Day 284: Near Occasion of Sin (2026)

Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 284 We're three days into the- wow, that was really exciting. I was apparently very excited. We're three days into the Maccabean revolt. 1 Maccabees, chapter three is what we're reading today. Also, Sirach chapters seven, eight and nine, as well as Proverbs chapter 22 verses five through eight. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast and you receive daily episodes and daily updates. And every day is a gift, and truly is. It's day 284 We're reading 1 Maccabees, Chapter 3, Sirach, Chapter 7, 8, and 9, and Proverbs, Chapter 22, Verses 5 through 8

The First Book of the Maccabees, Chapter 3, Early Victories of Judas Maccabeus. Then Judas his son, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place. All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him. They gladly fought for Israel. He extended the glory of his people. Like a giant he put on his breastplate, he belted on his armor of war and waged battles, protecting the host by his sword. He was like a lion in his deeds, like a lion's cub roaring for prey. He searched out and pursued the lawless. He burned those who troubled his people. Lawless men shrank back for fear of him. All the evildoers were confounded and deliverance prospered by his hand. He embittered many kings, but he made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever. He went through the cities of Judah. He destroyed the ungodly out of the land, thus he turned away wrath from Israel. He was renowned to the ends of the earth. He gathered in those who were perishing. But Apollonius gathered together Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to fight against Israel. When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled. Then they seized their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius and used it in battle the rest of his life. Now in Suran, the commander of the Syrian army heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful men who stayed with him and went out to battle, he said, I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and his companions who scorned the king's command. And again, a strong army of ungodly men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel. When he approached the ascent of Bethharon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company. But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today. Judas said, It is easy for many to be hemmed in by the few, for in the sight of heaven, there is no difference between saving by many or by few. It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from heaven. They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children and to despoil us. But we fight for our lives and our laws. He himself will crush them before us. As for you, do not be afraid of them. When he had finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Saran and his army, and they were crushed before him. They pursued them down the descent of Bet-Haron to the plain. Eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them. His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.

The Policy of Antiochus When King Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered, and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army. And he opened his coffers, and gave a year's pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need. Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster which he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days. He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings. He was greatly perplexed in mind, and determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund. He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the king's affairs, from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt. Lysias was also to take care of Antiochus, his son, until he returned. And he turned over to Lysias, half of his troops and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem, Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem. He was to banish the memory of them from the place, settle aliens in all their territory and distribute their land. Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the 147th year. He crossed the Euphrates River and went through the Upper Provinces.