1 Maccabees 2:65–68

1 Maccabees 2:65 — Simon: Father and Counselor Mattathias singles out Simon first, not for his sword arm but for his wisdom. The Greek term behind "man of counsel" (anēr boulēs) is a classical designation for the kind of prudential, deliberative intelligence prized in ancient governance — the quality that distinguishes a ruler from a mere fighter. The instruction "Always listen to him" (literally, "hear him throughout all the days") echoes the language of covenantal obedience used in Deuteronomy, where Israel is commanded to hear Moses, the prophets, and ultimately God. Mattathias does not simply recommend Simon; he installs him as a quasi-paternal authority: "He shall be a father to you." This is remarkable — a dying father designating another son as a surrogate father. It acknowledges that leadership after loss requires more than tactics; it requires pastoral wisdom, nurturing, and long-term guidance. Historically, Simon would go on to become the great diplomat and statesman of the Maccabean family, negotiating Judea's independence from the Seleucids and founding the Hasmonean high-priestly dynasty (1 Macc 13–14). His designation here as counselor is prophetically apt.

1 Maccabees 2:66 — Judas: The Warrior-Captain The contrast with Simon is deliberate and structurally elegant. Where Simon governs through wisdom, Judas Maccabaeus is commended for his physical and military prowess — "strong and mighty from his youth." The phrase "from his youth" (ek neotētos autou) is a formula used throughout the Old Testament to denote a quality intrinsic to a person's character, not merely acquired (cf. 1 Sam 17:33 of David). Judas is appointed "captain" (hēgoumenos) — a military commander whose function is to "fight the battle of the people." The phrase "battle of the people" (polemon laou) is theologically loaded: this is not personal ambition or tribal warfare, but a communal, sacred defense of God's people. Judas will become the most celebrated Jewish military hero since Joshua and David, and his campaigns in chapters 3–9 bear out this appointment precisely.

1 Maccabees 2:67 — Rallying the Doers of the Law The command to "rally around all the doers of the law" identifies the criterion for solidarity: not ethnicity or family loyalty, but fidelity to Torah. The "doers of the law" (poiountas ton nomon) are those whose lives are oriented by covenantal obedience — a phrase that resonates with St. James's later insistence that faith without works is dead, and with St. Paul's discussion in Romans 2:13 that "it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers." The call to "avenge the wrong done to your people" situates the military campaign within a framework of justice, not vengeance for personal injury. The word for "wrong" (antapodosis) implies a debt owed — a sacred imbalance that cries out for rectification.

1 Maccabees 2:68 — Repay the Gentiles; Obey the Law The concluding command binds together two imperatives that might seem in tension: active resistance to pagan oppression ("repay the Gentiles") and passive interior faithfulness ("obey the commandments of the law"). Mattathias insists they are inseparable. The defense of the community externally and the interior life of the commandments internally are two sides of one coin. This is Mattathias's final word — not a battle cry alone, but a call to holiness as the ground of all warfare. The dying man's last syllables are about the law, not the sword.

Typological Reading The pairing of Simon and Judas anticipates New Testament dyads: wisdom and courage, word and action, governance and zeal. Patristic interpreters saw in Judas Maccabaeus a type of Christ as the warrior who fights the battle of His people against the powers of darkness (cf. Origen, Homilies on Numbers 25). Simon's paternal, counseling role prefigures the shepherding authority of the apostolic office. The dying father's appointment of successors also typifies the tradition of apostolic succession itself — authority transmitted through personal commissioning at the threshold of death.

Catholic tradition reads this passage through the lens of legitimate authority, prudence, and the integrity of faith and action — themes the Church has consistently developed in both its moral and social teaching.

Prudence and Courage as Cardinal Virtues. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§1805–1808) lists prudence and fortitude as two of the four cardinal virtues. Mattathias's appointment of Simon (prudence) and Judas (fortitude) maps with remarkable precision onto this pairing. The Church teaches that prudence is "the charioteer of the virtues" — it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. Simon is that charioteer. Fortitude "ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good" — Judas is its embodiment. Together, they are not rivals but complementary dimensions of virtuous leadership.

Legitimate Authority and Subsidiarity. The Catechism (§1897–1899) teaches that political authority is necessary for the ordering of society and derives its moral force from God. Mattathias's deathbed commissioning reflects a transfer of legitimate authority that is both familial and covenantal. Pope Leo XIII in Diuturnum Illud (1881) traced the principle of legitimate governance back to such biblical models, where leaders are appointed for the common good, not personal gain.

The Unity of Justice and Piety. St. Ambrose, commenting on the Maccabean martyrs in De Officiis, argued that the courage of those who died — and those who fought — for the law was a model of how the Christian must not separate love of God from love of neighbor and community. The command to "obey the commandments" alongside "repay the Gentiles" reflects what Gaudium et Spes (§43) would later call the inseparability of religious and moral life from engagement in the world.

Apostolic Succession. The Church Fathers, including Clement of Rome (1 Clement 44), used the pattern of designated, commissioned succession — as seen here — as a scriptural warrant for the apostolic succession of bishops. Mattathias's dying act of entrusting authority to specific, named individuals grounds the principle that governance of God's people is never ad hoc but always transmitted through deliberate commissioning.

Contemporary Catholics live in a culture that frequently separates courage from wisdom, action from contemplation, civic engagement from personal holiness. Mattathias's final words demolish every such false dichotomy. He appoints a counselor and a warrior because neither is sufficient alone. For the Catholic today, this passage poses a direct challenge: which of these gifts has God placed in your community, and are you listening to the right voices? In parish life, in Catholic schools, in pro-life organizations and social justice movements, the temptation is always to privilege either the bold activist or the cautious administrator. Mattathias insists both are needed — and that each must know their role.

More pointedly, verse 68's final command — "obey the commandments of the law" — reminds us that engagement in the world's battles, however just, cannot substitute for personal fidelity to God. The Catholic who marches for justice but neglects prayer, sacrament, and moral integrity has reversed Mattathias's order. External action flows from internal conformity to God's law. This is not passivity — it is the right sequence. Fight the battle of the people. But let the commandments be your last word, as they were Mattathias's.