Apocryphal Scripture of the Week: (see Doctrine and Covenants 91)
Here’s a cool story. Simon Maccabeus, the last of the Maccabee family who fought to protect the Jews’ lands and religious rights, was different from his brothers and his father. While his predecessors had no problem mowing down their enemies whether in occupied Jewish cities or ones they just wanted to conquer, Simon took a less aggressive approach.
We read of one instance of his laying siege on a heathen-occupied city called Gazara. His men begin to take the city when they meet with an unexpected response:
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“And the people of the town with their wives and children went up on the wall with their clothes torn open and cried with a great shout asking Simon to treat with them, and they said,
‘Do not treat us as our wickedness deserves, but have mercy on us.’
So Simon came to terms with them and did not fight them, but he put them out of the city and purified the houses in which the idols were, and then he entered it with songs and praise. And he expelled all impurity from it…and he fortified it more strongly and built himself a dwelling there.”
(1 Maccabees 13:45-48)
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It’s incredible to me that in an age when bloody retribution was the norm and power changed hands as frequently as Mr. Rogers changes his sweater, Simon was a leader with a reputation for compassion and mercy. So much so that some of his enemies hoped for their city to be spared and cleansed rather than ravaged. Some of his enemies, like these, even recognized their own wickedness in the face of the Jewish God’s justice.
I think we have much to learn from this example. First, God will extend mercy to those who confess their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. If he is willing to do that for even the worst things we’ve done ourselves, how much more ought we to forgive those who wrong us!
And second, if we allow God to figuratively cleanse our inner vessels of impurity–of thoughts, words, and actions–then we will feel to utter “songs of praise” and be “fortified more strongly.” If we give up our personal idols, whatever they may be–money, worldly success, immediate pleasures, proving someone wrong on the internet–then his Spirit will be able to “build himself a dwelling” inside our souls. It’s not about thinking less of ourselves; it’s about trusting more in Christ’s power to make us even better.
I hope I can come to be as faithful and loving as Simon. When his own brother Jonathan was held for ransom by a ruthless Seleucid general, he paid the ransom even though he knew they would kill his brother anyway. But he wanted his people to know that he would be willing to give up any amount of money to save Jonathan’s life.
Because of his example, “the land of Judah was at peace as long as Simon lived; he sought the good of his nation; his rule and his renown pleased them all his life” (13:4-5). If he can deal with betrayal and loss that well, then surely we can approach an improved standard of mercy on a much smaller scale.
The Commonplace Notebook 