Catholic Commentary
Judas Divides His Forces and Issues Commands
16Now when Judas and the people heard these words, a great congregation assembled together to determine what they should do for their kindred who were in distress and under attack.17Judas said to Simon his brother, “Choose men and go deliver your kindred who are in Galilee, but Jonathan my brother and I will go into the land of Gilead.”18He left Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, as leaders of the people, with the remnant of the army, in Judea, to guard it.19He commanded them, saying, “Take charge of this people, and fight no battle with the Gentiles until we return.”20Then three thousand men were assigned to go into Galilee with Simon, but eight thousand men were assigned to Judas to go into the land of Gilead.
1 Maccabees 5:16–20 describes Judas Maccabeus assembling the Jewish community to respond to reports of fellow Jews under siege in Galilee and Gilead, then dividing his forces strategically while leaving trusted commanders to defend Jerusalem. He sends his brother Simon with three thousand men to Galilee, takes eight thousand to Gilead himself, and orders the remaining forces to avoid battle until he returns.
Judas Maccabeus teaches leadership by restraint: he convokes his people, delegates to brothers, leaves trusted guards at home, and forbids rash action—a model of ordered authority that serves the covenant rather than the leader's ambition.
Commentary
Verse 16 sets the scene with a characteristic Maccabean pattern: the community hears a report of suffering ("these words" referring to v. 9–15's cry for help from Jews besieged in Gilead and Galilee) and responds not with paralysis but with a formal assembly. The Greek ἐκκλησία (congregation/assembly) deliberately echoes the qahal of Israel — the covenantal assembly convoked to hear God's word and determine his people's response. Distress (θλῖψις) and attack signal not merely military pressure but an existential threat to Jewish identity and worship; those under siege cannot observe the Torah. This elevates the gathering from a war council to an act of communal discernment.
Verse 17 reveals Judas's practical wisdom. He does not attempt to lead every force personally but delegates the western theater — Galilee — to Simon, his capable brother, while reserving the larger, more distant eastern campaign in Gilead for himself and Jonathan. The naming of brothers is significant: in 1 Maccabees, the Hasmonean brotherhood is a theological motif, reflecting Deuteronomy 17:15's insistence on a leader from among one's own kin. Leadership here is familial, covenantal, and shared — not monarchic or self-aggrandizing.
Verse 18 introduces the often-overlooked strategic and spiritual wisdom of reserve. Judas does not strip Judea bare. He appoints Joseph son of Zacharias and Azarias — officers not of the inner Hasmonean circle — to remain with "the remnant of the army." The phrase "remnant" (τὸ κατάλειμμα) carries prophetic resonance: in Isaiah and Jeremiah, the remnant is precisely the portion of Israel entrusted with preserving the community through crisis. Judea, the heartland containing Jerusalem and the Temple, cannot be left unguarded even for the sake of the diaspora.
Verse 19 is the hinge of the passage theologically. Judas issues a command of restraint: "fight no battle with the Gentiles until we return." This is not timidity but disciplined obedience to a commander's authority — the kind of ordered hierarchy that Augustine and Aquinas would identify as essential to just warfare. Victory is not to be sought independently or rashly; the timing and scope of legitimate defense belong to those entrusted with leadership. The verse also presupposes the expectation of return — a confidence that the mission will succeed.
Verse 20 closes with the enumeration of forces: three thousand for Simon's Galilee campaign, eight thousand for Judas in Gilead. The larger force goes east, where the threat is greater and the terrain more hostile. These numbers are not incidental; in the Hebrew military tradition, such figures signal that a serious, organized campaign is underway — not a raid, but a covenantal rescue. Typologically, the division of forces recalls Moses sending out the twelve scouts (Num 13) and Joshua's coordinated campaigns, evoking the sense that God's people are once again entering a contested inheritance to reclaim what belongs to the covenant.
Catholic Commentary
Catholic tradition reads 1 Maccabees within the deuterocanonical canon as inspired Scripture (defined at the Council of Trent, Session IV, 1546), meaning that even its military narrative carries theological freight. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§2309) identifies legitimate defense as not merely permissible but, for those in authority, an obligation of grave charity when the innocent are imperiled — precisely the situation Judas faces.
The structure of this passage illuminates the Catholic theology of authority and subsidiarity. Judas does not act alone; he convokes an assembly (v. 16), delegates to qualified subordinates (vv. 17–18), and issues clear, bounded commands (v. 19). This mirrors the principle articulated in Gaudium et Spes (§74) that political authority must be exercised for the common good, not for self-aggrandizement. Pope St. John Paul II, in Centesimus Annus (§41), notes that genuine leadership "serves" rather than dominates — Judas exemplifies this by remaining bound to the community's wellbeing rather than his own glory.
St. Ambrose, in De Officiis, praised the Maccabees precisely because their courage was ordered: it served justice and the defense of the covenant rather than personal ambition. The deliberate restraint commanded in verse 19 resonates with Aquinas's criterion in the Summa Theologiae (II-II, Q.40, a.1) that just war requires legitimate authority, just cause, and right intention — all present here.
The "remnant" left to guard Judea (v. 18) also speaks to the Catholic theology of the Church as custodian of the sacred deposit even when her leaders are scattered on mission: some must always remain to guard what God has entrusted.
For Today
Contemporary Catholics live in an age of fragmented attention and an instinct toward individualistic action — we imagine we must be everywhere or do everything ourselves. This passage offers a corrective. Judas, faced with multiple crises simultaneously, does not try to solve them alone. He convokes a community, delegates with trust, and sets boundaries on what others should attempt in his absence (v. 19). For Catholic leaders — whether parents, pastors, diocesan administrators, or lay leaders in apostolates — this is a model of ordered, humble governance rooted in discernment.
The strict command "fight no battle until we return" is a lesson in the spiritual discipline of staying within one's lane. Many well-intentioned Catholics, driven by zeal, overreach, act prematurely, or take on missions they have not been given — with results that damage the very people they sought to help. Genuine mission requires both courage and restraint.
Finally, verse 16's assembly in response to distant suffering challenges Catholic parishes to ask: when our brothers and sisters in persecuted Christian communities abroad cry out, do we even convoke a congregation to discern a response — or do we simply move on?
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