1 Maccabees 11:8-12: a reflection

8But King Ptolemy took control of the cities along the sea coast, to Selucia which is by the sea, and he devised evil plans concerning Alexander. 9He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius, saying, “Come! Let’s make a covenant with one another, and I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has, and you shall reign over your father’s kingdom; 10for I regret that I gave my daughter to him, for he tried to kill me. 11He accused him, because he coveted his kingdom. 12Taking his daughter from him, he gave her to Demetrius, and was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity was openly seen.

The passage recounts a piece of ancient political treachery: King Ptolemy, having given his daughter in marriage to Alexander as part of an alliance, turns against him, plots his downfall, takes the daughter back, and gives her instead to Alexander's rival Demetrius. Alliances are made and broken for advantage; a marriage is undone; open enmity replaces professed friendship. It is a study in the faithlessness of alliances built on self-interest, where loyalty lasts only as long as it serves.

Notice the instability of these self-interested bonds. Ptolemy's alliance with Alexander lasted only until it no longer suited him; then the covenant was broken, the friendship abandoned, the daughter reassigned to a new ally. Where relationships and commitments are built on self-interest alone, they are only as durable as the advantage they bring; when the advantage shifts, the bond breaks. Such faithlessness was, and is, the way of much human alliance.

That instability throws into relief the faithfulness of God. Human commitments built on self-interest are fragile, broken when advantage shifts; but God's covenant faithfulness never breaks. He does not abandon his people when it ceases to suit him, for his commitment rests not on advantage but on his own faithful love. When you are wounded by the faithlessness of others, by broken commitments, abandoned loyalties, alliances that lasted only as long as they were useful, take comfort in the God whose faithfulness never fails. And let his faithfulness shape your own: be a person whose commitments do not break with shifting advantage, but hold, as God's do, in steadfast loyalty.

Lord, the world is full of faithless alliances like Ptolemy's, bonds and commitments built on self-interest that break the moment advantage shifts. When I am wounded by such faithlessness, by broken commitments, abandoned loyalties, and friendships that lasted only as long as they were useful, take comfort into my heart from your faithfulness. Your covenant never breaks; you do not abandon your people when it ceases to suit you, for your commitment rests not on advantage but on your own faithful love. Thank you for a faithfulness that never fails. And let it shape my own: make me a person whose commitments do not break with shifting advantage, but hold, as yours do, in steadfast loyalty. Make me faithful, as you are faithful.