1 Maccabees is a deuterocanonical book of the Bible which was written by a Jewish author, probably about 100 BC, after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom. It is included in the Christian Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons. Protestants and Jews regard it as generally reliable historically but not a part of Scripture.
Some Protestants consequently regard 1 Maccabees as part of the Apocrypha, useful for reading in the church though not canonical.
The apocryphal and historical book of 1 Maccabees provides insight into the prophecies of Daniel as well as the historical background of the celebration of Channukah.
16Yochanan went up from Gazara and reported to his father Shimon what Cendebeus had done. 2 And Shimon called in his two eldest sons Yehudah and Yochanan, and said to them: "My brothers and I and my father's house have fought the wars of Isra'el from our youth until this day, and things have prospered in our hands so that we have delivered Israel many times. 3 But now I have grown old, and you by Heaven's 1 mercy are mature in years. Take my place and my brother's, and go out and fight for our nation, and may the help that comes from Heaven be with you."
