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Context No. 2223 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 16:1-10: in context

1John went up from Gazara and told Simon his father what Cendebaeus was doing. 2Simon called his two oldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them, “I and my brothers and my father’s house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth, even to this day; and things have prospered in our hands, so that we have often delivered Israel. 3But now I am old, and you moreover, by his mercy, are of a sufficient age. Take the place of me and my brother, and go out and fight for our nation; and let the help which is from heaven be with you. 4He chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war and cavalry, and they went against Cendebaeus, and slept at Modin. 5Rising up in the morning, they went into the plain, and, behold, a great army of infantry and cavalry came to meet them. There was a brook between them. 6He encamped near them, he and his people. He saw that the people were afraid to pass over the brook, and he passed over first. When the men saw him, they passed over after him. 7He divided the people, and placed the cavalry in the midst of the infantry; but the enemies’ cavalry were exceedingly many. 8They sounded the trumpets; and Cendebaeus and his army were put to flight, and many of them fell wounded to death, but those who were left fled to the stronghold. 9At that time Judas, John’s brother, was wounded; but John pursued after them until he came to Kidron, which Cendebaeus had built. 10They fled to the towers that are in the fields of Azotus; and he burned them with fire. About two thousand men of them fell. Then he returned into Judea in peace.

Simon, the last of the Maccabee brothers, has grown old, and a new threat arises against his people. Rather than going out himself, he calls his two sons, Judas and John, and hands the work to them. I and my brothers and my father's house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth, he says, and have often delivered Israel; but now I am old, and you are of sufficient age. Take my place, and go out and fight for our nation; and let the help from heaven be with you. He entrusts the cause to the next generation, with a blessing and a prayer.

Simon's action is a picture of handing on the work to the next generation. He had fought for his people all his life, as had his father and brothers; the cause had been theirs. But now he was old, his season of active leadership passing, and rather than clinging to the work, he entrusted it to his sons. He recognized that they were now of an age to take it up, and he handed it to them with a blessing: take my place, and let the help of heaven be with you. He passed the cause to the next generation, and commended them to God as he did. This models something important about the work God gives across generations. No single generation carries God's work forever; it is handed on, from those who grow old to those who come after, so that the work continues beyond any one life. And there is wisdom and grace in handing it on well: recognizing when it is time to entrust the work to the next generation, doing so with blessing and prayer rather than clinging to it, and commending those who take it up to God. Simon did not cling to the leadership past his season, nor abandon the cause; he handed it on, with a blessing. The things you have heard from me, Paul tells Timothy, entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also. God's work is handed on, generation to generation. This speaks to those of us in either position, handing on or taking up. For those whose season is passing, there is a call to hand on the work well, entrusting it to those who come after with blessing and prayer, rather than clinging to it past our time. One generation, the psalmist says, shall commend your works to another. And for those taking up the work, there is a call to receive it faithfully, to take our place in the ongoing cause, to carry forward what was handed to us. This calls us to handing on and taking up God's work faithfully across the generations. Simon, grown old, entrusted the battle to his sons with a blessing and a prayer that heaven's help be with them; and we too are called, whether our season is passing or beginning, to hand on the work well when our time comes and to take it up faithfully when it is entrusted to us, so that God's work continues, handed on with blessing from one generation to the next, and carried forward by those who take their place in the ongoing cause.

Whether my season of a work is passing or beginning, am I willing to hand on the work well, entrusting it to those who come after with blessing and prayer rather than clinging to it past my time, or to take up faithfully what has been entrusted to me, and can Simon, who grown old handed the battle to his sons with the prayer that heaven's help be with them, move me to play my part in handing on and taking up God's work across the generations, so that it continues beyond any one life?

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