Note 66 — JUDAS MACCABÆUS LIBERATES JUDEA

[Footnote 66: That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all given to Judas Maccabæaus, nor was derived from any initial letters of the Hebrew words on his banner, Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah? ("Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II, as the modern rabbins vainly pretend, see Authent. Rec., part i., pp. 205, 206. Only we may note, by the way, that the original name of these Maccabees and their posterity was Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]