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Context No. 1165 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 5:28-34: in context

28Judas and his army turned suddenly by the way of the wilderness to Bosora; and he took the city, and killed all the males with the edge of the sword, took all their spoils, and burned the city with fire. 29He left there at night, and went until he came to the stronghold. 30When the morning came, they lifted up their eyes and saw many people who couldn’t be counted, bearing ladders and engines of war, to take the stronghold; and they were fighting against them. 31Judas saw that the battle had begun, and that the cry of the city went up to heaven, with trumpets and a great sound, 32and he said to the men of his army, “Fight today for your kindred!” 33Then he went out behind them in three companies. They sounded with their trumpets and cried out in prayer. 34And the army of Timotheus perceived that it was Maccabaeus, and they fled from before him. He struck them with a great slaughter. About eight thousand men of them fell on that day.

Judas Maccabeus is on campaign, rescuing scattered Jewish communities under attack. He takes a city, then marches through the night to a besieged stronghold where fellow Jews are trapped, the enemy massing with siege ladders and engines. Seeing the assault begun and hearing the cry of the trapped city going up to heaven with trumpets, Judas rallies his men with a single charge: fight today for your kindred. They advance in three companies, sounding trumpets and crying out in prayer, and the enemy, recognizing Maccabeus, breaks and flees; eight thousand fall that day.

The rallying cry is the heart of it: fight today for your brothers. Judas's whole campaign is driven by a refusal to leave fellow Jews to be slaughtered in isolated towns; when he hears their cry going up, he marches through the night to reach them and throws his men into the battle for their sake. It is a picture of solidarity, of not being able to enjoy your own safety while your brothers are besieged and crying out. And notice how they fight: with trumpets and prayer together, action and appeal to God joined in the same charge. They do not merely pray and wait, nor merely fight in their own strength; they advance crying out to God, so that the battle is both fought and prayed. There is a model here of coming to the aid of those in trouble, hearing the cry, going to them at cost, and doing the work in dependence on God rather than in mere self-confidence. Fight for your kindred, and do it praying. The trapped city's cry went up to heaven, and God answered it through brothers who would not leave them.

When I hear the cry of brothers or sisters in trouble, do I go to their aid at cost, and do I join action and prayer the way Judas's men fought with trumpets and cried out to God?

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