being manly

2 Maccabees 6:18-31; Ps 3 The Lord upholds me; Luke 19:1-10

We continue today to read the story from the book of Maccabees. Again, a reminder, the story describes a secular leader trying to coerce the Israelites to abandon their faith and to turn to idolatry.

Many do in fact give in, while others seek to maintian their integrity of faith, holding to the covenant of God even in the face of possible death or severe mistreatment.


Today we hear the story of Eleazar, who is described as, "one of the foremost scribes,a man of advanced age and noble appearance."

Eleazar was being forced to eat pork. Pork as you know is considred unclean, unbecoming for one who is an Israelite.

Here is a snippet of the story as it unfolds.

"Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, becasue their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat prescribed by the king; in this way he would escape the death penalty, and be treated kindly becasue of their old friendship with him."

Think about that for a moment. THe persecutors, who had great respect for Eleazar, offer a compromise to get him off the hook. All he had to do was pretend to eat the meat and thus he would save his skin.

It sounds like a good idea, but Eleazar sees through the deceit.

"But Eleazar made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood' so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God."

Eleazar seems to be a man you would want on your side. He refuses to compromise. But more importantly he is aware of what kind of example he would be leaving if he pretended to eat the pork.

He states the following, "At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many young people would think the ninety-year old Eleazar had gone to an alien religion. Should I pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would beled astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age."

Eleazar isn't thinking about himself but rather he is mroe concerned with what it would mean to the younger generation. What point is it to save his life if he leads others astray.

Eleazar continues, "therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age, and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws."


wow! What a man of faith. What a man's man, as they say.

In our society, we have, as C.S. Lewis speaks about, become men with our chest. I would add, men with out backbones.

Eleazar shows us what it means to stand fast. He shows us what it means to truly let the "Lord uphold him."

As the psalmist says, "The Lord upholds me."

when is the last time you let the Lord uphold you. Rather than trying to weasel out of something, especially matters of faithfulness, when have you stood firm and trusted in the Lord to uphold.

"This is how Eleazar died, leaving in his death a model of courage and unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation."

Where have all the manly men gone? Where are those who manfully give their life?

Eleazar is truly a man's man, a woman's man, a young person's man, a man of faith.