Everything about Mattathias totally explained
Mattathias (מתתיהו
Matitiyahu or
Matisyahu ben Yochanan HaCohen in
Hebrew) was a
Jewish
priest depicted in the
Books of the Maccabees, and the father of
Judah Maccabee, the leader of the
Maccabees. Mattathias was from a rural priestly family in
Modiin, and served as a priest in
Jerusalem. After the
Seleucid persecutions began, he returned to Modiin. In
167 BC, when asked by a
Seleucid Greek government representative under King
Antiochus IV to offer sacrifice to the
Greek gods, he not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the Jew who had stepped forward to do so. He then attacked the government official that required the act.
Everyone who has zeal for the law and maintains the testament, let him follow me!
(Mattathias, after killing the government official, 1st Maccabees 2:27.)
Upon the edict for his arrest, he took refuge in the wilderness of
Judea with his five sons, and called upon all Jews to follow him. Many responded to his call.
This was the first step in the
war of the Maccabees against the Seleucid Greeks, the result of which was Jewish independence, which hadn't been enjoyed for 400 years. The events of the war of the Maccabees form the basis for the holiday of
Hanukkah, which is celebrated by Jews on the 25th of Kislev (on the
Hebrew calendar, corresponding to Mid-November to Late-December on the
Gregorian Calendar).
The story of the Maccabees can be found in the
deuterocanonical books of
1 Maccabees and
2 Maccabees, in
Josephus, and in
Talmudic references (Shabbat 21b, Shabbat 23a - related to the candles).
The "Al Hanisim" prayer, added into the
Amidah and
Grace after meals on Chanukah, refers to the story of the Maccabees and to Mattathias by name.
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