maccabees

Eleazer is a hero in Maccabees because he chooses death rather than violate the Mosaic law.

Before maccabees there was no believe in afterlife, that came from Egypt and eastern cultures.

After Revolt of Maccabees against Greek Seleucid empire (Jewish holiday of Hannukah), a Philistine Gaza that was a Greek stronghold, was conquered by one of the revolt leaders (Jonathan the Hasmonean).

Wörterbuch suggests also the association of the liturgical office of the dead with 2 Maccabees 12:43–6 in the Vulgate (verses 43–5 in the King James Bible) as a reason for a link between a cult of the Maccabees and the dance of the dead tradition in art and literature.

Again, not two completely different things - Catholics and Eastern Orthodox agree on the majority of the Deuterocanon, there are only a few books which Eastern Orthodox have which Catholics lack (3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh; Georgian Orthodox have 4 Maccabees too).

As regards meaning, it may be connected with the late medieval liturgical dance or procession called chorea Machabaeorum in Latin (Besançon, 1453) and in Middle Dutch Makkabeusdans (15th cent.), which has been explained as arising from 2 Maccabees 7: Französisches etymol.

This is missing the Deuterocanon – the additional books found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but which most Protestant Bibles nowadays exclude – books such as those of Maccabees (both Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include 1 & 2; Orthodox Bibles add the 3rd book and occasionally even a 4th), Sirach (aka Ecclesiasticus), the Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit, Judith, Baruch.

Well would you use a song about the “Chancellors of Germany” to advertise the Maccabees’ next game?

Check out the Revised Standard Edition, and particularly the "newer" books of Maccabees, Esdras and Sirach.

Like, I can imagine a world where there were sports teams called the "Maccabees" or the "Ghetto Fighters".

Ancient Jews saw the scriptures as possessing different levels of “cannonicity” - the Books of Moses were “very cannon” while books like Maccabees were “new fangled.” Christians adopted that view as well.

Protestants have a Bible that differs from Catholics/Orthodox - it excludes the Deuterocanonical books (like Maccabees).

But in his second novel, Jericho Dawn, his heroes go up against Yahweh, in defending the Canaanites against the Maccabees.

All those stories, with the possible exception of the Maccabees, were originally passed down orally, even after they got written down.