Faith

Survival that leads to revival – Thursday, 34th Week in ordinary time – Daniel 6: 11-27

The book of Daniel is a fascinating book which speaks profoundly to our day as it did to the day it was first written. It was written at a time when Hellenization ( Greek Culture and language) was spreading rapidly in the Ancient Near East. Alexander’s dream was to conquer the world and before he died he had founded 70 colonies and organised them as Greek cities. After his death his officers fought to control parts of the empire, but they kept the dream of Hellenization alive. For the hundred odd years that the Ptolemies of Egypt (305-198 BCE) ruled Palestine, Hellenization was kept alive through persuasion and without force. This changed under Seleucid (Syrian) rule. The crisis began with Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Now Hellenization was no longer peacefully promoted but imposed upon the Jews under pain of death.

The Book of Daniel presents an account of the adventures and vision of Daniel, a Jew in Babylon who was exiled in the 6th century. Most scholars, however, are agreed that as it now stands, this book is the product of the second century B.C and was written probably around the year 165 towards the end of the troublesome reign of the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).

It was written as an encouragement to fellow Jews to resist the Greek King, Antiochus IV Epiphanes’s policies of religious persecution and as a source of encouragement to those were experiencing anxiety and despair. The book brings hope and assurance that Yahweh would intervene, deliver them from the present plight and establish a kingdom. But till then they are to remain FAITHFUL to Yahweh and LAW.

While the previous narratives were held during the reign of King Nebuchadnez’zar, today’s text takes place during the reign of King Darius, the Mede. The essential elements of the story are the same. Once again, this is not a historical narrative but didactic ; which means that we are looking at the message not the details of the story. Hence, Darius is just a figure in the story and not ahistorical figure. His edict, which sounds foolish, could never have been made, as it is improbable that a pagan king would break out in praise of the God of Israel. The lion’s den is a just a setting for the story and not to be taken literally.

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The death of a despot – Saturday, 33rd week in ordinary time – 1Maccabees 6:1-13

The Jewish Resistance movement under Judas Maccabeus lasted from 166-164. After the death of his father, Judas took command as the leader of the resistance movement. His efforts were so successful that the whole revolt is commonly called the Maccabean war. The military exploits of Judas may be divided into two periods from 166-164 BC. This period ended in 164 with the rededication of the temple and this marked the end of the religious persecution.

The second period was from 164-160 BC, during the reign of Antiochus V Eupator (164-162) and of Demetrius I Soter (162-160). Having won religious freedom for his people, Judas gave the movement new direction. He struggled to gain political independence. The first to lead an army against Judas was Appollonius, governor of Syria, and probably the same one responsible for the rape of Jerusalem. He was attacked by Judas, defeated and killed A second force under Seron was similarly routed. Seron was not sent by the kings but driven by his own ambitions. With this victory Judas and his friends were in command of the highlands of Judah.

The news of these military reversals filled Antiochus with rage but he was unable to engage them in battle as he was attending a campaign in the East and he was in need of funds. He was determined to invade Persia (165) where he thought great treasures lay. Since he was unable to deal with Palestine, he gave his kinsman, Lysias half his troops and elephants with a command seen in 1Mac 3:35-36. Though hopelessly outnumbered, Judas Maccabeus and his troops gathered at the former holy place of Mizpah. There they prayed, fasted and did penance. They sought the holy will of the Lord in the book of the law and fulfilled their religious obligations.

Lysias came with his generals, Gorgias, Nicanor and Ptolemy. 1Mac4:1-33 tells us of Judas’ victory over Gorgias troops. 2Mac8:8-29 tells us of Judas’ victory over Nicanor troops. The victory was due to a combination of human planning and strategy and the benevolence and intervention of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Having defeated both the armies who fled for their lives at Philistia, Judas and his army plunder the enemy camp and returned to Mizpah, praising God. When Lysias heard the news, he was initially filled with discouragement but this gave birth to a greater determination to exterminate the rebels. He decides to take matters in his own hands.

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The story of the Jewish feast of Hanukkah – Friday, 33rd week in ordinary time – 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

The kingdom of the Greek king Antiochus the IV is threatened on every side. Faced with a need to defend his kingdom he decides to unify them through aggressive Hellenization and for money he resorted to the pillage and plunder of Jerusalem. For the Jews their problem was compounded by a struggle for power within the community and these included the high priestly office. All the parties in the struggle sought to win the favour of the king and Antiochus promised to support the one who acted most according to his will and to provide the money he so desperately needed for his military campaigns. So, he begins to meddle in Jewish religious affairs in a way that no other Greek ruler before him had done.

One reason for Antiochus’ aggression on Jerusalem was his chronic shortage of funds. But the rivalries among the Jews for power provided him with another reason. Rumour had reached Palestine that Antiochus had lost his life in his second campaign against the Egyptians. Relying on this rumour, Jason who had been dispossessed of his high priestly office came out of his exile and with a force of a thousand men invaded Jerusalem. He took the city and forced the high priest Menelaus to take refuge in a citadel. But he did not gain control of the government and of the city, probably because he massacred his own people and thus was alienated by them. He had to flee once more to the Transjordan. He was hunted, like a fugitive, till his death.

