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Need an argumentative essay on Maccabees. Needs to be 2 pages. Please no plagiarism.

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and covers the entire revolt until 134 B.C. The book was originally written in Hebrew but is now available only in Greek. The narrative is primarily in the prose form, but it also has seven poetic sections, which are in the tradition of classical Hebrew poetry. These include four laments and three hymns of praise.

The book’s author has still not been identified, but is assumed to have been a devout Jew from the Holy Land who may have even taken part in the events described in the book. He shows intimate and detailed geographical knowledge of the Holy Land, but is inaccurate in his information about foreign countries. In the book, events are seen as God’s way of achieving his ends through the military genius of the Maccabees rather than a miraculous divine intervention. The words “God” and “Lord” never occur in the text, always being replaced by “Heaven” or “He”.

The first section of the book deals with the plight of the Jews and Judea in the hands of Alexander and his successors. Judea had been conquered Alexander the Great and ruled by the Greek Seleucid Empire. The emperor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted brutally to censor Judaism and its practices. He took advantage of the existing factionalism among the Jews and began a religious persecution. Jews were being cold bloodedly murdered in order to frighten residents of Judea into accepting Hellenic idol worship.