Context No. 3422 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 9:65-73: in context

65Jonathan left his brother Simon in the city, and went out into the country, and he went with a few men. 66He struck Odomera and his kindred, and the children of Phasiron in their tents. 67They began to strike them, and to go up with their forces. Then Simon and those who were with him went out of the city, and set the engines of war on fire, 68and fought against Bacchides, and he was defeated by them. They afflicted him severely; for his counsel and expedition was in vain. 69They were very angry with the lawless men who gave him counsel to come into the country, and they killed many of them. Then he decided to depart into his own land. 70Jonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to him, to the end that they should make peace with him, and that he should restore to them the captives. 71He accepted the thing, and did according to his words, and swore to him that he would not seek his harm all the days of his life. 72He restored to him the captives which he had taken before out of the land of Judah, and he returned and departed into his own land, and didn’t come any more into their borders. 73Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan lived at Michmash. Jonathan began to judge the people; and he destroyed the ungodly out of Israel.

After long fighting, a turn toward peace comes. Jonathan and Simon prevail against Bacchides, who, realizing the war was fruitless and angry at the lawless men who had urged it on, seeks terms. Jonathan accepts, prisoners are returned, and the account records a longed-for result: thus the sword ceased from Israel.

After years of bloodshed, there is rest at last. And then Jonathan settles at Michmash and begins to judge the people, turning from the work of war to the work of governing and restoring. There is something hopeful in it: the willingness to make peace when the enemy is genuinely ready for it, rather than prolonging conflict for its own sake, and the turn from fighting to the patient labor of rebuilding a people's ordinary life. When peace can be had honorably, it is to be embraced, and the harder, quieter work of ordering a common life taken up in place of the sword.

When peace can be honorably had, am I willing to embrace it rather than prolong conflict, and to take up the patient work of building and restoring?

Sources

1 Maccabees 9:70: "Jonathan... sent ambassadors to him, to the end that they should make peace with him, and that he should restore to them the captives."
1 Maccabees 9:73: "Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan... began to judge the people."
Matthew 5:9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."