July 2, 2013 – 1 Maccabees 6:28 – 6:63

It appears that the Jews are taking the brunt of these battles and are defeated for the most part.  It doesn’t appear that there is any action taken against God to get them out of God’s favor, but they are pushed back and forced to make peace all the same.  There is the part where they couldn’t do anything because it was the Sabbath and they had no extra provisions because it was the 7^th year, so it was their obedience to God that allowed their defeat.  It makes me think that if I am ever in a war and find that the enemy can’t do a certain thing on a certain day or certain year, I would exploit that more than it seems Jewish enemies do in these stories.  There is really only the one occasion where we see a Jewish army getting attacked on the Sabbath and unable to defend themselves.  Either other armies didn’t take advantage or Jews didn’t follow the rule or the stories just aren’t in here.