I And II Maccabees

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, in an apocalyptic literature style. It consists of a series of prophecies about the end times, when Jesus will return and triumph over all the evil residing in the world. Its purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to Christians so that they will continue watching for the return and victory of Jesus Christ, but it is also a warning of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure. The depiction of the cosmic battle that takes place both in heaven and on earth, symbolic language, and introduction of surreal

Zealots are one of the four main Jewish groups located in the New Testament (Who). The Maccabees was a group that possibly had given the Zealots their rules that they followed. The founder of the Maccabees, a priest named Mattathias, would not participate in Hellenization and stood up for his religion by killing anyone who did participate in a different religion. This action caused a revolt against the Seleucid empire (who) The Maccabees are important because they introduced the Zealots symbol, the palm branch. The palm branch symbolized victory from war (May). Therefore, the Zealots lived strictly by the guidelines of the Torah and believed that there should be no king and that there was only one god. The Zealots were, “founded by Judas the

” Adam and Eve, the garden, the serpent, the forbidden fruit. Every story about the loss of innocence is really about someone’s private reenactment of the fall from grace, since we experience it not collectively but individually and subjectively”. One example is the Garden of Eden where women tempt men and cause their fall. The apple is used as a symbolic object of temptation and a serpent is used to tempt men to do evil, and a fall from innocence. The Flood shows rain as a form of destruction and then it shows rainbows as a promise of restoration. The Apocalypse: Four Horseman of the Apocalypse usher in the end of the world. Biblical names often draw a connection between literary character and Biblical characters. Crist is also used symbolically. A Christ figure is good with children, employed as a carpenter, believed to have walked on water, very forgiving, believed to have spent time alone in the wilderness, believed to have had a confrontation with the devil, possibly tempted, thirty-three years of age when last seen. “You may not subscribe to this list, may find it too glib, but if you want to read like a literature professor, you need to put aside your belief system, at least for the period during which you read, so you can see what the writer is trying to

In the first chapter, Nahum warns of the coming judgement, and describes the awesome power of God.

Some people may believe that prophecy and apocalyptic literature is a well-known subject because there are lots of books and papers concerning it, but there is still so much that will always be misunderstood. Prophesy and apocalyptic literature may have some similarities but they are structurally different in a way that makes them distinct. This paper will address prophecy and apocalyptic writings and determine the differences between them by using Daniel and Amos as templates.

The classic works of apocalyptic literature, such as the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation are inherently religious and centered around God. As a result, most later apocalyptic literature is also religiously centered, with God as the instrumental entity (Shaffer 142). Those who have read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings remember most vividly the final great battle where evil is overcome in the apocalyptic ending of an age. Tolkien's bit of apocalyptic literature in The Lord of the Rings seems different from traditional religious notions of an apocalypse because the entire epic fantasy seems devoid of religion and any notion of God. Through recognition of the aural imagery in The Lord of the Rings and comparison with that

“The Day of Doom” was written was written by Michaels Wigglesworth and it portrays the Puritan lifestyle and depicts the final Day of Judgment. “Christ Reply” was written by Edward Taylor and was also was influenced by Puritan beliefs in portraying heaven and hell. Both works perceive the Puritan beliefs and develop an understanding of the final days by significant details in the work itself, by the author’s religious backgrounds, and by the obstacles the authors faced when writing their works.

