Confession time: I am not really enjoying 1 Maccabees. At all. There's not much of my favorite "character"--God. Where did He go? Lots of political intrigue, geopolitical trategy and maneuvering, alliances made and broken, and war. Cleopatra even makes an appearance. It's an HBO miniseries, perhaps. But inspiring? Well, no. Not for me.
This section revolves around Jonathan, the brother of the great warrior, Judas. Jonathan succeeds to leadership after Judas' death. He leads well. The Israelites fortunes wax and wane--but mostly wax. Ptolemy, Alexander, Cleopatra, Rome, Sparta, Persia all cross the stage. In the end, Jonathan is apparently undone--his men killed and Jonathan captured--by the cunning of Trypho, who aspires to be king of Asia. The Israelites are thrown into deep mourning, realizing that once again they are alone, fearful, and surrounded by enemies bent on their destruction.
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