Chronicles–Maccabees
Overview
The historical books of the Old Testament recount the fortunes of the people of Israel beginning with the conquest of the Promised Land. The First Book of Chronicles gives the background of the chosen people of God and of the families that made up the 12 tribes; it records, too, the career of David. Second Chronicles begins with Solomon in all his glory and ends with Israel’s ignominious deportation to Babylon. Ezra through Nehemiah record the epic rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple after the 70-year Babylonian exile. The final books, Maccabees, give vivid accounts of the Jewish experience at a time when Greek successors of Alexander the Great sought to stamp out all traces of the religion of Moses and to replace it with a cosmopolitan pagan ethic. This, the second of two volumes of “historical books” in the Navarre Bible edition, also contains the three picturesque narratives of Tobit, Judith, and Esther.
Top Highlights
“The reading of the books of the Law will from now on become the most important way of meeting God and listening to his word.” (Page 269)
“The importance acquired by the feast established to commemorate the dedication of the temple can be seen from 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18; 2:16. In Hebrew this festival is called Hanukkah and in Greek Encenias because to mark it lamps or candles are lit in people’s houses (as is the Jewish practice today) to symbolize the light of the Law. It was on this feast that Jesus told the Jews that he was the Son of God (cf. Jn 10:22–39).” (Page 464)
“In Christian tradition (St Hippolytus, In Danielem, 4, 49; St Jerome, Commentaria in Danielem, 11), Antiochus is depicted as the first instance of the Antichrist who for a period seeks to take God’s place but is eventually overpowered by him.” (Page 473)
“What matters is not human forces or the size of one’s army, but the help that comes from God.” (Page 438)
“Tobit has to share in the suffering inflicted on the people on account of their sins” (Page 308)