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Context No. 1316 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 12:33-38: in context

33Simon went out, and took his journey as far as Ascalon, and the strongholds that were near it. Then he turned toward Joppa and took possession of it; 34for he had heard that they were planning to hand over the stronghold to Demetrius’ men. He set a garrison there to guard it. 35Then Jonathan returned and called the elders of the people together. He planned with them to build strongholds in Judea, 36and to make the walls of Jerusalem higher, and to raise a great mound between the citadel and the city, to separate it from the city, that so it might be isolated, that its garrison might neither buy nor sell. 37They were gathered together to build the city. Part of the wall of the brook that is on the east side had fallen down, and he repaired the section called Chaphenatha. 38Simon also built Adida in the plain country, made it strong, and set up gates and bars.

Jonathan and Simon, the Maccabee brothers, are busy with the practical work of securing Judea. Simon marches to Joppa and garrisons it before it can be handed to the enemy; Jonathan gathers the elders and plans to build up the strongholds of Judea, to raise the walls of Jerusalem higher, and to wall off the enemy garrison in the citadel. And in the midst of this the text notes a small, telling detail: part of the wall by the brook on the east side had fallen down, and Jonathan repaired the section. They fortified the city, built up its broken places, and set gates and bars.

The small detail worth catching is the fallen section of wall, repaired. In the middle of the grand work of securing the nation, someone noticed that a part of the wall had collapsed, an unglamorous gap in the defenses, and saw to it that the breach was mended. A wall is only as strong as its weakest point; one fallen section, left unrepaired, is exactly where an enemy will come through, however high and thick the rest may be. So the faithful work is not only building impressive new fortifications but attending to the broken places, the gaps that have quietly opened up and that no one may notice until it is too late. There is a lesson here for the guarding of a life. It is tempting to focus on the visible, impressive parts of our defenses while ignoring the one section that has fallen down, the particular weakness or old wound or besetting sin we would rather not look at; but that neglected breach is precisely where trouble will enter. The wise attend to the broken place before the enemy finds it, doing the humble repair work on the gap rather than admiring the height of the walls elsewhere. Mend the breach while it is still small.

Is there a fallen section in my own walls, a weakness or old wound I would rather not look at, and am I attending to that breach before an enemy comes through it, or admiring my defenses everywhere except the place that has quietly collapsed?

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