I MACCABEES CHAPTER 13 - 16

1 MACCABEES 13

1 Simon heard Trypho’d gathered great
Battalions to invade the state
And destroy Judah’s land with hate,
2 And when he saw how the folk feared
And trembled when the thing appeared,
He summoned all the folk together
3 Encouraging at end of tether:
“It’s known to you what I have done
With my kin and my father won
For the laws and the temple here,
You know what battles and what fear
We have gone through with foot and gear.
4 “That’s why my brothers have all died
For Israel’s sake and Israel’s pride
And I alone stay and abide.
5 “Then why should I think of my life
And safety now before this strife,
Since I’m not greater than my brothers.
6 Instead I shall fall on the others
In vengeance for my land and that
Holy place where your wives once sat
With their offspring, now in this day
When all the heathen take their way
In wrath to destroy come what may.”

Then why should I think of my life when I
Look out upon the silent and clear sky
After the clouds of dark oppression’s wave
Have scattered over every righteous grave?
Beloved, the temples of the many gods
Are filled with the din of the tempered clods
That remain to ignore Your will and make
The wrong look like the right for their own sake.
I bide my time by walking in the wood
And counting up my beads as all men should
To hear Your name at least upon my lips,
To savour Your faith in delicious sips
Of birchen sap and some secret in wine
That opens at the table where You dine.

7 The people’s spirit was rekindled
When they heard these words, 8 and undwindled
They answered in a loud voice, saying
“You are our leader in place swaying
Of Judas and Jonathan brother.
9 “Fight our battles, and not to smother
All you command we’ll do each other.”
10 So he summoned the strong men all
More quickly to complete the wall
Of fair Jerusalem, and he
Strengthened it on every degree.
11 He sent then Jonathan the son
Of Absalom to Joppa’s run,
And with him a goodly-sized band,
Who drove out its dwellers to stand.
12 Then Trypho left Ptolemais with
A large army to invade sith
Of Judah’s land, and Jonathan
Was with him under the guard’s span.
13 And Simon encamped in Adida,
Facing the plain where none could hide her.

Brave Simon runs out to the fray to find
What things the enemy has left behind.
The fact is every man named Jonathan
Falls to the fate of the first and great one
The son of Saul, whose heart was knit and won
In David, who survived complexities
To die of old age on Abishag’s knees.
What shall become of this man, one of choice,
Shall I come here to sorrow or rejoice?
Beloved, whatever score is written for
The Jonathan I see upon the shore,
In chains or gains, I trow his destiny
Is fraught, not of the actions or the fee
Of any king, but living faithfully.

14 Trypho learned that Simon had come
In place of Jonathan no bum
His brother, and he was about
To attack him in battle shout,
So he sent messengers to him,
And said 15 “It is for money trim
That Jonathan your brother owed
The royal treasury untowed,
Because of the office he held,
That we detain him, for the geld.
16 “Just send a hundred silver weights
And two of his sons for debates,
So when we let him go, we’ll know
He’ll not rebel, we’ll let him go.”
17 Simon knew they were speaking guile,
But he sent for money the while
And the sons, lest he draw complain
Among the people for the taint
Who might say 18 “Because Simon did
Not send him the money he bid,
And the sons, he perished and hid.”
19 So he sent the sons and the money,
A hundred talents, but the funny
Trypho broke his word and did not
Release Jonathan from the plot.

Simon was sitting between rock and hard
Face as the saying throws and he has starred
A movie of disdain for every pard,
And yet he was forced by diplomacy
To act as though uncircumcised degree
Was truthful. His experience of late
Showed Trypho not too honest as a mate.
Such tales become the songs of every bard.
Beloved, Simon must think of what such men
Will say who are dishonest in their den,
Because he takes a place of power and rule.
I know not which of us two is the fool,
He or myself, who never stop to think
What other men will say when on the brink.

20 After this Trypho came into
The land to destroy it and crew,
And he went round Adora’s way.
But Simon and his army’d stay
Nearby him every place he went.
21 But men in the fortress had sent
Messengers to Trypho to urge
Him to come to them by the surge
Of desert and bring food to splurge.
22 So Trypho had his cavalry
Ready to go, but that night, see,
A heavy snowfall blocked the way,
So because of the snow that day
He did not go. He marched instead
Into the land of Gilead.
23 When he got near Baskama, he
Killed Jonathan, and so there he
Was buried there. 24 Then Trypho turned back
And went to his own land for flack.
25 And Simon sent and took the bones
That Jonathan his brother owns,
And buried him in Modein, town
Of his ancestors and their crown.
26 All Israel grieved for him with great
Lamentation, and mourned in state
For him for many days and late.

