Leadership Counts

" Don´t ever do that again ! Ok mom....I promise ",
a photo by Helgi Skulason on Flickr.

32 Simon rose up and fought for his nation, spending large sums of his own money
to equip the men of his nation's armed forces and giving them their pay.

Simon rose up, i.e., he wasn't a couch potato. He was a man of action.
Simon fought for his nation, i.e., he gave himself to the cause of restoring his country.
It really is a war when it comes to teaching, educating, or disciplining ourselves
as well as others.

Simon spent large sums of his own money for this! It was his lifework.
He wasn't in it for personal gain. He paid to be in it.
He had been convinced that equipping his men was worth the cost.

33 He fortified the cities of Judea, especially the frontier city of Beth-zur,
where he stationed a garrison of Jewish soldiers,
and where previously the enemy's arms had been stored.

Simon had not lacked a sense of crisis in such a time. He fortified the cities.
Especially, the frontier city.

34 He also fortified Joppa by the sea and Gazara on the border of Azotus,
a place previously occupied by the enemy; these cities he resettled with Jews,
and furnished them with all that was necessary for their restoration.
35 When the Jewish people saw Simon's loyalty
and the glory he planned to bring to his nation,
they made him their leader and high priest
because of all he had accomplished and the loyalty
and justice he had shown his nation. In every way he sought to exalt his people.

36 "'In his time and under his guidance they succeeded.

1 Maccabees 14:32-36