the Middle Ages (see next article). To understand
the work of the Maccabees, it is necessary to take note of the relation in which
the Jews and Palestine stood at the time to the immediately neighboring nations.
I. PALESTINE UNDER KINGS OF SYRIA
1. Rivalry of Syria and Egypt:
On the division of Alexander's empire at his death in the year 323 BC, Palestine
became a sort of buffer state between Egypt under the Ptolemies on the South,
and Syria, under the house of Seleucus, the last survivor of Alexander's generals,
on the North. The kings of Syria, as the Seleucid kings are generally called,
though their dominion extended practically from the Mediterranean Sea to India,
had not all the same name, like the Ptolemies of Egypt, though most of them were
called either Seleucus or Antiochus. For a hundred years after the death of Alexander,
the struggle went on as to which of the two powers was to govern Palestine, until
in the year 223 came the northern prince under whom Palestine was destined to
fall to the Seleucids for good.
2. Palestine Seized by Antiochus the Great:
This was Antiochus III, commonly known as Antiochus the Great. He waged two campaigns
against Egypt for the possession of Palestine, finally gaining the upper hand
in the year 198 BC by his victory at Panium, so called from its proximity to a
sanctuary of the god Pan, a spot close to the sources of the Jordan and still
called Banias. The Jews helped Antiochus to gain the victory and, according to
Josephus, his rule was accepted by the Jews with good will. It is with him and
his successors that the Jews have now to deal. Antiochus, it should be noticed,
came in contact with the Romans after their conquest of Macedonia in 197, and
was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at Magnesia in 190. He came under heavy tribute
which he found it difficult to pay, and met his end in 187, while plundering a
Greek temple in order to secure its contents. His son and successor Seleucus IV
was murdered by his prime minister Heliodorus in 176-175 BC, who reaped no benefit
from his crime.
3. Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes:
The brother of the murdered king succeeded to the throne as Antiochus IV, generally
known as Antiochus Epiphanes ("the Illustrious"), a typical eastern ruler of considerable
practical ability, but whose early training while a hostage at Rome had made him
an adept in dissimulation. Educated in the fashionable Hellenism of the day, he
made it his aim during his reign (175-164 BC) to enforce it upon his empire a
policy which brought him into conflict with the Jews. Even before his reign many
Jews had yielded to the attraction of Greek thought and custom, and the accession
of a ruler like Antiochus Epiphanes greatly increased the drift in that direction,
as will be found described in the article dealing with the period between the
Old and the New Testaments (see BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS). Pious Jews meanwhile,
men faithful to the Jewish tradition, Chasidim (see HASIDAEANS), as they were
called, resisted this tendency, and in the end were driven to armed resistance
against the severe oppression practiced by Antiochus in advancing his Hellenizing
views.
See ASMONEANS. |
II. PALESTINE UNDER THE MACCABEES
1. Mattathias:
Mattathias, a priest of the first 24 courses and therefore of the noblest who
dwelt at Modin, a city of Judah, was the first to strike a blow. With his own
hand he slew a Jew at Modin who was willing to offer the idolatrous sacrifices
ordered by the king, and also Apelles, the leader of the king's messengers (1
Macc 2:15-28). He fled with his sons to the mountains (168 BC), where he organized
a successful resistance; but being of advanced age and unfit for the fatigue of
active service, he died in 166 BC and was buried "in the sepulchres of his fathers"
at Modin (1 Macc 2:70; Josephus, Ant, XII, vi, 3). He apparently named as his
successor his 3rd son, Judas, though it was with real insight that on his deathbed
he recommended the four brothers to take Simon as their counselor (1 Macc 2:65).
2. Judas:
Judas, commonly called Judas Maccabeus--often called in 2 Maccabees "Judas the
Maccabee"--held strongly the opinions of his father and proved at least a very
capable leader in guerrilla warfare. He defeated several of the generals of Antiochus--Apollonius
at Beth-horon, part of the army of Lysias at Emmaus (166 BC), and Lysias himself
at Bethsura the following year. He took possession of Jerusalem, except the "Tower,"
where he was subsequently besieged and hard pressed by Lysias and the young king
Antiochus Eupator in 163 BC; but quarrels among the Syrian generals secured relief
and liberty of religion to the Jews which, however, proved of short duration.
