The 1st Book of Maccabees, after mentioning the conquests of Alexander the Great and the division of his kingdom among his generals (330-310), passes on to the history of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Jews (175 B.C.) and depicts the horrors of this persecution. In defense of the faith, the priest Mattathias and his five sons, nicknamed the Maccabees - "hammers" for their successful struggle against the champions of paganism, spoke out. Of the sons of Mattathias, Judas, Jonathan, and Simeon were especially famous.

The 2nd book of Maccabees supplements the previous book by giving new details about the struggle of the Palestinian Jews against the oppression of the faith by the Syrian kings, beginning with Heliodorus, sent by King Seleucus Philopator to plunder the temple in Jerusalem, to the victory of Judas Maccabee over Nicanor, the military commander of Demetrius Seleucus. During the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the ninety-year-old priest Bleazar suffered, then seven brothers and many others, who, after fierce tortures, were killed in 166 B.C. (6-7). These sufferers for the faith were later called the "Maccabean Martyrs" and are commemorated by the Church on August 14.

The 3rd book of Maccabees tells about the earlier persecution of the Jews in Egypt from Ptolemy the 4th Philopator, which began in 216 B.C., i.e. 50 years before the time of Judas Maccabee. The reason for the persecution was the anger of King Ptolemy because he was not allowed by God to enter the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple through the prayer of the High Priest Simon. The book goes on to describe how King Ptolemy plotted to exterminate the Jews: to lure them to the hippodrome and trample them under elephants. Through the prayer of the high priest, God sent two angels who frightened the elephants, and the Jews were saved.

To sum up, it should be said that the books of Maccabees abound in stories about feats for faith in God and examples of courage. In times of persecution by the pagans, Christians drew from the books of Maccabees edifying examples of patience and firmness.

The Last Years Before the Coming of the Savior

Further events in the life of the Jewish people did not make it into the Bible. In 63 B.C., the Holy Land was conquered by the Roman general Pompey. From that time on, Palestine, with its four provinces, became subject to Rome and paid tribute to it. Soon power was concentrated in the hands of a cunning Edomite named Antipater, who managed to gain the trust of Rome. From Antipater, power passed to his son, the cruel Herod the Great, who in 37 B.C. declared himself "king of the Jews." He was the first king to call himself Jewish without being of Jewish descent. Under him, in the small city of Bethlehem, the true King and Savior of the world, Christ, was born. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the Patriarch James, spoken two thousand years before the birth of Christ: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from her loins, until the Mediator comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the nations" (Gen. 49:9-11).

4. Teaching books

Content:

Introduction. The Book of Job. Psalter. The meaning of the Psalter. The Book of Proverbs of Solomon. The Book of Ecclesiastes. The Book of the Song of Songs. The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon. The Book of the Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach. Conclusion on the Teaching Books. Selected parables.