Editing Intercession (section)

== Intercession by the Living for the Dead according to the Old Testament ==
The book of Maccabees tells us about the hero Judas Maccabeus who liberated the Jews from Greek occupation. After a battle, Judas went to bury his dead and found that each body had "amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/12:40 2 Mac 12:40]), which was why they had been killed

Judas collected silver from his troops and sent it to Jerusalem as an "expiatory sacrifice" (for forgiveness of the sins of the dead soldiers; ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/12:43 2 Mac 12:43]), and prayed for them,
 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/12:44 2 Mac 12:44-46]).
We can infer several important teachings from this passage:

# The dead may lie in judgment (purgatory*)
# Intercessory prayer from the living may assist those in purgatory

<nowiki>*</nowiki> note: the Protestant Bible does not include the Books of Maccabees precisely because of this point about purgatory. Martin Luther objected to it, so he declared the book "''apocryphal''" or not fully the Word of God. Later protestant churches more thoroughly expunged the "Apocryphal" works.