II MACCABEES CHAPTER 11 - 15

2 MACCABEES 11

1 Soon after this, Lysias, who
Was the king’s guardian and kin too,
Who was in charge of government,
Being vexed at what had been sent,
2 Summoned near eighty thousand men
And all his cavalry again
And came against the Jews. He thought
To make the town a Grecian plot,
3 And tax the temple as he did
On other nations’ sacred bid,
And auction off each year the post
Of high priest for another roast.
4 He did not take into account
The power of Ælohim to mount,
But trusted ten thousand footmen
And thousands of horsemen in den,
And eighty elephants in glen.
5 He swept into Judea, he
Came near Beth-zur, a fort to be
About five leagues from the city
Jerusalem, and pressed it hard.
6 When Maccabeus and his pard
Heard that Lysias was besieging
The fortresses, they and their lieging
With sorrow and with tears besought
YHWH to send a good angel wrought
To save Israel. 7 Maccabeus
Himself was the first in the fuss,
And he urged others to risk lives
With him to aid their brothers’ hives.
Then they rushed off to see who strives.

In early days the problem of the Jews
Was that they had a temple fixed with pews
That could be dreamed of as a source of news
And income to the kings out to abuse.
Since then the populace degenerates,
No longer needing gold to seduce fates,
But ready to attack the ghetto twice
And make of poverty a sacrifice.
A low profile in days past might have won
A respite from the flogging under sun,
But now the heat reactor finds the crowd
Of deer and dog and refugee allowed.
Beloved, Lysias came to get the gold.
Now I have only Psalms to sing of old.

8 And there, while they were still nearby
Jerusalem, a horseman nigh
Appeared at their head, clothed in white
And brandishing gold weapons’ sight.
9 They praised merciful Ælohim,
Encouraged to fight to the beam,
Wild men or beasts of iron gleam.
10 They went on in battle array,
A heavenly ally out for prey,
YHWH had mercy on them that day.
11 They hurled themselves like lions against
The enemy, and killed incensed
Eleven thousand of them and
Sixteen hundred horses in band,
And made the others flee the land.
12 Most of them got away stripped and
Wounded, and Lysias himself
Escaped in disgrace like an elf.
13 Since he was not stupid, he thought
About his defeat, thought a lot,
And realized the Hebrews were
Invincible because the stir
Of Ælohim was on their side.
So he sent a message to them
14 To persuade them by stratagem
To settle on just terms while he
Would persuade the king to be free
With them and always act friendly.

The horseman clothed in white is figure known
After captivity by Jewish clone.
Before that time, for the most part, they had
To meet their enemies with sword and sad
Spear and at best the iron chariot blade
That in the later days made spade and spade.
It’s only in the age of empires high
That golden swords and spears are set to fly.
Beloved, I see the magic plumes arise
Against the splendour of the driven skies
I know Your angels flush the meadow sweet
And dance among nasturtiums as my feet
Until I notice that their cheep and tweet
Make pale to nothing all the other lies.

15 Maccabeus, who kept his eye
On peace and common good’s supply,
Agreed to all that Lysias urged.
For the king granted every purged
Request in behalf of the Jews
Which Maccabeus came to choose
In writing to Lysias made.
16 The letter written undismayed
To the Jews by Lysias read so:
“Lysias to Jewish folk, hello.
17 “John and Absalom, who were sent
By you, have brought your letter meant
And signed by you and they have asked
About the matters by which tasked.
18 “I’ve told the king of everything
That needed him to see the thing,
And he’s agreed to what he could.
19 “If you’ll keep your good will toward
The government, I’ll be implored
In future to promote your good.
20 “As for the details I’ve commanded
These representatives here banded
With yourselves to negotiate.
21 “Farewell. One hundred forty-eight
Year, Dioscorinthius’ rate
Twenty-fourth neither soon nor late.”

The mission of Absalom and John keeps
On reappearing in the worldly steeps.
The lives of thousands hang upon the hopes
That civil servants somewhere know the ropes
And will not let them down. They run the crown.
The arrogant style of the civil vice
Is worrying, if that reveals a slice
Of character of those who feed the pumps
And empty out our garbage in the dumps.
Beloved, I hate to think the food supply
And water depend on such precious fry
As Lysias and his underlings who try.
The sword of Damocles is everywhere,
The more enhanced, the greater is its share.

22 The king’s letter read in this way:
“King Antiochus in his sway
To his brother Lysias, hello.
23 “Now that our dad’s gone on below
To the gods, we desire the folk
Of the kingdom be undisturbed
In caring for the work uncurbed.
24 “We’ve heard the Jews do not consent
To our father’s change to Greek pent,
But prefer their own way of living
And beg their own customs be giving.
25 “Therefore, since we choose this folk be
Free of disturbance, our decree
Is that their temple be restored
To them and they live unabhored
By the laws of their own ancestors.
26 “You will do well among inquestors,
Therefore, to send word to them and
Give them pledges of friendship’s stand,
So they may know our policy
And be of cheer and happily
Conduct their own affairs freely.”

The problem is that every time there’s change
Of king there’s danger of a further range
Of persecution from the hand of power.
Even this new Antiochus is dour
To accept fait accompli in the tower.
If Judas had not taken back the city,
He would have carried on and without pity
The policy of his own father, but
He thinks it fruitful to keep his mouth shut
And reap a greater reward with the rest.
Who knows when he may yet grasp of the best
Of temple and of harvest in the west.
Beloved, the fair king’s always just a mutt.

