Menelaus Is Put to Death

¹In the year 149 Judas Maccabeus and his followers found out that Antiochus Eupator was marching against Judea with a large army

²and that Lysias, the young king's guardian and the head of his government, was with him. They had a force of Greek troops consisting of 110,000 infantry, 5,300 cavalry, 22 elephants, and 300 chariots with sharp blades attached to their wheels.

³Menelaus, trying to take advantage of the situation, went over to their side and urged them on, not because he was concerned for the country, but because he hoped to be confirmed as High Priest.

⁴But God, the King of kings, made Antiochus furious with Menelaus. Lysias proved to Antiochus that this criminal had been the source of all his troubles, so Antiochus ordered him to be taken to the city of Berea and put to death in the way that it was done there.

⁵In that city there is a tower about 75 feet high. It is filled with ashes, and all around the inside of the tower is a platform sloping down into the ashes.

⁶People accused of crimes against the gods or of any other serious crime are taken there and thrown down to their death.

⁷Menelaus was put to death in that way, without even having the privilege of a burial,

⁸and that was just what he deserved. He had often profaned the sacred ashes of the altar fire in the Temple, and now he met his death in ashes.

A Battle Near the City of Modein

⁹King Antiochus arrogantly continued his barbaric invasion of Judah, intending to deal with the Jews more harshly than his father had ever done.

¹⁰When Judas learned of this, he told the people to pray to the Lord day and night, because they were in danger of losing their Law, their country, and their holy Temple. As never before, they needed his help and protection

¹¹to keep their newly restored country from falling into the hands of godless Gentiles.

¹²For three days the people did nothing but lie face down on the ground, fasting and crying, begging the merciful Lord for his help. Then Judas spoke words of encouragement to the people, urging them to get ready for action.

¹³Afterward, Judas met privately with the Jewish leaders and decided to march out with God's help to battle against the king, rather than to wait for Antiochus to invade Judea and besiege Jerusalem.

¹⁴Then, leaving the outcome of the battle to the Creator of the world, Judas encouraged his men to fight bravely and to be willing to die for their laws, the Temple, Jerusalem, their country, and their whole way of life. They set up camp near the city of Modein.

¹⁵Judas gave his men the battle cry, Victory comes from God, and that night, with a picked force of his bravest young men, he attacked the area near the king's tent and killed as many as 2,000 men. They also stabbed to death the lead elephant and its keeper.

¹⁶Everyone in camp was terrified and in panic when Judas and his men finally left victoriously

¹⁷just before dawn. The help and protection of the Lord had made all this possible.

Antiochus the Fifth Makes a Treaty with the Jews

¹⁸This taste of Jewish daring was enough to convince King Antiochus that he had to find some better way of capturing the Jewish positions.

¹⁹He attacked the strong Jewish fort of Bethzur, but was repeatedly beaten back and finally defeated.

²⁰Judas sent supplies to the men who were defending the fort,

²¹but a Jewish soldier by the name of Rhodocus gave some secret information to the enemy. He was found out, however, caught, and put to death.

²²The king made a second attempt to come to terms with the people of Bethzur, and when he had reached an agreement with them, he withdrew his forces. Then he went to attack Judas, but again he was defeated.

²³Meanwhile, Philip had been left at Antioch in charge of the government, but King Antiochus learned that he had revolted. The king did not know what to do, so he initiated peace talks with the Jews, agreed to their terms, and promised to be just in his treatment of them. To put the treaty into effect, he offered a sacrifice, gave a generous gift to show his respect for the Temple,

²⁴and graciously received Judas Maccabeus. After that, the king appointed Hegemonides to be governor of the territory between the cities of Ptolemais and Gerar,

²⁵and then he himself went on to Ptolemais. The people there were angry because of the treaty he had made with the Jews—so angry, in fact, that they wanted the treaty canceled.

²⁶But Lysias made a public speech, defending the treaty as well as he could. After he had calmed the people down and convinced them that he was right, he returned to Antioch. In this way King Antiochus' invasion was turned into a retreat.

The True God Gives Immortality

¹But you, our God, are kind and true and patient. You rule the universe with mercy.

²Even if we sin, we know your power and are still yours. But because we know that we belong to you, we will not sin.

³Knowing you is perfect righteousness. Recognizing your power is where immortality begins.

⁴We have not been misled by any evil product of human skill, by any useless object painted by some artist, or by any idol smeared with different colors.

⁵The sight of such things arouses the passions of foolish people and makes them desire a dead, lifeless image.

⁶Anyone who makes such a thing or desires it or worships it is in love with something evil, and gets what he deserves when he places his hopes in it.

The Foolishness of Worshiping Clay Idols

⁷A potter works the soft clay and carefully shapes each object for our use. Some things he makes are put to good use, and some are not, but he makes them all from the same clay, and shapes them in the same manner. The potter himself decides which objects shall be used for what purposes.

⁸He is a human being who was himself formed from earth only a short while earlier, and after a little while, when he must return the soul that was lent to him, he will go back to the same earth. He is a human being, but he wastes his labor shaping a useless god out of the same clay that he uses to make pots.