It’s easy, my Beloved, to mourn the great,
The truly great who keep Your law and hate
The enemy, uncircumcised, and fell,
Deceitful and unashamed of the spell.
It’s only difficult to find such ones
Even in a world where the tons and tons
Of human flesh increase incredibly
Each moment that goes by on land and sea.
It’s easy, my Beloved, to grieve and yet
How few there be whose grief is rightly set,
More than the sort manipulated where
Fair politics need public outcry spare.
I grieve not for the loss of good and true,
But for the fact that such men rarely grew.

27 And Simon built a monument
Over his father’s tomb and lent
To his brothers as well, he made
It high to be seen on parade,
With polished stone at front and back.
28 He also built, not being slack,
Seven pyramids face to face,
For father, mother and the brace
Of four brothers. 29 And for the trace
Of the pyramids he devised
A jolly setting and apprised
With high columns around about,
And on the columns he put stout
Suits of armour memorial,
And beside the armour in sal
Carved ships so they could all be seen
By those who sail the sea between.
30 This is the tomb which he built in
Modein, and it’s still there in bin.
31 Trypho dealt deceitfully by
The young king Antiochus shy,
And he killed him, 32 became instead
The king, putting upon his head
The crown of Asia, and he brought
Disaster on the land for naught.
33 But Simon built up the fortress
Of Judah and walled their ingress,
With high towers and great walls and gates
And locks, and stored food in their plates.

There are men who are worse than others are,
And these are those who support some such star
Of king or prince or president to wait
Their turn at carrying out common hate.
Trypho pretended that he loved the child
Left by the dead Antiochus and wild,
But in fact he was summoning the day
When he could plunder everything in sway.
The plunderers are at the heel today,
Sending their children to Strasbourg for song
Pretending that they never do the wrong.
The hope is not in government that’s strong
In all the world, nor in the slicing pie
In independence, but faith in Your tie.

34 Simon also chose men and sent
Them to King Demetrius’ vent
With a request to grant relief
To the country, for all the feoff
Of Trypho was to plunder grief.
35 Demetrius the king sent him
A favorable answer trim,
Saying, 36 “King Demetrius to
Simon, the high priest and friend true
Of kings, and to the elders and
Nation of the Jews, greetings stand.
37 “We have received the gold crown and
The palm branch which you sent, and we
Are ready to make common fee
Of it with you and to write to
Our chiefs release from taxes due.
38 “All the grants that we’ve made to you
Remain in force, let each fortress
You’ve built remain in your address.
39 “We pardon any errors and
Offences that remain to stand
This day, and cancel the crown tax
Which you owe, and whatever tax
Has been drawn from Jerusalem
Shall no longer be brought in sum.
40 “And if any of you are fit
To be in our bodyguard’s mit,
Let them be inscribed, and be peace
Between us two and let war cease.”

I graciously forgive all the tax owed
To me by bow-legged and by pigeon-toed,
And freely grant the heathen population
And Christian too plenary dispensation.
Though I’m the king of all the earth and still
Have right to take what taxes fit my bill,
In loving-kindness I relinquish all
And touch no bank account or cattle stall.
Beloved, I wonder that the populace
Looks without guffaw on the royal face
Of prime minister and the parliament
For formal legislation of their lent.
The ostentatious rights of humankind
Prove You’re the only Self that is not blind.

41 In one hundred and seventieth year
The yoke of the Gentiles in gear
Fell from Israel’s neck and her ear,
42 And people started then to write
In their documents and on sight
Of their contracts, “In the first year
Of Simon great high priest to fear
And commander and leader of
The Jews in one nation and love.”
43 In those days Simon camped in siege
Of Gazara and with the liege
Of his troop surrounded the town.
He made a siege engine to frown
On the city and battered and
Captured one tower above the land.
44 The men in the tanks jumped out in
The city and cause a great din.
45 The men in the city with spouse
And offspring went up on the house
Wall with their clothes torn and they cried
Out with a loud voice bonafide
For Simon to make peace with them,
46 And they said “Don’t in stratagem
Deal with us according to our
Wicked deeds, but in mercy’s power.”

Simon the great set on Gazara stroke
Of ram to hit the tower that finally broke
And gave them entrance in the town’s main street.
That’s when the citizens without retreat
Decided that the best way was to sue
For peace and see what mercy might be due.
Simon was good with tanks in deathly bore,
And that’s why he was set up on the shore.
Beloved, my last declension ran amok,
My fired-up tower has tumbled, I am stuck
Before invasion of Your hounding grief.
I stand alone before the blazing feoff
And know that You have choice for my relief:
Destruction of my soul or joy in tuck.