The Hellenizing Jews, with ALCIMUS (which see) at their head, secured the favor
of the king, who sent Nicanor against Judas. The victory over Nicanor first at
Capharsalama and later (161 BC) at Adasa near Beth-horon, in which engagement
Nicanor was slain, was the greatest of Judas' successes and practically secured
the independence of the Jews. The attempt of Judas to negotiate an alliance with
the Romans, who had now serious interests in these regions, caused much dissatisfaction
among his followers; and their defection at Elasa (161 BC), during the invasion
under Bacchides, which was undertaken before the answer of the Roman Senate arrived,
was the cause of the defeat and death of Judas in battle. His body was buried
"in the sepulchres of his fathers" at Modin. There is no proof that Judas held
the office of high priest like his father Mattathias. (An interesting and not
altogether favorable estimate of Judas and of the spiritual import of the revolt
will be found in Jerusalem under the High Priests, 97-99, by E.R. Bevan, London,
1904.)
3. Jonathan:
Jonathan (called Apphus, "the wary"), the youngest of the sons of Mattathias,
succeeded Judas, whose defeat and death had left the patriotic party in a deplorable
condition from which it was rescued by the skill and ability of Jonathan, aided
largely by the rivalries among the competitors for the Syrian throne. It was in
reality from these rivalries that resulted the 65 years (129-64 BC) of the completely
independent rule of the Hasmonean dynasty (see ASMONEANS) that elapsed between
the Greek supremacy of the Syrian kings and the Roman supremacy established by
Pompey. The first step toward the recovery of the patriots was the permission
granted them by Demetrius I to return to Judea in 158 BC--the year in which Bacchides
ended an unsuccessful campaign against Jonathan and in fact accepted the terms
of the latter. After his departure, Jonathan "judged the people at Michmash" (1
Macc 9:73). Jonathan was even authorized to reenter Jerusalem and to maintain
a military force, only the "Tower" the Akra, as it was called in Greek, being
held by a Syrian garrison.
See further under ASMONEANS; LACEDAEMONIANS; TRYPHON.
4. Simon:
Simon, surnamed Thassi ("the zealous"?) was now the only surviving member of the
original Maccabean family, and he readily took up the inheritance. Tryphon murdered
the boy-king Antiochus Dionysus and seized the throne of Seleucus, although having
no connection with the Seleucid family. Simon accordingly broke entirely with
Tryphon after making successful overtures to Demetrius, who granted the fullest
immunity from all the dues that had marked the Seleucid supremacy. Even the golden
crown, which had to be paid on the investiture of a new high priest, was now remitted.
On the 23rd of Ijjar (May), 141, the patriots entered even the Akra "with praise
and palm branches, and with harps, and with cymbals and with viols, and with hymns,
and with songs" (1 Macc 13:51). Simon was declared in a Jewish assembly to be
high priest and chief of the people "for ever, until there should arise a prophet
worthy of credence" (1 Macc 14:41), a limitation that was felt to be necessary
on account of the departure of the people from the Divine appointment of the high
priests of the old line and one that practically perpetuated the high-priesthood
in the family of Simon. Even a new era was started, of which the high-priesthood
of Simon was to be year 1, and this was really the foundation of the Hasmonean
dynasty (see ASMONEANS).
5. John Hyrcanus:
John Hyrcanus, one of the sons of Simon, escaped from the plot laid by Ptolemy,
and succeeded his father, both as prince and high priest. See ASMONEANS. He was
succeeded (104 BC) by his son Aristobulus I who took the final step of assuming
the title of king.
6. John and Eleazar:
Two members of the first generation of the Maccabean family still remain to be
mentioned:
(1) John, the eldest, surnamed Gaddis (the King James Version
"Caddis"), probably meaning "my fortune," was murdered by a marauding tribe, the
sons of JAMBRI (which see), near Medeba, on the East of the Jordan, when engaged
upon the convoy of some property of the Maccabees to the friendly country of the
Nabateans (1 Macc 9:35-42).
(2) Eleazar, surnamed Avaran, met his death (161 BC) in the early stage of the
Syrian war, shortly before the death of Judas. In the battle of Bethzacharias
(163 BC), in which the Jews for the first time met elephants in war, he stabbed
from below the elephants on which he supposed the young king was riding. He killed
the elephant but he was himself crushed to death by its fall (1 Macc 6:43-46).
For the further history of the Hasmonean dynasty, see ASMONEANS; MACCABEES,
BOOKS OF. |
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LITERATURE
There is a copious literature on the Maccabees, a family to which history shows
few, if any, parallels of such united devotion to a sacred cause. The main authorities
are of course the Maccabean Books of the Apocrypha; but special reference may
be made to the chapters of Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church,
dealing with the subject, and to E.R. Bevan. Jerusalem under the High Priests,
1904, or to the 2nd volume of House of Seleucus by the same author, 1902.
J. Hutchison
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, eleazar, family, jews, john hyrcanus, jonathan, judas, maccabees, makkabaios, simon
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