⁹His life will be short, and he will soon have to die, but he is not concerned about that. He wants to compete with those who work in gold, silver, and bronze, and make things like they do. He takes great pride in the things he makes, but they are counterfeit.

¹⁰His heart is made of ashes. His hope is cheaper than dirt. His life is not worth as much as his clay,

¹¹because he never came to know the God who shaped him, who breathed into him an active soul and a living spirit.

¹²He thinks of human life as just a game, a market where he can make a profit. He believes that he must make money however he can, even by evil ways.

¹³This man, who makes idols and fragile pots from the same clay, knows better than anyone else that he is sinning.

The Punishment of the Egyptians

¹⁴But the most foolish of all people, showing less sense than babies, were the enemies who oppressed your people, O Lord.

¹⁵They thought that all their pagan idols were gods, even though idols cannot see with their eyes, cannot breathe through their nose, cannot hear with their ears, cannot feel with their fingers, and cannot walk on their legs.

¹⁶Someone whose spirit is only borrowed made them. No one can ever make a god that is equal to a human being.

¹⁷Every person will sooner or later die, but anything he makes with his wicked hands is dead from the start. He himself is better than what he worships. He at least is alive, but what he worships is not, and never has been.

¹⁸Such people worship the most disgusting animals, including even the least intelligent ones.

¹⁹Even as animals they are not attractive enough to make anyone want them. God himself passed them by when he put his approval and blessing on the rest of creation.

¹And so it was appropriate that these people were punished by such creatures—tormented by swarms of them.

²But you, O Lord, did not punish your people in this way; instead, you showed them kindness. You sent them quails to eat, a rare, delicious food to satisfy their hunger.

³You did all this so that the idolaters, when they were hungry, would be unable to eat because of the disgusting creatures sent to them. Your people, however, suffered hunger only a short while, and then they ate the finest food.

⁴It was necessary for the oppressors to suffer relentless need, while your people saw how their enemies were being tormented.

⁵When terrible, fierce snakes attacked your people and were killing them with their poison, you did not remain angry long enough to destroy your people.

⁶This trouble lasted for only a little while, as a warning. Then you gave them a healing symbol, the bronze snake, to remind them of what your Law requires.

⁷If a person looked at that symbol, he was cured of the snakebite—not by what he saw, but by you, the savior of all mankind.

⁸By doing this, you also convinced our enemies that you are the one who rescues people from every evil.

⁹Our enemies died from the bites of locusts and flies; no way was found to cure them, because they deserved to be punished by such creatures.

¹⁰But even poisonous snakes could not overcome your people, because you had mercy, helped them, and cured them.

¹¹They were bitten so that they would remember your commands, but they were quickly rescued, in order to keep them from forgetting you completely and depriving themselves of your kindness.

¹²No medicine or ointment cured them. They were restored to health by your word, O Lord, the word which heals all humanity.

¹³You have power over life and death; you can bring a person to the brink of death and back again.

¹⁴A wicked person may kill someone, but cannot bring the dead person back to life or rescue a soul imprisoned in the world of the dead.

Disastrous Storms Hit Egypt

¹⁵No one can possibly escape from you.

¹⁶Look at those ungodly people: they refused to recognize you as God, so you punished them with your great power. They were overtaken by terrible storms of rain and hail and were completely destroyed by fire.

¹⁷The most amazing thing was that the fire burned all the more fiercely in the water, which usually puts fire out. All the forces of nature fight to defend those who are righteous.

¹⁸At one point the flames died down, so that they wouldn't destroy the creatures sent to punish the ungodly. Those people had to learn that they were being overtaken by your judgment.

¹⁹But at another point, when surrounded by water, the flames burned more fiercely than fire had ever burned before, and so destroyed the crops on the land where those unrighteous people lived.

The Israelites Receive Manna to Eat

²⁰But this disaster did not strike your people. Instead, you gave them the food of angels. From heaven you sent down bread that was ready to eat, and they did not have to prepare it. The food you gave delighted everyone, no matter what his taste.

²¹All this showed how lovingly you care for your children. That food satisfied the desire of everyone who ate it; it was changed to suit each person's taste.

²²It was food that under normal circumstances would vanish away like snow or ice, but now it did not melt even in the fire. This was meant to teach your people that the same fire that was destroying their enemies' crops during the heavy downpour of rain and hail

²³held back its power, so that your own righteous people might have food.

²⁴You created the universe; it is at your command. All creation uses its power to punish unrighteous people, but it becomes mild and kind to those who put their trust in you.

²⁵Creation assumed all kinds of forms to show how you provide generously for all who pray to you.

²⁶This happened so that the people whom you loved, O Lord, might learn that they are not fed by what they can grow. It is your word that maintains those who put their trust in you.

²⁷The food that was not destroyed by the fire melted when the first ray of sunlight warmed it.

²⁸This was to teach us that we must get up before daybreak to give you thanks, and pray as the sun comes up.

²⁹But an ungrateful person's hope will melt away like frost, and drain away like water that is not being used.

¹⁵Patient persuasion can break down the strongest resistance and can even convince rulers.

¹⁶Never eat more honey than you need; too much may make you vomit.

¹⁷Don't visit your neighbors too often; they may get tired of you and come to hate you.