170BC-37BC – Hasmonean Dynasty, This family stayed faithful to God

Maccabee in Hebrew means: Hammer. This was the nickname for Judas one of the five sons of a Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, Judas, continued to lead the revolt after the death of his father and the Hasmonean dynasty ruled Israel between 168BC-63BC. The Hasmonean dynasty ended in 37 BCE when the Idumean Herod the Great became king of Israel. He was put in by the Roman Senate.

The Seleucid Empire based in Syria was the occupying force in Israel at this time and forced on the local Jews the Greek ways and thinking. The Seleucid Empire was one of the four parts that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great in 332BC in Babylon at the age of 32 years old.

The celebrated Jewish Hasmonean family 170BC-37BC defended the Jewish rights and customs.

This Jewish Hasmonean family and other Jewish families stayed faithful to God during the time called the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

Old Testament Bible reference: this happened in 400 years gap period.

In 164BC the Hasmoneans purified the temple that that had been built by Zerubbabel, from which we get the feast of Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabee’s victory over the Seleucids and their king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The sanctuary oil that was supposed to last one day lasted eight days.


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