Maccabees, The Second Book of the

A second history of the Maccabean revolt, written from a different perspective than (1 Maccabees). Where the latter is concerned to praise Judas, Jonathan, and Simon for their role in the liberation of the Jewish people from Seleucid oppression, (2 Maccabees) focuses upon the insult to the Temple and its cult, for which it holds the Jewish Hellenizers primarily responsible. The book is considered part of the Apocrypha by Protestants, while Catholics classify it as one of the deuterocanonical writings.