2,285 related texts · Page 36 of 48
It's more than just latkes and dreidels. It's a story of courage, faith, and a miraculous victory against all odds. But where do we really get the details of that story? We all kno...
The First Book of Maccabees gives us a glimpse into just that—the tragic events leading up to the Maccabean revolt. It paints a vivid, almost painful picture of the moment when the...
The Book of Maccabees I gives us a stark glimpse. Imagine this: a decree echoes across the land, reaching every corner of the kingdom. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid king, is...
Mattathias, father of the Maccabees, certainly felt that way. Our story isn't from the Hebrew Bible we know as the Tanakh. This comes from the First Book of Maccabees, part of the ...
That feeling isn't new. It echoes across millennia, resonating with stories like the one we find in the Book of Maccabees. Imagine the scene: The Temple in Jerusalem, the very hear...
That’s what faced Judah Maccabee and his followers as they finally reached the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Let’s set the scene. The year is roughly 164 BCE. After...
That’s the feeling that pulses through the First Book of Maccabees as Judas Maccabeus sets about reclaiming the desecrated Temple in Jerusalem. The story is a raw, visceral account...
The Temple in Jerusalem, once defiled, was now back in Jewish hands. But it was in ruins. Imagine the scene: broken stones, desecrated spaces, a palpable sense of loss hanging in t...
Let’s peek into a moment of incredible renewal – the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been defiled. We find this story not in the Hebrew Bible as we know it, bu...
That’s the kind of energy we’re diving into today, straight from the heart of the Maccabean story. Our scene comes from the Book of Maccabees I, chapter 4. The Maccabees, a small b...
That’s exactly the situation Judas Maccabeus and his band of rebels found themselves in, as recounted in the Book of Maccabees. Imagine the scene: Judas and his men are facing a fo...
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...
It's actually a fascinating glimpse into the political and religious realities of the time. to a passage from the Book of Maccabees I, chapter 10, where we hear about a royal decre...
Times were tough. The Maccabees, that heroic family, were leading a revolt against the Seleucid Empire, who were trying to Hellenize Judea – to force Greek culture and religion upo...
We find him at a pivotal moment in the First Book of Maccabees. The land of Israel is in turmoil. The Hasmoneans, that legendary family of Jewish warriors, have been fighting tooth...
This passage from The Book of Maccabees I, Chapter 14, offers a snapshot of his leadership and the relative peace he brought to the land. : the land had been under Seleucid Greek r...
We're turning to the Book of Maccabees I, a historical text not included in the Hebrew Bible, but valued for its account of the Maccabean revolt. Specifically, we're looking at cha...
This one involves a king, a temple, and a whole lot of stones. We find ourselves in the story told in 2 Maccabees, specifically 2 Maccabees 1. Now, 2 Maccabees isn't actually in th...
The story centers around Nehemiah, a pivotal figure in Jewish history, known for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. But this isn't about bricks and mortar. This is about rekindling...
That feeling, that raw, desperate plea, it's woven deep into the fabric of Jewish history. And it echoes powerfully in the Second Book of Maccabees. This book, part of the Apocryph...
Specifically, the fire of divine approval. The Second Book of Maccabees, a historical and religious text not included in the Hebrew Bible but important for understanding the Second...
It’s a longing, a hope so fervent it practically vibrates off the page. This ancient text, not included in the Tanakh but preserved in the Septuagint, gives us a glimpse into the h...
The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), fills in some fascinating details. So, Terah, Avram's father, takes Av...
While not part of the accepted biblical canon, Jasher (meaning "Upright" or "Correct Record") offers a fascinating, if sometimes embellished, account of biblical events. And Chapte...
The chapter opens with Jacob finishing his seven years of service to Laban, all for the hand of Rachel. The wedding day arrives, a feast is prepared, and everyone gathers to celebr...
Book of Jasher, a fascinating, albeit non-canonical, work that expands upon biblical narratives. According to Jasher, Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, reaching the ripe ol...
We know him as the great leader, the lawgiver, the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt. But what about his birth, his infancy, those perilous first months? The Book of Jasher, ...
The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), fills in some of those gaps. It's like a behind-the-scenes look at the...
We know about Mount Sinai, the thunder, the lightning, the booming voice... but what about the days that followed?Book of Jasher and see what unfolded. The story picks up right aft...
We all know about the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, and even receiving the Ten Commandments. But what about the nitty-gritty details of setting up their new life, their new r...
The War Scroll doesn't just predict a cosmic battle—it choreographs one. Columns 7 through 9 of the scroll lay out the most elaborate angelic military operation in all of Jewish li...
At nearly nine meters long, the Temple Scroll (Megillat HaMikdash, מגילת המקדש) is the longest of all the Dead Sea Scrolls. Found in Cave 11, it may date from the late 2nd century ...
The New Jerusalem text survives only in fragments from multiple Qumran caves, but what remains is extraordinary: a guided tour of the eschatological Jerusalem, the city that will e...
The Hebrew Bible names Adam's famous sons. But the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, names the ones you have never heard ...
After the Tower of Babel, the descendants of the nations scattered into separate companies. The Kittim settled in the plain of Campania by the river Tiber, while the children of Tu...
The quarrel between Korah and Moses began with a poor woman and her single ewe-lamb. She fed the lamb from her own bread and let it drink from her own cup. When she sheared its woo...
The fall of Babylon began with a friendship and ended with a finger. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, G...
Daniel stood before King Belshazzar of Babylon and delivered the verdict no ruler wants to hear. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled ...
Darius summoned Daniel to test his wisdom and found him seven times wiser than any report had claimed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle tra...
The story of Israel's return from exile reads like a cascade of empires, each rising and falling at breathtaking speed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Heb...
The betrayal came from within. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, a man named Simeon from the tribe of Ben...
Ptolemy of Egypt was a book collector. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the Macedonian king who ruled Eg...
The persecution was methodical and savage. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, Phillipos, the officer left ...
Seven brothers and their mother were seized and brought before King Antiochus. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster i...
Antiochus Eupator, son of the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, inherited his father's hatred of the Jews. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle pre...
The stone god fell on its face. That was the beginning of everything. Abraham worked in his father's idol shop. Every day he carved gods out of stone and wood and metal for Terah, ...
The boy dragged the demon Ornias to the palace gates. The spirit stood there shuddering, trembling, crying out and offering silver and gold to anyone who would free him. But no one...
The thirty-sixth and final zodiac demon, Bianakith, confessed: "I lay waste houses and cause flesh to decay. But if a man writes certain holy names on the front door of his home, I...
