2MA

2 Maccabees 2 - Summary

Summary

Read 2 Maccabees Chapter 2 Summary

The letter goes on with the records of Jeremy the prophet: he told the exiles to take the fire, warned them against images of silver and gold, and hid the tabernacle, the ark and the altar of incense in a cave on the mountain where Moses saw the heritage of God, saying the place would stay unknown 'until the time that God gather his people again together'. It recalls Neemias's library and the books Judas gathered after the war. Then the author introduces his work: an abridgement in one volume of the five books of Jason of Cyrene, a labour of 'sweat and watching' like preparing a banquet.

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Characters in This Chapter

Jeremiah
Jeremiah

Prophet remembered for hiding the tabernacle and the ark, who appears in Judas's dream praying for the people and giving him a golden sword

Nehemiah
Nehemiah

Leader who, in the opening letter, rekindles the hidden altar fire and founds a library of the sacred books

Judas Maccabeus
Judas Maccabeus

Hero of the book, who cleanses the Temple, prays for the fallen and defeats Nicanor after his dream of Jeremiah

Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiochus IV Epiphanes

King who plunders the Temple and persecutes the faithful, then dies of a plague after his flight from Persepolis

Moses
Moses

Prophet and Lawgiver

Solomon
Solomon

Wise King of Israel

David
David

King of Israel

Places in This Chapter

Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Holy city at the centre of the story: plundered by Antiochus, freed by Judas, and the place where Nicanor's head is hung up

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The Temple
The Temple

Sanctuary defended against Heliodorus, profaned and dedicated to Jupiter, cleansed on the twenty-fifth of Casleu, then threatened by Nicanor

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Egypt
Egypt

Home of the Jews to whom the opening letters are written, and the land of Antiochus's campaigns

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Antioch (Syria)
Antioch (Syria)

Seleucid capital, near which Onias is murdered at Daphne, and to which Nicanor flees after his first defeat

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Persia
Persia

Land where the priests hid the altar fire at the exile, and from which Antiochus returns in disgrace before his death

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Mount Nebo
Mount Nebo

The mountain from which Moses saw the heritage of God, where Jeremiah is said to have hidden the tabernacle and the ark in a cave

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The Tabernacle
The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle was the portable sanctuary that Israel built according to God's instructions at Mount Sinai. It served as God's dwelling place among His people during the wilderness wanderings and early settlement in Canaan. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, and the holy place.

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Position in Book

Letters to the Jews of EgyptChapters 1-2

Two letters invite the Jews of Egypt to keep the purification of the temple, tell of the sacred fire and of Jeremy hiding the ark, and the author presents his abridgement of Jason of Cyrene.

Heliodorus and the Temple TreasuryChapters 3
Corrupt High Priests and the Sack of JerusalemChapters 4-5
Persecution and the MartyrsChapters 6-7
Judas's Rising and the Tyrant's EndChapters 8-9
The Temple Cleansed and the Wars under EupatorChapters 10-13
Nicanor, Razis and the Last VictoryChapters 14-15