47 And Simon made a pact with them
And stopped attack in stratagem.
But put them outside the city,
And cleansed the houses where the witty
Idols were housed, and entered all
With hymn of praise from wall to wall.
48 He threw out every unclean thing,
And set commandment-keepers’ ring.
He also strengthened up the wall
And then built himself there a stall.
49 The men in the fortress that sat
In Jerusalem were out flat
Prevented from excursions to
The countryside to buy and sue.
So they were very hungry too,
And many died from famine’s due.
50 They begged Simon to make peace then
With them, and he rescued the men.
But he expelled them from the place
And cleansed the citadel for grace.
51 On the twenty-third day in claim
Of second month, and in the flame
Of year one hundred seventy-first,
The Jews came in the place once cursed
With praise and palm and harps and sound
Of cymbals and stringed instruments,
And hymns and songs since a foe grand
Had been crushed and lost his presence
In Israel. 52 Simon each year
Said to celebrate without fear
This day with great rejoicing here.
He strengthened the temple hill walls
Beside the citadel installs,
And he and his men lived there well.
53 And Simon saw his son John’s spell
Had reached adulthood so he made
Him the chief of the army paid,
And he lived in Gazara’s glade.

Before a place that Gentiles have polluted
Can be used by the holy convoluted,
It must be cleansed from drippings of the fat
Of pork they ate and dribbled on the mat,
And every taint of gross idolatry
That is the mark of heathen bond and free.
Before prayer can be made where Gentiles ate
A lot of cleaning must be done in rate.
Beloved, I find a forest purified
By sun and rain and made there to abide
The nests and dens of angels at my side,
Who bow and twitter on the spread prayer rug
And then go out to sample seed and bug.
Beloved, I find a palace by the way
The ants trudge up my hill and come to stay.

1 MACCABEES 14

1 In year one hundred seventy-two
Demetrius the king took crew
And marched to Media for aid
To make war on the renegade
Trypho. 2 When Arsaces the king
Of Persia and Media heard ring
That Demetrius had invaded
His lands, he sent one of his jaded
Commanders to take him alive.
3 And he went out again to strive
Defeating Demetrius’ band,
And seizing him to take in hand
To Arsaces and kept in guard.
4 The land had rest all Simon’s days.
He sought his nation’s good for praise,
His rule was pleasing to them, and
They showed him honour every hand
In all the days he came to stand.
5 To crown all his feats he took out
Joppa to be a harbour stout,
And opened a way to the isles
Of the sea all around for miles.
6 He extended his borderlands,
And gained full rule throughout their bands.
7 He took a crowd of captives and
He ruled over Gazara and
Beth-zur and the fortress to stand,
And he removed its uncleanness
And none could oppose his address.

The great deeds of the leaders and the men
Who had ambition in those days again
Included winning battles and the taking
Of captives and not gold and wealth forsaking.
The fame of Simon was in government
And in the church or tabernacle spent,
And in diplomacy and rhetoric.
The success of great men is always thick.
But in those days the great acts did include
A thing or two that nowadays preclude
The fanfare of the prideful. Simon gained
Glory and honour in the time he reigned
By doing cleaning jobs about the house.
That’s what set him above both king and mouse.

8 They tilled their land in peace, the ground
Gave its increase, and the trees round
The plains their fruit. 9 Old men sat in
The streets, they all talked without sin
Of good things, and the youths arrayed
Themselves in glory and parade.
10 He then provided towns with food,
And furnished with defence not rude,
Till his fame spread through the world’s brood.
11 He set up peace in the country,
And Israel rejoiced in glee.
12 Each sat under vine and fig tree,
And there was none that so made free
With fear. 13 No enemy was left around
To fight them, and the kings were found
Crushed in those days. 14 He strengthened all
The humble of his people’s call,
He sought out the law, and destroyed
Everyone wickedly employed.

In days of all it seems the only thing
Needed to make a paradise in ring
Was crushing all the kings that plundered where
The people grew grapes and washed underwear.
In day gone past only the kings made sport
Of populations and took them to court
In suit for all they had and more to boot.
Oh for the times with only one bad root!
Now that all kings are crushed monopoly
Of doing ill to neighbours with such glee
Is gone and every Tony, George and Tom
Is out to cash in on wicked pom-pom.
What only one could do in Simon’s day
Is now the toy of all who ploy and pay.

15 He made the sanctuary fine,
And added to the pots of wine.
16 It was heard in Rome, and as far
Away as Sparta, that the star
Jonathan was dead and they grieved.
17 When they heard that Simon reprieved,
His brother had become high priest
In his stead, and his rule increased
Over and land and towns in it,
18 They wrote to him on bronze tablet
To renew with him the friendship
And the alliance which their lip
Had declared with Judas and to
Jonathan his brothers in crew.
19 And these were read before the crowd
In Jerusalem and aloud.

