Maccabeus & the Giants

Synopsis     1Maccabees 6:15-36     1/21/2021 

Depressed and ashamed, King Antiochus died after his failed campaign in Persia. But before dying, he empowered his friend Philip to lead the empire and advise his son. However, back in the capital city, Lysias had already crowned his son as King Antiochus Eupator. 

Meanwhile, back in Judea, Judas Maccabeus stormed the citadel and captured it. This displaced the last foreign soldiers in Jerusalem. As a result, the foreigners living in the region complained to Lysias and the new king.  

As a result, the new king, together with Lysias, assembled a huge army and invaded Judea a second time. The army was unlike any invading army previously sent. It was comprised of one hundred thousand foot soldiers, twenty-thousand calvary, and thirty-two elephants specially trained for war.  

The presence of the vast, professionally trained army was terrifying. Even so, Judas advanced his undersized army to a nearby camp in preparation for battle.  

Facing the Military Giants 

Judas Maccabeus was familiar with fighting oversized armies. In previous battles, he explained to his soldiers that God alone determined the outcome of battle. And so, he trusted God alone for the outcome as long as he was doing God’s will. 

However, Eupator and Lysias’ army was an ultimate test. Not only was it vast in numbers, but it enjoyed the most advanced military technology of this time period. So, by any human measure, standing against this army was utter foolishness.  

And yet, Judas had the temerity to stand. 

The Victory Belongs to the Lord 

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve questioned whether God was trustworthy. In the end, they decided He wasn’t. This was the true essence of their sin.  

And I inherited this natural tendency to mistrust God. 

So, as His response in grace, God gives me opportunities to learn to trust Him. Of course, he doesn’t start me out facing unimaginably large armies determined to kill me. Instead, he starts me out in a little way. In a moment that seems to mean little in the context of my overall life, He gives a person in need of love. 

And if I trust Him enough to respond in love to what He has given, then I’m on my way. With that, I begin to learn to trust Him. So, in trusting him, I become what God always intended.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.” 1John 4:18