Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Sacrilegious Discourse - Bible Study for Atheists
Episode: 2 Maccabees Chapter 12: Bible Study by Atheists
Description: 2 Maccabees Chapter 12 is what happens when a propaganda machine runs out of fresh material and just starts copy‑pasting numbers. After the diplomatic letters of chapter 11 supposedly bought the Jews some peace, the violence immediately resumes—because apparently the Seleucid governors didn’t get the memo. The chapter kicks off with the people of Joppa inviting 200 Jews—women and children included—onto boats under a flag of friendship, then dumping them overboard. Judas’s revenge is swift: burn the harbor, torch the boats, put the survivors to the sword. Classic biblical escalation.From there, the chapter becomes a greatest‑h...