The Handelian oratorio Judas Maccabaeus was produced in 1746 as a compliment to the Duke of Cumberland for suppressing the Jacobite rebellion. The librettist, Thomas Morell, based his text largely on 1 Maccabees, but whereas he followed the biblical text relatively closely in Parts II and III of the libretto, he diverged from it significantly in Part I. The divergences correspond to ideas that Morell outlined in a sermon in 1739/40, which shows victory in war as inextricably linked with divine favour. Hence, Morell's version of 1 Maccabees portrays the Maccabaean campaign, and therefore the anti-Jacobite campaign which it represents, as having unequivocal divine favour.