History
The father of Judah and the other Maccabee leaders, Mattathias was from a rural priestly family from Modi'in. Like all fit priests, he served in the Temple in Jerusalem. He was a son of Yohannan, grandson of Simeon, the Hasmonean, and great-grandson of Asmon or Hasmonaeus, a Levite of the lineage of Joarib for being the 5th grandson of Idaiah, son of Joarib and grandson of Jachin, in turn a descendant of Phinehas, 3rd High Priest of Israel, according to Mattathias' own words in I Maccabees.
After the Seleucid persecutions began, Mattathias returned to Modi'in. In 167 BC, when asked by a Seleucid Greek government representative under King Antiochus IV to offer sacrifice to the Greek gods, he not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the Jew who had stepped forward to do so. He then attacked the government official that required the act.
Let everyone who has zeal for the Torah and who stands by the covenant follow me!
— Mattathias, after assassinating the Greek government official, who was forcing him to sacrifice, Septuagint, 1st Maccabees 2:27.
Upon the edict for his arrest, he took refuge in the wilderness of Judea with his five sons - Judah, Eleazar, Simon, John, and Jonathan -, and called upon all Jews to follow him. Many eventually responded to his call.
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