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Context No. 1952 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 9:7-13: in context

7Judas saw that his army slipped away and that the battle pressed upon him, and he was very troubled in spirit, because he had no time to gather them together, and he became faint. 8He said to those who were left, “Let’s arise and go up against our adversaries, if perhaps we may be able to fight with them.” 9They tried to dissuade him, saying, “There is no way we are able; but let’s rather save our lives now. Let’s return again with our kindred, and fight against them; but we are too few.” 10Judas said, “Let it not be so that I should do this thing, to flee from them. If our time has come, let’s die in a manly way for our kindred’s sake, and not leave a cause of reproach against our honor.” 11The army marched out from the camp, and stood to encounter them. The cavalry was divided into two companies, and the slingers and the archers went before the army, and all the mighty men that fought in the front of the battle. 12Bacchides was in the right wing. The phalanx advanced on the two parts, and they blew with their trumpets. 13The men by Judas’ side sounded with their trumpets, and the earth shook with the shout of the armies, and the battle was joined, and continued from morning until evening.

Judas Maccabeus faces a desperate battle. His army has melted away, and he is left with only a few against a great force. Those who remain urge him to flee and save his life, to withdraw and fight another day, for they are too few. But Judas will not. Let it not be, he says, that I should flee from them. If our time has come, let us die bravely for our kindred's sake, and leave no stain on our honor. He leads the small band out to fight, and in that battle he falls.

Judas's refusal to flee, even against hopeless odds, is a picture of courageous faithfulness to the end. Deserted by most of his army, outnumbered, urged to save himself, Judas chose to stand rather than flee, to die for his people rather than abandon them to save his own life. It would not be right, he said, to flee; better to die bravely for his kindred than to leave a stain on his honor by running. And he did die in that battle, faithful to the last, not deserting the cause or his people even when it cost him everything. There is a costly courage here that challenges us. Judas could have fled, could have saved himself, could have found reasons to withdraw; and he chose instead to stand faithful, even unto death, rather than abandon what was right and the people he was called to lead. This is not the courage that expects victory; Judas had little reason to hope for it. It is the courage that stands for what is right and faithful even when defeat, even death, is the likely outcome, refusing to abandon the cause to save oneself. There are times when faithfulness calls us to stand rather than flee, to bear the cost rather than save ourselves, to be faithful even when it will not turn out well for us. The good shepherd, Jesus said, lays down his life for the sheep; the hireling, who does not own the sheep, flees when the wolf comes. Judas would not flee; he laid down his life for his people. And the courage that stands faithful even against hopeless odds, that will not abandon what is right or the people entrusted to us to save ourselves, is a courage worth honoring and, when the moment demands it, imitating. Not every stand ends in death; but the faithfulness that is willing to stand even when it costs everything, rather than flee to save itself, is the faithfulness Judas showed, and that Christ showed in full. I have fought the good fight, Paul could say at the end; and the courage to stand faithful to the finish, whatever it costs, is the mark of those who fight it.

When faithfulness calls me to stand rather than flee, to bear the cost rather than save myself, even when things may not turn out well for me, do I look for reasons to withdraw and protect myself, or can I show something of the courage of Judas, who would not flee but stood faithful for his people even unto death, refusing to abandon what was right to save his own life?

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