Next I’ll be hearing that the Roman power
Is also Jewish in a craven hour,
And that Remus and Romulus were fed
On milk of Moses instead of wolf-bred.
If Sparta is a brother to the great
And holy, then why not also Rome’s fate?
The trinity of Rome, Sparta and Zion
Is like enough to make a chart to fly on.
Let friendship ever grow upon the pate
Of senator and priest among the great,
And may oppression of those who would keep
Your law be celebrated now where weep
The few and far between. The rocky steep
Above my cabin almost makes a heap.

20 This is a copy of the brief
Which the Spartans sent for relief.
“The rulers and the city of
The Spartans to Simon for love
The high priest and to elders and
The priests and the rest in the land
Of Jewish folk, our brothers, greeting.
21 “The messengers that we were meeting
From you sent to our people told
Us about your glory and bold,
And we were glad that they arrived.
Rejoiced at their coming. 22 “And what
They said we have written down shut
In our public records, to wit,
‘Numenius the son and fit
Of Antiochus, and the great
Antipater Jason’s son mate,
Messengers of the Jews, have come
To us to renew friendship’s hum.
23 “It has pleased our folk to receive
These men with honour and reprieve
And put a copy of their words
In the public archives like birds,
So that the Spartan people might
Have a record of them in sight.
And they have sent a copy of
This to Simon high priest above.’”
24 After this Simon sent the man
Numenius to Rome by plan
With a large gold shield with the weight
Of a thousand minas in state,
To confirm the treaty with Rome.
25 When the folk heard these things at home
They said, “How shall we thank Simon
And his sons? 26 “Because he has done
Along with his brothers and lot
Of his father to stand firm got,
They have fought and repulsed the foes
Of Israel and set in rows
Its freedom as the people chose.”

If only I had a great shield and hammered
In pure gold thinly disguised from the whammered,
I too could be a great man in the senate,
And say a heeded word sweetly impennate.
If only I had gifts enough to make
Testosterone balls of pope’s Swiss guards ache,
I too could flip a finger at the crass
That spreads out darkly on the White House grass.
Instead of walls I have the darkly sum
Of cantillations without viol or drum.
Instead of shields I have the prickly ware
Of canticles the Scriptures come to bear.
But if, Beloved, I came to You with gold,
What would You do with one so frightful, bold?

27 So they made a record on bronze
Tablets and put it on the fronds
Of the pillars on Mount Zion.
This is a copy written done.
“On eighteenth day of Elul, in
The year one hundred and within
Seventy-two, which is the third
Year of Simon the great high herd,
28 “In Asaramel, in the great
Assembly of the priests in state,
And the folk and the rulers of
The nation and the elders of
The country, it was so proclaimed.
29 “Since wars often occurred unnamed
In the country, Simon the son
Of Mattathias, a priest son
Of the sons of Joarib, and
His brothers, exposed them in band
To danger and resisted foes
Of their nation, in order so’s
That their sanctuary and law
Might be perserved, and they in awe
Bring great glory to their folk’s paw.
30 “Jonathan rallied the folk then,
And became their high priest again,
And was gathered to his folk’s den.
31 “And when their enemies decided
To invade their country when prided
And lay hands on their sanctuary,
32 “Then Simon rose up and fought merry
For his nation. He spent great sums
Of his own money on the bums,
He armed his nation’s army and
Paid them their wages out of hand.
33 “He fortified the towns of Judah,
And Beth-zur on the borders cruder,
Where before were stored the foes’ arms,
And there he set Jews out of harms.
34 “He also fortified Joppa,
Beside the sea, and Gazara,
Which is on borders of Azotus,
Where the foes lived before that smote us.
He settled Jews there, and provided
In those towns whatever decided
Was needed for their peace and law.

The famous plaque of bronze says but the truth
And glorifies the feats of men and youth,
And tells the great deed of the fine
Between their bouts of good food and good wine.
The bronze may still lie somewhere in a crack
To be discovered by the aching back
Of archaeologist who knows the score,
How Maccabees were heroes on the shore.
I wonder, my Beloved, despite the favour
Of fold and sundry for their honour’s flavour,
If anything might have been set on wall
Without the instigation and the call
Of Simon himself. Truth is fickle, knows
How fame is advertised and whipped in rows.

