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Context No. 1729 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 5:55-62: in context

55In the days when Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother in Galilee before Ptolemais, 56Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, rulers of the army, heard of their exploits and of the war, and what things they had done. 57They said, “Let’s also get us a name, and let’s go fight against the Gentiles who are around us.” 58So they gave orders to the men of the army that was with them, and went toward Jamnia. 59Gorgias and his men came out of the city to meet them in battle. 60Joseph and Azarias were put to flight, and were pursued to the borders of Judea. About two thousand men of Israel fell on that day. 61There was a great overthrow among the people, because they didn’t listen to Judas and his kindred, thinking to do some exploit. 62But they were not of the family of those men by whose hand deliverance was given to Israel.

While Judas and his brothers are winning victories elsewhere, two other commanders, Joseph and Azarias, grow restless. Hearing of the exploits of Judas, they say to one another, let us also make a name for ourselves, and let us go fight the nations around us. Against orders, they lead their men out to battle. But they are routed; two thousand of Israel fall that day. And the writer gives the reason plainly: they were defeated because they did not listen to Judas, thinking to do some exploit, and because they were not of the family through whom deliverance had been given to Israel.

The motive that drove Joseph and Azarias to disaster is named in their own words: let us make a name for ourselves. They were not sent; they had orders to hold their position. But they saw the glory others were winning, and, wanting some of it for themselves, they overstepped their commission and went out to fight, thinking to do some exploit and make a name. And it ended in defeat and death, because they acted out of ambition for their own glory rather than staying within the place and the calling assigned to them. The writer is clear that deliverance came through the family God had appointed for it, not through those who grasped at glory outside their calling. There is a warning here against a particular temptation: to overstep the place God has given us out of ambition to make a name for ourselves. It is easy, seeing others honored and doing notable things, to grow restless with our own assigned role, to want the glory and the exploit, and to reach beyond our calling to grasp it. But acting out of ambition for our own name, rather than faithfulness in our appointed place, tends to end as Joseph and Azarias ended. God's work is not advanced by those who grasp at glory outside their calling; it is done through those who are faithful where they are placed. The desire to make a name for ourselves is an old and ruinous one, running back to Babel; and the antidote is faithfulness in the place and calling God has actually given us, content to do our own part well rather than reaching, for the sake of a name, beyond it.

Am I restless in the place God has given me, tempted to overstep my calling out of ambition to make a name for myself, seeing the glory others win and wanting it, or can I learn from Joseph and Azarias to be faithful in my appointed place rather than grasping at glory beyond it, content to do my own part well?

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