955 related texts · Page 104 of 107
That’s the kind of raw, desperate place we find ourselves in at the beginning of the story of Mattathias and the Maccabees. The Book of Maccabees I plunges us into a world where Je...
That's the picture painted for us in the Book of Maccabees I. The story picks up with a group holed up in the tower – a strategic stronghold that allowed them to harass and threate...
Bacchides, a Syrian general, having installed Alcimus in charge, heads back to the king. It seems like a moment of relative calm, but beneath the surface, things are far from peace...
But that feeling is what drove the Maccabees to do something truly audacious, something we still talk about today. The First Book of Maccabees, a historical text not included in th...
Specifically, let’s look at a snippet from Chapter 9. It’s a tense moment, dripping with political maneuvering. The text opens with a reference to the evils that Demetrius— that's ...
We're in Jerusalem, a city already reeling from conflict. The Seleucid Empire holds sway, and the Jewish people are struggling to maintain their traditions. In the midst of this tu...
After years of war and strife, the Maccabees were looking for lasting peace and autonomy for Judea. And in 1 Maccabees 11, we see Jonathan, the leader of the Maccabees after his br...
Our story unfolds in 1 Maccabees 12, a fascinating glimpse into the political maneuvering of Jonathan the High Priest. Remember him? He was one of the key figures in the Maccabean ...
It wasn't all that different from today, really — a mix of strategic interests, personal relationships, and, of course, good old-fashioned diplomacy. Let’s take a peek into The Boo...