Transcript for Introduction to the Maccabean Revolt (with Jeff Cavins) - 2023

Well, we're actually entering, I think, one of the most underrated periods in one of the most important periods in setting the table for the Messiah, for Jesus to come on to the scene and for our wonderful Protestant friends who have been joining us on this excellent adventure. They're running into a book now that might seem a little bit foreign. And I think it would be good to take just a couple of minutes to explain that book and where did it come from? What's it talking about? And this whole issue of being inspired or doodoro canonical or apocryphal.

Sure. Well, you know, when I, when I first created the Great Adventure Bible study in the timeline chart, I was just a young 25-year-old pastor, and when I came to this period of salvation history, I had what was called 400 Silent Years. And I, that was it, I'm as silent, you know. And of course, when I came back to the Catholic Church, I was blessed by getting seven more books, which were not new, but they were actually quite old, but low and behold, it filled in that 400-year gap. And that is, the macabees and specifically some of the events in second macabees. And I think it is worth noting that there are two different canons out there in Christianity today. You have the Protestant canon which has 66 books and you have the Catholic canon which has 73 books, one of which is the book of macabees first and second in fact. Those two books And so we have to ask ourselves the question which comes up so often. Did we as Catholics add seven books or did Protestants take away seven books? And the answer is neither. Neither one. In that the early church, the church that the Catholic church springs from, the early church used what was called the Septuagint. In the Septuagint is the Greek Old Testament. And that's the book that the early church used. In fact, the church used all of that, which had macabees and some of these others that we were talking about in there. It had them in there all the way till the reformation. When in the reformation, the reformers decided not to go with that Greek Old Testament, a Septuagint. But they decided to go to a different canon, which was the Jewish canon, and that did not have those seven books. And so it's not fair to say Catholics added, and it's not fair to say the Protestants took away. But what is fair is to say that the Bible, we've been using for the Great Adventure, and Bible in a year. is the Bible that the early church used. And so I would encourage my Protestant friends not to get upset, but to be open and say, well, you know what, if this helps me understand salvation history and the early church used this as the inspired word of God, I'm at least open to what God wants, you know, to do, to help me become more like Jesus.

Yeah, but I think you're right, it is history. And when you begin to listen to, first and second macabees, you're going to, you're going to be reading along with a type of history that is more familiar than say Judith, you know, or that type of history in that you're going to run into some famous events and some famous people that are in history as we know it. And so, for example, you have Alexander the Great, you have anti-Kasipiffinies, you have the macabee in revolt. And even though the Jewish community doesn't consider, first and second macabees to be inspired, what is happening in, first and second macabees, namely Hanukkah, is quite at the center of Jewish celebration today. And so I think one one way to really help everybody to situate themselves in the book of macabees is to go back and to remember all of the enemies of Israel. And we have that little pithy saying eat a big purple grape, right? So we go way back and we have Egypt, and then the next big enemy of Israel is a Syria, then big Babylon, purple, Persia, and then grape is the G and the R, and that is Greece, which we're going to run into now, which will go eventually into at the end of this into Rome. So that's a wonderful way to not yet lost and to remember where you're at. We are now entering the rise of the Greek culture. Hellenization in the star is Alexander the Great. And most of us are familiar with him. In fact, a poll was taken not too long ago in Greece. Who's the greatest Greek ever to live? And it was a man. It was like a hundred percent or ninety eight percent Alexander the Great.

Yeah, yeah, he really was. And so Alexander the Great, his goal was really to Hellenize the world, which means he wanted the whole world to speak Greek and to worship Greek gods and Greek customs and so forth. And he actually was quite successful. And he was a real military leader. He didn't just sit back and say, guys, go to the left, go to the right. He said, follow me. So he was injured quite a bit. And he really took the most of the modern world, and he stopped just short of India because his leaders and his soldiers were just worn out. And the macabees' records, how he came to Jerusalem, and there were people who were so afraid, of course, they even did something that is hard to think about. And that's a reverse circumcision to blend into the crowd. They didn't want to be known as the people who are marked as different. Well, Alexander the Great was actually quite impressed with the Jews in Jerusalem and allowed them to maintain their life. But then everything went south when Alexander died suddenly. And historians have said that that was due to some kind of viral infection. And just in the last 20 years or so, historians are saying, no, we think he was assassinated. But that left us in tire kingdom, if you will, to generals, the Tolamays and the Solucids. And the Tolamays took over in this area of the world, and they continued to allow this doctrine of tolerance that Alexander had. And then the Solucids took over. And this is the character antiacus epiphanies. He is like a devil on wheels, you know?

