douglas

I was reading this article by Rabbi Marc Gellman in Newsweek...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16224935/site/newsweek/

...and found it interesting. Had it not been for Mattathias Maccabee and the Maccabean revolt that he triggered, Judaism would have died out and Jesus would never have been born. Do you agree? What role did the Maccabean revolts play in the "spawning" of Jesus?

spin

I have fear that Mattathias is a Hasmonean invention to absorb Judas into their ancestry. The name Hashmonean may come from the name of Shimeon, or ha-Shimeon. To justify the dynastic intent they may have extended their existence back to the Jewish revolt against Antiochus. Certainly 2 Maccabees, which was written before 1 Maccabees knows nothing about Mattathias.


spin

Malachi151

I completely agree with him, except I curse the fact that this happened instead of celebrating it. This is what fucked mankind. Though I have many Jewish friends and a Jewish girlfriend, it would be better if none of that happened and the Greek culture had remained dominant.

spin

B-b-b-b-butterfly effect... Alternative histories are unpredictable.

HeretiKc

Could you point me in the direction of some material that would discuss this further (if such material exists)?

Thanks.

spin

I don't know if such material exists, but you can get some idea from comparing 1 Maccabees with 2 Maccabees, which was written sometime before the first (1 Macc being Hasmonean propaganda from the time of John Hyrcanus). You won't find any Mattathias, nor interestingly will you find Jonathan! I go with the earlier text, which has survived because it was translated into Greek and preserved in Alexandria. I don't think the Hasmoneans were interested in preserving 2 Maccabees.


spin