Fairy Tale Spotlight: Maccabees III [Book Review]

"Maccabees III" is a book found within the "Apocrypha." The author is unknown. Yes, this is the third book in line to the previous two books of "Machabees." The difference in spelling comes from the fact that I am reading a different translation. I read the first two books in the "Douay-Rheims Bible," which has different spellings for things. So I just decided to spell the book in the same way it was presented to me. Nothing strange here. Move along.

"Maccabees III" is not a sequel to the other two, but more of a prequel. It's specifically about the persecution of the Jews by Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator, a really nasty guy with a big ego. It all started when he got butthurt about not being allowed to go into the Jewish holy of holies. He goes in anyways and gets tossed around like a ragdoll by the angels guarding it. But he lives and then decides to blame the Jews for it and then treat them like crap.

First of all, the only reason he lived through the ordeal at all was because the Jews prayed to God about it. Second of all, why was he blaming the Jews for what was obviously a supernatural event? The man's an idiot. But idiot or no, he enacts a huge campaign against them comparable to Hitler himself. Now, it doesn't quite end the same way, and there was a very good reason for it: The Jews were very much doing their best to humble themselves before God during this trying time.

Ptolemy very much began to become the puppet of God the more the Jews prayed. He began to act strangely and forget what he was doing. There were even times during his persecution that he would actually vouch for them right before an execution [by drunken elephants] was about to happen. It all became a bit silly. He would set up an execution and right before he was about to commence it, he would act as if he never set the bloody thing up! It was driving his soldiers crazy. They didn't understand what was wrong with him.

Ultimately, he pulled clear out of whatever was making him weird and finally decided to go forward with the executions, but then the angels of Heaven swoop down and attack him and his men. Apparently the Jews were not allowed to see these things, but the soldiers were pretty much able to see that they were fighting supernatural forces. This incident completely changed Ptolemy's mind, and he rescinded his orders against the Jews.

"Maccabees III" is a very entertaining book, and I recommend it. It shows how God will sometimes "puppet" people to make them behave. It also shows that, at times, God will send his own army to fight our battles. I know that does seem a little out there, but actually it did happen in the Bible at least once. I believe it was in the protection of the Prophet Elijah. Either way, everything in this particular book is entirely plausible, and there's no reason to doubt it as far as I can tell. Good stuff.

This blog was written on June 4, 2022.

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