Context No. 3957 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 11:54-59: in context

54Now after this, Tryphon returned, and with him the young child Antiochus, who reigned and put on a crown. 55All the forces which Demetrius had sent away with disgrace were gathered to him, and they fought against him, and he fled and was routed. 56Tryphon took the elephants, and took control of Antioch. 57The young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm to you the high priesthood, and appoint you over the four districts, and to be one of the king’s friends.” 58He sent to him golden vessels and furniture for the table, and gave him permission to drink in golden vessels, and to be clothed in purple, and to have a golden buckle. 59He made his brother Simon governor from the Ladder of Tyre to the borders of Egypt.

This passage records a swirl of political intrigue, a usurper and a boy-king, armies changing sides, cities captured, and in the midst of it the Jewish leader Jonathan is showered with honors: confirmed as high priest, made a royal friend, given gold vessels and purple robes and the right to appoint his brother as governor. On the surface it is a season of favor and success for Jonathan.

But a reader who knows how these things go feels the instability beneath the glittering honors. The favor came from a scheming, unstable court, from rulers who rose and fell by treachery, and such favor is precarious; what one ruler grants, the next may snatch away. Honors and advancement that rest on the shifting favor of the world's rulers are built on sand. There is a quiet caution here about where we anchor our security. The gold vessels and purple robes of court favor look impressive, but they come and go with the fortunes of unstable men. To build our lives on the favor of those in power and the honors of this world is to build on something that can be gone tomorrow.

Am I tempted to anchor my security in the honors and favor of this world, which come and go with the fortunes of unstable men, rather than in the steady faithfulness of God, which cannot be snatched away?

Sources

1 Maccabees 11:57: "I confirm to you the high priesthood, and appoint you over the four districts, and to be one of the king's friends."
1 Maccabees 11:58: "He sent to him golden vessels and furniture for the table, and gave him permission... to be clothed in purple."
1 Maccabees 11:54: "After this, Tryphon returned, and with him the young child Antiochus, who reigned and put on a crown."