27 The king’s letter sent to the nation
Was this: “King Antiochus’ ration
To senate of the Jews and folk
In common, greeting at a stroke.
28 “If you are well, we are well pleased.
We’re also in good health and eased.
29 “Menelaus has informed us that
You wish to return and keep scat
Of your own affairs. 30 “Therefore those
Who go home by the thirtieth rows
Of Xanthicus will have our pledge
Of friendship and full promise edge,
31 “For the Jews to enjoy their own
Food and laws, just as early shown,
And none of them shall be molested
In any way for what protested
May have been done in ignorance.
32 “And I have also sent by chance
Menelaus to encourage you.
33 “Farewell. The one hundred and due
Forty-eighth year, Xanthicus’ view
The fifteenth day and not to stew.”

The government then as now would control
The very morsel any mouth in troll
Would take on lip, and when met with the fact,
Knows how to pretend control of the pact.
King Antiochus gives the Jews a share
To choose what they will ever eat and wear,
Providing that they race to the right place
Before a certain date or meet the mace.
There has to be a show of power in king,
For all kings are unsure of self and ring,
And so before they’re frightened come to sting.
Beloved, I judge upon the fifteenth day
As good as any to come out and play,
Ignoring tax collectors on the way.

34 The Romans also sent a note,
Which thus read if once more I quote:
“Quintus Memmius and Titus
Manius, envoys of the Russ
Romans, to the folk of the Jews,
Greeting. 35 “With regard to what views
Lysias the kinsman of the king
Has granted you, we also sing
Our own consent. 36 “But as to things
He thought as might refer to kings,
As soon as you’ve considered them,
Send some one quickly on the hem,
So we may make proposals right
For you. For we are on our way
To Antioch. 37 “Therefore make hay,
And send some men, so that we may
Have your judgment. 38 “Farewell. The one
Hundred and forty-eighth year done,
Xanthicus fifteenth and well spun.”

The Romans always hurry to make sure
That everyone knows they have the manure
In hand and carry of all biggest stick,
And so benignly promise not to kick.
The Romans always have proposals fair
That they expect everyone everywhere
To follow without question in the lurch:
They have the makings of catholic church.
Beloved, I need no missives from the great,
Or from those who pretend to be the state,
That element that has no nucleus
Or any electron beside the bus.
The letter that is dated always is.
It’s dated and fermented to a fizz.

2 MACCABEES 12

1 When this agreement had been reached,
Lysias returned unimpeached
To the king, and the Jews kept farming.
2 But some governors were alarming,
Timothy, Apollonius
The prideful son of Gennaeus,
Hieronymus and Demophon,
Nicanor Cyprus’ chief undone,
Would not let them live quietly
And in peace. 3 And some ungodly
Men of Joppa too did this deed.
They asked the Jews with them in greed
To set sail with their wives and seed,
On boats they provided, as though
There had been no ill will in stow,
4 And this was done by public vote
Of the whole city out to gloat.
When they agreed, because they wished
To live in peace and not up-dished,
The men of Joppa took them out
To sea and drowned them with a shout,
5 When Judas heard the cruelty
Upon his countrymen’s degree,
He ordered up his men, 6 and they
Called on Ælohim’s righteous way,
Attacked the murderers of his brothers,
He set fire to the harbour smothers
By night, and burned the boats, and killed
Those who took refuge there unskilled.

It’s hardly any use to make the king
Or president or head of anything
A friend, because he always has at gate
Ferocious dogs he sends out to take bait
Of every passer-by in peace to rate.
So Antiochus claimed to give the peace,
But his own lords were criminals to fleece.
He might have sent them all to work in ships
And row his plundering around for dips,
But any that he took instead would be
As bad or worse upon both land and sea.
Beloved, I know the course of hierarchy
Is always sinful plunder of the free,
Whether in times past or eternity.

7 Because the city gates were shut,
He went away thinking to glut
Joppa another time. 8 But when
He learned that in Jamnia the men
Planned the same trick to wipe out Jews
Who lived among them in their mews,
9 He attacked Jamnia’s folk by night
And set fire to the harbour site
And to the fleet, so that the glow
Of light was seen as far in show
As in Jerusalem, so far
As thirty miles. 10 When they in car
Had gone more than a mile from there,
On their march against Timothy,
About five thousand Arabs’ share
With five hundred horsemen in fee
Attacked them. 11 After a hard fight
Judas and his men won the blight,
By help of Ælohim in sight.
In their defeat the Arabs begged
Judas to grant them pledges pegged
Of friendship, promising to give
Him cattle and to help to live
In every way handed and legged.
12 Judas thought they might be of use,
And so agreed to make a truce
With them and so they all retired.
13 He also attacked one town spired
With earthworks and with walls where dwelt
All sorts of Gentiles on the belt.
Its name was Caspin. 14 And welt
Of those who were inside relied
On the strength of the walls to bide
And on what corn and wine provide,
And they behaved with insolence
Towards Judas and men of sense,
Blaspheming curses on their tents.

So many men of Caspin live by me
Or are seen on the news eternally!
So many trust in weight of wealth and see
With disdain those who hope in their degree
To worship You in peace from infantry!
Make a man think he’s safe and he will soon
Cry curses on the holy for a boon.
Beloved, the insolence of my own heart
Is often covered with the stone rampart
Of inner chamber, where I ought to bow
Before the lighted throne where I kowtow.
Make me, Beloved, see that the wall of grief
Is not a solace against Your belief,
Let me praise You as well as tree and leaf.

