Content
The book chronicles the events from Heliodorus' attempt to rob the Temple treasury in 186 BC to the death of Herod the Great's two sons about 6 BC. It is little more than a summary of the events in first and second book of the Maccabees and the relevant chapters in Flavius Josephus. Only chapter 12 is original but also "teems with errors of various kinds".
Similar to other Books of the Maccabees, this work aims at consoling Jews in their sufferings and encouraging them to be steadfast "in their devotion to the Mosaic law".
Read more about this topic: 5 Maccabees
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