Scripture Daily

Context No. 324 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

2 Maccabees 3:22-30: in context

22While therefore they called upon the Almighty Lord to keep the things entrusted to them safe and secure for those who had entrusted them, 23Heliodorus went on to execute that which had been decreed. 24But when he was already present there with his guards near the treasury, the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused a great manifestation, so that all who had presumed to come with him, stricken with dismay at the power of God, fainted in terror. 25For they saw a horse with a frightening rider, adorned with beautiful trappings, and he rushed fiercely and struck at Heliodorus with his forefeet. It seemed like he who sat on the horse had complete armor of gold. 26Two others also appeared to him, young men notable in their strength, and beautiful in their glory, and splendid in their apparel, who stood by him on either side, and scourged him unceasingly, inflicting on him many sore stripes. 27When he had fallen suddenly to the ground, and great darkness had come over him, his guards picked him up and put him on a stretcher, 28and carried him—this man who had just now entered with a great retinue and all his guard into the aforesaid treasury, himself now brought to utter helplessness, manifestly made to recognize the sovereignty of God. 29So, while he, through the working of God, speechless and bereft of all hope and deliverance, lay prostrate, 30they blessed the Lord who acted marvelously for his own place. The temple, which a little before was full of terror and alarm, was filled with joy and gladness after the Almighty Lord appeared.

An imperial official named Heliodorus has come to Jerusalem to do something the empire had every legal right to do: seize the money stored in the temple treasury. That treasury held deposits entrusted to God's house, including, the wider story notes, the savings of widows and orphans. Heliodorus arrives with his bodyguard and full authority, and the priests can do nothing but pray, calling on God to protect what had been entrusted to them.

What follows is one of the most vivid interventions in the whole Bible. As Heliodorus stands at the treasury ready to carry out his orders, God sends a manifestation. A horse appears with a terrifying rider in golden armor, and it rushes at Heliodorus and strikes him with its hooves. Two young men, radiant and strong, appear on either side of him and scourge him without stopping. He falls suddenly to the ground, wrapped in darkness, helpless. The man who moments before had strode in with a great retinue and all his guard is picked up and carried out on a stretcher, reduced, the text says, to utter helplessness, made to recognize the sovereignty of God. And the temple, which just before had been full of terror and alarm, is suddenly filled with joy.

The reversal is total. The one who came in overwhelming strength to take what belonged to God and to the defenseless is carried out flat and speechless, while the people who had nothing but prayer are vindicated. When some overwhelming force comes striding toward what matters most to me, and I have no power to stop it, do I actually pray the way those priests did, trusting that the God who can carry the strong out helpless still defends what is entrusted to him?

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