These books are so called, because they contain the history of the
people of God under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren: and
he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in his
ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to thee
among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the Hebrew,
are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these books. But
as to their authority, though they are not received by the Jews, saith
St. Augustine, (lib. 18, De Civ. Dei, c. 36,) they are received by the
church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures, chose rather to be
directed by the tradition she had received from the apostles of Christ,
than by that of the scribes and Pharisees. And as the church has
declared these two Books canonical, even in two general councils, viz.,
Florence and Trent, there can be no doubt of their authenticity.