MACCABEES, two apocryphal books of Scripture, so called from Judas the son of Mattathias, named Maccabeus, either on account of his valour, or because he bore on his standard the first letters of a sentence in Exodus, which, joined together, form the name Maccabee. The Hebrews call them The books of the Affamoneans, because (according to Josephus and Eusebius) Mattathias was the son of Haimonius, or Affamoneus, which was the name of the family. The first book of the Maccabees is an excellent history; and comes nearest to the style and manner of the sacred historians of any extant. It contains the history of 40 years, from the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, to the death of Simon the high-priest; that is, from the year of the world 3829, to the year 3869, or 131 B.C. The second book of the Maccabees begins with two epistles sent from the Jews of Jerusalem to the Jews of Egypt and Alexandria, to exhort them to observe the feast of the dedication of the new altar erected by Judas on his purifying the temple. After these epistles follows the preface of the author to his history; which is an abridgment of a larger work, composed by one Jason, a Jew of Cyrene, who wrote the history of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, and the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes, and Eupator his son. This second book does not by any means equal the accuracy and excellency of the first. It contains a history of about 15 years, from the execution of Heliodorus's commission, who was sent by Seleucus to fetch away the treasures of the temple, to the victory obtained by Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor; that is, from the year of the world 3828, to the year 3843, or 147 B.C.