35 “The folk saw Simon’s faithfulness
And the glory of his address
Won for his nation, and they made
Him their leader and high priest paid,
Because he had done all these things
And because of the justice rings
And loyalty which he had shown
Toward his nation. He sought when grown
In every way to raise his folk.
36 And in his days things at a stroke
Prospered in his hands, so that all
The Gentiles were expelled in thrall
From the country, as were also
The men in David’s city’s glow
And in Jerusalem, who’d built
Themselves a citadel to tilt
From which they used to come defiling
The sanctuary’s side beguiling
And do great harm to purity.
37 He settled Jews in it for free,
And fortified it for safety
Of the country and the city,
And built walls of Jerusalem
Higher and higher as a gem.
38 “In view of all these things the King
Demetrius confirmed his ring
In the high priesthood, 39 and he made
Him one of the king’s friends and paid
Him high honors. 40 For he had heard
That the Jews were addressed in word
By the Romans as friends of worth,
And brothers, and the Romans’ earth
Had received messengers of Simon
And with auxh honour to take time on.

Though I am no friend of the Romans I
Also look to the town of David’s sky
And see Jerusalem beneath the shine
Of golden dome and wait its sparkling wine.
Though I am no friend of the coliseum,
Nor do I long for Romans or to see them,
I too find that the steep highway that runs
Up from Jericho seduces my buns.
I too accept the honours of the way,
I bow to take the scintillating day,
I turn toward the Beduin’s poor tent
And see the children standing as though sent
Among the goats. Beloved, my honours rise
To none other beneath the blazing skies.

41 “And the Jews and their priests decided
That Simon should be chief unchided
And high priest for ever, until
A trustworthy prophet set bill,
42 And that he should be governor
Over them and that he should store
The sanctuary and appoint
Men over its tasks and anoint
The country and its arms and forts,
And he should take as last resorts
Charge of the sanctuary sports,
43 And he should be obeyed by all,
And that all contracts in the stall
Should be written in his name, and
That he should be arrayed in grand
Purple and wear gold like the sand.
44 “And none of the people or priests
Shall be permitted for their feasts
To nullify any of these
Decisions or oppose decrees
That he makes, or to call assembly
In the land without his word trembly,
Or to be clothed in purple or put
On a gold buckle, hand or foot.
45 “Whoever acts contrary to
These decisions or nullifies
Any of them shall meet as due
Punishment instead of a prize.”

All the best plans of chief and king and folk
Are submitted to the impending stroke
Of possibility of coming prophet.
Simon is priest as long as there is no
Responsible seer to oil the show
And raise a tentpeg and another soffit.
Beloved, the priests of every tent and gear
That trample around sacrificial bier
Are of the same ilk as Simon the bold.
All priests are enmeshed in the royal word
And merely chosen from the shriven herd,
And taken from the king’s own flock and fold.
If only there were priest alive to see
Chosen by You and sent with equity!

46 And all the people then agreed
To grant Simon the right in deed
To act in accord with these plots.
47 So Simon accepted his lots
And agreed to be the high priest,
To be commander and increased
Prince of the Jews and priests, and to
Be protector of all their crew.
48 And they gave command to engrave
This decree upon brazen pave,
To set them up where all could see
In precincts of sanctuary,
49 And to deposit copies of
Them in the treasury for love,
So that Simon and his sons might
Always maintain these things in sight.

Simon agreed to accept the folk’s will
And that of king sitting on kingly hill.
The mandate did not come from You on high
But from the hopes and wishes not to die
On the part of the king and populace.
The mandate is a mandate without trace
Of divine providence, authority.
It is merely a substitute in fee
For silence on Your part. Beloved, I know
Why You never speak now or then to show
The right. It simply is because the crowd
Has never yet turned to what You allowed
To be heard on Sinai. So why speak more?
Another word would just fall on the shore.

1 MACCABEES 15

1 Antiochus, the son of King
Demetrius, sent out a thing
From the sea islands to Simon,
The priest and prince of the Jews won,
And to all the nation, 2 which said
“King Antiochus to well-bred
Simon the high priest and the prince
And to the nation of Jews’ stints,
Greeting. 3 “Since certain lawless guys
Have taken over the excise
Of our ancestors’ kingdom, now
I intend to lay claim somehow
To the kingdom so that I may
Restore it to its former way,
And I’ve hired an army of troops
And provided worships in groups,
4 “And I intend to make a landing
In the country with understanding
That I may attack those destroying
Our country and those I’m deploring
For the destruction of the towns
That have been till now my own crown’s.
5 “Now I confirm to you concessions
Of all the taxes in kings’ sessions
Before me have granted you free,
And release your from every fee
That they forgave you before me.
6 “I grant the right to mint your own
Money for your country alone,
7 “I grant Jerusalem its freedom
And temple too not to impede them.
All weapons that you have prepared
And fortresses that you’ve not bared
And now hold shall remain your own.
8 “Every debt you owe to the throne
And any future such shall be
Cancelled for you’re from now on free.
9 “When we gain rule of our kingdom,
We will show you honour in sum,
To you and your nation and more
To your sanctuary in store,
So your glory may well appear
In all the earth for all to fear.”

