I Maccabees Trivia Quiz

Answer: It was written between the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.

The original Hebrew version of the book is lost, and it survives only in Greek translation through the Septuagint, but Origen of Alexandria and Jerome both attest to the first book of Maccabees having been written in Hebrew.

In addition to the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches (except for the Orthodox Tewahedo) also consider the book canonical, but most Protestant denominations do not consider it to be canonical.

The incorrect descriptor here is the time of writing. Although it is not known precisely when 1 Maccabees was written, it was certainly in existence before the 2nd century A.D. Most scholars date it in the late second century B.C.

Answer: Hanukkah

Leviticus 16:29 mandates the establishment of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The origins of Passover are to be found in the Book of Exodus, and the origins of Purim are found in Esther.

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights commemorating the rededication of the second temple at the time of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. In 1 Macc. 4:59, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers institute the holiday: "Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev" (NRSV).

Answer: Antiochus IV

Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire who ruled from 175 to 164 BC. He persecuted the Jews of Samaria and Judea, which culminated in the rebellion of the Maccabees. 1 Maccabees covers this revolt, which occurred from 175 to 134 BC.

Answer: Mattathias ben Johanan

The liberation of the Jewish people at this time of persecution came through Mattathias's sons Judas Maccabeus, Simon Thassi, Eleazar Avaran, John Gaddi, and Jonathan Apphus. Consequently, Mattathias ben Johanan, who was a rural Jewish priest (Kohen), is named in the prayer that Jews add to the grace after meals during the eight days of the Hanukkah festival.

Answer: Alexander the Great

"After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip's son, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first ruled in Greece. He fought many battles, captured fortresses, and put the kings of the earth to death. . . But after all this he took to his bed, realizing that he was going to die" (1 Maccabees 1:1-5, NABRE).

Alexander the Great was then succeeded by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who captured Jerusalem and removed sacred objects from the temple. He slaughtered Jews, imposed a tax, and established a fortress in Jerusalem.

Answer: Sacrificing unclean animals on the altar

Antiochus IV established what the Book of Daniel refers to as the "abomination of desolation," replacing the offerings to Yahweh with pagan offerings, establishing pagan rites, and sacrificing unclean animals on the altar:

"On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, the king erected the desolating abomination upon the altar of burnt offerings . . . On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the pagan altar that was over the altar of burnt offerings" (1 Maccabees 1:54-59, NABRE).

Antiochus IV also forbade circumcision, the reading of Jewish scriptures, and observing the sabbath. He forbade the Jews to offer sacrifices in the Temple and required their leaders to sacrifice to idols.

Answer: Fight on the Sabbath day

This occurs in 1 Maccabees 2:34-38:

"The pursuers said to them, 'Enough of this! Come out and obey the king's command, and you will live.' But they replied, 'We will not come out, nor will we obey the king's command to profane the sabbath.' Then the enemy attacked them at once. But they did not retaliate; they neither threw stones, nor blocked up their secret refuges. They said, 'Let us all die in innocence; heaven and earth are our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly.' So the officers and soldiers attacked them on the sabbath, and they died with their wives, their children and their animals, to the number of a thousand persons" (NABRE).

After this terrible loss, the surviving Jews reason they must fight even on the holy day if attacked. The Temple is freed and re-consecrated in 165 BC, and ritual sacrifices resume.

Answer: False

Although primarily written as a prose narrative, the text of 1 Maccabees also includes seven sections of poetry, including hymns of praise and laments. An example of one of these laments may be found in 1 Maccabees 2: 7 - 13:

"Woe is me! Why was I born
to see the ruin of my people,
the ruin of the holy city-
To dwell there
as it was given into the hands of enemies,
the sanctuary into the hands of strangers?

Her temple has become like a man disgraced,
her glorious vessels carried off as spoils,
Her infants murdered in her streets,
her youths by the sword of the enemy.
What nation has not taken its share of her realm,
and laid its hand on her spoils?
All her adornment has been taken away.
Once free, she has become a slave.
We see our sanctuary laid waste,
our beauty, our glory" (NABRE).

Answer: worms

This comes from the farewell speech of Matthias in chapter 2 of 1 Maccabees:

"And so, consider this from generation to generation,
that none who hope in Heaven shall fail in strength.
Do not fear the words of sinners,
for their glory ends in corruption and worms.
Today exalted, tomorrow not to be found,
they have returned to dust,
their schemes have perished" (2:61-63, NABRE).

Worms (which can be visualized as consuming human flesh) are a very common image of death in the Bible. Here are just three other examples:

"And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24, ESV)

"Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last" (Acts 12:23, ESV)

"Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers" (Isaiah 14:11, ESV).

Answer: law

"And Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous for the law, and maintains the covenant, let him come forth after me! Then he and his sons fled to the mountains, leaving behind in the city all their possessions" (1 Maccabees 2:27 NABRE).

The surname Maccabee, which Judas received in the early days of the rebellion, probably derives from the Aramaic word meaning "hammer" or "sledgehammer."