II Maccabees Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eastern Orthodox

Neither I nor II Maccabees are part of the Jewish Bible canon, nor are they found in most Protestant Bible canons. Protestants use the Hebrew Bible canon but further subdivide the books. I and II Maccabees can be found in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons, however, and were included in the Greek Septuagint, which contains the earliest Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible as well as various apocryphal and deuterocanonical books.

Answer: yes

In the KJV, II Maccabees begins: "The brethren, the Jews that be at Jerusalem and in the land of Judea, wish unto the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt health and peace..."

The books were translated and included in a special section in the original 1611 King James Bible. This section was positioned between the Old and New Testaments, which also contained genealogies and maps. The Anglican position on these books lies somewhere between that of the Catholics and other Protestants: Anglicans regard them as edifying and kept them as intertestamental readings but insist that no doctrine should be based upon them.

Answer: Greek

While historical and stylistic evidence indicates I Maccabees was originally written in Hebrew, the style of II Maccabees suggests it was first written in Koine Greek, according to both the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Britannica. Jerome, who translated the Scriptures into Latin, in his "Preface to The Books of Samuel and Kings" writes, "The first book of Maccabees I have found to be Hebrew, the second is Greek, as can be proved from the very style."

Answer: Jason of Cyrene

"All this, detailed by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we will try to condense into a single book " (II Maccabees 2:23, NABRE).

This longer work is no longer in existence. A Hellenistic Jew, Jason of Cyrene most likely lived around 100 B.C.

Answer: Resurrection of the dead

The Pharisees were a school/movement of Judaism during the time of Second Temple, and after the Temple's destruction, their perspective became the dominate one in Judaism and the foundation for Rabbinic Judaism. Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day and accepted the oral Torah. Baptism for the dead is a practice of the Latter Day Saints movement (Mormons), though the Pharisees did offer prayer for the dead, and this practice is mentioned in II Maccabees:

"...for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin" (12:44-46, NABRE).

Answer: Nicanor

Nicanor, a Syrian-Seleucid General under Antiochus Epiphanes and later Demetrius Soter, was appointed governor of Judea by Demetrius and chosen to slay Judas Maccabees. But, according to II Maccabees, "Judas hung Nicanor's head and arm on the wall of the citadel, a clear and evident sign to all of the Lord's help" (15:35, NABRE).

Answer: Adar

"By public vote it was unanimously decreed never to let this day pass unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic, the eve of Mordecai's Day" (2 Maccabees 15:36, NABRE).

Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Persian empire, as recounted in the Book of Esther. Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish new year. Sukkot is the Feast of Tabernacles.

Answer: Onias

Aaron was the high priest in the time of Moses, and Eleazar was his son. Caiaphas was the high priest during Jesus's adulthood. Onias III was the High Priest during the Second Temple period when II Maccabees is set, and he opposed the Hellenization of Judea. But when Antiochus IV became king in 175 B.C., Onias had to yield to his brother, Jason, who was a Hellenizer.

2 Maccabees 15:12 describes Onias thus: "Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence" (RSVA).

Answer: A golden sword

"And Onias spoke, saying, 'This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God.' Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed him thus: 'Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike down your adversaries.' Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking manliness in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter, by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger" (II Maccabees 15:14-17, RSVA).

Answer: Creation ex nihilo

"Ex nihilo," which is Latin for "out of nothing," is a doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by an uncaused cause. This is in contrast to other ancient creation myths in which the universe is formed from some pre-existing matter, such as the formless matter of chaos or the waters.

This alternate perspective is referred to as "ex nihilo nihil fit," which means "nothing comes from nothing."