Context No. 2415 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 1:1-9: in context

1After Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of Chittim, and struck Darius king of the Persians and Medes, it came to pass, after he had struck him, that he reigned in his place, in former time, over Greece. 2He fought many battles, won many strongholds, killed the kings of the earth, 3went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of a multitude of nations. The earth was quiet before him. He was exalted. His heart was lifted up. 4He gathered together an exceedingly strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and principalities, and they paid him tribute. 5After these things he fell sick, and perceived that he was going to die. 6He called his honorable servants, which had been brought up with him from his youth, and he divided to them his kingdom while he was still alive. 7Alexander reigned twelve years, then he died. 8Then his servants ruled, each one in his place. 9They all put crowns upon themselves after he was dead, and so did their sons after them many years; and they multiplied evils on the earth.

First Maccabees opens with a whirlwind summary of Alexander the Great. He came out of the west, struck down the king of Persia, fought many battles, took many strongholds, and marched to the ends of the earth. The earth grew quiet before him, and his heart was lifted up. Then, in the same breath, he falls sick and dies, having reigned twelve years, and his kingdom is carved up among his officers, who go on to multiply evils on the earth.

The rise and the death sit in a single paragraph, and that is the point. A man conquers the known world, his heart swells with it, and then his body simply gives out and the whole thing is divided among servants before his sons even inherit. Everything he seized outlived him only as a source of new wars. Earthly greatness is compressed here to its true scale: enormous, brief, and quick to curdle. The world went quiet before him, and death was not impressed.

What am I exalting myself over that death could strip away in a single sentence, as it did with Alexander?

Sources

1 Maccabees 1:3: He took spoils of a multitude of nations. The earth was quiet before him. He was exalted. His heart was lifted up.
1 Maccabees 1:5: After these things he fell sick, and perceived that he was going to die.
Psalm 49:12: But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish.