The Maccabees | Torah, Martyrdom, Resurrection

The Maccabean Tradition of Resistance. Torah Loyal, Martyrdom, and Resurrection. This was the tradition of the founding heroes of the independence of the Kingdom of Israel and revolution that would also influence the time and people of Judah the Galilean, John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth/Galilee. God's Kingdom Against Empire. Theologies of Resistance.

"The King of the universe will raise us up to eternal life, because we have died for his laws."

Torah loyal, Cleanse the Temple, Resistance and Righteousness, Martyrdom and Resurrection. Dying for the Nations sins and in your example others will follow in your suffering for the salvation of the Nation.

"He had most zealously risked body and life for Judaism"

There are echoes of theological torah resistance to foreign rule and the courage and suffering of the martyrs saving the people from the Gentile Kings, the traitors, and Gods wrath.

Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus,
who had become a traitor both to the Mosaic Laws and to his country.

In 167 BCE the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes issued an edict that sought to annul the ancestral laws of Judea, outlawing traditional Jewish religion and mandating new religious practice in its place.

Then the priests stretched out their hands toward heaven and called upon the constant
Defender of our nation, in these words:
“O Lord of all, though you have need of nothing, you were pleased that there should be a temple for your habitation among us, so now, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, keep undefiled forever this house that has been so recently purified.”

Martyrdom of a Mother and Her Seven Sons.
Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother who, seeing her seven sons perish in a single day, bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.

It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.
One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: “What do you expect to learn by questioning us?
We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.


“Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?”
Answering in the language of his ancestors, he said, “Never!”
So he in turn suffered the same tortures as the first.
With his last breath he said: “You accursed monster, you are depriving us of this present life,
but the King of the universe will raise us up to eternal life, because we have died for his laws."

Judas Maccabeus and John the Baptist:
"Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild,
so that they might not share in the defilement."

"John (the Baptist) was like a wild man. He came to the Jews and summoned them to freedom, saying, God has sent me, that I may show you the way of the Law, where you may free yourselves from many holders of power. And there will be no man ruling over you, only the Highest who has sent me...he plunged them into the stream of the Jordan river instructing them that they should cease from evil works, and promising that there would be given them a ruler who would set them free."
Slavonic Josephus

Eleazar responded to those who advised compromise, "Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals, yet whether I live or die I will not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.”

So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage,
not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.

Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.
Gospel of Matthew

Herod feared the great influence John had over the people, that could put into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion.

Josephus, Antiquities