15 But Judas and his men called on
The great Sovereign of the world drawn,
Who without battering-rams or cars
Of war overthrew all the stars
Of Jericho and in the days
Of Joshua, rushed in a craze
Upon the walls. 16 They took the town
By will of Ælohim and crown,
And slaughtered such a crowd of them
The lake nearby in breadth of hem
Of a quarter of a mile seemed
To run over with blood that gleamed.
17 When they had gone ninety-five miles
From there, they came to Charax guiles,
To the Jews called Toubiani.
18 But they did not find Timothy
There, for he had by then gone off
Without doing a thing but scoff,
Though in one place he left a strong
Fort garrisoned to keep along.
19 Dositheus and Sosipater,
Who were captains under the fer
Maccabeus, marched out and slew
Those Timothy had left in crew
In the stronghold, and more than ten
Thousand of evil, wicked men.

For shame, Beloved, that I rejoice to hear
That Dositheus and Sosipater near
Marched out and killed the soldiers of the cross
Or of the Grecian temples to their loss!
In Your commandments You say not to kill
And yet my gloating heart’s too large to fill
With fat reports of Maccabean skill.
Beloved, the thirst for blood in human heart
Is not assuaged by slaughter in the cart,
But only by the change in triumph made
By love of You beneath the leafy shade
Of birch and aspen, mountain ash in view
Of rosy morning blessing lake and dew.
So I perch on a pine-bought, humming glade.

20 But Maccabeus set his bands
And appointed men in commands,
And hurried after Timothy,
Who had a hundred and twenty
Thousand with him as infantry
And two thousand five hundred more
In cavalry to even score.
21 When Timothy learned of approach
Of Judas, he sent off in coach
The women and the children and
Also the baggage to a stand
Called Carnaim, for that place was hard
To besiege and with trouble starred
To reach because the narrow pass
On all sides was in rocky mass.
22 But when Judas’ first band appeared,
Terror fell on the foe who feared
Him who sees all things, and they fled
This way and that, till some fell dead
By point of spear and sword of their
Own men 23 And Judas pressed pursuit
With energy and put the boot
To the sinners and so destroyed
Thirty thousand men so employed.

Lay terror, my Beloved, upon the mind
And eye and hand and foot of the foul blind
Who rule and trample the few who love You
And keep Your commandments as is their due.
Lay terror, my Beloved, upon me too,
And keep me in the narrow way to do
Your will alone and not turn in the way
Of idols and of rock stars in their sway
Of providing support for status quo
And armies of merchants and tanks that go
About the world like riff-raff to bestow
An advertising edge on yesterday.
Beloved, show me today a better ray,
Commandments ten to do, remember, know.

24 Timothy himself was captive
Of Dositheus and Sosipater
And their men, but they let him live.
With great guile he begged them to let
Him go in safety, he could get
Most of their parents and the brothers
Of some, and because of his smothers
They feared to keep him in their set.
25 When with many words he’d confirmed
His solemn promise though unwormed
To restore them unharmed, they let
Him go, for the sake and regret
Of their brothers’ salvation yet.
26 Then Judas marched against Carnaim
And temple of Atargatis,
And killed twenty-five thousand prime
People. 27 After the rout and miss
Of these, he marched against Ephron,
A fortified city unwon
Where Lysias lived with multitudes
Of people of all lands and broods.
Strong young men took their stand before
The walls and made defensive score,
With many tanks and missiles there.
28 But the Jews called upon their great
Sovereign who with His power of state
Shatters the might of enemies,
And they forced the town to its knees,
And killed twenty-five thousand of
Those who were in it to wear glove.
29 Setting out from there, they hurried
Up to Scythopolis and scurried.
The place is seventy-five miles
Out from Jerusalem with smiles.
30 But when the Jews who lived there gave
Witness to the good will and brave
Which the folk of Scythopolis
Had shown them and their dealings’ kiss
In times of trouble, 31 they thanked them,
Exhorting them to be a gem
To their race in the future too.
Then they went to Jerusalem,
Since feast of weeks was close in view.

They might as well have slaughtered all the folk
Within Scythopolis and rid at stroke.
Just because the Jews there gave them good name
Was no proof they would continue the same.
It is no use to give back good for good,
Knowing that people just act as they should
When they see their advantage in the scheme.
A better policy would be to cream
The populace of earth. The fatal truth
Is that they’re out to kill the Jews from youth
To old age, and that topic never dies.
Offensive and pre-emptive best relies.
The Maccabees were too kind to the Greeks,
And that’s why pograms still go on for weeks.

32 After the feast called Pentecost,
They hurried out against all cost
To fight Gorgias, the governor
Of Idumea’s land and shore.
33 And he came out with three thousand
Infantry and four hundred manned
In cavalry. 34 When they joined battle,
It happened that a few Jews strattle
Fell. 35 But a certain Dositheus,
One of Bacenor’s men of use,
Who was on horseback and was strong,
Caught hold of Gorgias to grab thong
Of his cloak to drag him off horse,
To take the man alive of course,
But one Thracian horseman came down
And cut off his arm with a frown,
So Gorgias escaped and ran to
The town of Marisa with crew.
36 As Esdris and his men had been
Fighting for a long time for kin
And were weary, Judas called on
YHWH to show Himself ally drawn
And leader in the battle gone.
37 In the tongue of their fathers he
Raised the battle cry, with degree
Of hymns, then he charged on the men
Of Gorgias by surprise again,
And scattered them in flight in fen.

