Author and Dating
The priest Mattathias began the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid dynasty in 167BC. Judas Maccabeus was his third son. Judas had a place of leadership and honor among the people (see 1 Macc 2:66 and 1 Macc 5:63-64). Early Jewish literature referred to the family as the Hasmoneans.
The actual author of this work is an anonymous Jew who compiled stories from many different sources. The author is an enthusiastic supporter of the Hasmoneans, and he most likely lived in Jerusalem.
The first book of Maccabees. Chp 8 praises the Roman government, and scholars speculate that no self-respecting Jew would have done so after Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem in 63BC. Therefore, most scholars date the book to have been written sometimes between 143 and 63 BC.
The book of “2 Maccabees” is actually much earlier than the first book. It was most likely written sometime between 160 and 124 BC.
Canonicity
Judas’ family led a failed revolt against Greece, which resulted in harsh punishments. Because of this, later Jews rejected the family and what they had done. In rejecting the family, early rabbis rejected the canonicity of the stories as well.
In the 3rd century AD, Clement of Alexandria cites these books, the first Christian writer to do so. The councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397 and 419) recognized the sacred character of the books, and this was later confirmed by the Council of Trent (1546).
They are placed in the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books, meaning that they hold a secondary status of inspired scripture.
Purpose
As with many of the historical books, the books of the Macabees sought to tell the history of the people with the intention of finding God anew in it. Every struggle raised once more the question of “where is God?” Retelling the story helped the people remember the many times they had found God in their own history.