James Baquet

The Christian Bible is usually published in two parts: the Hebrew scriptures, called by Christians the “Old Testament,” and the life and teachings of Jesus, called the “New Testament.”

But there is a period of several hundred years between the end of the “Old” and the beginning of the “New.” This is called by scholars the “intertestamental period,” and some books from this time are accepted by some Christians.

The most important event in these books has to do with the Greek invasion of Palestine after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. The lands he had conquered were divided among his generals; one of them, Seleucus I Nicator, expanded his holdings into the area which now includes Israel.

From 167 to 160 B.C., a Jewish group called the Maccabees rebelled against the abuses of their Greek overlords, under whom the Jews were forbidden their customary worship, and were told they must worship the Greek gods.

A provincial priest, Mattathias the Hasmonean, refused. After killing some Greek enforcers, he and his five sons fled into the wilderness.

Mattathias died a year later. At that point his son, Judah Maccabee (meaning “the hammer”), led an army against the Greeks. They conducted a guerrilla campaign, destroying pagan altars, circumcising boys according to Jewish law, and forcing the Jews who had been collaborating with the Greeks (called “Hellenized Jews”) to join them. They reestablished Jewish worship in the Jerusalem temple, and installed Judah’s youngest brother as the new high priest. (The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates this still.)

At least seven major battles took place; one of the most notable was that at Emmaus outside of Jerusalem. There, the Greek general Gorgias established a base camp, then set off for a night attack against the Maccabee camp. Judah Maccabee got wind of this, abandoned his camp, and set out to take the Greek camp, where they added to their store of weapons from the Greek arsenal.

Gorgias returned to Emmaus to find his camp in shambles, with the Jews encamped nearby. He fled to the coast, his army pursued by the harassing Maccabees.

Vocabulary:

Which words above mean:

1. rural, unsettled area

2. from the countryside

3. place where weapons are stored

4. usual, traditional

5. destroyed, a mess

6. between the testaments

7. heard about

8. people who study something

9. cutting off the foreskin of a male

10. supreme masters