The Hebrew tongue began those days to be
The medium of magic treachery,
The casting up of spells to the degree
Of charlatans and true men of faith free.
The Hebrew tongue in hymn and psaltery
Remains my choice as I stand in the wake
Of Maccadean assault for its sake.
I sing the magic syllables and see
The falling and the flight of enemy.
I see temptations fly away from me,
Along with hopes of honour in the glee
Of government and church in agony.
The Psalms of Maccabeans I shall take
And find that I have not made a mistake.

38 Then Judas gathered in his band
And went to the city well-manned
Of Adullam. As seventh day
Was coming on, they cleansed their way
According to the custom’s sway,
And kept the Sabbath there as planned.
39 On the next day, Judas and men
Went out to get the lads again
That had fallen to lie with kin
In ancestral graves without sin.
40 But under the shirt of each man
They found the sacred idol’s span
Of Jamnia, which law forbids
The Jews to wear, both dads and kids.
And so they understood at last
Why these men had fallen outcast.
41 So they all blessed the ways of YHWH,
The righteous Judge, who gives in due
The revelation of the true,
42 And they returned to prayer to beg
The sin committed on a keg
Might be completely blotted out,
The noble Judas told the folk
To keep themselves free of sin’s pout,
For they had seen how at a stroke
What happened because of the sin
Of those who had fallen of kin.
43 He also took up a collection,
Man by man, to amount’s selection
Of two thousand drachmas of silver,
And sent it to Jerusalem
To provide for sin offering’s pilver.
He acted by this stratagem
For right and honour and in mind
Of resurrection of mankind.
44 For if he did not think that those
Who had fallen would rise as chose,
It would have been an empty thing
And foolish for the dead praying.
45 But if he hoped splendid reward
Laid up for those who sleep by sword
Of godliness, it was a thought
Both holy and pious he wrought.
He made atonement for the dead
To save them from their sin and dread.

The Sadducees and Pharisees would come
To argue about resurrection’s sum
For centuries, but truth lies in the grave,
And only You have hand of strength to save.
Beloved, You can do as You will with sin,
With those struck down for idols that they win,
For those whose hands are bloody with the share
Of innocent struck down without a care.
The prayer for the dead or the sacrifice
Of goat before the altar will suffice
For intercession of the righteous man.
It is the intercession in its span
That makes atonement for the thoughtless deed,
The lost coin and the fevered search in greed.

2 MACCABEES 13

1 Year one hundred and forty-nine
Judas and his men hear grape-vine
Say Antiochus Eupator
Was on his way to a great war
Against Judea, 2 and with him
Lysias, his guardian dim,
Who had charge of the government.
Each of them had a Greek force sent
Of one hundred and ten thousand
Foot soldiers and five thousand three
Hundred in men of cavalry,
And twenty-two elephants, and
Three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
3 Menelaus too joined with withs
And pure hypocrisy to urge
On Antiochus to the dirge,
Not for his country, but for sake
Of the career he had in stake.
4 But the King of kings caused the wrath
Of Antiochus in his path
When Lysias informed the king
That he was to blame for the ring
Of trouble, he ordered to take
Him to Beroea for the sake
Of killing him there as they do
In that place with the crime-sunk crew.
5 For there’s a tower in that place,
Fifty armlengths high, full of trace
Of ashes, and it has a rim
Running around it to make swim
From every side down to the ashes.
6 There they all push until he splashes
Any man guilty of the charge
Of sacrilege or crime at large.
7 By such a fate it came about
That Menelaus who was stout
In crime, died without burial
In earth 8 And this was just withal,
Because he’d balleyed many sins
Against the altar whose fire wins
And ashes were holy, he met
His death in ashes justly set.

Good Menelaus, for causing all the weight
Of trouble to the king at Lysias’ gate,
Must meet a horrid death and fervid fate,
Because the worst of kings will always find
A scape-goat on whom to vent vengeance blind.
But Menelaus is no better in view
And no worse, all chiefs sit in the same pew
To further their careers, not to make peace
And profits for the people on increase.
It was just that poor Menelaus should die
Smothered in ashes for his sins and cry.
What was unjust, Beloved, is that the crew
Of civil servants and the king’s men too
Remained alive and well to perpetrate.

9 The king with heathen arrogance
Was coming to show the Jews a dance
Far worse than what his father did.
10 But when Judas heard of this bid,
He ordered the folk call upon
YHWH day and night from dawn to dawn,
Now if ever to help those who
Were on the point of being through
Him deprived of the law and their
Country and holy temple fair,
11 And not to let the people, who
Had just begun to revive too,
Fall in hands of uncouth Gentile.
12 When they had all joined for a while
In the petition and besought
The merciful Lord with a lot
Of weeping and fasting and lying
Prostrate for three days without vying,
Judas encouraged them and told
Them to stand ready and be bold.

The four great means of true petition lie
Exposed here for both Jew and Christian eye:
Prayer, fasting, weeping, and prostration met
Success divine before the heathen bet.
Beloved, I too in my time have been set
In prayer and fasting, weeping and the pale
Of earth prostration at the divine veil.
The ones who realize the immanence
Of pagan attack on the square and dance
Are ready to petition You with fire.
But blinded to the danger by desire
The populace would rather sing and dance
And drink to all the gods of goddess’ prance.
I see clear-eyed the fall of town and pyre.