This is not the first king nor is it last
Who defines freedom as being the blast
Of his own power and fury when it’s cast.
The speckled resident of Casa Blanca
Supporting military coup and wonka
On the Algerian coast said openly
He did his actions for democracy.
So Antiochus speaks no new vocabulary
But what’s surely known to every constabulary.
Beloved, You are the same, I trow, I find
Submission to Your law not to be blind
But liberating from infesting lights
Of culture and biology in rights.
Fortuitous freedom is just a grind.

10 In year one hundred seventy-four
Antiochus set out on shore
To invade his ancestral lands.
All the troops rallied to his bands,
So there were few with Trypho’s hands.
11 Antiochus pursued him, and
He came in his flight to Dor’s sand,
Which is beside the sea, 12 for he
Knew that troubles piled up freely
On him with troops gone from the spree.
13 So Antiochus came to camp
Against Dor, and with him to stamp
Were one hundred and twenty thousand
Foot soldiers, cavalry eight thousand.
14 He surrounded the town, and ships
Joined battle from the sea, in grips
He pressed the city hard from land
And from the sea, and at a stand
Let no one leave or go in hand.

There is simply no reason that supposed
King Antiochus might not just have dozed
Under his own fig tree, but power posed
Illusion of his trumpeting to find
Enjoyment in the wenching and the wined.
He did not have to gather men and gun,
He did not have to weather on the run
The blood and gore and hopeless colours flying.
He could have stayed to live instead of dying.
Beloved, let me choose peace and simple fare
In joy without the cry and awful flare
Of domination on the sod a while.
Let me in faith capture the passing mile
And go further than Antiochus dare.

15 Then Numenius and his friends
Arrived from Rome to make amends,
With letters to the kings and lands,
Saying 16 “Lucius, Roman consul
To King Ptolemy, greeting’s tonsil.
17 “The Jewish messengers have come
To us as our friends and in sum
As allies to renew our old
Friendship and alliance as told.
They had been sent by Simon high
Priest and by the Jewish folk’s try,
18 “And have brought a gold shield that weighs
A thousand minas where it stays.
19 “So we have decided to write
To the kings and countries that fight
That they should not seek harm or make
War against them and their towns sake
And their country, or make alliance
With those who fight them in defiance.
20 “And it has seemed good to us now
To accept their shield anyhow.
21 “So if any outlaws have fled
To you from their country, instead
Hand them over to Simon high
Priest, so he can punish the guy
According to their lullaby.”

The law of extraditions seems to be
A Roman thought imposed on the country
That sided with them in the peace invoked
Upon the Middle Sea when others choked.
There’s nothing like the intervention made
To lighten load of the oppression stayed
If power is sought to go upon crusade,
Or bring down tariffs on exports and trade.
But extradition is a wondered thing
That greatly helps to frighten underling.
Beloved, I pray that You will extradite
Me from this place of wickedness and fright
And take me to Your courts before Your throne
Where every robin finds justice to own.

22 The consul wrote the same thing to
Demetrius the king and to
Attalus and Ariarathes
And Arsaces, 23 and to all these
Countries, and to Sampsames, and
To the Spartans, and to the band
Of Delos, and to Myndos, and
To Sicyon, and to Caria, and
To Samos, and Pamphylia,
To Lycia, and Halicarnassus,
And to Rhodes, and to Phaselis,
And to Cos, and to Side, and
To Aradus and Gortyna
And Cnidus, Cyprus and Cyrene.
24 They also sent a copy greeenie
Of these things to Simon high priest,
Who was alert to say the least.

The list of countries in relations’ pact
With Rome displays in fascinating fact,
That Rome was good at far diplomacy,
And this is what gave her both land and sea
To rule after a time in infancy.
Can one control the world with letters signed,
Justing sending them out among eyed and blind?
If so, an e-mail sent around the world
Is like a banded flag once more unfurled.
Do not, Beloved, trust in the spoken word
Or in the writing on the wall that’s heard.
Rome backed it up with arms, struck down and whacked
All those who did not recognize the cracked
And fatal speech and sword when they attacked.

