"... 2 Maccabees is a Hellenistic work, very different from biblical historiography, but the influence of Deuteronomy on the book has been acknowledged by several scholars. Still, its use of Deuteronomy differs from that of 1 Maccabees. The religious fervor advocated by the book does not consist in the eradication of the unfaithful Jews/Judeans (Deuteronomy 13), but rather in martyrdom, in willingness to die rather than transgress the Law. This is a wholly different kind of faithfulness to the Law. What is more, the book has a clear theological agenda. First, it tries to argue that in spite of the persecution of the faithful ones, God is just, punishes the wicked and rewards the pious. In this connection, Daniel Schwartz has argued that Deuteronomy 32 plays a key role in the ideology of 2 Maccabees, in so far as it inspires the 'sin-punishment-reconciliation theme' so prominent in the book. The main Deuteronomic influence on 2 Maccabees is in fact the idea that the misfortunes of the Judeans were a consequence of their sins. The second aspect of the book's theological agenda is its insistence on the omnipotence of God, who fights for his people (See 2 Maccabees 10:26, referring explicitly to Exodus 23:22) and is able to grant victory even to a small group of barely armed people facing a powerful and professional army, an idea that appears in Deuteronomy too (7:17-24; 20:1-4). Moreover, in 2 Maccabees, God is so sensationally involved in the history of his people that celestial visions, powerful angels and miraculous deliverances abound ..."