Scripture Daily

Context No. 1488 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

2 Maccabees 13:9-17: in context

9Now the king, infuriated in spirit, was coming with intent to inflict on the Jews the very worst of the sufferings that had been done in his father’s time. 10But when Judas heard of these things, he commanded the multitude to call upon the Lord day and night, if ever at any other time, so now to help those who were at the point of being deprived of the law, their country, and the holy temple, 11and not to allow the people who had just begun to be revived to fall into the hands of those profane heathen. 12So when they had all done the same thing together, begging the merciful Lord with weeping and fastings and prostration for three days without ceasing, Judas exhorted them and commanded they should join him. 13Having consulted privately with the elders, he resolved that before the king’s army entered into Judea and made themselves masters of the city, they should go out and decide the matter by the help of God. 14And committing the decision to the Lord of the world, and exhorting those who were with him to contend nobly even to death for laws, temple, city, country, and way of life, he pitched his camp by Modin. 15He gave out to his men the watchword, “VICTORY IS GOD’S”, with a chosen force of the bravest young men he attacked the king’s pavilion by night, and killed of his army as many as two thousand men, and brought down the leading elephant with him who was in the tower on him. 16At last they filled the army with terror and alarm, and departed with good success. 17This had been accomplished when the day was just dawning, because of the Lord’s protection that gave Judas help.

The king Antiochus comes against the Jews in fury, meaning to inflict terrible suffering. Judas Maccabeus, hearing of it, does not first muster his forces; he commands the people to call on the Lord day and night, and they beg God for three days without ceasing, with weeping and fasting and prostration, that he would not let the people who had just begun to revive fall into the hands of the enemy. Only then does Judas act. Committing the decision to the Lord of the world, and urging his men to fight nobly even to death for their law and temple and country, he goes into battle under a watchword: Victory is God's. The night attack succeeds, and the account credits it to the Lord's protection.

The pattern of Judas here is worth learning. Faced with a crisis and a coming battle, his first move is not strategy or arms but prayer, and prayer with the whole people, three days of crying out to God before a sword is drawn. He commits the outcome to the Lord of the world before he commits his men to the field. And the watchword he gives them says it all: Victory is God's. He goes into the fight not trusting in his own strength or numbers but under God's banner, seeking God first and crediting him for whatever came. There is a whole posture toward our struggles in that. We tend to reach first for our own resources, our planning and effort and strength, and to pray, if at all, as an afterthought; Judas reversed the order, seeking God first, with the whole community, and only then acting, with the outcome committed to God and the victory credited to him in advance. This is not passivity; Judas fought, and fought bravely. But he fought as one who had first sought God and who knew the victory was God's to give, not his own to seize. To face our battles this way, seeking God before we act, committing the outcome to him, and going forward under the conviction that the victory is his and not our own strength's, is to fight as Judas fought, and to be able to credit God, as he did, when the day is won.

When I face a struggle, do I reach first for my own resources and pray only as an afterthought, or do I, like Judas, seek God first, commit the outcome to him, and go forward under the conviction that the victory is God's and not my own strength's?

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