Bible Reading: 1 Maccabees 1 {Ecumenical thread}

Douay-Rheims ^ | 175 BC | Maccabee

[Cronos]

well, halos as they were/are martyrs and saints. Crosses -- well, the idea being that they sacrificed themselves for God and their fellow men.

The praise from the OCA.org and antiochian.org website is

Troparion (Tone 7) –

Let us praise the seven Maccabees,
with their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar;
they were splendid in lawful contest
as guardians of the teachings of the Law.
Now as Christ’s holy martyrs they ceaselessly intercede for the world.

Kontakion (Tone 2) –

Seven pillars of the Wisdom of God
and seven lampstands of the divine Light,
all-wise Maccabees, greatest of the martyrs before the time of the martyrs,
with them ask the God of all to save those who honor you.

[Uri’el-2012]

Shabbat Shalom !

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[Salvation]

"We are compelled to concede to the Papists
that they have the Word of God,
that we received it from them,
and that without them
we should have no knowledge of it at all."

~ Martin Luther

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"We are compelled to concede to the Papists
that they have the Word of God,
that we received it from them,
and that without them
we should have no knowledge of it at all."

~ Martin Luther

[Cronos]

yes, they came through the tests with more than flying colors. God be praised!

[CanaGuy]

Thanks to all for helpful sources.

I still find it interesting that the original KJV Bible included these deuterocanonical ( Apocrypha) books and inserted them between the OT and NT.

It's also interesting that, e.g., in the modern Jewish Study Bible (shown @ Amazon.com) the TOC doesn't show the inclusion of any of these books, when clearly they were topical stories of the mainly Jewish, pre-Christian, times and time period.

I have a book called the "First Seven Ecumenical Councils", i guess I should dust it off and read it.

[Kolokotronis]

"Holy ? But no depiction of G-d's Holy Word."

The icon depicts the result of God's salvation, the reality NOW of the theosis of the Old Testament Righteous; there is no need to depict any particular scripture. The Christian viewing this icon and the names on it will know what the scriptures say about them. "Righteous Jews in 175 BCE with "halos" and "christian" crosses ???"

Indeed, the halos because they were Righteous Jews and the crossses because their salvation, just like mine, is from Christ.

[Rashputin]

You're more than welcome and if I find good list of books on the topic I'll post it or email to you. I may even have a list myself (I know really efficient algorithms for losing things on my own computer).

Regards & God bless you in your study

[CanaGuy]

Who painted the Maccabee image and when?

[Kolokotronis]

"Who painted the Maccabee image and when?"

I have no idea except to say that it is plainly a modern icon. I've seen an icon of the 7 Maccabee martyrs on a wall of a 13th century church in Greece. BTW, icons are "written" not painted.

[TASMANIANRED]

Very Beautiful Icon.

[Cronos]

I think at the very least these give an idea about the interesting happenings between the return of the exiles and the Birth of Christ, laying down the historical background. That's how I initially picked up these books.

And, interestingly, when we read this Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of 1 Maccabees, we read how Antiochus defiled the Holy Temple and put an abomination in there and the righteous Jews fled to the mountains.

And this connects with Matthew 24:15-20

[15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:
[17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:
[18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.
[19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.
[20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.

And you see the parallels in 1 Macc 1.34 "And they took the women captive, and the children, and the cattle they possessed" and 39 "And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctuary, and defiled the holy place"
and 1 MAcc 2:32-38

And forthwith they went out towards them, and made war against them on the sabbath day, [33] And they said to them: Do you still resist? come forth, and do according to the edict of king Antiochus, and you shall live. [34] And they said: We will not come forth, neither will we obey the king's edict, to profane the sabbath day.
[35] And they made haste to give them battle.
[36] But they answered them not, neither did they cast a stone at them, nor stopped up the secret places,
[37] Saying: Let us all die in our innocency: and heaven and earth shall be witnesses for us, that you put us to death wrongfully.
[38] So they gave them battle on the sabbath: and they were slain with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand persons

Jesus was no doubt drawing on the historical memory of the Jews

[CanaGuy]

Thanks for your help!

[RnMomof7]

Because all scripture speaks for God..all scripture is written by prophets..

if there is no prophet there is no word from God

1 Machabees 9:27 And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel.

[Cronos]

Because all scripture speaks for God..all scripture is written by prophets

Scripture does not have to be written by a prophet, just by a person under divine inspiration.

the book of Kings and Judges are cases in point. Also, if we look at the Psalms by David or the Proverbs or books by Solomon -- were these two Prophets? Not really, however, they were inspired by God to write what they wrote

Also, do note 2 Macc. 15:11-16 where Judah Maccabees gets his prophetic vision