Between the Testaments · c. 124 BC
Chapter 19
Letters to Egypt
2 Maccabees is in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles; most Protestant Bibles leave it out or print it apart as the Apocrypha.
Gather together our scattered people, set at liberty those who are in bondage among the heathen, look upon those who are despised and abhorred, and let the heathen know that you are our God.
For parents
The first letter in this chapter mentions innocent people killed when Jason and the men with him rebelled (2 Maccabees 1:7–8). The second tells how Antiochus and the men with him were killed in the temple of Nanaea in Persia: its priests threw stones down through a secret door in the ceiling, cut them to pieces and cut off their heads (1:13–16). Both are told plainly, without gory detail.
The Jews in and the country of wrote a letter to their fellow Jews living all over , and sent them greetings and good wishes for peace.
“May God be good to you,” they wrote. “May he remember his with , and , his faithful servants. May God make all of you want to worship him and do what he wants, with strong hearts and willing souls. May he open your hearts to his law and his rules, and make peace. May he listen to what you ask, be reconciled with you, and not leave you on your own when bad times come. We are praying for you here, right now.
“We Jews already wrote to you when Demetrius was king, in the one hundred sixty-ninth year. We wrote in the middle of the suffering and distress that have come on us in these years, ever since Jason and the men with him rebelled against the holy land and the kingdom. They set the gate on fire and killed innocent people. We prayed to the Lord, and he heard us. We offered sacrifices and . We lit the lamps. We set out the .
“Now be sure to celebrate the days of the in the month , in the one hundred eighty-eighth year.”
There was another letter, from the people of Jerusalem and those in Judea, with the and Judas. It was written to , ’s teacher, and to the Jews in Egypt. Aristobulus also came from the family of the anointed priests. They sent greetings and wished them good health.
“God has saved us from great dangers, as we stood lined up for battle against a king,” they wrote, “and we thank him greatly. He threw out into the men who fought against us in the holy city.
“The leader came there with an army that seemed unbeatable, but they were cut down in the temple of , tricked by Nanaea’s priests. Antiochus and his friends had come to the place. He pretended he would marry Nanaea, so that they could take a large part of the treasures as a dowry, the riches that come with a bride. The priests of Nanaea’s temple set the treasures out. Antiochus came inside the wall around the holy grounds with a small group, and once he was in, the priests locked the temple. They opened a secret door in the paneled ceiling, threw stones, and struck the leader down. They cut him and his men to pieces, cut off their heads, and threw them out to the people outside. May our God be praised in all things! He handed over those who had done ungodly things.”
The sanctuary had been made clean on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev, and those who cleansed it had celebrated for eight days with gladness, the way people celebrate the feast of tabernacles. A public decree said that the whole nation of the Jews must celebrate those eight days every year, with gladness and joy.
“We are about to celebrate the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev,” the letter went on, “and we thought we must let you know, so that you can celebrate a feast of tabernacles too, and remember the fire that was given when offered sacrifices. That was after he had built both the temple and the altar.”
The letter told where that fire came from. When their ancestors were about to be led away into the land of Persia, the godly priests of that time took some of the fire from the altar. They hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry well, and they made sure no one knew the place.
Many years later, at the time God chose, the king of Persia gave Nehemiah a task. Nehemiah sent the descendants of the priests who hid the fire to look for it. They reported that they had found no fire, just a thick liquid. Nehemiah told them to draw some of it out and bring it to him. When the sacrifices had been offered, he had the priests sprinkle the liquid over the wood and over what lay on it.
They did it. Some time passed. Then the sun came out from behind the clouds that had hidden it, and a great blaze flared up. Everyone was amazed.
While the sacrifice burned, the priests prayed, and everyone else prayed with them. A man named led, and the rest answered, as Nehemiah did.
The prayer went like this:
O Lord, Lord God, who made all things,you are awesome, strong, righteous and merciful.You alone are the gracious King;you alone provide for every need.You alone are righteous, almighty and eternal.You save Israel from every harm.You chose the ancestors and made them holy.Accept the sacrifice for all your people Israel.Keep safe the people who are your own, and make them holy.Gather our scattered people together.Free those who are held captive among the nations.Look on the ones who are despised and hated,and let the nations know you are our God.Punish those who oppress usand treat us shamefully in their pride.Plant your people in your holy place,just as said.
Then the priests sang the hymns.
As soon as the sacrifice had burned up, Nehemiah had the rest of the liquid poured on some large stones. When that was done, a flame sprang up, but it went out when the light from the altar shone back.
Word of it got out. The king of the Persians was told about the liquid Nehemiah and those with him had used to purify the sacrifice. It had appeared in the place where the priests who were taken away had hidden the fire. The king looked into the matter. Then he closed the place off and made it sacred.
Whenever the king wanted to show someone favor, he exchanged many gifts with them and gave them some of this liquid.
Nehemiah and those with him called it , which means “Cleansing.” But most people call it Nephthai.
The records also say, the letter went on, that the prophet told the people who were being carried away to take some of the fire mentioned earlier. He gave them the law and ordered them not to forget the Lord’s rules, and not to be led astray in their minds when they saw of gold and silver with all their decorations. With other words like these, he urged them not to let the law leave their hearts.
The same writing told how God warned the prophet, and the prophet gave orders for the and the to go with him when he went out to the mountain. It was the mountain where Moses had climbed up and seen God’s inheritance.
Jeremiah came there and found a cave. He brought the tabernacle, the ark and the altar of into it, and then he sealed the entrance. Some of those who had followed him came to mark the way, and they could not find it.
When Jeremiah heard about it, he scolded them. “The place will stay unknown,” he said, “until God gathers the people together again and shows mercy. Then the Lord will bring these things to light, and the will be seen with the cloud, as it was shown to Moses, and as it was when asked for the place to be made very holy. It was told, too, how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice to dedicate the temple and to mark that it was finished. When Moses prayed to the Lord, fire came down out of heaven and burned up the sacrifice. Solomon prayed too, and the fire came down and burned up the . Moses said, ‘Because the had not been eaten, it was burned up in the same way.’ In the same way, Solomon celebrated the eight days.”
The same things are written in the public records and in Nehemiah’s records, the letter said. They also tell how Nehemiah started a library and gathered together the books about the kings and the prophets, the writings of , and letters from kings about sacred gifts.
“Judas, too, gathered for us all the books the war had scattered,” the letter went on, “and they are still here with us. So if you need any of them, send some people to bring them to you.
“Since we are about to celebrate the purification, we are writing to you. So it would be good for you to celebrate the days.
“God saved all his people. He gave the heritage back to all of them, with the kingdom, the priesthood and holiness, just as he promised through the law. Our hope is in God. We hope that he will soon show us mercy and gather us together from every place under heaven into his holy place, because he has brought us out of great harm and has purified the place.”