God took the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Maccabees did it by themselves

A few decades before 1200 BCE God helped Prophets Moses and Aaron take the Hebrews out of Egypt. A thousand years later the Maccabees did it; all by themselves. How did this great ongoing transformation come about?

In 200 BCE, King Antiochus III of Syria defeated Egypt and made the Land of Israel a part of the Seleucid Empire. King Antiochus III wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects guaranteed their right to “live according to their ancestral customs” and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem.

However in 175 BCE, his son Antiochus IV invaded Judea to put in power a pro Syrian high Priest. As the ancient Jewish historian Josephus relates: “The king came upon the Jews with a great army, took their city by force, slew a great multitude of those that favored Egypt, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple (erecting an idol in it that looked like himself, and thus) put a stop to the daily offerings (to God) for three years and six months.”

When the Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus IV (who named himself ‘Manifest God’) ordered an altar to Zeus be erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the Temple.

This provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against King Antiochus. They became known as HaMakabim (the Hammers).

In 166 BCE Mattathias died, and Judah Makabee took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was largely successful. The Temple was liberated and (Hanukah) rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event.

If the Jewish People had given up and assimilated into the Greek-Roman civilization God’s Prophets Jesus and Muhammad would have grown up in an idol worshipping polytheist world, and not become the successful Messengers Prophets that they did.

Until Prophet Abraham, all Prophets were raised and sent to the whole of mankind in different lands and at different times but with the same message. A hadith puts the number of prophets sent to all mankind as 124,000 (Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 5, 169) But the number is not important. What is essential is that no land, people or period was neglected; prophets were sent to all.

The Qur’an says: There never was a people without a Warner having lived among them’ (35:24) and “We (God) would never visit our wrath (chastise any community) until We had sent a Messenger to give warning.”(17:15)

We know for certain only 28, and the prophethood of three out of these 28 is not wholly certain. The Qur’an gives us the names of all 28, from Adam, the first, to Muhammad, the last. We do know the names of some of the prophets sent to the Israelite peoples, but we do not know the names of many others. We do know that starting with Prophet Abraham and his two sons Prophets Ishmael and Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob (whose name is mentioned 16 times in the Qur’an), Allah decides to convince people in a very unique, different and much more dynamic way.

For thousands of years before Prophet Abraham was born, Allah sent thousands of prophets to all the bands, tribes, nations and Empires on the earth, and not one of them were able to establish even one ongoing, imageless, monotheistic community. As the Qur’an states: “The people of Noah denied before them, and the Companions of the Well, and the People of Thamûd and ʿÂd, and Pharaoh, and the brethren /neighbors of Lot; and the Companions of the Forest, and the People of Tubba‘. All denied the messengers [Allah sent them] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [Qur’an 50:12-14]

So Allah decided to do things in a very different much more dynamic way.

Allah decided to make a covenant with a small tribe, and send six hundred of his prophets to this small tribe; and Allah worked continually for centuries with the people of this tribe until they were able to establish an ongoing imageless monotheistic community that would always have a core of righteous and loyal believers.

Allah selected Abraham the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) and the descendants of Prophets Ishmael, Issac, and Jacob to be the first, but not the last monotheistic community. “There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him.” [Qur’an 60:4] and “Indeed Ibrahim was a nation obedient to Allah, a Hanif, he was not one of the polytheists.” [Qur’an 16:120].

“Praise to Allah, who has granted to me in old age Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication [14:39]. And “O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring (Ishmael) to dwell in a valley without cultivation, near your Sacred House (the Ka’ba); in order our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: so that they may give thanks”. [Qur’an 14:37}

“And remember Our servants; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Endowed with power and insight. We made them perfectly pure and sincere by virtue of a characteristic most pure; their constant remembrance of the Abode”. [Qur’an 38:45-7]

“For who has a better religion than him who submits his will to Allah, being virtuous, and follows the creed of Ibrahim, a Hanif? And Allah took Ibrahim for a dedicated friend” [4:125].

And when his Lord tested Abrahim with certain words, he fulfilled them, He (God) said, “I am making you the Imam of mankind.” Said he, “And from among my descendants?” He said, “My pledge does not extend to the unjust” [Qur’an 2:124]. The covenant between God and the descendants of Jacob (later called Israel) does not include Jews who transgress the 10 commandments.

A narration from Abu Dharr relates that one day he asked the Messenger of Allah: “How many prophets are there in all? He replied: 124, 000. He then asked: How many of them were messenger prophets? He replied: 313 from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam…The first prophet among Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them was Isa and they were in all 600.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32.)

One of the most important visions of the prophets of Israel occurs in the words of the 8th century BCE biblical prophet Micah. He declared that until the end of history, and throughout the Messianic Age, religious pluralism will continue to be the norm, even among polytheists.

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in His paths. Torah will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord God has spoken. All the nations will walk in the name of their gods, and we (Jews) will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. (Micah 4:1-5)

The opening section seems to predict Jewish pre-eminence but it doesn’t, because it says ”many nations will come” (4:2) not “all nations will flow to Israel” to be taught God’s ways. The second section predicts the universal peace that will reign in the Messianic Age under God’ rule. So far this agrees totally with the better known prophecy of Isaiah (2:2-4).

Then comes Prophet Micah’s revolutionary addition. Micah declares that the verses of the first section do not proclaim Judaism’s victory over all other religions, or even over all other God concepts. Even in the Messianic Age the other nations will still be loyal to their Gods just as we are loyal to our God as Micah says in (4:5) “All the nations will walk in the name of their gods”

Indeed, it is possible to understand this verse to mean that the Messianic Age of universal peace will come about because all the nations, including Israel, actually live up to the best principles of their own religions.

Although there have been 313 Messengers sent by Allah, only four of them have received a book of revelation that has lasted to the present time: Prophets Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad. All four of them were descendants of Prophet Abraham and his two sons, Prophets Ishmael and Isaac.

Prophet Abraham also received from Allah a smaller written revelation called Suhuf Ibrahim by the Qur’an (The Scrolls of Abraham). They were written by Ibrahim himself, and his scribes and followers according to some Islamic traditions. All Muslim scholars generally agree that no sacred Scrolls of Abraham survive, not due to deliberate sabotage but rather due to the passage of time.

The exact contents of the Suhuf Ibrahim revelation are not described in the Qur’an; but it does refer to the Scrolls of Abraham several times, including this verse: “Most surely this is in the earlier scriptures, the Books of Abraham and Moses” (87:18-19). Perhaps the Qur’an connects Prophets Abraham and Moses here because the Suhuf Ibrahim are now included in the first 24 chapters of the Torah of Moses.