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.

Book of Zechariah 1-14, Book of Malachi 1-4, First Book of Maccabees 1-5

Book of Zechariah is another one that's set during the time of Darius.  Zechariah himself is the grandson of Iddo, one of the last figures of the Bible.  His is another book filled with prophecy.  Notably, it takes the foreshadowing of Revelation's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse more literally than the last time we saw such a thing, by including actual horsemen.

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord!"  Hmm, perhaps as Jesus?

Satan is referenced directly.  But it amounts to a more or less throwaway reference.

Greece is referenced directly for the first time, even though there have been constant allusions to close Jewish contact with its various nation states.

There's a payment of 30 pieces of silver, which is not as well-received as it first seems.

"When they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."

Book of Malachi, meanwhile, is another book concerned with the doings of the house of Esau.  It's a little odd that so many later books in the Bible do this while so many of the former ones completely ignore Jacob's brother.  It's a book mostly in the form of a screed against bad priests.  It also includes a prophecy concerning Elijah's return.

First Book of Maccabees begins somewhat curiously with a warped portrait of Alexander the Great.  I happen to know a bit about the famed Macedonian conqueror, so the summary provided here runs afoul quite notably in a few places, not the least in how it presents his final days.  He most certainly did not appoint successors.  That's how his empire crumbled so spectacularly.  But here, he's said to have done exactly that.  In fact, that's common for the Bible.  Basic human fallibility is routinely reduced to character judgments, both on individuals and nations, usually predicated on their religious observance.  But then, the Bible is a book primarily concerned with religious observance...Still long story short, and maybe this is simply a matter of how historic views change or don't always line up together, but don't take Alexander the Great's legacy strictly from what can be found in First Maccabees.

Anyway, after Alexander departs this mortal realm, things don't go so well for his successors, who are none of them half the man he was.  One of the men who was definitely not half the man was Antiochus, the main villain of this piece, the instigator and religious persecutor who riles up Mattahias and his five sons, including Judas Maccabeus.  Mattahias begins a full-scale revolt of Jews against tyranny, bringing back the fervor and battle success of the holy warriors of old, until he dies and Judas succeeds him.  Judas has among his allies a group known as the Hasideans.

A couple notes worth including:

Antiochus, as part of his rampage sacks Egypt (whose fortunes were never again quite at Exodus levels).  He plunders the temple.  (I'm not clear on this because of the wording, but I think Judas later repairs it.)  The temple at this time features "the bread of the Presence," which certainly sounds like a precursor to Catholicism's Holy Communion (which is quite literally the bread of the Presence).  Jerusalem becomes occupied.

Oh, and Rome is referenced for the first time in the Bible...

Phinehas is fairly important in the theology here.  Also invoked: Abraham, Joseph, Caleb, Joshua, David, Elijah, and Daniel.

The descendants of Esau are once again prominent, naturally, fighting against Judas and his warriors.  And to think, way back in Genesis, Esau sounded like he was going to have such a good legacy.