Books Jesus Read
144
Books Jesus Read
cried out, “The Lord knows I could have escaped the torture of my flesh but I would rather endure suffering on his account. My body suffers but my soul delights for fear of the Lord!” Eleazar thus died, leaving an example of nobility and courage in death, not for the young only but for the entire nation. The Woman and Her Seven Sons (2 Maccabees 7) The king himself soon arrived to make sure his sacrifices were being observed. At that time, seven brothers and their mother were threatened with torture if they refused to eat the pig flesh. “You are wasting your time,” a friend of the family told the agents, “for they are ready to die rather than to disobey the laws of our ancestors!” The king commanded his agents to strike the man down, and they proceeded to torture him as an example to the others: his tongue was cut out, he was scalped, and his hands and feet were cut off. His maimed body was then thrown into a fire-heated caldron where he writhed in pain before dying, as the mother and sons prepared themselves to die with honor. “The Lord God sees what these evil men are doing but he deals compassionately with his servants,” she told them. “Just as Moses taught the people,” they agreed, “God is good!” Now the oldest son stepped forward to take his punishment. Sticking out his tongue and presenting
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