13 After a secret interview
With the elders in temple pew,
He decided to march out to
Decide the matter by the aid
Of Ælohim once on parade
Before the king’s army waylaid
Judea and the city fade.
14 Relying on the world’s Creator,
Encouraging his men like satyr
To fight to death for land and law,
Temple and town and common awe,
He pitched his tent near Modein’s draw.
15 He gave his men the watchword well,
“God’s victory,” and with the spell
Of a picked force of bravest youth,
He attacked the king’s band in truth
By night and killed two thousand men
In the camp. Then he stabbed again
The leading elephant with rider.
16 At last they filled the camp beside her
With terror and confusion and
Withdrew in triumph from the stand.
17 This happened, just as day was dawning,
Because the Lord’s help in the awning
Protected him on every hand.

The BAR man was the target when
The USA attacked Japanese yen.
In every battle there is strategy
To knock out what is dangerous in spree.
So Judas touched the torch of battle cry
Beneath the black of night and darkened sky
Not only to the infantry and horse,
But to the leading elephant of course.
He took care also to kill off the man
That knew how to guide elephants in span.
Beloved, I seek the strategy as well
As I choose foes to kill and to dispel.
I touch the tirade of temptations’ haste
Before they meet the ear and eye and waist.

18 The king fired by the daring Jews
Tried strategy to post his cues.
19 He marched on Beth-zur, a strong fort
Of the Jews, was turned back, resort
Again, and was defeated there.
20 Judas sent to the fortress ware
Whatever was needed in share.
21 But Rhodocus, man from the ranks
Of the Jews, gave secret think-tanks
To the foes, and was sought and caught
And sent to prison as he ought.
22 The king negotiated then
A second time with all the men
In Beth-zur, gave them promises,
Made pacts and then withdrew with his,
Attacked Judas’ army in crew
And then was defeated anew.
23 He heard that Philip, left in charge
Of rule of Antiochan pew,
Had revolted, so left at large
He called the Jews and made his peace,
Swore to observe their rights and lease,
And offered sacrifice to give
Honour to the temple and live
To show his generous hand there
Toward the holy place and share.
24 He received Maccabeus, left
Hegemonides unbereft
As governor from Ptolemais
To Gerar, 25 went to Ptolemais.
The people of Ptolemais were
Angry over the treaty’s stir,
And wanted to abrogate it.
26 Lysias took the public mitt,
And spoke well in defence of it,
Convincing and appeasing them,
Gaining their good will for a gem,
And set out for Antioch’s hem.
So ended the king’s stratagem.

Rhetoric to gain public view and thought
In favour of the regime was not taught
A century ago, but ancient times
Were quite familiar with such crimes.
When Lysias took the podium to speak
In favour of the Jews, he was not meek,
But spoke in favour of the royal will
To keep the Jews glad on their kingly hill.
The anti-Semitism of the place
Appals indeed, and makes one hide one’s face
For very shame that such a creed could stand
So long upheld in every heathen land.
Identity is what exacerbates
The human will in genocidal traits.

2 MACCABEES 14

1 After three years, word came to Judas
And his men that Demetriudas,
The son of Seleucus, had sailed
Into Tripolis’ harbour galed
With a strong army and a fleet,
2 Took control of the country neat,
After killing both Antiochus
And side-kick Lysias to mock us.
3 Now one Alcimus, who had been
High priest once but defiled by sin
In times of separation knew
He could not be safe in his pew
Or gain access to altar’s due,
4 And went to King Demetrius
In year one hundred fifty-one
And gave him a gold crown and fuss
Of a palm and besides these won
The temple olive branches fun.
For that day he made no request,
Waiting later to do his best.

A new king always means a chance to take
A new position in the new-born stake.
So Alcimus saw opportunity
When Demetrius sailed across the sea,
Killed Antiochus and Lysias dead.
The story is a well-know pattern bred.
Alcimus was an opportunist found
Willing to defile himself on the ground
As priest rather than forego benefit
Of taking bribes in bank account and mitt.
Beloved, I am no priest nor do I seek
A pound of pence beyond the food I peek,
I have no golden crown to give nor yet
A palm and olive branch for what I get.

5 But he found opportunity
That furthered his mad purpose, see,
Invited by Demetrius
To council meeting and famous,
Where they asked him about the Jew.
He answered, 6 “Those of the Jews who
Are called Hasideans, whose leader
Is Judas Maccabeus, heeder,
Are keeping up war and rebellion,
And hindering the peace like hellion.
7 “That’s why I’ve laid aside my post
Of high priesthood’s ancestral boast,
And have come here, 8 first because I
Am truly concerned for the why
And wherefore of the royal grant,
And secondly because I plant
A stake of interest in my folk.
For through the folly of the stroke
Of those I mentioned in our land
The whole nation comes to a stand.
9 “And since you know, O king, the thing,
Have thought for our country and ring
With that same graciousness you show
To all other peoples in row.
10 “For as long as this Judas lives,
No rule of peace anyway gives.”
11 When he had said this, the king’s friends,
Who were hostile to Judas’ ends,
Quickly inflamed Demetrius
Still more and they made a great fuss.
12 He then straightway chose Nicanor,
Who commanded elephant crew,
Appointing him the governor
Of Judea, and sent him for
13 To kill Judas, scatter his band,
And set up Alcimus to stand
As high priest of the temple grand.
14 And the Gentiles throughout Judea,
Who had fled before Judas freer,
Flocked to join Nicanor, thinking
Misfortune for the Jews would bring
Prosperity on their crime ring.

