Scripture Daily

Context No. 3622 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 13:49-53: in context

49But the people of the citadel in Jerusalem were hindered from going out and from going into the country, and from buying and selling. So they were very hungry, and a great number of them perished from famine. 50Then they cried out to Simon, that he should give them his right hand; and he gave it to them; but he expelled them from there, and he cleansed the citadel from its pollutions. 51He entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, with praise and palm branches, with harps, with cymbals, and with stringed instruments, with hymns, and with songs, because a great enemy had been destroyed out of Israel. 52Simon ordained that they should keep that day every year with gladness. He made the hill of the temple that was by the citadel stronger than before, and he lived there with his men. 53Simon saw that his son John was a man, so he made him leader of all his forces; and he lived in Gazara.

Simon finally captures the citadel in Jerusalem, the enemy stronghold that had long defiled the holy city, and he cleanses it of its pollutions. And notice how he enters: with praise and palm branches, with harps and cymbals and songs, thanking God because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.

The recovery of what was holy is met not with mere military triumph but with worship and thanksgiving. And Simon establishes the day as an annual celebration of gladness, so it would be remembered year after year. There is a lesson here about how we respond to God's victories and deliverances: with praise and remembrance, deliberately marking them so that they are not forgotten. When God removes a long-standing enemy or cleanses what had been defiled, the fitting response is thanksgiving and joyful worship, and the intentional remembering of his goodness, lest we grow forgetful of what he has done.

When God grants a deliverance or cleanses what was defiled in my life, do I respond with thanksgiving and worship, and do I take care to remember his goodness?

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