2 Maccabees 10 - The
Maccabaeans restore the Temple, pull down foreign altars and then encourage a
penitent spirit among the people, begging God’s forgiveness and praying that
never again will the people be subject to such cruel and godless oppression.
They celebrate for
eight days and institute this celebration for future times as well – the
Festival of Shelters [Sukkot].
Then the story goes on to the history of Antiochus’
Epiphanes’ son Antiochus Eupator – age 8. He [or someone] appoints a man named Lysias
to be chief governor of Greater Syria, “replacing Ptolemy Macron, who had been
the first governor to treat the Jews fairly” (10:12).
The king’s friends go to Eupator and accuse Macron of being
a traitor because he abandoned the island of Cyprus, which King Philometor of
Egypt had placed under his command, and gone over to Antiochus Epiphanes. . . .
No longer able to maintain the respect that his office demanded, he [Ptolemy
Macron] committed suicide by taking poison” (10:13).
Another military assault against the Jews is recounted, this
time by Gorgias, governor of Idumea and the Idumaeans. Judas Maccabaeus and his
men capture the town and kill about 20,000. About 9,000 take refuge in two
forts and Judas has to move on to other places. He leaves his brothers Simon
and Joseph behind to continue the siege.
Some of Simon’s men are lured into accepting a bribe of some silver in return
for letting some of the men escape from the fortresses. Judas is furious
when he learns this and has the men executed (10:22). He then is successful in
taking the forts.
A general named Timothy [or Timotheus] brings a large force
from Asia against Judea. As “the enemy forces were approaching, Judas and his
men prayed to God. They put on sackcloth, threw earth on their heads, and lay
face downwards on the steps of the altar, begging God to help them by fighting
against their enemies, as he had promised in his Law” (10:25-26).
The fight begins.
“When the fighting was at its worst, the enemy saw five handsome men riding on
horses with gold bridles and leading the Jewish forces. These five men
surrounded Judas, protecting him with their own armor and showering the enemy
with arrows and thunderbolts” (10:29-30). The enemy becomes so confused, they
are easily defeated. Timothy escapes to a fortress at Gezer but Judas and his
men take the fort on the fifth day, killing Timothy and his brothers. The Jews
celebrate the victory “by singing hymns and songs of thanksgiving to the Lord,
who had shown them great kindness and had given them victory” (10:38).
“Friends’
Testimonies”
Part 8
The other virtue
closely connected with simplicity for early Friends was the call to integrity.
When they stood before a magistrate, they refused to make a ceremony of honesty
by employing oaths. They simply kept to “yes” and “no” as Jesus had urged
(Matt. 5:37). Fox and other leaders continually stressed the importance of
integrity as part of the witness they made:
Do rightly, justly, truly, holily,
equally to all people in all things . . .
Wrong no man, over-reach no man, if it
be never so much to your advantage, but be plain, righteous and holy. . . . Let
justice be acted and holiness in all things, without any guile, fraud or
deceit. . . .
Loathe deceit . . . hard-heartedness,
wronging, cozening, cheating or unjust dealing. But live and reign in the
righteous Life and Power of God . . . doing the Truth to all, without respect
to persons, high or low whatsoever, young or old, rich or poor . . .
. . . live in the Power of Truth and
Wisdom of God, to answer the just Principle of God in all people upon the
earth. And so answering . . . it, thereby
you come to be as a city set upon a hill. . . .So, let your lives preach, let your Light shine, that your works may be
seen, your Father may be glorified, your fruits may be unto holiness and that
your end may be everlasting Life. . . .” (Fox, Letters, 154-155).
Friends’ reputation for honesty and fair dealing became
legendary and remains a source of justifiable pride among Friends. Honesty had
always been something important to me, but now I fully recognized and
acknowledged God’s part in that in my life.
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