Date of composition

• First or second century AD

Type of book

• Only some Orthodox accept this as deuterocanonical. ("Secondary or less sacred scripture")
• All other Christians view it as Apocrypha.

Length

• 31 double-spaced pages with 14 chapters.

Summary

• II Maccabees 6 (the last part) and 7 cover the death of a priest and a woman and her seven sons because they would not eat the meat of pigs, with the sons first being killed in front of their mother, and she was the last to die. IV Maccabees expanded that story into fourteen chapters. Chapters 1-3 expound on the virtue of following a religious life. Chapters 4-7 describe the charges against the priest and his death. Chapters 8-14 describe the torture and death of the sons and their mother.

Noteworthy from the book

• Why was it included? To give an example of the praiseworthiness of sacrifice and martyrdom in staying faithful to God. During a time after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 and the harsh treatment of the Jews by the Romans, the Jews needed such encouragement.