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I heard a visiting rabbi talked about Hanukkah and mentioned that the people of the Maccabean period fought off lions and/or were sawn in half or delimbed, but he did not give any exact sourcess, except to say that some of the stories were in the book of the Maccabees.

  1. Where in the history and/or rabbinical works does it say that the people of the Maccabean period fought off lions and/or were sawn in half or delimbed? (One of the answers given below gave an answer in regards to fighting off lions, but without a historical or rabbinical source, which I require.)

  2. If 2 Maccabees is an abridgement of a longer history by "Jason of Cyrene", then of what is 1 Maccabees an abridgement of? Which parts of the books of the Maccabees did Josephus, the Jewish historian, agree and/or disagree with?

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    I removed the Tanach tag because unlike Christians, Jews do not consider any of the Books of Maccabees to be part of "the bible". Different Christian canons include some of the books, which is how they were preserved to this day. With that said, the main 3 books (Maccabees 1-3) were certainly not written by Christians, but even if they were, your second question seems irrelevant. Christians have also preserved various Jewish traditions and histories in their texts.
    – Harel13
    Dec 18, 2022 at 7:18
  • @Harel13 I believe early translations of the Septuagint and Hebrew fragments found in the DSS show that at least a decent population of Jews considered some books of the Maccabees to be part of the Tanakh
    – Aaron
    Dec 20, 2022 at 18:49
  • @Aaron Any source on the "DSS" that bears this out? Thanks.
    – ninamag
    Dec 20, 2022 at 18:51
  • @Aaron what are you referring to by septuagints? I'm not aware of whole or fragmented septuagints today that are considered Jewish and include Maccabees. As for DSS - I wouldn't consider the minority of the people who made up the sect or sects to be a decent population. But I concede that perhaps there were Jews who considered it scripture.
    – Harel13
    Dec 20, 2022 at 19:43
  • Where in the Dead Sea Scrolls does it show any support for any of the Maccabeean works?
    – ninamag
    Dec 21, 2022 at 7:47

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13th-century French romances describe Judah Maccabee fighting lions. See "Chevalerie de Judas Macabee" and "Chevalerie de Judas Machabee" (different works).

As for sawing in half, I don't of this exact description but there are some horrible tortures, including having limbs cut off, described in 2 Maccabees ch. 7.

2 Maccabees describes itself as an abridgement of a longer history by "Jason of Cyrene". 2 Maccabees was written not long after the revolt, 100-200 years before the common era, so there cannot have been Christian involvement. Jason is always assumed to have been Jewish because of his obvious pro-Maccabean bias and his extensive religious descriptions of divine intervention in their favor.

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  • To what did "13th-century French romances (source) Judah Maccabee (as) fighting lions"? If 2 Maccabees is an abridgement of a longer history by "Jason of Cyrene", then of what is 1 Maccabees an abridgement of? Thanks for your answer.
    – ninamag
    Dec 27, 2022 at 3:31
  • Where can one read the longer work of Jason of Cyrene, from which 2 Maccabees is an abridgement of?
    – ninamag
    Dec 27, 2022 at 3:47
  • They don't cite anything, so probably just their imagination. 1 Maccabees is not an abridgement, though it is probably a translation (of a lost Hebrew original). The original work of Jason of Cyrene is lost and known only through the description in 2 Maccabees 2:19-32.
    – user25970
    Dec 27, 2022 at 5:39

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