Political intrigue is always set
As white and black before all those are met,
And one protagonist is right and fair
In all his doings, while the foe, beware,
Is evil black and to the core to get.
By this I do not think to make a point
Of skin colour at all by any joint.
Humankind set themselves in groups to neigh
At economic passions in their sway,
And use the faith or gods or hue of skin
To justify the foraging in sin.
So when the Jews are down the others rise
To make a fortune at the Jews’ demise,
Using the Jews to undermine the guise.

15 The Jews heard of Nicanor’s coming
And gathering of the Gentiles humming,
And sprinkled dust upon their heads
And prayed to Him who set the spreads
Of His own people for all time
Always upholding His own dime
By showing Himself in the clime.
16 At the command of the chief, they
Set out from there to make essay
Of battle at a village called
Dessau. 17 Simon, the unappalled
Brother of Judas, had met there
Nicanor, but was checked a spare
By sudden surprise of the foe.
18 Still Nicanor, who heard the glow
Of courage of Judas and band
Was hesitant to make a stand.
19 Therefore he sent Posidonius,
Theodotus and Mattathias
To make a treaty in the land.
20 Considering fully the pact
The leader told the folk exact
Who all agreed upon the stacked.

The times that diplomatic concourse makes
Peace are those times when for the subtle sakes
Of fears of boldness generals despair
Of laying with impunity the fair
Upon the bloody graves. So they beware.
It is the case of law as it’s applied
By every democratic state decried,
That peace is bought at gunpoint of the snide.
Beloved, I have a grand alternative
To forced and controlled violence to give:
Let every child be educated at
The hand of teacher to turn every brat
To the obedience of Your commands.
They’re only ten and easy on the hands.

21 The leaders set a day on which
To meet by themselves for a pitch.
A chariot came out from each band,
With seats of honour set to stand.
22 Judas posted armed men to watch
At each strategic point to botch
The sudden treachery that might
From hand of foe come to the light,
And so the parties parleyed right.
23 Nicanor kept Jerusalem
And did nothing out of the stem,
But sent away the crowds of folk
That had gathered to see the stroke.
24 And he kept Judas in his sight,
Appreciated well the wight.
25 He urged him to marry and bear
Children, so he married the fair,
And settled down, and came to share
The common life. 26 But when Alcimus
Noticed their good will for each Remus,
He took the treaty that was made
And went where Demetrius stayed.
He told him that Nicanor was
Disloyal to the ruling buzz,
For he had set conspirator
Judas against the kingdom score,
And so to be his successor.
27 The king became excited and,
Provoked by the false words at hand
Of that depraved man, wrote Nicanor,
Saying he was displeased in manner
With the treaty and ordered him
To send out Maccabeus trim
To Antioch as a prisoner grim.

The problem with the royal rule or yet
Democracy as it is often met
Is simply not to let the well alone,
But there must be contention at the bone,
And prizes given to those who meet the score
Of ruler or of lobby at the door.
Peace is occasion for some man to try
His hand at some dissension on the sly.
Beloved, let peace reign and not government,
The rule of every man his own affairs,
And so be You alone the Sovereign sent
To oversee a world, one without cares.
The earthly anarchy is opportune
For divine rule, and may it enter soon.

28 When this message came to Nicanor,
He was troubled and grieved in manner
That he had to annul their pact
When the man did no wrong in act.
29 Since it was not possible to go
Against the king, he watched for show
Of chance to carry out the scheme
By stratagem in what to seem.
30 But Maccabeus noticed that
Nicanor was more frosty at
His meetings with him and more rude,
And thought there must be motives crude.
So he gathered not a few men,
And went into hiding again
From Nicanor. 31 When the man knew
He was outwitted by the crew
Of Judas, he went to the great
And holy temple there to state
While the priests offered sacrifice
And ordered them to hand in trice
The man. 32 And when they said on oath
That they knew nothing of the growth
Or where the man was whom he sought,
33 He pointed toward the temple plot
And swore, “If you do not give up
Judas to me for prison tup,
I’ll tear down this temple of God
And destroy the altar on sod,
And build here a fine house to show
The worship of Dionyso.”
34 He said this and then turned to go.

To have a temple made of stone and gold
Gives opportunity to royal bold
To threaten conscience and the hope of fair,
And destroy people praying everywhere.
A better temple is that of the skies,
The secret meeting of those who despise
The dome and altar, but who greatly prize
Your law and Psalms of David in their guise.
Beloved, my temple is the sudden room
Of Sabbath as it nears me in the gloom,
And my spires are the slight songs of the ray
Of David sung by one or two in stray.
I flee to time instead of place to be
Where no man can have a monopoly.

Then the priests stretched out their hands toward
The heaven and called upon adored
Defender of our nation so.
35 “O Lord of all, who have no low
Need of anything in the show,
You were pleased to set temple here
For Your dwelling among sincere,
36 “Holy One, Lord of holiness,
Keep undefiled this house address
So recently made pure in fear.”
37 One Razis, elder of the town
Jerusalem, came under frown
Of Nicanor as a man who
Loved his fellow citizens and
Was thought of well on every hand
For good called father of the Jews.
38 For in those times not to abuse
Mingling with Gentiles, they’d accuse
Him of Judaism and for
Judaism he’d risked his score.
39 Nicanor, wishing to show hate
He had for Jews and for their state,
Sent five hundred soldiers to take
Him, 40 thinking that for such a stake
He could do injury like rake.