25 Antiochus the king set siege
Against Dor once again with liege
And cannon’s force and tank to butt
And that way kept Trypho there shut.
26 And Simon sent Antiochus
Two thousand chosen men in truss
To fight for him, silver and gold
And much equipment he could hold.
27 But he refused to receive them,
And he broke all agreements’ hem
That he had made with Simon, and
Became estranged from him and band.
28 He sent to him Athenobius,
One of his friends, come out to try us,
Saying, “You hold under your hand
Joppa and Gazara and stand
In fortress in Jerusalem,
They are cities of my kingdom.
29 “You’ve devastated their surroundings,
And done great damage in your soundings,
And you have taken as your lot
Many places of royal plot.
30 “So now hand over the towns that
You have seized and the tribute pat
Of the places which you have conquered
Outside of Judah’s borders honkered,
31 “Or else give me for them five hundred
Talents of silver, and for bundred
Destruction that you’ve caused and more
The tribute money of the score
Of towns, five hundred talents more.
Or else we’ll come and make you sore.”

Greed always blinds the powerful from seeing
What is the real advantage to their being,
And is the seed that subverts every state
That ignores human rights and human pate.
It was true in the days of Simon then,
It is true in these days of common men
Who pretend to establish kingdoms where
Their companies come in and fail to share.
Beloved, I see the human heart laid bare,
And every motive made of at least three
Strands woven in the diviner decree:
Added to greed lust and its cruelty.
Beloved, look in grace and mercy on me
And strike down at least two out of the spree.

32 So Athenobius the friend
Of the king came on his errand
To Jerusalem, and when he
Saw the splendour of Simon’s fee,
And sideboard with gold, silver plate,
And his magnificence as great,
He was amazed. And he reported
To him the words the king resorted,
33 But Simon gave him this reply:
“We have neither taken the land
Of strangers nor seized foreign stand,
But only the inheritance
Of our ancestors, which one time
Was unjustly seized by our prime
Foes. 34 “And now that we have the chance,
We firmly hold inheritance.
35 “As for Joppa and Gazara,
Which you demand, they were in straw
Causing great damage to our folk,
And to our land, so at a stroke
For them we’ll give you talents told
One hundred of silver, not gold.”
Athenobius did not say
A word to him, 36 but went back in
Anger to the king in his bin
And told him these words and the glory
Of Simon and all of the story
Of what he saw. And the king sat
In great anger where he was at.

Athenobius had a chance to give
An offer in the dicker and the sieve.
Instead in pride and greed his anger boiled
And taught the king also in what he toiled.
The market is the place where peace is made
In negociations’ heathen parade.
Peace reigns where trade is brisk and often sought
With all safety for those who could have fought.
Beloved, You gave a gift to heathen man
In giving trade to protect every can.
Where virtue does not teach the way to go,
At least self-interest out to make a glow.
The greed and mall above what earth provides
Is what leads to the battle choosing sides.

37 Now Trypho embarked on a ship
And escaped to Orthosia’s lip.
38 Then the king made Cendebeus chief
Of the coastal country in brief,
And gave him troops of infantry
As well as some in cavalry.
39 He commanded him to encamp
Against Judea, like a scamp,
And ordered him to build up Kedron
And fortify its gates, and head-on
Make war on the people, while
The king pursued Trypho a mile.
40 So Cendebeus came up to
Jamnia and began to view
The people and invade Judea
And take the people captive freer
And kill them. 41 He built up Kedron
And stationed there horsemen and drawn
Troops, so that they might go out and
Make raids along the highways’ sand
Of Judah, at the king’s command.

Mark this, Beloved, that when the robber band
Comes bravely out to make a wicked stand
Against the innocent and passer-by,
It’s because there’s a king there on the sly
That hiddenly gives orders to relate.
The decline of order and peace is found
Always to be the machinations’ round
Of someone whose greed makes him think the sound
Of his own voice is that of God above
Who justifies his attack on the love
Of every man that sits under the glove
Of his own fig tree planted in the ground.
Let seven paces be set out for each
Man to cultivate before coming preach.

1 MACCABEES 16

1 John went up from Gazara and
Reported to Simon his grand
What Cendebeus had done there.
2 And Simon called in his two fair
Older sons Judas and John, and
Said to them “The whole family clanned
Have fought the wars of Israel
From our youth to this day and well,
So we saved Israel many times.
3 “But now I’m old after my climbs,
And you by His mercy are grown.
Stand in the stead of me and throne
Of my brother, and go and fight
For our nation, and may the light
Of Heaven’s aid be in your sight.”
4 John picked from the land twenty thousand
Infantry, cavalry undrowsened.
And they marched off to the attack
Of Cendebeus and set rack
For the night in Modein on track.
5 Early in the morning they got
Up and marched to the plain and fought,
Indeed, a large band of footmen
And horsemen met them in the glen
And a stream lay between the men.
6 He and his army stood arrayed.
He saw the soldiers were afraid
To cross the stream, so he crossed first,
And when his men saw him uncursed,
They crossed after him in a burst.
7 Then he divided up the men
And put the cavalry again
Among the infantry, because
The foe had many horses’ haws.