Interpreting these events as a rebellion against his rule, Antiochus ravaged Jerusalem and placed a royal commission there to keep the people in line. To enforce his rule Antiochus sent his commander, Appollonius to Jerusalem in early 167; he continued the reign of terror. Initially he presented himself to the Jews as a man of peace but then he showed his true colours and massacred many of the people and took others as slaves. He looted the city and partially destroyed it. He erected in Jerusalem a citadel called Acra (1 Mac 1:33-40). It was a Greek city within the larger city of Jerusalem. Acra remained a hated symbol of foreign domination for some twenty-five years. Antiochus was set to unleash a thorough Hellenization for the Jewish people; Yahweh was displaced in favour of Zeus or identified with Zeus. In 167 Antiochus issued an edict which cancelled the concessions made by his father. He prohibited the religious customs of the Jews and imposed Greek religious customs.

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When titles do not triumph – Wednesday, 33rd week in ordinary time – 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31

In 167 BC, the Greek King Antiochus IV Epiphanes issued an edict which cancelled the concessions made by his father to the Jews. He prohibited the religious customs of the Jews and imposed Greek religious customs. The Jews were compelled to violate the law and its ordinances. Jewish practices were forbidden and the forbidden sacrifices of unclean animals were imposed. The observances of the Sabbath and the traditional feast were cancelled. The rite of circumcision was banned. The Jews were compelled to eat pork and copies of the law were ordered to be destroyed and possession of them was outlawed. The Jews were now forced to worship the Greek gods. Pagan altars, temples and shrines were built throughout the land. To crown it all, in December 167, the cult to Olympian Zeus was instituted in the temple. An altar to Zeus was erected and swine’s flesh was offered on it. Disobedience in falling in line with any of the above carried a death penalty.

The Jewish reaction to this vile verdict was mixed. While the Gentiles accepted the king’s command the Jews did not have a uniform reaction. Many Jews welcomed the edict; some out of fear. However, many Jews refused to comply and even opposed it to death. The book of Maccabees gives us two examples of Jewish Heroism. Today’s narrative focuses on the second one. Maccabees tells the story of a family of seven sons and an unnamed mother who sacrifice their lives for the cause of religious freedom. No scene other than Jerusalem and Judea is ever established in the narrative, yet Antioch is a possible setting for chapter seven since the king seems so thoroughly on his own turf.

When the family is arrested for breaking the laws imposed by the King, they are tortured by the King who attempts to feed them swine flesh. The mother, who acts with a woman’s reasoning and a man’s courage, encourages her sons to refuse to obey the King and all choose martyrdom. The death of the family is the culmination of a martyrology that lasts from 2 Maccabees 6:7–7:42 (the first of its kind in the Bible).

“Last of all, the mother died, after her sons” (7:41). With only this brief statement the unnamed mother’s death is recorded. She dies after witnessing each of her seven sons cruelly tortured. She bore the deaths of her sons with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She is the focus of the story as “especially admirable and worthy of honourable memory” (7:20). Because her hope was in the Lord, she had encouraged each of her sons, in Aramaic or Hebrew, to persevere. Addressing these sons and not Antiochus, she claims not to comprehend how life came to them in her womb, even as she expresses confidence in the Creator, who “will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws” (7:23). What mother, beholding the brutal deaths of seven sons, could speak such words?

Ironically, the king is the only one in the story who loses control. Antiochus’s brutal efforts are completely ineffective. Death has lost its power in the face of obedience to the laws of the ancestors and belief in God’s mercy and resurrection of the dead. Faith in the resurrection cancels all fears of earthly death for the faithful. The likes of Antiochus and his ideology do not win the day. Seven brothers and their widowed mother have shown conclusively that God disciplines the faithful, but never withdraws mercy.

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Give me Red – Saturday, 32nd week in ordinary time – Wisdom 18;14-16: 19:6-9

The general purpose of the third and final part of the book of Wisdom is to demonstrate, by a series of contrasts, how wisdom preserved the people of Israel in the Exodus. This part of the book (11:2-19:22) can be divided in to five parts or five examples intending to show that Israel has benefitted by the very things that punish Egypt.

1.That God gave them water from the rock instead of the plague from the Nile.
2.That God gave them quail instead of the plague of little animals.
3.That the elements bring favour to Israel instead of punishment.
4.That the pillar of fire was given to the Hebrews instead of the plague of darkness and
5.The ten plagues and the exodus by which God punished the Egyptians and glorified Israel

The tone of this part of the book is more like a homily and the author takes liberties in explaining the text of the Book of Exodus. The author recalls for the Alexandrian Jews for whom this book as primarily written, that once before the Jews had suffered in Egypt, the very land they now lived and then, as he does now, the Lord comes to their rescue. It thus provides a historical basis for trust in God. The exodus events are recounted as an image of God’s final intervention on behalf of the just. The text of today is part of the fifth example; the death for both Egypt (18:5-9) and Israel (18:20-25) and then the events at the Sea (19:1-21)

The fifth example begins with a general summary of the Exodus event. Following the authors cast of thought, the Egyptians were to suffer a fate proportionate to the murder of Israel’s children (verse5). The passage of today elaborates on the traditional accounts of this most dreadful punishment.

When the Egyptians resolved to destroy the Israelite children, God killed the Egyptian first born and later drowned their army in the Red Sea; while thus punishing the Egyptians, God also in the same events glorified his people (18:5-8). Then follows a detailed description of the events as the author sets the stage carefully. It is at midnight, in the quiet and darkness, that the personified word of God appears. As Israel was celebrating the Passover, the Word of God brought death to the Egyptian first born (18:20-25). At his coming, the scene changes from peace to mourning, and from darkness to a disturbed mixture of ghostly manifestations. The Egyptians then foolishly resolved to pursue the Israelites; thus, they experienced the completion of the punishments begun in the tenth plague, and Israel experienced a wondrous journey (19:1-5).

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