First Book of Maccabees 6-16, Second Book of Maccabees 1-15

As we pick First Maccabees back up, there's a lawless and ungodly man who wants to be high priest seeking favors from Rome, by speaking against Judas Maccabeus and his cause.

More talk of Rome, in relation to campaigns in Gaul and Spain.  The modern world is emerging!  Rome looks so good, Judas entreats peace from it.  But after many spectacular military campaigns he dies in battle.  "Now the rest of the acts of Judas, and his wars and the brave deeds that he did, and his greatness, have not been recorded, for they were very many."  A statement that sounds a lot like how the Gospel of John ends.

There's a Canaanite wedding that turns into something else entirely.

Two remaining sons of Mattathias, Jonathan and Simon, succeed Judas, one after the other; so, similar success.  Jonathan is so successful he wins peace and becomes a judge, real old school biblical, and then high priest.

Cleopatra is mentioned.  This is one of the ways Egypt remains relevant to the biblical narrative well after Exodus.

Concerning Jonathan: "And when his accusers saw the honor that was paid him, in accordance with the proclamation, and saw him clothed in purple, they all fled."

It's lines like that that make it clear how Jesus in the New Testament was cannily presented in such a way that reflected as much Old Testament as possible, to make it clear the contrast and transition between them.

All the twists and turns of fortune make First Maccabees sound ripe for Shakespearean drama.

Jonathan ends up murdered in a slaughter.  But this is okay, since pyramids are finally referenced in the Bible as a result (any modern individual automatically associates Egyptians with pyramids, so their absence in the Moses narrative will always be peculiar).  "The land had rest all the days of Simon," who became high priest.  But he still ends up killed in treachery.  There are parallels here to Joseph among the Egyptians, the start of the Babylonian era, more of the parallels that exist all over the place.

There was was originally a continuation of this narrative in a chronicle of Simon's son John's time as high priest.

Judas Maccabeus is far less famous a biblical figure than just about anyone else in the Old Testament, and yet he is such a classic figure, comparable to anyone from Joshua to David.  He would clearly have been a candidate for the prophesied messiah.  But he's also a symbol of the futility of the old ways, even though he and his two brothers had such great success.  There's even a line in there about prophets just as if that era was clearly not over, as if to make it clear he was no one's answer to the ultimate prophecy.  Except in so many ways he clearly was, the last of the classical biblical figures.  But if war were no longer the answer...

Second Maccabees is not a continuation but an apparently entirely separate account.  It begins as a letter to Jews in Egypt.  This is fitting in so many ways.  Not the least because the New Testament would later end in a series of letters.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jeremiah, Solomon, and David are all invoked, but Nehemiah receives special emphasis for whatever reason.

Second Maccabees is apparently a condensed version of a five-volume account on the days of Judas Maccabeus by Jason of Cyrene.  It features an elaborate prelude that further evokes the earlier tempting of the Babylonians when a foolish man bungles the presence of treasure in the temple.  It should be noted that Mattathias is never mentioned in this account.

"Olympian" Zeus is referenced by name.  He's described as the "Friend of Strangers."  Doubtless a way to sell him to people outside the Greek tradition.  It should be noted here that the close association between Greeks and Romans in Maccabees is no mistake.  The Romans adapted their whole pantheon of gods from the Greeks.  As the Greeks try to convert everyone to their pantheon, that's what causes all the problems in the Maccabees saga.  From studying Greek mythology itself, I can only say that the actual history of it is rarely brought up, other than the classic myths themselves.  It's funny, because at least in Oliver Stone's Alexander, belief in the gods at the time of Alexander the Great, who is the first person discussed in First Maccabees, is no longer taken literally.  Alexander lived many centuries after the events depicted in The Iliad, which is in some ways the final statement on Greek gods.

Though perhaps it's fitting that the next Greek god referenced is Dionysus.  The wild baccanalias held in his honor were basically the ancient world's frat parties, although they were in relation to secret religious ceremonies that may be relevant in this context.  It would be no wonder that Jews had no interest in such things.

The noble martyrdom of Eleazar is described, which is kind of like the first Christian martyr Stephen's in Acts.  This leads into the more classic sacrifice of the seven brothers, who each die professing their Jewish faith while also discussing the doctrine of resurrection and/or eternal life.  Their mother, meanwhile, "fired her woman's reasoning with a man's courage."

By the end of Second Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus is actually still alive.

I suppose it ought to be noted that Second Maccabees also helps serve as the historic foundation of Hanukkah (Adam Sandler's "Eight Crazy Nights," or "Jewish Christmas").

And thus ends the Old Testament.