1 Maccabees 10:51-58: a reflection

51Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt with this message: 52“Since I have returned to my kingdom, and am seated on the throne of my fathers, and have established my dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and have taken possession of our country— 53yes, I joined the battle with him, and he and his army were defeated by us, and we sat on the throne of his kingdom— 54now also let’s make friends with one another. Give me now your daughter as my wife. I will be joined with you, and will give both you and her gifts worthy of you.” 55Ptolemy the king answered, saying, “Happy is the day you returned to the land of your ancestors and sat on the throne of their kingdom. 56Now I will do to you as you have written, but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another; and I will join with you, even as you have said.” 57So Ptolemy went out of Egypt, himself and Cleopatra his daughter, and came to Ptolemais in the one hundred sixty-second year. 58King Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra, and celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do.

The passage recounts a grand piece of royal diplomacy: King Alexander, newly victorious, proposes an alliance with Ptolemy of Egypt, sealed by marriage to Ptolemy's daughter. The kings meet, exchange flattering words, and celebrate the wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do. It is a scene of splendor, thrones, alliances, royal weddings, the great ones of the earth arranging the world among themselves with impressive ceremony.

Notice the impressive display, and how little it finally amounted to. These grand alliances of rulers, celebrated with such splendor, were fragile and self-serving; this very alliance would soon collapse in betrayal. The pomp of rulers, the thrones and ceremonies, was a glittering surface over shifting, self-interested arrangements that would not last. What looked so grand was, beneath the splendor, unstable and passing.

That is worth remembering as we watch the impressive doings of the great ones in our own day. The great ones of the earth arrange things among themselves with much ceremony and display, and it can seem that they run the world. But their grand arrangements are often fragile and passing, while God's real purposes advance, frequently unnoticed, by other means. Do not be overly dazzled by the pomp of rulers, as though their splendid doings were the real story of the world. Beneath and beyond all the ceremony, God is quietly working his purposes, and it is his kingdom, not the glittering alliances of kings, that will last. Keep your eyes on what endures.

Lord, the kings of old made their grand alliances and celebrated with great pomp, as if they arranged the world among themselves, and yet their splendid doings were fragile, self-serving, and passing. Keep me from being overly dazzled by the pomp of rulers in my own day, as though their impressive arrangements were the real story of the world. Beneath and beyond all the ceremony and display, you are quietly working your purposes, and it is your kingdom, not the glittering alliances of the great, that will last. Help me keep my eyes on what endures, on your kingdom and your purposes, rather than on the passing splendor of human power. Let me trust that you, not the kings of the earth, hold the world.