The apocalypse is a very popular theme throughout the modern day film and literature industry. In all of these pop culture renditions, the apocalypse and doomsday go hand-in-hand. The apocalypse today is seen as the end of the world, natural disasters, mass illnesses or climate change are said to destroy the world and humankind along with it. However, the term “apocalypse” has been around long before the movies and books. Originally, the apocalypse did not always mean the end of the world. The word “apocalypse” comes from the Greek word “apokalypsis”, which also means “revelation” or to uncover a hidden truth (Dayton 7, 2). Therefore, the original concept of the apocalypse is a disclosure of knowledge, revelation or a lesson to be taught. In

In Maccabees II a more dramatic and meaningful form of prayer is a common theme. Jews “held up hands; stretched out their hands" and rose from prayer. [2 Macc 3:18-20; 2 Macc 10: 25-27; 2 Macc14: 34-36; 2 Macc15: 12]. Where as in Maccabees I movements associated with prayer are much more subtle and not as dramatic. Verses, such as 1 Macc 3:44; 1 Macc 4:55-56; 1Macc 7:40, display this common theme, but again, the references to prayer are more scarce than in the Second Maccabees. This is due to the fact that the writer of the Second Maccabees is again trying to stress the importance of divine worship and omnipotence. This idea was not seen as a threat to the writer in the First Maccabees. The motif of prayer in these books is somewhat minor, but supports the idea that the author is clearly writing to an audience that must pray together even though they are no longer in Israel.

Many familiar and coveted stories that people are familiar with come from a religious background. Moses parting the sea, to bring the jewish people to Israel, Eve taking the apple from the tree due to her naivety and expelling humanity from the garden of Eden. All of these stories may be stored in a person's memory bank, but how many people have heard of the book of Enoch, and the interesting contents that lay inside of it? The book of Enoch is an almost forgotten book, as it is not recognized by many sects of the church, and it is rarely spoken of elsewhere. Yet, The book of Enoch contains a very interesting story of how Angels lost their wings and fell from heaven for going against the will of God.

Chapter one is a survey of modern scholarly literature related to the theme of worship in the Apocalypse. It is divides into four subtopics; A) The theme of worship as a whole, B) The hymns in the Apocalypse, C) Revelation 4-5, D) Additional worship scenes.

The passage of Scripture being discussed in the following paper is Daniel 7:1-14. This chapter consists of three literary sections, first, chaos by the sea (7:1-8) followed by the heavenly courtroom (7:9-14), concluding with the visions divine victory and interpretation (7:15-28) which will not be addressed in this paper. The Christian canon locates the book of Daniel within its prophetic writings, however, the Jewish canon includes it within, “the Writings.” The book of Daniel doesn’t necessarily fit in either category, as it is widely considered within the literary category of apocalyptic literature which the subsequent sections of this paper will explore further. Daniel can be divided into three sections, based on language: a Hebrew introduction (Ch. 1); an Aramaic section (Ch. 2-7); and a Hebrew section (Ch. 8-12). Within these three language divisions exist two literary sections, first, the Tales (Ch. 1-6) followed by the Visions (Ch. 7-12). These two sections, though existing within the language divisions appear to have no corresponding connection.

The Book of Daniel is the only full-blown apocalyptic book in the Protestant recognized version of the Canon. A literary device divides the book into two halves. Chapters 1-6 are a collection of stories that introduces the reader to Daniel and three other Israelites as unwilling guests of the Babylonia Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. The second half, Chapters 7-12 consists of apocalyptic imagery of deformed beasts and the heavenly court. The focus of this paper will be on chapter 7, which serves as a bridge of the two halves. Chapter 7 is the earliest of the visions as it identifies with the genre of 8-12 while through language and content it reverts to Daniel chapter 2. The linguistic break down is not as neat as the literary divide in

A. Summary of Maccabees The book of first Maccabees starts off with describing Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedonia. It highlights his ability to dominate nations, but also his arrogant heart which led to his death. Before he died he gathered his generals nobleman to divided his massive kingdom. Antiochus was king of Israel and surrounding areas many Jews were falling away from God and following gentile customs.

The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work written about the Enoch, who is the great-grandfather of Noah. Today’s scholars estimate that Enoch was written around 300 BC, and the earliest works to be around the first century BC. It is not part of the biblical canon by the Jewish religion. It is canonical of the Beta Israel religion. Most Christian denominations accept the Books of Enoch as having some significance, but they are generally regarded as non-canonical. Some Christian denominations do believe Enoch