Sacred Texts with Dr. Martin Sicker: Book of Maccabees

The two Books of the Maccabees, which are known to us only by their inclusion in the Christian Apochrypha, are the oldest existing works describing the history of the period that saw the emergence of the Hasmonean dynasty and the struggle for Jewish self-determination in Palestine in the second century B.C.E.   1 Maccabee, originally written in Hebrew about the year 130 B.C.E. by an anonymous author living in Judaea, provides the historical basis for the holiday of Hannukah.  2 Maccabee, originally written in Greek by a Jew living in Alexandria (Egypt) or Antioch (Syria), covers the same historical period, but from a different religious perspective that is reflected in the changing liturgy for the holiday.  When it was composed is a matter of controversy, varying between about 130 B.C.E., 38-34 B.C.E., and 41-44 C.E. In this study session, the complex geopolitics of the period described in these works will be explored, as will the reasons why these books concerning the important historical festival of Hannukah, the only non-biblical holiday in the Hebrew calendar, are treated differently than the Book of Esther, celebrating an arguably less significant event in Jewish history.

Dr. Martin Sicker is a writer and lecturer on the Middle East and Jewish history and religion. His is the author of forty-seven previous books including Reading Genesis Politically, The Trials of Abraham, The Ordeals of Isaac and Jacob, The Exodus and the Reluctant Prophet, The Convocation at Sinai, The Theopolitical Discourses of Moses, The Book of Daniel, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, and The Book of Joshua