Note, my Beloved, how swings the human hand
Once ready to do righteously in band,
Albeit at the gunpoint of the grand.
Nicanor now rejoices with the king
To do the Jews the harm of anything.
He just obeys the orders from above,
And that is why he puts on SS glove.
Those who obey commands of those in power
Take part in wickedness exposed an hour.
The ten small words so easy to avail,
No killing, lying, stealing in the pale,
Would circumvent the hope of even chiefs
Of state and company and come to griefs.
No need for officers decked out in mail.

41 When the troops were about to take
The tower and force the door in wake
Of the courtyard, they ordered fire
Be brought against the doors in pyre.
Being surrounded, Razis fell
Upon his own sword, 42 to die well
Rather than fall in sinners’ hand
And suffer outrages to stand
Against his noble birth and band.
43 But in the heat of the fight he
Did not hit himself exactly,
And the crowd was now rushing in
Through the doors. He bravely like kin
Ran on the wall, and manfully
Threw himself down into the spree.
44 But they quickly drew back, so he
Fell in the middle of the space.
45 Still alive and aflame with grace
Of anger, he rose gushing blood,
And ran through the crowd to a rock,
Where he stood to survey the flock,
Blood wholly drained, he tore out his
Entrails and took the stinking fizz
In both hands and threw them out on
The Gentile crowd calling upon
YHWH of life and spirit to give
Them back to him again to live.
This was how he died before dawn.

There’s hardly anything that stinks as much
As freshly gutted entrails to the touch.
Razis could hardly find a better way
To show disdain for those who held the sway
Than scatter them with fresh dung from his own
Guts torn out to leave only flesh and bone.
With every word I write, each sonnet bare,
I throw my dung on Gentiles everywhere
Who fail to hear Your word upon the air
Of Sinai and to keep the Decalogue.
I treat them all as less than frog and hog.
Humanity is born of one thing true,
The hearing of Your word, Your word to do.
Without it every soul’s illusion’s share.

2 MACCABEES 15

1 When Nicanor heard that Judas
And his men were in Samaria’s
Region, he made plans to attack
Them with complete safety on track
Of Sabbath day. 2 And when the Jews
Who were compelled to take his cues
Said, “Don’t destroy so savagely,
But show respect for the decree
Of Sabbath which He who sees all
Things has honoured, made sacred hall
Above all other days in call,”
3 The thrice-accursed wretch asked if there
Were a sovereign in heaven to care
About the Sabbath day in share.
4 They witnessed, “It’s the living Lord
Himself, Sovereign in heaven adored,
Who ordered us to keep the day
Of Sabbath the seventh in sway,”
5 He replied, “And I’m lord on earth,
And I give you commands of worth
To take up arms and do the will
Of the king in valley and hill.”
Yet he did not succeed at all
To carry out plans to appal.

The Sabbath is the one thing in Your law
That points against the human held in awe
And limits action of the chief on those
Who are subordinate to what he chose.
That’s why all rulers on the earth oppose
The Sabbath that relieves the hands and toes
Of workers and oppressed in every field.
That’s why on every other thing they yield,
But not on obligation out of hand
To keep the Sabbath that reminds the band
Their power’s limited by the command
Of You, Beloved, Creator come to stand
A Saviour and commander of all men.
Beloved, send out the Sabbath law again.

6 This Nicanor in arrogance
Set up a public remembrance
Of victory of Judas and
His men who were with him in band.
7 But Maccabeus did not cease
To trust YHWH for help and release.
8 He told his men not to fear what
The Gentiles might do in their glut,
But to keep in mind the times past
When help from heaven came at last,
And now to look for victory
Which the Almighty would decree.
9 Encouraging them from the law
And from the prophets held in awe,
Reminding them also of fights
That they had won, he made them lights.
10 When he had roused their courage, he
Gave his orders, and by the while
Showing the sins of the Gentile
And violation of their oaths.
11 He armed each of them not with troths
In shields and spears as with the brave
Words of the spirit, so he gave
Them cheer by telling them a dream,
A sort of vision, it would seem.
12 What he saw was this: Onias,
Who’d been former high priest by us,
A noble and good man, too,
One fitting and trained from the pew
And childhood, was praying with hands
Outstretched for Jews in all the lands.
13 Then likewise a man appeared, grey
In hair and beard in noble way,
Majestic in authority.
14 And Onias spoke, and he said
“This is a man who loves the bred
Brothers and prays much for the folk
And holy city, at a stroke
Jeremiah, God’s prophet woke.”
15 “Jeremiah stretched out his right
Hand and gave to Judas a light
And golden sword, and as he gave
It he told him, 16 “Take holy sword,
A gift from Ælohim adored,
With which you will strike down your foes
Arrayed against you in their rows.”

The problem with seeing strange sights and rounds
Is simply that encouragement alone
Is not all that comes upon such bright grounds.
The dream entails responsibility,
Not only to oneself and the degree
Of visionary light but the fold free
For whom the vision’s taught. The burden there
Is greater than a hundred backs to share,
But must be bourn by one alone to hear
The ranting of the unjust on the ear.
Beloved, I too have see the strange, profound,
And swooned in awe before the wondered sound,
And I have lived to regret speaking of
The vision of eternal hope and love.

