1 Maccabees 13:49. "The men in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going out to the country and back to buy and sell. So they were very hungry, and many of them perished from famine." Simon Maccabeus had laid siege to the city of Gazara and the citadel at Jerusalem in what became a successful attempt to drive out the men of Trypho, an occupying Greek king. The suffering of the siege led to, first the men and women in the city, and later the men encamped in the citadel, asking for peace with Simon. In both cases, he reached an agreement with them, expelled the occupying king's forces, cleansed the places of idols, and established peace. When the citadel was cleansed, "The Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and symbols and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel." (1 Maccabees 13:51).

This was a time of war in Judah, they were being ruled by their enemies, and the Maccabees were leading an out-numbered revolt against these enemy forces. War is always horrible, even when it is just; here we see men willing to let their fellow man die of starvation before they become willing to surrender to Simon. When people are willing to sacrifice so much for their error, those fighting against them have to recognize this, realize who they are fighting, and fight back accordingly. So Simon laid siege to Gazara and the citadel, and the people in those places suffered greatly. Does this mean that Simon was wrong to do so? No - he was fighting for a just cause and in as just a way as he could.

We must also recognize that we are at war - a war against the prince of this world and his forces, one that has most definitely heated up lately, and one in which the devil is convincing people to sacrifice everything for their error. The devil is an occupying force in this world. We cannot acquiesce to his rule, we must fight back in whatever way we can, like Simon did. We face a similar problem, though, to the one Simon faced - the occupying forces are in places and people God wants to save. The devil does not fight fair, he takes over what belongs to God and claims it for himself (that's all he can do, since God created everything and therefore everything rightly belongs to God). But we must fight fair, even against an unfair enemy.

The devil also uses others to do his dirty work - tempting, blinding, and luring people to fight on his side. It is our responsibility to recognize that our battle is with him and the other demons, and not with the people they are influencing. If we don't recognize this and act accordingly, we end up in the devil's forces as well - he does not care which side we say we are fighting on, as long as he gets us to act unjustly to our fellow man, he has turned us against God and lured us to his side.

God wants to save his people and his world. He wants to drive the occupying forces from people's souls and re-enter their citadels with "praise and palm branches", "hymns and songs", because "a great enemy has been crushed and removed" from them. In fighting this battle on God's side, then, we can learn lessons from Simon Maccabeus. Actively attacking the strongholds where the enemy was  encamped would have destroyed the people , the city, and the citadel themselves. But a patient siege wore down the enemy and drove his forces away, saving the places and the people within.

We want to help God save His people and His world, not destroy them by attacking them. Patiently standing by our convictions, even if it means distancing ourselves from some people for a while, is the best way to do this. When they are starved for truth, they will eventually seek peace with God. When they do, He will drive out the forces of the enemy, and reestablish peace in the people and the world He loves.