If this is your first visit, please see my introduction to these Lenten readings.
1 March. 2 Maccabees chapters 5-7
Chapter 5 repeats the story of the defeat of Jason and the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, also told in the opening chapter of 1 Maccabees, and leads up to Judas and his sons escaping to the wilderness. Chapter 6 tells how the Jews and Samaritans alike were persecuted by the Greek overlords, force-fed “unclean” food and prevented on pain of death from exercising their religious rituals. When “a man might not admit even to being a Jew” (6:6) the outlook seems terrible indeed for the Jewish faith.
The second part of that chapter tells of the martyrdom of the aged Eleazar, and chapter 7 of the martyrdom of seven unnamed brothers, tortured in the presence of their mother, who retains a remarkable faith in God as she encourages them to be brave in accepting torture to death.
It is not only in this willingness to be martyred that we see signs of faith; indeed as we see in radicalised young people in Syria today, such a willingness does not necessarily stem from a peaceful and holy life, but more often from a violent one fed by extremist propaganda. Eleazar however faces death peacefully in his old age rather than play a simple con trick to preserve his life by fooling his captors into thinking he was complying with their demands (6:18-28). Also, in 5:19-20 and 6:12-17 the author/editor sees God’s will being done even in the disasters the Jews are facing, as the necessary discipline of a loving parent rather than a punishment.