2 Maccabees, 2
17. It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites,
17. It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites,
Chapter 2 of 2 Macabees deals with the tradition of sacred books and the preservation of the sacred relics of the Jerusalem temple. The story of how the prophet Jeremiah hid the ark of the covenant and other sacred objects before the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians. In addition, the existence of other sacred books beyond the Torah is mentioned. Below are five verses related to the topics covered in this chapter:
Exodus 25:10: "They shall make an acacia wood; their length will be two and a half cubits, their width of a and a half cubit, and their height of a and a half cubit." This verse is part of God's instructions to Moses for the construction of the covenant ark, one of the sacred objects mentioned in 2 Maccabees 2.
Deuteronomy 31:26: "Take this book of the law, and pond it alongside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there by witness against you." This verse is part of the instructions given by Moses to the people of Israel so that the law would be read before all the people every seven years and that the book of the law would be placed next to the ark of the covenant as a witness against the people if they if it divert to God's commandments.
Joshua 3:3: "They gave order to the people, saying, When you come to the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and may the Levite priests take it, then shall be in march of your place and follow." This verse describes how the people of Israel followed the ark of the covenant in their journeys, showing the importance that this sacred object had for the people.
1 Kings 8:9: "In the ark there was nothing but the two stone tablets that Moses had put there with Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the children of Israel when they left the land of Egypt." This verse refers to the moment when the ark of the covenant was placed in the temple of Jerusalem by King Solomon. He highlights the importance of the laws of the law that were inside the ark.
Ecclesiastical 24:23: "All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law that Moses has prescribed us, the inheritance of the congregations of Jacob." This verse refers to the existence of other sacred books beyond the Torah and highlights the importance of all of them as a sacred heritage to the people of Israel.
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