1 Maccabees 9:43-53: a reflection

43Bacchides heard it, and he came on the Sabbath day to the banks of the Jordan with a great army. 44Jonathan said to his company, “Let’s stand up now and fight for our lives, for things are different today than they were yesterday and the day before. 45For, behold, the battle is before us and behind us. Moreover the water of the Jordan is on this side and on that side, and marsh and thicket. There is no place to escape. 46Now therefore cry to heaven, that you may be delivered out of the hand of your enemies.” 47So the battle was joined, and Jonathan stretched out his hand to strike Bacchides, and he turned away back from him. 48Jonathan and those who were with him leapt into the Jordan, and swam over to the other side. The enemy didn’t pass over the Jordan against them. 49About a thousand men of Bacchides’ company fell that day; 50and he returned to Jerusalem. They built strong cities in Judea, the stronghold that was in Jericho, and Emmaus, Bethhoron, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars. 51He set garrisons in them to harass Israel. 52He fortified the city Bethsura, Gazara, and the citadel, and put troops and stores of food in them. 53He took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem.

Jonathan and his men find themselves trapped: enemies before them and behind, the Jordan on either side, marsh and thicket around, no place to escape. And in that desperate corner, Jonathan gives a striking order. Cry to heaven, he tells his men, that you may be delivered out of the hand of your enemies. Then they fight, and break through, escaping across the Jordan. When there was no way out that they could see, their first recourse was to cry to God for deliverance.

Notice what Jonathan does when there is no escape: he turns his men to God. Surrounded, with no way out, he does not despair, nor rely only on their own strength; he calls them to cry to heaven for deliverance. When every human way of escape was closed, prayer was the way that remained open. Their crying to God was not a last resort after their own efforts failed, but the recourse they turned to in the very corner where they were trapped.

That is a good instinct to learn: to cry to God when there seems no way out. We can find ourselves trapped, hemmed in, with no escape we can see; and our tendency may be to panic, or to thrash about in our own efforts, forgetting to pray. But Jonathan turned first to God: cry to heaven, that you may be delivered. When you find yourself in a corner with no way out that you can see, let your first recourse be to cry to God for deliverance. Do not forget, in the panic of being trapped, the way that remains open when every other is closed. Cry to heaven, as Jonathan's men did, and trust the God who can deliver even from the corner where there seems no place to escape.

Lord, Jonathan and his men were trapped, enemies before and behind, the Jordan on either side, no place to escape; and Jonathan's order was, cry to heaven, that you may be delivered, and they broke through and escaped. Teach me that good instinct: to cry to you when there seems no way out. I can find myself trapped, hemmed in, with no escape I can see; and my tendency may be to panic, or to thrash about in my own efforts, forgetting to pray. But Jonathan turned first to you: cry to heaven, that you may be delivered. When I find myself in a corner with no way out that I can see, let my first recourse be to cry to you for deliverance. Keep me from forgetting, in the panic of being trapped, the way that remains open when every other is closed. Help me cry to heaven, as Jonathan's men did, and trust you, who can deliver even from the corner where there seems no place to escape. I cry to you, Lord, when I see no way out.