I praise John and his twenty grand who came
Out to attack the Gentiles on the strand
And lay them low and destroy every hand.
This world would be a better place I trow
If all penises were without the plough
Of foreskins, I believe so anyhow.
So I praise John for coming to attack
The Gentiles and for driving Gentiles back.
Beloved, I’ve often wondered at the sound
That You created mankind on the ground
In Your own image. Does that mean to say
That You are uncircumcised in the fray,
Or that the law completed what in due
Creation from the first had in its view?

8 And they sounded the trumpets, and
Cendebeus with army band
Were put to flight, and many struck
And fell down dead, that was their luck,
And the rest fled into the fort.
9 At that time Judas a good sport
And brother of John felt the sword,
But John pursued them till the gourd
Cendebeus reached Kedron’s ford,
Which he had built for the implored.
10 They also fled into the towers
In Azotus’s fields of flowers,
But John burned it with fire, and fell
Around two thousand of the swell.
And he got back to Judah well.

I grieve, Beloved, so many men escaped
John’s hand among the monkeyed and the aped.
Two thousand dead among the wicked foe
Is victory indeed, but greater show
Is needed for the earth to reap the glow
Of righteousness in every sort of row.
I grieve, Beloved, so many men went free
From John, his infantry and cavalry.
Beloved, burn every tower within my heart
Where evil lurks and sins would find a part.
Beloved, send me out on the road with John
To multiply the slaying of each pawn
That comforts law of jungle and the sword
Of devastation on oppressed and gored.

11 Ptolemy son of Abubus
Had been appointed to chief fuss
Over the plain of Jericho,
With much silver and gold to show,
12 As son-in-law of the high priest.
13 His heart was lifted and increased,
And he decided to gain rule
Of the country, and as a fool
Made traitor’s plans against Simon
To destroy him and sons each one.
14 Then Simon went out to inspect
The town of the land and reflect
On their needs, and he went down to
Jericho with Mattathias too
And Judas his sons all in crew
In year one hundred seventy-seven,
In eleventh month under heaven,
Which is the month of Shebat due.
15 The son of Abubus received
Them like a traitor and deceived
In the little fortress that called
Dok, which he had built up and walled,
And gave them a great feast, but hid
His men there ready should he bid.
16 When Simon and his sons were drunk,
Ptolemy and his men who stunk
Got up, took their weapons, and rushed
The feast hall where Simon was crushed
Dead with his two sons and some slaves.
17 That is the way a man behaves
In treachery to render ill
For good received on his own bill.

I don’t condone the treachery proposed
By Ptolemy ben Abubus when closed
Within the fort of Dok, and yet I find
That Simon and Judas acted as blind
To trust their lives to friends whose friendship came
From being offered riches, power and fame.
It’s trusting greatly to drink up and drink
Again until both spirit and soul sink.
The Torah verdict on the drunken wight
Is to snuff out his life on the first night.
So Simon my hero and president
Got what he just deserved for where he went.
Beloved, slay every drunken fool that shows
A face on the highways the righteous chose.

18 Then Ptolemy wrote a report
About these things and sent for sport
To the king, asking him to send
Troops to aid him and in the end
Let him rule town and country’ bend.
19 He sent other men to Gazara
To do away with John like sparrow,
He sent letters to captains asking
Them to come to him so in basking
He might give them silver and gold
And other gifts to make them bold,
20 And he sent other men to take
Possession of the larger stake
Jerusalem and temple hill.
21 But some one ran ahead to fill
In John at Gazara his dad
And brothers had been stricken bad,
And “he’s sent men to kill you too.”
22 When he heard this, his shock was great,
He seized the men who came irate
To destroy him and he killed them,
As he found out their stratagem.
23 The rest of the acts of John and
His wars and brave deeds of his hand,
And building projects and achievements,
24 Indeed, they are written receivements
In the records of his high priesthood,
From the time his early leasthood
When he became the great high priest
After his father was deceased.

I fail to comprehend You in the way
You let so many wicked men here stay
To live and trouble every righteous man
When You could just as well conceive a plan
To wipe them off the earth and let remain
The whole clan of the righteous and the sane.
It is a question many folk have asked
Without an answer that’s not overtasked.
But I’ll give You the benefit of doubt.
You always leave a seed, a hope, a scout.
If all the Maccabees there were are dead,
You have a hidden leader and one bred
In secret or in open in whose sight
The world at last sometime may come to right.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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