1 Maccabees 6:18-63 - Meanwhile, the garrison around Jerusalem
continues to harass the Jews. This site is called the
Citadel or Acre. It is a Hellenist garrison established around 168 BC by
Antiochus IV [Epiphanes]. It was manned by Seleucid troops and also by some pro-Seleucid Jews who were not sympathetic
to the Maccabeans. It is rather easy for me to imagine that there might
have been a good many Jews who actually favored the Hellenizers. They were,
after all, more “universalist” in their perspective, less “conservative” about
their religious practices. The Maccabeans were super-orthodox; they wanted none
of this assimilationist, “modernist” kind of approach to culture and religion.
Judas resolves
to destroy them. They besiege the garrison, but some of the men there escape and
are joined by “renegades from Israel” (6:22). They go to the new king –
Eupator, or his advisors [he’s still a little boy at this point]. They ask for
his help against the Maccabbees.
A huge force
is assembled, including mercenaries “from other kingdoms and the islands of the
seas” (6:28): 120,000 foot soldiers, 20,000 cavalry, and 32 elephants. The Jews
destroy some of their war engines and then encamp opposite the camp of the
king. Then they attack, offering the war elephants the “juice of grapes and
mulberries, to arouse them for battle” (6:34).
The Seleucid army is organized around
the elephants; and on
the elephants’ back are “wooden towers, strong and covered” (6:37) with four
armed men and an Indian “driver.” Judas’ men go out to meet this huge force.
Judas’ younger
brother Eleazar notices that one of the elephants’ towers is taller than all
the others, and he concludes that the king must be on this one. “[S]upposing
that the king was mounted on it, [he] sacrificed himself to save his people and
win an imperishable name. Boldly charging towards the creature through the
thick of the phalanx, dealing death to right and left, so that the enemy
scattered on either side at his onslaught, he darted in under the elephant, ran
his sword into it and killed it. The beast collapsed on top of him, and he died
on the spot” (6:45-46).
Apparently
medieval Christians saw Eleazar as a kind of pre-figuration of Jesus because of
his willingness to die for his people. A number of paintings were done to
commemorate his martyrdom.
It is at this
point that Lysias, the young king’s adult-protector and teacher, his “regent”, learns
that Philip, the man king Antiochus named on his death-bed to bring up his son,
is returning from Persia, and intends to seize control of the government. He
realizes that he must return and deal with this problem, so he offers to make
peace with the Jews and permit them to live by their own laws. They make the
peace, but when the king sees the strong fortifications the Jews have
constructed on Mt. Zion, he breaks the peace and gives orders to have it torn
down. He then goes and defeats Philip at Antioch.
Titus 3 – It is important to Paul that
Christians not be seen as trouble-makers. So he emphasizes that it is
their [our] duty “to be obedient to the officials and representatives of the
government [and] be ready to do good at every opportunity” (3:1).
We should
“not go slandering other people or picking quarrels, but . . .be courteous and
always polite to all kinds of people. Remember, there was a time when we too
were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and
luxuries” (3:2-3).
It’s
hard to skip over or easily paraphrase what is written here. It is all pretty
core-stuff: “[W]hen the kindness and love of God our savior for mankind were
revealed, it was not because he was concerned with any righteous actions we
might have done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own compassion that
he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and by renewing us with
the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ
our savor. He did this so that we should be justified by his grace, to become
heirs looking forward to inheriting eternal life. This is doctrine that you can
rely on” (3:4-8). Those who
believe should “keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works” (3:8).
And avoid “pointless speculations” (3:9), for they are useless.
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