What Scripture says
The New Testament mentions a festival that comes from the events of 1 Maccabees: “At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon” (John 10:22–23, ESV). That feast is Hanukkah. Jesus took part in it, but John doesn’t quote 1 Maccabees or call it Scripture.
Daniel 8 and 11 appear to describe the same period from a prophetic angle, including a king who desecrates the sanctuary and sets up “the abomination that makes desolate” (Daniel 11:31; see 5.9).
What the evidence says
History
What it covers
1 Maccabees covers about 40 years, from 175 to 134 BC:
- The crisis. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes tries to force Greek religion on the Jews. In 167 BC he bans circumcision, Sabbath observance and the food laws, and sets up a pagan altar in the temple, “a desolating sacrilege” (1 Maccabees 1:54).
- The revolt. An elderly priest, Mattathias, refuses to sacrifice to idols and starts a revolt with his five sons. After his death, his son Judas, nicknamed Maccabeus (“the hammer”), leads guerrilla campaigns.
- The rededication. In 164 BC, Judas retakes Jerusalem, cleanses the temple and rededicates it, establishing an eight-day festival (1 Maccabees 4:36–59), the origin of Hanukkah.
- The Hasmonean dynasty. Judas’s brothers Jonathan and Simon continue the struggle, and Simon becomes high priest and ruler, founding a dynasty that ruled Judea until the Romans arrived in 63 BC.
Date and reliability
1 Maccabees was written around 100 BC, probably in Hebrew, though it survives only in Greek. Historians regard it as a generally reliable source, written in the sober style of Israel’s historical books like Kings. It includes official letters and documents, and its dates use the Seleucid calendar, which can be checked against other sources. Josephus used it heavily.
What it says about prophecy
1 Maccabees says something important about its own era:
- “There was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them” (1 Maccabees 9:27).
- The defiled altar stones were stored away “until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them” (1 Maccabees 4:46).
- Simon was made leader “until a trustworthy prophet should arise” (1 Maccabees 14:41).
The writers saw themselves as living after prophecy had stopped, waiting for it to return.
| Feature | 1 Maccabees |
|---|---|
| Period covered | 175–134 BC |
| Written | c. 100 BC |
| Style | Sober history, like Kings |
| View of its own time | No prophet in Israel |
Reception
1 Maccabees was never in the Hebrew Bible, though Judaism preserved the memory of the revolt in Hanukkah. Early Christians valued it; it was included in the Septuagint and in early Christian Bibles. Catholics and Orthodox accept it as Scripture; Protestants read it as history.
Where they meet
1 Maccabees is valuable history, and it explains the world Jesus was born into: the Hasmonean dynasty, the hopes for a deliverer, the importance of the temple. Catholics and Orthodox read it as Scripture. Protestants read it as history but note that it doesn’t claim to be prophecy, and in fact says there was no prophet in its time.
What’s still open
Whether a reliable historical book needs to be prophetic to be Scripture. That is part of the larger canon debate (3.8).
Bottom line
1 Maccabees is solid history of the Jewish revolt (167 BC on) and the origin of Hanukkah (John 10:22). It admits there was no prophet in that era (1 Maccabees 9:27), so it reads as history, not prophecy. It is rated Debated because traditions still disagree about its status.