Bible & Christianity › Exile & the Second Temple › The Second Temple
Maccabean revolt and Hanukkah
167–160 BC; Temple rededicated 164 BC· Event· Bible story & events
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A Jewish uprising against the Seleucid Greek king Antiochus IV, who had banned Judaism; it retook the Temple and won independence.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
In 167 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed circumcision and the Sabbath and set up a pagan altar in the Temple, 'the abomination of desolation' (1 Maccabees 1:54). The priest Mattathias and his five sons took to the hills; his son Judas, nicknamed Maccabee ('the hammer'), led a guerrilla war. In December 164 BC they purified and rededicated the Temple, the origin of Hanukkah ('dedication'). Their family, the Hasmoneans, ruled Judea from about 140 to 63 BC.
Why it matters
It saved Jewish practice from forced Greek assimilation, gave Judea about 80 years of self-rule, and fed ideas of martyrdom and resurrection (2 Maccabees 7; Daniel 12).
Sources and history
1 and 2 Maccabees and Josephus tell the story; Greek historians and coins of Antiochus IV and of the Hasmonean rulers confirm it. The miracle of oil lasting eight days first appears in the Talmud, centuries later.
Questions and debates
Why Antiochus banned Judaism is debated: his own policy, a reaction to unrest, or a power struggle among pro-Greek Jewish priests in Jerusalem.
Inside this (2)
Connections (5)
▸Alexander the Great brings Greek rule began the Greek rule resisted in Maccabean revolt and HanukkahHistorical record
The connection
After Alexander's death, dynasties founded by his generals ruled Judea: the Ptolemies, then the Seleucids. Greek culture attracted some Jewish elites, who built a gymnasium in Jerusalem (1 Maccabees 1:14). When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV banned Jewish law in 167 BC, the clash between Greek ways and the Torah exploded into revolt.
When and where
Judea, from 332 to 167 BC; under Seleucid rule from 200 BC.
Historical evidence
1 Maccabees 1 begins with Alexander and traces the line to Antiochus IV; Greek historians such as Polybius confirm the Seleucid kings.
Questions and debates
Whether the conflict was mainly Jews against Greeks, or a civil war among Jews over how much Greek culture to accept, is debated.
▸Maccabean revolt and Hanukkah rededicated The Second TempleHistorical record
The connection
After retaking Jerusalem (except a Seleucid fortress, the Acra), Judas Maccabee's forces removed the pagan altar, built a new one and rededicated the Temple with eight days of celebration. Jews still mark this each winter as Hanukkah ('dedication'), lighting candles for eight nights.
When and where
Jerusalem, 25 Kislev (December) 164 BC, three years after the desecration, under Judas Maccabee.
Historical evidence
1 Maccabees 4:36–59 and 2 Maccabees 10 describe it; John 10:22 places Jesus in the Temple at 'the Feast of Dedication'.
Questions and debates
The tale of one day's oil lasting eight days first appears in the Talmud (c. AD 500); 2 Maccabees instead links the eight days to the Festival of Booths.
▸Maccabean revolt and Hanukkah is the setting most scholars see in Daniel in BabylonMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Daniel 7–12 describes visions of a 'little horn' king who stops the daily sacrifice and sets up 'the abomination that makes desolate' (Daniel 11:31). Most scholars think the book was finished during Antiochus IV's persecution, about 165 BC, to assure the faithful that God would soon intervene.
When and where
Judea, c. 167–164 BC; the book itself is set in 6th-century BC Babylon.
How do we know?
Daniel 11 tracks Ptolemaic and Seleucid history in precise detail up to about 165 BC, but its forecast of Antiochus' death (11:40–45) does not match what happened.
Questions and debates
Traditional Jews and many Christians hold that Daniel wrote it in the 6th century BC as prophecy; some read the 'little horn' as a future figure.
▸Maccabean revolt and Hanukkah won independence lost in Rome conquers JudeaHistorical record
The connection
The Maccabees' heirs, the Hasmoneans, ruled as priest-kings and had even made a treaty with Rome (1 Maccabees 8). In the 60s BC the brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II fought over the throne, and both appealed to the Roman general Pompey, then in Syria. Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BC.
When and where
Jerusalem, 63 BC; Pompey besieged the Temple Mount for three months.
Historical evidence
Josephus (Antiquities 14) gives a detailed account, and Roman historians, including Cassius Dio, confirm Pompey's capture of Jerusalem.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether Rome, expanding through the East, would have absorbed Judea anyway, or whether the Hasmonean civil war invited it in.
▸Deuterocanonical books (the Apocrypha) tell, in 1–2 Maccabees, the story of Maccabean revolt and HanukkahHistorical record
The connection
1 Maccabees gives a sober history of the revolt and its aftermath from 175 to 134 BC, from Antiochus IV's decrees to the death of Simon. 2 Maccabees, condensed from a five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene, retells the early years with stories of martyrs, such as a mother and her seven sons (2 Maccabees 7).
When and where
1 Maccabees was written in Hebrew in Judea around 100 BC and survives in Greek; 2 Maccabees was written in Greek in the late 2nd century BC.
Historical evidence
Their accounts match Greek historians such as Polybius on Seleucid politics, and Seleucid coins and Babylonian records confirm many events.
Questions and debates
Why the Hebrew original of 1 Maccabees was lost, and why Judaism left these books out of its Bible despite honoring Hanukkah, is debated.