Judas Maccabeus
Son of the priest Mattathias and commander of the revolt against Antiochus IV. He recovered and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem, the origin of the feast of Hanukkah, and fell in battle a few years later.
Judas, “who was called Maccabaeus”, took command when his father Mattathias died (1 Maccabees 2:4, 66) (1 Maccabees 3:1). With a small force he defeated one Seleucid army after another (1 Maccabees 3:10–24) (1 Maccabees 4:1–35), then cleansed the temple and dedicated a new altar on the twenty-fifth of Chislev (1 Maccabees 4:36–59). See the Maccabean Revolt and the Rededication of the Temple.
The war continued after the rededication. Judas defeated the general Nicanor, a victory kept as a yearly festival on the thirteenth of Adar (1 Maccabees 7:39–49), and sent envoys to Rome, where the senate granted a treaty of friendship (1 Maccabees 8:17–30). He was killed fighting a much larger army in the 152nd year of the Seleucid era, about 160 BC, and was buried at Modein (1 Maccabees 9:3–19). His brother Jonathan succeeded him (1 Maccabees 9:28–31).
In the timeline
- 167 BC to 164 BC, estimated dateThe Maccabean Revolt and the Rededication of the Temple
The priest Mattathias and his sons take up arms against the decrees of Antiochus IV. Judas Maccabeus defeats the king’s generals, cleanses the temple and rededicates the altar, an event kept each year as the feast of Dedication, Hanukkah.