His brother, the legendary Judas Maccabeus, had just fallen in battle. Judas, the hammer – that's what his name meant in Hebrew, Maccabee comes from the word for hammer, makevet – had led the Jewish people to unbelievable victories against the Seleucid Empire. He was a hero, a symbol of hope.
So, what happens when that light goes out?
That's where we pick up the story in the First Book of Maccabees. The situation is dire. Judas is gone, and the people are desperate. "For this cause," the text tells us, "all Judas' friends came together." They turn to Jonathan, Judas' brother.
Think about that scene for a moment. A group of battle-hardened warriors, grieving, scared, looking for someone – anyone – to lead them. They say to Jonathan, "Since thy brother Judas died, we have no man like him to go forth against our enemies." Talk about pressure! And they name their enemies explicitly: Bacchides, the Seleucid general, and "them of our nation that are adversaries to us" – the Hellenized Jews who had sided with the oppressors.
The request is blunt, almost a demand born of desperation: "Now therefore we have chosen thee this day to be our prince and captain in his stead, that thou mayest fight our battles."
What would you do? Could you step into the role of a legend?
Jonathan, to his credit, doesn't hesitate. "Upon this," the Book of Maccabees says, "Jonathan took the governance upon him at that time, and rose up instead of his brother Judas." He accepts the mantle, the responsibility, the terrifying challenge.
But the story doesn’t let him – or us – breathe for long. The threat is immediate. "But when Bacchides gat knowledge thereof, he sought for to slay him." The enemy knows Jonathan is now the leader, and they're coming for him.
This moment is so raw, so human. It's not just a historical account; it's a story about succession, about grief, about the weight of expectation. Jonathan steps up, knowing full well the dangers he faces, and knowing that the enemy is already hunting him.
The Maccabean story, as we see here with Jonathan, is not just about military victories and political maneuvering. It’s about courage in the face of overwhelming odds, about leadership in times of crisis, and about the enduring power of hope – even when that hope seems fragile and fleeting. And it all starts with a brother stepping into the impossible shadow of a legend. What happens next? Well, that's a story for another time. But let me tell you, it's a wild ride.