The Book of Maccabees 1 and 2
There are seven books which are accepted in the Biblical Canon by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, but are rejected by the Jewish Bible (called the Tanakh) and most Protestant. Catholics refer to these books as deuterocanonical, Jews and Protestants call them apocryphal. All of them were, and in the cases of Catholics and Eastern Orthodox still are, in what is called the Old Testament. Most of them were initially removed from the Christian Bibles by Martin Luther, because they contained references to issues he considered to be outside of doctrine.
Among these are two books of Maccabees. The two books relate the story of the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire. In the two books of Maccabees, Emperor Antiochus issues decrees which ban Jewish religious practices and worship and requires them as subjects to instead worship Greek gods. The revolt becomes a guerrilla war against the Seleucids until a large army is sent to deal with the rebellion. After the death of Antiochus, the army is withdrawn by the leader Lysias and the Hasmonean Dynasty was established.
The two books describe the Hasmonean Dynasty, the retaking of Jerusalem, and the retaking of the Temple and its cleansing (which today is celebrated by Hanukkah). It then describes Hasmonean rule up to the end of the dynasty. The Hasmonean rule included a civil war and war with the Seleucids, which ended when Rome intervened and Herod the Great became the King of Israel, so named by the Roman Senate as King of the Jews.
Luther’s objections to the two Maccabees books were based on his emerging doctrine. Luther did not believe in the Catholic doctrine of praying for those that have died, and for the repose of their souls. Nor did he accept the concept of Purgatory as a place where the souls of those who had died in a state of sin were sent to have their infractions purged as preparation for eventual entry into heaven. The award of indulgences which lessened the amount of time a soul would be required to wait in purgatory was one of Luther’s perceived sources of corruption within the Roman Catholic Church.
It remains a source of spirited, even hostile debate, over whether Luther removed 1 and 2 Maccabees for reasons of disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church or if it was done for other reasons. Many who deny that they were removed because of their references to a place where the soul is purged cite Luther’s often quoting from the removed books in his writings. Luther when he removed the books did not deny that they were worthy of reading, in fact, he argued that they were, but he considered them to be Apocryphal. It should also be said that Luther didn’t really remove the books, he simply adopted the Jewish Canon rather than the Roman Catholic.