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Context No. 973 of 4322 · 2 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

2 Maccabees 10:29-38: in context

29When the battle became strong, there appeared out of heaven to their adversaries five splendid men on horses with bridles of gold, and two of them, leading on the Jews, 30and taking Maccabaeus in the midst of them, and covering him with their own armor, guarded him from wounds, while they shot arrows and thunderbolts at the enemies. For this reason, they were blinded and thrown into confusion, and were cut to pieces, filled with bewilderment. 31Twenty thousand five hundred were slain, beside six hundred cavalry. 32Timotheus himself fled into a stronghold called Gazara, a fortress of great strength, where Chaereas was in command. 33Then Maccabaeus and his men were glad and laid siege to the fortress for four days. 34Those who were within, trusting in the strength of the place, blasphemed exceedingly, and hurled out impious words. 35But at dawn of the fifth day, certain young men of Maccabaeus’ company, inflamed with anger because of the blasphemies, assaulted the wall with masculine force and with furious anger, and cut down whoever came in their way. 36Others climbing up in the same way, while the enemies were distracted with those who had made their way within, set fire to the towers, and kindled fires that burned the blasphemers alive, while others broke open the gates, and, having given entrance to the rest of the band, occupied the city. 37They killed Timotheus, who was hidden in a cistern, and his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes. 38When they had accomplished these things, they blessed the Lord with hymns and thanksgiving, blessing him who provides great benefits to Israel and gives them the victory.

This is a battle scene from the Maccabean wars. As Judas Maccabeus fights, the text says five splendid horsemen appear from heaven, shielding him and leading the Jews, striking the enemy with confusion. The enemy army is routed. Judas then besieges a fortress where the defenders, trusting the strength of the place, hurl blasphemies. On the fifth day young men enraged by the blasphemy storm the walls, and the towers are set aflame with the blasphemers inside. Afterward the victors bless the Lord with hymns, thanking the God who gives Israel the victory.

This is the bible in raw historical mode, and it does not sanitize ancient warfare; men are cut down and blasphemers burned alive, and the writer sees the victory as God's gift. It is honest to admit that scenes like this are hard to read and were never meant as a manual for our own hands. But underneath the violence, First and Second Maccabees are wrestling with a real question: when a small, faithful people is fighting for the right to worship God at all, is God with them? The heavenly horsemen are the writer's confession that the survival of God's people was not their own achievement but his protection. And the detail the writer fixes on is the blasphemy. What enrages the young men is not merely that these are enemies but that they are mocking God from behind their walls, trusting the strength of the place rather than fearing him. The passage is sure of one thing, that the God who is defied is not mocked forever, and that the deliverance of his people, when it comes, is his to give and theirs to thank him for.

When I win or survive, do I credit my own strength and the strength of my position, or do I, like these fighters, turn and bless the God who actually gave the deliverance?

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