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1 Maccabees describes Judas Maccabeus sending home those recently engaged, those who built houses, or planted vineyards, following the instructions in Deuteronomy for preparing an army. This connects the narrative of 1 Maccabees with Israel’s traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 20:5
Hebrew Bible
3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, 4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” 5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it. 6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. 7 Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
1 Maccabees 3:56
Deuterocanon
54 They sounded with the trumpets, and gave a loud shout. 55 And after this Judas appointed leaders of the people: captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens. 56 He said to those who were building houses, were betrothing wives, were planting vineyards, and were fearful, that they should return, each man to his own house, according to the law. 57 The army marched out and encamped upon the south side of Emmaus. 58 Judas said, “Arm yourselves and be valiant men! Be ready in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who are assembled together against us to destroy us and our holy place.
Date: 134–63 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In explaining her protection of the Israelite spies who lodge with her in Jericho, Rahab refers to the report she has heard of the Lord’s mighty deeds on behalf of the Israelites (Joshua 2:8–13). 1 Maccabees certainly does not discount God’s role in Judah’s victories; indeed, it is important for its claims that God is on Judah’s side, that he is the ultimate source of Judah’s success. Yet while it takes pains to show Judah exhorting his troops that the few can triumph over the many because all battles are in God’s hands (1 Maccabees 3:17–22; 4:8–11) and depicts him engaged in prayer and other pious practices before and during battle together with his men (1 Maccabees 3:46–56; 4:30–33, 38–41; 5:28, 33. Most of the practices reported in 1 Maccabees, such as prayer and fasting, are not enjoined by the Torah’s laws of warfare. There are two instances in which Judah’s preparation for war reflects the military legislation in the Torah: Judah sent home the categories of men excluded from participation in battle (Deuteronomy 20:5–8), an act that 1 Maccabees explicitly calls “according to the law” (1 Maccabees 3:56); Judah and his army killed all males in the city of Bozrah, located east of the Jordan (1 Maccabees 5:28, following the legislation for warfare against a distant city in Deuteronomy 20:10-20) it is of Judah’s deeds, not of God’s, that the Gentiles hear ..."
Martha Himmelfarb, “'He Was Renowned to the Ends of the Earth' (1 Maccabees 3:9): Judaism and Hellenism in 1 Maccabees,” in Jewish Literatures and Cultures: Context and Intertext, ed. Anita Norich and Yaron Z. Eliav, BJS 349 (Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2008), 77–97.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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