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Context No. 4032 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

2 Maccabees 10:9-13: in context

9Such were the events of the end of Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes. 10Now we will declare what came to pass under Antiochus Eupator, who proved himself a son of that ungodly man, and will summarize the main evils of the wars. 11For this man, when he succeeded to the kingdom, appointed one Lysias to be chancellor and supreme governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia. 12For Ptolemy who was called Macron, setting an example of observing justice toward the Jews because of the wrong that had been done to them, endeavored to deal with them on peaceful terms. 13Whereupon being accused by the king’s friends before Eupator, and hearing himself called traitor at every turn because he had abandoned Cyprus which Philometor had entrusted to him, and had withdrawn himself to Antiochus Epiphanes, and failing to uphold the honor of his office, he took poison and did away with himself.

This passage records a sad episode. Ptolemy Macron, an official who had set an example of dealing justly with the Jews, trying to treat them fairly and peaceably after the wrongs done to them, found himself accused by others at court, branded a traitor at every turn, and, unable to bear the pressure and the loss of his standing, took his own life. It is a somber story, and we hold its ending with compassion, grieving that a man was driven to such despair.

Yet a truth stands within it. Ptolemy's fault, in the eyes of his corrupt accusers, was that he had tried to do right, to treat a wronged people justly. In a court given over to intrigue and cruelty, his very fairness made him a target, and the honest man was slandered by dishonest ones. It is a sober reminder that doing right does not always win us approval; sometimes, in a corrupt setting, integrity itself becomes the thing others attack. And there is a gentler word here too: that no weight of slander or loss of standing is worth surrendering hope, for our worth and our future are held not by our accusers but by God.

When my fairness or integrity draws hostility from those committed to their own advantage, do I refuse to be surprised by it, and do I hold onto hope in God rather than letting slander or lost standing drive me to despair?

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