Context No. 3492 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 1:29-40: in context

29After two full years, the king sent a chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude. 30He spoke words of peace to them in subtlety, and they believed him. Then he fell upon the city suddenly, struck it very severely, and destroyed many people of Israel. 31He took the spoils of the city, set it on fire, and pulled down its houses and its walls on every side. 32They led captive the women and the children, and seized the livestock. 33Then they fortified the city of David with a large, strong wall and with strong towers, and it became their citadel. 34They put a sinful nation, transgressors of the law, there, and they strengthened themselves in it. 35They stored up weapons and food, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they stored them there, and they became a great menace. 36It became a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel continually. 37They shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary. 38The inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them. She became a habitation of foreigners. She became foreign to those who were born in her, and her children forsook her. 39Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, and her honor into contempt. 40According to her glory, so was her dishonor multiplied, and her exaltation was turned into mourning.

A royal officer comes to Jerusalem with words of peace, and the people trust him. But it is a deception: he suddenly falls on the city, plunders and burns it, and fortifies a citadel from which the enemy would threaten the sanctuary continually. What follows is a lament over a desecrated and desolate city.

Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into a reproach, her honor into contempt. The grief is deep and honest; something sacred and beloved has been trampled and defiled. Two things are worth noticing: the treachery of a false peace, words of peace that masked a coming attack, and the profound sorrow of God's people over the defilement of what was holy. Scripture does not rush past such grief; it gives full voice to the lament over sacred things trampled, even as the larger story holds out, beyond the mourning, the hope of restoration to come.

Do I grieve honestly over what is sacred when it is trampled or defiled, bringing my lament to God, while holding on to the hope of restoration he promises?

Sources

1 Maccabees 1:30: "He spoke words of peace to them in subtlety, and they believed him. Then he fell upon the city suddenly, struck it very severely."
1 Maccabees 1:39: "Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach."
Psalm 74:7: "They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name."