2MA

2 Maccabees 3 - Summary

Summary

Read 2 Maccabees Chapter 3 Summary

While the holy city lives in peace under the godly high priest Onias, Simon, governor of the temple, quarrels with him and tells Apollonius that the treasury in Jerusalem holds untold riches. King Seleucus sends his treasurer Heliodorus to seize them. Onias explains that the money is kept for widows and fatherless children, and the whole city prays, priests prostrate in their vestments, women in sackcloth in the streets. As Heliodorus stands at the treasury, a terrible rider strikes him with his horse's forefeet and two young men scourge him until he falls. Spared through Onias's sacrifice, he tells the king that God himself defends that place.

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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

Benjamin
Benjamin

Youngest Son of Jacob

Tobias
Tobias

Son of Tobit

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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Position in Book

Letters to the Jews of EgyptChapters 1-2
Heliodorus and the Temple TreasuryChapters 3

Sent to seize the deposits of widows and orphans, Heliodorus is struck down by a heavenly rider and spared through the prayer of the high priest Onias.

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