„Boże Moce” w obronie narodu żydowskiego w świetle Ksiąg Machabejskich

Analyzing the content of both Books of Maccabees, one can notice that their authors firmly emphasized the question of supernatural help which God had been giving to the Jewish people, who were under the rule of the Seleucid Em-pire. It is particularly visible in the struggle undertaken in defense of the Law, the homeland, the temple and native customs. Although battles were often fought against enemies of considerable military advantage, the troops of fight-ing Jews were in the end – with God’s help – victorious. Moreover, the miracu-lous intervention of God was described by the author of 2Ma by means of su-pernatural revelations of mysterious characters in which God Himself revealed his own power as well as defended his people. Therefore, the Jews – being the witness of these events and keeping God’s interventions in the history of their own nation in mind – had no doubt that God Himself – showing his power – was fighting against their enemies. This conviction is clearly expressed in the following worlds of 1Ma 12:15: “(…) we have the support of Heaven to help us, thanks to which we have been delivered from our enemies, and they are the ones who have been brought low.” On the basis of the text of both books it can be seen that God’s help was usually a response to prayers full of faith, as it is stated in 2Ma 1:8: “we prayed to the Lord, and our prayer was heard.” The effi-cacy of the prayer and – consequently – the support given by God were essen-tially dependent upon the fidelity to the Law of those who prayed and fought.