2 Maccabees 12:10-16: a reflection

10Now when they had drawn off nine furlongs from there, as they marched against Timotheus, an army of Arabians attacked him, no fewer than five thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry. 11And when a hard battle had been fought, and Judas and his company, by the help of God, had good success, the nomads being overcome implored Judas to grant them friendship, promising to give him livestock, and to help his people in all other ways. 12So Judas, thinking that they would indeed be profitable in many things, agreed to live in peace with them; and receiving pledges of friendship they departed to their tents. 13He also attacked a certain city, strong and fenced with earthworks and walls, and inhabited by a mixed multitude of various nations. It was named Caspin. 14Those who were within, trusting in the strength of the walls and their store of provisions, behaved themselves rudely toward Judas and those who were with him, railing, and furthermore blaspheming and speaking impious words. 15But Judas and his company, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without rams and cunning engines of war hurled down Jericho in the times of Joshua, rushed wildly against the wall. 16Having taken the city by the will of God, they made unspeakable slaughter, so much that the adjoining lake, which was two furlongs broad, appeared to be filled with the deluge of blood.

In the middle of a hard military campaign, one detail stands out from the accounts of marches and skirmishes. Facing a fortified city whose defenders trusted in their strong walls and hurled insults and blasphemies, Judas and his men do not rely on their own siege-craft. They call on the great Sovereign of the world, remembering how, in Joshua's day, God brought down the walls of Jericho without battering rams or war machines. Their appeal is to God's power, not their own ingenuity.

The passage is honest about the brutality of ancient warfare, and it is not a scene we read comfortably. But the writer's own emphasis falls on where the people placed their trust. Against defenders who mocked God and leaned on their fortifications, Judas leaned on the God who had toppled Jericho. The lesson the writer draws is about reliance: when human strength seemed to favor the other side, God's people turned to the One for whom no wall is a match.

You will meet obstacles that seem impregnable, fortified by circumstances you cannot overcome on your own. The example to take from this is not the violence but the reliance. Remember what God has done before, how he has brought down what looked immovable, and bring your own impossible situations to him rather than trusting only in your own cleverness. The God who did not need siege engines at Jericho is not limited by the walls that intimidate you.

Lord, when your people faced walls they could not breach, they remembered Jericho and called on you rather than trusting their own strength. Teach me that same reliance. When I face obstacles that seem immovable, help me to bring them to you, the God for whom no wall is a match. Let my trust rest in your power and not in my own cleverness. Amen.