1 Maccabees 5:21-27: a reflection

21Simon went into Galilee and fought many battles with the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were defeated before him. 22He pursued them to the gate of Ptolemais. About three thousand men of the Gentiles fell, and he took their spoils. 23They took to them those who were in Galilee and in Arbatta, with their wives, their children, and all that they had, and brought them into Judea with great gladness. 24Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan passed over the Jordan, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness. 25They met with the Nabathaeans, and these met them in a peaceful manner and told them all things that had happened to their kindred in the land of Gilead, 26and how many of them were shut up in Bosora, Bosor, Alema, Casphor, Maked, and Carnaim—all these cities are strong and large— 27and how they were shut up in the rest of the cities of the land of Gilead, and that tomorrow they planned to encamp against the strongholds, and to take them, and to destroy all these men in one day.

When the Jews in Galilee are under attack from their enemies, Simon goes to their aid, fights for them, defeats their attackers, and brings them, with their families and possessions, to safety in Judea, and the text notes, with great gladness. And meanwhile word comes that brethren in another region, Gilead, are besieged, shut up in strongholds, in grave danger. The response of Judas and his brothers is to go to their rescue. God's people in distress are not abandoned; their brothers come to help.

Notice the instinct at work: solidarity with the endangered. When fellow members of God's people are under threat, besieged, in danger, the response is not to leave them to their fate but to go to their aid, to fight for them, to rescue them and bring them to safety. Simon did not ignore the Galilean Jews' plight; he acted. And the news of the besieged in Gilead moved his brothers to go help them. God's people bear one another's dangers; they come to each other's aid.

That is a picture of the solidarity we are called to among God's people. When fellow believers are in distress, under attack, besieged by trouble, we are not to look away and leave them to their own resources; we are to come to their aid, to bear their burdens, to help rescue them. It is easy to stay comfortable while others are besieged. But the example here, and the call of love, is to go to the aid of God's people in trouble. Do not leave your brothers and sisters besieged and alone. When fellow believers are in distress, go to their help, and bear their burdens with them.

Lord, when the Jews in Galilee and Gilead were under attack, Simon and his brothers went to their aid, rescuing the endangered rather than leaving them to their fate. Give me that solidarity with your people. When fellow believers are in distress, besieged by trouble, under attack, keep me from staying comfortable and looking away. Help me go to their aid, bear their burdens, and come to their rescue. Make me one who does not leave my brothers and sisters besieged and alone, but bears their troubles with them, in love.