17 Encouraged by the words of Judas,
So nobly and quickly imbued us
With courage and boldness to act
On the behalf of souls in pact,
To fight foes hand to hand with tact
Because of danger to the town,
The sanctuary and the crown
Of temple. 18 Their concern for wives
And children, and their kinsmen’s lives,
Lay on them with less weight as they
Thought of the holy temple’s sway.
19 And those who had to remain in
The city were in troubled bin,
Anxious that the fight would begin
There in the countryside. 20 When all
Were looking for the coming thrall,
And the foe was then close at hand
With army and elephant band
Strategically set and with horse
And riders deployed on the course,
21 Then Maccabeus, seeing all
The men and elephants in call
Stretched out his hands toward heaven and prayed
To YHWH who works wonders unstayed,
For he knew that it’s not by arms,
But as YHWH decides in alarms,
And that he gains the victory
For those who deserve it’s decree.

It’s sweet that Maccabeus thinks Your arm
Always gives victory from every harm,
And all things go by Your will on the day
Of battle, and You have the upper sway.
It takes a lot of faith to see the mill
Of grand oppression, see and believe still
That all things work for good when fellows fall
Who had been perfect in Your commands thrall.
Beloved, though I’m a doubter at the wall,
And not like Judas who is sure that good
Is always on the throne, and as things should
So they occur in town and field and wood,
I still believe that trust in You alone
Is where I must stand to keep up my own.

22 And he called upon him like this,
“O Lord, You did send angel kiss
In Hezekiah’s time, the king
Of Judah, and he slew a ring,
A hundred eighty-five thousand
In Sennacherib’s camp and band.
23 So now, O Sovereign of the sky,
Send a good angel here to fly
With terror and trembling of us.
24 By the might of Your glorious
Arm may these blasphemers who come
Against your holy folk fall dumb.”
With these words he ended his prayer.
25 Nicanor and his men strode there
With trumpets and with battle song,
26 And Judas and his men along
Met the foe in battle with prayer
To Ælohim and supplication.
27 So, fighting with their hands in station
And praying to Ælohim well
In their hearts, they laid low in spell
Thirty-five thousand men to tell,
And they were very glad to see
God’s manifestation’s degree.
28 When the action was over and
They were returning joyous band,
They recognized Nicanor where
He lay dead in full armour there.

I praise You, my Beloved, that on a day
The self-serving officer in the fray
Lay dead while doing what the order taught
Him by superiors in land and lot.
I too receive the orders of my lust,
The orders of the public word in trust,
The statutes of the evil parliament,
The rations that the civil servants sent.
I too receive and I fail to appear
Faithful to all of these before my ear,
But act as one dead by Your command here,
The ten words once caught on Mount Sinai when
You came to speak to chiefs, women, and men.
I praise You, my Beloved, and praise again.

29 Then there was shouting and tumult,
And they blessed the Sovereign Lord’s cult
In the ancestral tongue’s result.
30 And the man who was ever in
Body and soul of citizen
Defender, the man who maintained
His youthful good will and sustained
Toward his countrymen, told them
To cut off Nicanor’s head’s gem
And arm and carry them into
Jerusalem for all to view.
31 And when he got there and had called
His countrymen to stand appalled,
And set the priests before the altar,
He sent for those who came to falter
In the fortress. 32 He showed the head
Of vile Nicanor and the spread
Of his arm which in pride stretched out
Toward the temple in oath’s shout
Against the holy and Almighty,
33 And he cut out the tongue unsighty
Of the ungodly Nicanor
And said he’d give it in a score
Of pieces to the birds and hang
Up these rewards his folly rang
Opposite the sanctuary.
34 And they all, looking to the free
Sky, blessed YHWH who had shown himself,
Saying, “Blessed is He who has kept
His own place undefiled and swept.”
35 And he hung Nicanor’s head from
The citadel, a clear sign come
To every one of help from YHWH.
36 And they all decreed by vote true
Never to forget of this day,
But celebrate the thirteenth day
Of the twelfth month, which in its way
Is called Adar in Syrian tongue,
The day before Mordecai’s sung.
37 This, then, is how matters turned out
With Nicanor. And from that rout
The city has been in the hands
Of the Hebrews. So my tale stands.

This brings us to the end of trials seen
Among the heathen for the Jewish screen,
And how the Jews made out to gain their land,
And town and temple to keep Your command.
It is a good place to end any book
On positive in every way You look.
Yet in the centuries since then I trow
Greater atrocities come anyhow.
There is no ever after happily,
But only more of the same in the spree.
And so I turn a Maccabean prayer
To You, Beloved, who rule earth everywhere,
That all men might live in peace and come to
Keep Your commandments and worship just You.

38 If it is well told to the point,
That is what I wished to anoint,
If it is poorly done or fair,
It was the best I could prepare.
39 For just as it’s harmful to drink
Grape juice alone, or, on the brink,
Water alone, while grape juice mixed
With water’s sweet and good when fixed,
So also the style of the tale
Delights the ears and without fail
Of those who read the work. And here
Will be the end of smile and tear.

The writer of the Maccabees is not
The first to wonder at wording and plot.
I too think of the choice of word and feel
And rhythm and a rhyme in hand and heel.
I mix a bit of figure and word poised
Originally above all the noised,
As heady wine, but balance it as well
With clichés chosen from my deep inkwell.
So my Beloved, I answer to Your tune,
And bow to You at morning, night and noon,
And pray my tinkling rhymes lead none to sin,
Neither the stranger nor my dearest kin.
Let help and hope destroy the wayward way
That speaks and writes and acts against Your sway.

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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