Author: David C. Carson

ISBN: 1432701657

Every year on the 25^th of the month Kislev of the Hebrew Calendar (between the end of November and the end of December according to the Gregorian calendar) Jews from around the world celebrate the Festival of Lights or as it is more commonly known, Chanukah. The holiday commemorates the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the temple. It also commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days.

For those of you who are not familiar with the story of the Maccabees and in particular its leader, Judas Maccabeus (referred to as Judah Maccabee or Yehudah HaMakabi in the Hebrew form to differentiate from Judas Iscariot betrayer of Jesus Christ ), David C. Carson’s debut historical fiction Maccabee provides us with answers aplenty.

However one caveat, Carson in his Author’s Historical Notes, which appears at the end of the book, states that a work of historical fiction is just that, history and fiction. He further mentions that the reader should not be misled into thinking that some of the fictional elements of the story were actual events or persons. Consequently, Carson has taken liberties with his material in order to narrate a fascinating tale in order to make a point and in the process he has successfully sucked us in from the very first chapter onwards.

Carson holds a Master of Arts degree in Religion and he became interested in the story of Chanukah while working on a course in graduate school when he fell into the reading of “The Antiquities of the Jews” by Flavius Josephus. The novel is based partly on the writings of Josephus as well as two apocryphal books I Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. As for any scripture quotes, these have been taken from the 1917 English translation of the Tanakh (Old Testament).

The narrative takes place in 167 BCE and revolves around how Judas and his four brothers, sons of Mattathias ben John ben Simon ben Hasmoneous priest of the order of Joarib succeeded in driving the Syrians out of Judea.

This was the era when King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the successor to Alexander and King of Syria, had forced the Jews to abandon their religion and their God and worship Greek idols. Many Jews were slaughtered or enslaved and the Temple was converted into a place of worship for the Greek God Zeus. He even forced the Jews to offer sacrifices to the Greek deities.

There were some Jews, however, such as the Sadducees, who arose during the third century BCE who openly embraced the Syrians and Hellenization to the point that they even reversed their circumcisions. Moreover, as we learn in the novel, they also acted as informants for the Syrians and sided with them on the battlefield. However, what was amazing is that Judas with his rag tag army, that would appear to be no match for the Syrians and their mercenaries, were able to convince his people to rise up and free themselves from their enemy and in so doing defeat four of Antiochus’s armies under the leadership of four different generals, Apollonius, Seron, Nicano and Lysias.  Incidentally, if you are wondering about the name Maccabee, it means, according to most scholars, hammer in Hebrew.

This is a gripping and moving tale that covers an era that is not much written about and Carson manages to make it come alive with a marvelous mixture of history, information and a vivid imagination even throwing in a love story between Judas and Rebekah. The latter, as Carson admits, was used to make Judas a little more human. I look forward to reading more from this interesting author and apparently, as noted at the end of his notes, he is working on a sequel that will focus on what happens after Judas and his brothers die leaving only Simon to bring the nation to independence.  

The above review was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are  Norm Goldman's Reviews