5 Maccabees
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The fifth book of the Maccabees is an ancient Jewish apocryphal pseudepigraphical work, almost certainly originally written in Hebrew, though no trace of a Hebrew text is known. It was referanced in 2 Maccabees, when the author mentions that his work is a summary of the larger history in five books of Jason of Cyrene, and is closely related to that work, even being known in Arabic as II Maccabees. Its name was given to it by Cotton.
It chronicles the events between Heliodorus' attempt to rob the Temple treasury in the early decades of the second century B.C. to the death of Herod the Great's two sons about 6 B.C. It is little more than a summary of the events in first and second Maccabees, except for its twelfth chapter, which is original.
The work, though virtually unknown to scholars, is most famous for the question of when it was written. Most scholars who have heard of the work suggest that it was written in the latter part of the first century, after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Its author was an unknown Jew.
[edit] External links
- The 5 books of the Maccabees
- Early Jewish Writings: 5 Maccabees
- NetBible: The 3rd, 4th, and 5th boks of the Maccabees
 |
This Hebrew Bible-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
