Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
← →
⚙ Annotations & References ▾
Manuscript witnesses 2 ▾
Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325
What is 1 Maccabees 11 about?

Ptolemy of Egypt marches north with treachery, first aiding then turning against Alexander, and after both kings fall Demetrius II takes the throne. Jonathan besieges the citadel and wins from Demetrius confirmation as high priest and relief from tribute; when the king is nearly overthrown by his own people in Antioch, Jonathan's three thousand men rescue him and put down the revolt, yet Demetrius breaks his promises. Trypho then raises the young Antiochus VI against Demetrius, and the new king confirms Jonathan and appoints Simon governor over the coast. The chapter shows the brothers steering Israel's advantage through one dynastic upheaval after another, gaining ground with each shift of the throne.

Historical backdrop

Alexander's empire had shattered into the kingdoms of his generals, and Judea lay under the Seleucids who ruled the East from Antioch. When Antiochus the Fourth outlawed the Law, forced Greek ways on Jerusalem, and raised an altar to Zeus on the altar of the LORD, a priest's family in the hills rose in revolt. The war that followed pitted farmers and their sons against the Seleucid phalanx and its armored war elephants, and it ended with the temple cleansed and rededicated, a rising Jewish state, and envoys sent to a distant new power named Rome. This is the world between the Testaments, the fight that set the stage on which the Gospels open.

The Church Fathers on 1 Maccabees 11
Deuterocanon (Catholic & Orthodox) · Accepted as canonical Scripture by the Catholic and Orthodox traditions and included in the original 1611 KJV (between the Old and New Testaments). Not in the Protestant 66-book canon. Read with the same care you bring to other Scripture, conscious that Protestants and Catholics weigh its authority differently.

1 Maccabees 11

1 Maccabees Chapter 11
11
← Chapter 10 Chapter 12 →
What is 1 Maccabees 11 about?

Ptolemy of Egypt marches north with treachery, first aiding then turning against Alexander, and after both kings fall Demetrius II takes the throne. Jonathan besieges the citadel and wins from Demetrius confirmation as high priest and relief from tribute; when the king is nearly overthrown by his own people in Antioch, Jonathan's three thousand men rescue him and put down the revolt, yet Demetrius breaks his promises. Trypho then raises the young Antiochus VI against Demetrius, and the new king confirms Jonathan and appoints Simon governor over the coast. The chapter shows the brothers steering Israel's advantage through one dynastic upheaval after another, gaining ground with each shift of the throne.