1 Macc 3:1-9:22, 1 Samuel/2 Kingdoms 17, Psalm 100 (MT 101)
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be?…
[It is that one] Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
Turns his necessity to glorious gain.
The term “Happy Warrior,” used by Franklin Roosevelt of Alfred E Smith in 1924, is taken from William Wordsworth’s poem “Character of the Happy Warrior.” That poem praises the valiant man who faces challenges, and especially death, with an even disposition, with courage, and without regard for his own reputation.
Judas was not his father Mattathias’ oldest son; yet he was recognized on his father’s deathbed as “mighty in fighting from youth,” and the future “leader of the army,” who would “fight the fight of the people”(1 Macc 2:66). Judas’ story is told in 1 Maccabees 3:1-9:22, beginning with a summary statement concerning the disposition that he inculcated in his allies— “they fought the battle for Israel with gladness” (1 Macc 3:2). This is followed by a beautiful encomium, or song of praise, which is, unfortunately, mistakenly applied to Mattathias in the editorial headings of the Orthodox Study Bible. Clearly, though, this poem describes and memorializes the son, Judas, as the “young lion” who fought courageously for Israel.
He enlarged his people’s glory
And was clothed with a breastplate like a giant;
And he girded on his weapons and waged war,
Sheltering the camp with his sword.
He was like a lion in his deeds,
Like a young lion roaring for its pray,
For he pursued the lawless and searched them out;
And he set on fire those who troubled his people.
The lawless were humbled from fear of him,
And all the workers of lawlessness were troubled;
For deliverance prospered by his hand.
He embittered many rulers,
And brought joy to Jacob by his deeds.
And may his memory be blessed forever.
He passed through the cities of Judah,
And destroyed the ungodly from the land;
And he turned wrath away from Israel.
His name was known to the ends of the earth,
And he gathered those who were perishing. (1 Macc 3:3-9)
The story then proceeds, showing just how Judas “enlarged Israel’s glory,” gathered the perishing, humbled the lawless, embittered Gentile rulers, and brought joy to Jacob.
Both in today’s climate, and given our internalization of Christian non-retaliation, many of us may not warm as easily to the story of a warrior as generations have in the past. However, it is helpful to remember what has led up to Judah’s actions, especially since we have had a two-month hiatus from reading the book, in this series. Let us remember the monstrous actions of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who has not only suppressed the Jewish faith by burning Torah scrolls and desecrating the Temple, but has sentenced to death women and their circumcised boy babies for trying to keep the covenant. His influence has stretched beyond Jerusalem to other places of Judea, following Mattathias and his family to their self-imposed exile in Modein, and many have been slaughtered, including innocents, because the Gentiles know the Jewish commandment not to work (thus not to fight) on the Sabbath. Into this embattled situation Judas has been born: he and his brothers consider their present time to be like that of Phinehas who strove for the purity of the Hebrews, Elijah, who defended Israel against an apostate King and his pagan Queen, Daniel who closed the mouth of lions, and other stalwarts of the past (2:54-60). There is a harsh justice in play at this time, so that their father, on his deathbed, exhorts those who follow him to “Repay the Gentiles in full, and hold fast to the ordinance of the Torah” (2:68).
This is not an outlier sentiment in the Old Testament. Every Tuesday morning, in fact, we are reminded of the themes of purity, justice, and retribution when we recite Psalm 100 (MT 101): “I have not set any lawless thing before my eyes; I hated those who commit transgressions; A crooked heart shall not cleave to me… He who speaks unjustly did not prosper before my eyes. In the morning I slew all the sinners of the earth, so as to destroy from the city of the LORD all the workers of righteousness” (verses 3-4, 7-8). This is, of course, a Psalm of King David, and not intended as a prescription for believers in general: it was his responsibility to keep Israel and Judah pure from sin, and free from enemy encroachment or seduction to idolatry. And, of course, he learned of his own imperfection in the episode with Bathsheba, where he committed both adultery and murder—and learned the blessing of repentance. Nevertheless, there is no squeamishness on his part regarding ridding his kingdom of godless and idolatrous men, whether Gentiles or erring Jews. By the time that we reach the era of the Maccabees, the danger that God’s people will turn their backs on God’s will is clear and present: both before and after Judas there are a spate of innocents who are slaughtered, and martyrs who choose death rather than accept the new status quo.
In the midst of this mess, the place of Judas and his brothers in actual battle has been recognized as virtuous for centuries. They are not concerned merely with retaliation, but with providing a breathing space for the godly to worship and continue life as God had ordained it for them. And so, even God’s command regarding the Sabbath is seen as secondary to routing the enemy, in a kind of extreme economia.
