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Context No. 1625 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 10:82-89: in context

82Then Simon brought forward his army and joined battle with the phalanx (for the cavalry were exhausted), and they were defeated by him and fled. 83The cavalry were scattered in the plain. They fled to Azotus and entered into Beth-dagon, their idol’s temple, to save themselves. 84Jonathan burned Azotus and the cities around it and took their spoils. He burned the temple of Dagon and those who fled into it with fire. 85Those who had fallen by the sword plus those who were burned were about eight thousand men. 86From there, Jonathan left and encamped against Ascalon. The people of the city came out to meet him with great pomp. 87Jonathan, with those who were on his side, returned to Jerusalem, having many spoils. 88It came to pass, when King Alexander heard these things, he honored Jonathan even more. 89He sent him a gold buckle, as the custom is to give to the king’s kindred. He gave him Ekron and all its land for a possession.

In battle, Jonathan's brother Simon routs the enemy cavalry, who flee for safety into Azotus and into the temple of their god Dagon. But there is no safety there. Jonathan burns Azotus and its surrounding towns, and burns the temple of Dagon together with those who had fled into it; about eight thousand fall. The idol's house, to which they ran for protection, could not save them. Jonathan returns to Jerusalem with much plunder, and is honored by the king.

The detail worth pausing on is that the fleeing soldiers ran to the temple of their god Dagon for safety, and it did not save them; they perished in the very house of the idol they trusted. It is a stark picture of the powerlessness of a false god to protect those who run to it. They fled to Dagon as to a refuge, and Dagon could do nothing; the idol could not save its own worshipers even in its own house. There is a warning here about the false refuges we run to in the day of trouble. When danger comes, everyone runs somewhere for safety, to some refuge they trust; and the question is whether the refuge we choose can actually save us. The soldiers trusted Dagon and died in his temple. And we, too, have our Dagons, the things we run to for security and protection, wealth, status, human strength, whatever we trust to keep us safe; and the sobering truth is that these false refuges are as unable to save as the idol was, unable to protect us in the real day of trouble. To flee to a false god, a false refuge, is to run to what cannot save. The only refuge that does not fail is the living God, who is not like Dagon, helpless in his own house, but the one who actually keeps those who trust in him. Where we run in trouble reveals what we really trust; and it matters greatly whether the refuge we choose is the living God or a Dagon that cannot save.

Where do I run for safety in the day of trouble, and is it to the living God, who keeps those who trust him, or to some Dagon of my own, wealth, status, or strength, a false refuge as unable to save me as the idol was to save those who died in its house?

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