1 Maccabees 7:1-9: a reflection

1In the one hundred fifty first year, Demetrius the son of Seleucus came out of Rome, and went up with a few men to a city by the sea, and reigned there. 2It came to pass, when he would go into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, that the army laid hands on Antiochus and Lysias, to bring them to him. 3The thing became known to him, and he said, “Don’t show me their faces!” 4So the army killed them. Then Demetrius sat upon the throne of his kingdom. 5All the lawless and ungodly men of Israel came to him. Alcimus was their leader, desiring to be high priest. 6They accused the people to the king, saying, “Judas and his kindred have destroyed all your friends, and have scattered us from our own land. 7Now therefore send a man whom you trust, and let him go and see all the destruction which he has brought on us and the king’s country, and how he has punished them and all who helped them.” 8So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king’s friends, who was ruler in the country beyond the river, and was a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king. 9He sent him and that ungodly Alcimus, whom he made the high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance upon the children of Israel.

When Demetrius seizes the throne, the lawless men of Israel come to him, led by Alcimus, who desired to be high priest. To gain the sacred office for himself, Alcimus allies with a foreign king against his own people, accusing the faithful and helping to bring an army and vengeance upon them. His hunger for the high priesthood, the holiest office, leads him to betray the very people and faith it was meant to serve. Ambition for sacred position drove him to unholy means.

Notice the corruption at work. Alcimus wanted a holy office, the high priesthood, but he wanted it for himself, as a prize to be grasped, and to get it he was willing to betray his people and ally with their enemies. The sacred role became merely an object of personal ambition, and that ambition made him treacherous. He sought a holy thing by unholy means, for unholy reasons.

That is a sobering warning, especially about ambition for religious or sacred position. It is possible to desire even good and holy things, leadership, influence, a place of honor in God's work, but to desire them for ourselves, as prizes for our own advancement, and to be corrupted in the pursuit. Alcimus shows how the hunger for sacred position can make a person treacherous and self-serving. Examine your motives in seeking any position, especially in God's work: do you seek it to serve, or to be served, to honor God, or to advance yourself? Sacred things pursued by selfish ambition become corrupt. Seek to serve, not to grasp, and beware the ambition that would use holy things for your own ends.

Lord, Alcimus hungered for the high priesthood, a holy office, but wanted it for himself, and to grasp it he betrayed his own people and allied with their enemies; his ambition for sacred position made him treacherous. Guard my heart from that corruption. When I seek any position, especially in your work, examine my motives: whether I seek to serve or to be served, to honor you or to advance myself. Keep me from pursuing even good and holy things as prizes for my own advancement. Let me seek to serve, not to grasp, and spare me the ambition that would use sacred things for my own ends. Make me lowly in your service.