Question

1. Why do the Catholics have the books of Maccabee as scripture and the Jews don't?

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

1. There are few theories on why the books of Maccabees are not part of Jewish scriptures.

The first one is the date; it is believed that the Council of Jamnia only took books that existed for a long time and were unofficially considered canonical when canonizing Hebrew Bible. The events in the old testament go from the Creation to the book of Esther, happening during the rebuilding of the Temple. For them, The Maccabean Revolt was the recent event, happening after these mentioned ones.

The more probable reason, however, lies in the separation of Judaism on two fractures – the Pharisees and theSadducees. While Pharisees lean towards ideas of oral law and tradition, Sadducees reject them and follow the written Torah as the only canon. The Maccabees are believed to be descendant from Pharisees, and quite possibly excluded from canonization by a council of Jamnia because of this reason.

However, the books of Maccabees are still valuable historical account, the one because of which Hanukah is celebrated.

2. Because of the evidence presented above, the answer is - Yes, it is true that the first and second Maccabee books were written as part the Jewish history.