The fathers of the Church, despite their ideal of peace, and the example of Christ’s passion, do not dismiss the courage of Judas, nor his godliness. St. John Chrysostom speaks of the difference between old and new covenants in this way:
“What then?” one may say. “Were they wronged [i.e. dismissed by God as of no account] who lived before [Christ’s] coming?” By no means, for men might then be saved even though they had not confessed Christ. For this was not required of them, but rather not to worship idols and to know the true God. “For the Lord your God,” it is said, “is one Lord.” Therefore the Maccabees were admired, because for the observance of the law they suffered what they did suffer…; and the three children, and many others too among the Jews, having shown forth a very virtuous life and having maintained the standard of this their knowledge, had nothing more required of them. For then it was sufficient for salvation, as I have said already, to know God only, but now it is so no more. There is need also of the knowledge of Christ. (Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 36.3)
So, then, the Maccabees were rightly admired because they suffered for truth, lived a virtuous life, and lived up to what they knew. In another spot, he mentions Judas in particular, while doing an exegesis of the prophecies of Daniel: “By treachery they will lead off those who violate the covenant” (that is, the transgressors among the Jews whom they will remove and keep with themselves); “but the people who know their God shall take strong action” (he means the events in the time of the Maccabees: Judas. Simon, and John). (Against the Judaizers, Homily 5.7.5) St. John characterizes then Judas and his brothers as “the people who know their God” who took “strong action,” and does not criticize them for violence in their day.
As Christians, we have the example of Jesus, who gave Himself to death. But this does not mean that we cannot learn from the valor of Judas, as well as from the cheerful and exuberant way in which he played his difficult role. Perhaps it helps us with our imaginative response to remember the valiant deeds of Aragorn, Faramir, Gimli, Pippin, and Merry, as well as the woman Eowyn, who, while the humble hobbit Frodo and Sam are sacrificing personally to find Mount Doom, actually engage in warfare on the plains of Middle Earth. The story would not be the same without them.
In chapters 3-9 we hear about the offensive of Appolonius who gathers a great army of assorted Gentiles, Seron the Syrian who also takes on Judas and his men, Lysias, who sends an army against Judah to “remove their memory from that place” and to settle foreigners there in their place, Nicanor, and Georgias, who bring forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry, joined by the army of Syria and Philistia. But Judas and his men are undaunted. A few ask, “how can we, so little, go against these huge armies?” (3:17). Judas, of course, reminds his men of the might of heaven against lawlessness (3:19), of God’s actions at the Red Sea (4:8), of David and Goliath (4:30), and that it is the LORD who is “the Redeemer and Savior of Israel” (4:11). Against all odds, of course, they rout the enemy, and return with booty. But they do this not only through their own courage, but through prayer and fasting (3:47); moreover, they return singing hymns and blessing heaven “because the LORD is good, for His mercy endures forever!”
No doubt one of the songs sung was the Song of the Three, whose chorus in the fiery furnace repeated “the LORD is good, for His mercy endures forever!” And the Maccabees had much for which to give thanks. As a result of their fortitude and faith, the sanctuary was purified and rebuilt, all the accoutrements were put back in the temple, and they burned incense and offered bread on the altar. Then, they instituted the Festival of Lights, offering sacrifice on the new altar, worshipping, and celebrating for eight days (4:52-61). Though this time of victory was also accompanied by the fortification of the strongholds and walls, it was not, alas, the end of Gentile oppression. Judas and his men, in then next few chapters (5-9), battle the surrounding nations who are envious of their prosperity, and when the next king (Antiochus V) and other potentates come to rule, the uneasy peace between God’s people and the Gentiles was shattered: ongoing war becomes the reality, with Judas and his followers eventually dying on the field. Their deaths, however, are honorable, since Judas and his men refuse to withdraw to save their lives: “May it be far from us to do such a thing, to run away. If our time has come to die, then let us die courageously for the sake of our people” (8:10). So, Judas’ story ends with his burial in Modein, and he is mourned in language that reminds us of the days of Saul, Jonathan, and David: “How the mighty is fallen, Israel’s savior.” Judas, however, would have been quick to correct his mourners, for he had always maintained the LORD alone to be Israel’s savior, not him. In the end, we join with the writer, and agree: “Now the abundant acts of Judas—his wars, the brave things he did, and his greatness—are not [all] recorded, for there were far too many!”
Though in a different age, with the passion of Christ as our own example, we can learn much from this man concerning joy in sorrow, the encouragement of the hopeless, courage in suffering, and faithfulness to what we know about God. Judas is that happy warrior who“doomed to go in company with Pain, And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train! Turns his necessity to glorious gain.” Few of us in our current circumstances have to choose whether or not to engage in physical warfare—though plenty of our Christian brothers and sisters have had to make that choice. Yet, in our own struggles against the spirit of the age, and against the spiritual enemies who would distract or cow us, let us look to Judas Maccabeus as an example.
Edith M. Humphrey 