Context No. 3086 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

2 Maccabees 11:27-33: in context

27And to the nation, the king’s letter was as follows: “King Antiochus to the senate of the Jews and to the other Jews, greetings. 28If you are all well, it is as we desire. We ourselves also are in good health. 29Menelaus informed us that your desire was to return home and follow your own business. 30They therefore who depart home up to the thirtieth day of Xanthicus shall have our friendship, with full permission 31that the Jews use their own foods and observe their own laws, even as formerly. None of them shall be in any way molested for the things that have been done in ignorance. 32Moreover I have sent Menelaus also, that he may encourage you. 33Farewell. Written in the one hundred forty-eighth year, on the fifteenth day of Xanthicus.”

After a season of fierce persecution, a royal letter arrives granting the Jews permission to follow their own laws and eat their own foods as before, promising that no one will be molested for what was done in ignorance, and urging them to return home and to their own affairs in peace.

This is a moment of reprieve. The king, pressed by Maccabean resistance, sends a conciliatory letter allowing the Jews to keep their laws and worship. It is a partial, political concession, not a change of heart, and it comes through the treacherous Menelaus, so its sincerity is doubtful. But it marks a turning point: faithful resistance, and the mercy of God, had won breathing room for his people. The lesson underneath is that steadfastness under pressure is not always in vain. Sometimes those who hold firm see the tide turn, at least for a season, and space opens for faithful life again. God can move even the hearts of hostile powers to grant his people relief.

When I am under pressure for my faith, do I trust that God can move even hostile powers to grant relief, and keep holding firm in the meantime?

Sources

2 Maccabees 11:31: "That the Jews use their own foods and observe their own laws, even as formerly."
Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is in the LORD's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."
1 Peter 5:10: "After you have suffered a little while, [he] will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you."