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Context No. 1180 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 3:16-22: in context

16He came near to the ascent of Bethhoron, and Judas went out to meet him with a small company. 17But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “What? Shall we be able, being a small company, to fight against so great and strong a multitude? We for our part are faint, having tasted no food this day.” 18Judas said, “It is an easy thing for many to be hemmed in by the hands of a few. With heaven it is all one, to save by many or by few; 19for victory in battle stands not in the multitude of an army, but strength is from heaven. 20They come to us in fullness of insolence and lawlessness, to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to plunder us, 21but we fight for our lives and our laws. 22He himself will crush them before our face; but as for you, don’t be afraid of them.

Judas Maccabeus goes out with a small band to meet a large, well-equipped enemy army. His men are frightened and faint with hunger: how can we, a small company, fight so great and strong a multitude, and we have not eaten today? Judas answers with a settled confidence: it is easy for many to be shut up in the hands of a few, for with heaven it makes no difference whether deliverance comes by many or by few. Victory in battle does not depend on the size of the army, but strength comes from heaven. They fight for their lives and their laws, and God himself will crush the enemy; do not be afraid of them.

The heart of Judas's speech is a conviction that reorders the math: with heaven it makes no difference whether deliverance comes by many or by few. His men were counting, and the count was hopeless, a small, hungry band against a great army. Judas does not deny the numbers; he denies that the numbers are what decides the outcome. Victory does not come from the size of the force but from heaven, so a few with God are not outmatched by many without him. It is the same faith Jonathan expressed generations before, and Gideon lived with three hundred: nothing hinders the LORD from saving by many or by few. This cuts against our instinct to measure our chances by our resources, to be paralyzed when we are outnumbered or under-supplied. Judas fixes the outcome not on his own strength but on heaven's, and it frees him to fight without fear even against long odds. When the count is against you, the question is not how many you are but whose you are, and whether the strength that decides the day comes from you or from God.

When I am outnumbered and outmatched and tempted to measure my chances by my own resources, can I hold Judas's faith, that with heaven it makes no difference whether God saves by many or by few?

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