And so he decided what he was going to do was he's going to strike at the heart of the Jewish people. And he goes to a little city, northwest of Jerusalem called Modine. And Modine is very close to the place where the early Christians would walk. And they would fellowship with one another. And so anyway, back back to the story, he goes to Modene and he starts to pick on the really orthodox families and he tries to get them to eat pork. Now, you and I know, and all of our listeners know by this point, that pulled pork is not on the menu, okay? And he's trying to get them to do that in what do they do? They resist. And, uh, and Ty, because epiphany is even desecrates the temple in Jerusalem. And this brings about a tremendous revolt against the Greek leader and Thai-Kasipiffinies. And this is the setting now that we have in macabees where a number of really amazing stories take place. And probably the most well-known is Hanukkah Hanukkah, which means that when the Jews resisted the Greeks and took back Jerusalem in the temple. What happened? They rededicated the temple and low and behold a miracle took place and they didn't have enough oil to rededicate the temple but the oil that they had lasted and the temple was rededicated and they had the Hanukkah today of course is observed for eight nights and days starting on the 25th day of kiss love according to the Hebrew calendar. And when they finally realized that they had Jerusalem back, they wanted to re-dedicate it and they wanted the lights to shine again. And so while in the New Testament we don't call it Hanukkah, We do celebrate it, and Jesus does, it's called the feast of lights, the feast of lights. And of course, Jesus is the light of the world. And so this great holiday of Hanukkah, which are our older brothers and sisters, the Jewish people celebrate every single year. We also celebrate with them as well in the rededicating of the temple.

And one of the great stories is in Second Macabee's chapter seven, and that's the story of a woman who is going to go down in history as being one of the greatest ever in the entire Bible. It's a woman who has seven sons and uh... she's a Jewish martyr her seven sons are Jewish martyrs and they were arrested along with her by and tycus epiphany's and uh... forced them to prove their respect to him by consuming pig meat but they refused and he tortured and killed the sons one by one in front of this unflinching this this powerful woman. And that is so heroic, so heroic. And what I get out of that father is that, you know, I see the Blessed Virgin Mary who she stood. And she watched her son, who was crucified, who died for the sins of the world, who said, I will not bow, I will be the faithful son. And so we see a perfect picture there of the Blessed Virgin Mary and and Jesus. And it's very, very powerful. You know, not too long ago, our friend, Dr. Scott Han, both of her friends with him and Kimberly, they had a son who Jeremiah, who we came up priest. And I talked to Kimberly just a couple of weeks before he was ordained. And she said, all Jeff, she said, I just went and I prayed and I asked the Blessed Virgin Mary in the times that we're living in now. Oh, please don't let my son suffer. Don't let my son suffer as a priest. I beg you, please don't. And she said she felt like the Lord spoke back to her Mary spoke back to her and said, you're talking to me. And I've watched my son suffer just like this heroic Jewish martyr in 2nd Macabee 7, you know, she watched her 7 sons die in front of her.

Well, I think that in second macabees chapter 12, specifically versus 38 to 46, you do have an example of the faithful on earth, praying, sacrificing, having a relationship with those who have gone before us. And I do know that Oftentimes, our Protestant brothers and sisters might flinch at that and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know. But what we see here in Second Macabees 12 is that in the kingdom of God, and certainly after Jesus' sacrifice, we do have this body of Christ that simply cannot be separated by death. And so when people say, well, why do you guys pray to dead people? Our answer is we do not Talk to dead people. We talk to alive people. We talk to people who are alive and Christ in some ways, probably more alive than we are today. And just like we ask one another for prayers and intercession, we do that with our older brothers and sisters who have gone on before us. And so when you come along and you read Second Macabees chapter 12, I would encourage everyone to be open, listen to this economy, if you will, in the Old Testament. I think it's very, very powerful. There's also another great story, and that is, in second macabees chapter two, verses four through eight. Let me just set the stage real, kind of simply here, because when you hear, Father Mike reading this, it's going to come alive. We know that in the Old Testament, there was an arc of the covenant. When they came out of Egypt, Moses built a tabernacle, which had a holy place, And in the back was a square called the Holy of Holies. And inside of that holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. The most prized, precious, holy piece of furniture. And in the Ark was a copy of the Ten Commandments, a bowl of mana, and Aaron's rod, his staff that was blossoming with almond blossoms. So you have three things that are attached to that Ark of the Covenant. Well, we've already been there, but the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem in 587. But Jeremiah said, we got to take the ark of the covenant out of there. We got to hide this before the Babylonians come. So they did. And in second, macabees chapter two, we have the description of this where they took the ark, the most precious wall furniture, and they hid it in a cave They hit it in the cave. And then one of the guys said, you know, we're going to cover this up. And after 70 years of exile, we'll come back here. Let's put a little marker on it. You know, and we'll see that little flag or that green flag or whatever it is. We'll know it's here. And Jeremiah said, no, no, no, no. We're not going to do that. He said, this place will remain a mystery. Until God has gathered all of his people back together and revealed his mercy. So we have to ask ourselves the question, when is the next time that God is going to bring all of his people back together and reveal his mercy? That's in the birth of Jesus. And so we see here, and I would encourage people to meditate on it, that Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, because out of her womb comes the Word of God, the Man of Heaven, the Eucharist, and He is the Great High priest and so we have again another connection to Mary here just like we did with the mother with the seven sons here in second macabees chapter two the new arc of the covenant in that that really brings us to more of a political transition now to Jesus the Messiah

