Context No. 3054 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

2 Maccabees 8:21-29: in context

21And when he had with these words filled them with courage and made them ready to die for the laws and their country, he divided his army into four parts. 22He appointed his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, to be leaders of the divisions with him, giving each the command of one thousand five hundred men. 23Moreover Eleazer also, having read aloud the sacred book, and having given as watchword, “THE HELP OF GOD”, leading the first band himself, joined battle with Nicanor. 24Since the Almighty fought on their side, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and disabled most of Nicanor’s army, and compelled them all to flee. 25They took the money of those who had come there to buy them as slaves. After they had pursued them for some distance, they returned, being constrained by the time of the day; 26for it was the day before the Sabbath, and for this reason they made no effort to chase them far. 27When they had gathered the weapons of the enemy together, and had stripped off their spoils, they kept the Sabbath, greatly blessing and thanking the Lord who had saved them to this day, because he had begun to show mercy to them. 28After the Sabbath, when they had given some of the spoils to the maimed, and to the widows and orphans, they distributed the rest among themselves and their children. 29When they had accomplished these things and had made a common supplication, they implored the merciful Lord to be wholly reconciled with his servants.

Judas Maccabeus encourages his men to be ready to die for the law and their country, gives them the watchword "The help of God," and defeats Nicanor. But look at what the victors do afterward. Because it is the eve of the Sabbath, they break off the pursuit and keep the Sabbath, blessing and thanking the Lord who had saved them and begun to show them mercy.

Setting the battle aside, the aftermath is what instructs. They stop to keep the Sabbath, refusing to let even a military advantage override their devotion to God, and they fill the day with thanksgiving. And before taking their own share of the spoils, they give first to the maimed, the widows, and the orphans, and only then divide the rest among themselves. Victory did not make them forget God or the vulnerable. Their first instincts after deliverance were worship and care for the weak, God first, the vulnerable next, and themselves last.

After a success or a deliverance, do my first instincts run to thanking God and caring for the vulnerable, or to enjoying the spoils myself?

Sources

2 Maccabees 8:27: "They kept the Sabbath, greatly blessing and thanking the Lord who had saved them to this day."
2 Maccabees 8:28: "They gave some of the spoils to the maimed, and to the widows and orphans."
James 1:27: "Pure religion... is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction."