Mattathias
“Gift of Yahweh”
Summary
A priest who initiated the Maccabean revolt against Syrian oppression, father of Judas Maccabeus.
☩The Spark of Revolt
When Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple and forbade Jewish practices (167 BC), his officers came to Modein to enforce pagan sacrifice. When a Jew stepped forward to offer sacrifice, 'Mattathias saw it, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins trembled, neither could he forbear to show his anger' (1 Maccabees 2:24). He killed both the apostate Jew and the king's officer.
☩Call to Resistance
Mattathias cried out: 'Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me' (1 Maccabees 2:27). He fled to the mountains with his five sons—John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan—beginning the guerrilla resistance that would liberate Judea.
☩Death and Legacy
Mattathias died about a year after the revolt began (166 BC), but not before charging his sons to continue the struggle. He appointed Judas Maccabeus ('the Hammer') as military leader. Under Judas, the revolutionaries defeated Syrian armies and recaptured Jerusalem, cleansing and rededicating the Temple—the event commemorated by Hanukkah.