Well, this history of the Greeks moving into the Romans, Father, I think is one of the most powerful and eye-opening transitions that we've ever gone through so far in the Bible because it is a transition that sets the table for the Messiah, Yeshua, Hamashiach. Jesus, the Messiah, and here's how it goes. And my friends, if you can get this and keep this in your thinking, then not only will macabees be powerful, but the Gospels will just blow up with meaning for you. So here's how it goes. We know that after Alexander the Great, after the Talimates, after the Salusids, right? We are going to have a change in power, which is going to be to the Romans, from the Greeks to the Romans. In the very famous leader, Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar, was a part of what was called the first triumverant, which is three leaders, in the Roman Republic. Then after Julius Caesar, we see that Julius Caesar adopts a young man. by the name of Octavian. And you might forget the name Octavian, but you won't forget what his name became. His name was Octavian, and he was a part of the second triumvirant of the Roman Republic. And that was literally a country that is led by three people by three people. And Octavian, the son of Julius Caesar, was a part of that second one. Now, Julius Caesar, he proclaimed himself to be God. Right? But we know what happened to him on the sides of March. He was assassinated in the Senate. But before he was assassinated, he adopted Octavian. Then Octavian, one of the one member of the three of the triumvirate, he wanted to be the leader. But he had to go against another guy in the triumver and called Mark Anthony. That's not J. Lowe's husband. This is a different Mark Anthony completely, okay? He had to go against Mark Anthony and so he ended up going out to see and defeating Mark Anthony in the Battle of Actium. Now watch this. He comes back and he enters Rome as the soul leader. This is the Octavian. And the Senate gives him the honorary name Caesar Augustus. And he ruled in Rome in the Roman Empire. for a long, long time. Now here's the, here's the kicker in the current, the city of Corinth. There was some archeological finds that said that never before during or after will anybody eclipse the glory and the power of Caesar Augustus who is the Prince of Peace He is the one who ushered in peace. He is the son of God, the son of Julius Caesar, and he is ushered in the UN-Gallian, which is the good news for the world. Now think about that. Caesar Augustus is known as the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, and the one who ushered in the good news for the world. Have we heard this before?

Well, this is what is happening. This is the stage father that is set now for a baby to be born in Bethlehem, who is the son of God, who is the prince of peace, and who is going to usher in the good news for the world, and this is where we're at right now. This is the transition, and this is why macabees is very, very important.

I guess I would leave you with this. We're living in difficult times right now. And there's two things that people are really desiring. And I know you're listening to this podcast right now because you're hungry. You want to know God. You want to know the answers to life. You want to know the big story and how you fit into it. And it can be very confusing. People are looking for a brighter future and someone to trust. That's hard to come by today. But I want to encourage all of our listeners, Father, that we might see difficult things going on in politics as they did back then with the Greeks and the Romans. And it didn't look like this story was really going anywhere, but the truth is we were just on the edge of it going everywhere. And I want to encourage people today. Don't lose hope. Even though politics might not look like what you want it to be, and social issues might not be exactly where you would want them. Know this. God has a plan of sheer goodness, the catacus and paragraph one. And if we stay with that plan and his faithfulness, we're going to see that God will prevail. Don't give up.

Sure. I think I would say two things. One is that if this book is foreign to you, approach it with an open heart and ask God to illuminate the truth here and what is happening in terms of the entire plan of salvation history. Just say, Lord, give me an open heart to understand what is happening here. In second of all, I would say, during this reading of Maccabees, keep in mind what's going on in the world today. And just keep also this in mind. Father Mike and I have both read the end of the Bible. And I'm going to give you a little spoiler. We win. We win, okay?