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Is 2Macc 12:48-46 A Useful Example?
The story tells of a Jewish military commander's attempt to atone for his dead soldiers'
pagan amulets which he believed is a crime against God for Jews to wear. So Judas
Maccabeus passed the hat among his surviving men and collected about 2,000 silver
drachmas which were sent to Jerusalem intended for a sacrifice to expiate his dead
men's sin so that it wouldn't jeopardize their resurrection.
The covenant that Moses' people agreed upon with God as per Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy is very narrow. There are no sacrifices stipulated in it
for expiating the unforgiven sins that people take with them over to the afterlife;
ergo: the very Law that Judas sought to appease makes it a crime to either amend,
embellish, add to, revise, edit, upgrade, update, or subtract from the covenant.
• Deut 4:2 . .You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything
away from it, but keep the commandments of The Lord your God that I enjoin upon
you.
• Deut 5:32-33 . . Be careful, therefore, to do as The Lord, your God, has
commanded you, not turning aside to the right or to the left, but following exactly
the way prescribed for you by The Lord, your God,
• Deut6:16 . . This day The Lord, your God, commands you to observe these
statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with
all your soul.
Bottom line: What Judas did was just as pagan as the amulets that his men were
wearing when they died.
NOTE: Just because somebody's personal beliefs are recorded in the Bible does not
make their personal beliefs eo ipso truth. Judas believed it was possible for living
Jews to offer sacrifices for the unforgiven sins of deceased Jews. Is it? No;
absolutely not! Were it possible, then a procedure for that purpose would be
stipulated in the covenant.
Atonements for the dead fall into the category of sins of presumption; viz:
unauthorized behavior.
If 2Mcc 12:38-46 teaches anything at all it’s that the Israel of Judas Maccabeus’
day was spiritually decadent-- just as decadent as it was in the days of the Judges
when every man did that which was right in his own eyes rather than the eyes of
The Lord their God.
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