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Catholic Commentary
Simon Purifies Jerusalem and Receives Royal Confirmation
36In his days, things prospered in his hands, so that the Gentiles were taken away out of their country, and they also who were in the city of David, those who were in Jerusalem, who had made themselves a citadel, out of which they used to go, and polluted everything around the sanctuary, and did great damage to its purity.37He placed Jews in it and fortified it for the safety of the country and the city, and made high the walls of Jerusalem.38King Demetrius confirmed to him the high priesthood according to these things,39and made him one of his friends, and honored him with great honor;40for he had heard that the Jews had been called by the Romans friends, allies, and kindred, and that they had met the ambassadors of Simon honorably;
1 Maccabees 14:36–40 describes Simon Maccabeus's military and religious achievements: he expelled the Seleucid garrison from the Akra fortress, purified Jerusalem's sacred space, resettled the city with faithful Jews, and fortified its walls. King Demetrius II formally recognized Simon as high priest and friend of the crown, while Rome's recognition of the Jews as allies and kindred enhanced Simon's international standing and legitimacy.
Simon expels the foreign soldiers from Jerusalem's sacred precinct not as a military victory, but as a sacred restoration — where profanation once reigned, covenant-keepers now stand guard.
Verses 39–40 — Roman Alliance and International Honor Demetrius elevates Simon to the rank of "friend" — a formal court title in Hellenistic diplomacy carrying significant privileges. The mention of the Jews' alliance with Rome is crucial context: Simon had renewed the treaty with Rome (cf. 1 Macc 14:24), and Rome's recognition of the Jews as "friends, allies, and kindred" gave Simon enormous international leverage against the Seleucids. The word "kindred" (Greek: ἀδελφοί, adelphoi) is striking — it suggests a fraternal bond possibly rooted in legendary shared ancestry. Typologically, these verses present Simon as a priestly-king figure who purifies the sacred space, consolidates his people, and is recognized by the nations — a type of the messianic ruler who will ultimately do the same on a cosmic scale.
From a Catholic perspective, this passage illuminates several interlocking theological themes. First, the purification of Jerusalem by Simon operates as a type of the Church's own sacred space: just as Simon expelled those who "polluted everything around the sanctuary," Catholic tradition understands the Church herself as a sacred precinct that must be continually purified. The Catechism teaches that "the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect" (CCC §825), requiring ongoing conversion and reform — what the Second Vatican Council called semper reformanda in the spirit of Lumen Gentium §8.
Second, Simon's dual role as high priest and civic leader prefigures the unified sacred and royal authority of Christ, whom the Letter to the Hebrews presents as the eternal High Priest (Heb 4:14–5:10). St. Ambrose, commenting on the Maccabean books, saw the Hasmonean priests as figures of Christ's priestly office — human and imperfect anticipations of the one "who has passed through the heavens" (De Officiis I.50). Origen similarly reads the restoration of sacred space in Israel's history as a figure of the soul's restoration to God's indwelling presence.
Third, the Roman alliance foreshadows the Church's engagement with temporal powers — a theme developed in the Catechism's treatment of the relationship between the Church and the political community (CCC §2244–2246). Simon does not surrender spiritual authority to political endorsement; rather, he uses legitimate diplomatic recognition to protect and advance the sacred mission of Israel. This models a legitimate prudential engagement with civil society without capitulation of religious identity.
Simon's first act after gaining power is not to consolidate personal wealth or political advantage but to purify the sacred precinct and restore it to faithful worshippers. This is a pointed challenge to contemporary Catholics. In an age when cultural drift, secularism, and internal scandal have sometimes "polluted the areas around the sanctuary" — not in the ritual sense, but in the sense of compromising the integrity of Catholic worship, catechesis, and community life — Simon's model calls each Catholic to ask: What needs to be expelled from the sacred space of my own heart, my parish, my family? Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly called for a "purification of memory" and a reform of the Church's inner life, warning against treating the faith as a cultural possession rather than a living covenant. Practically, this might mean a Catholic recovering regular Confession, renewing a commitment to reverent liturgical participation, or working to restore authentic Catholic culture in one's home. The walls Simon raises are not walls of exclusion but of protection — defining what is holy and guarding it with love.
Commentary
Verse 36 — Expulsion of the Gentile Garrison The verse opens with a characteristic Deuteronomistic formula of blessing: "in his days, things prospered in his hands," which echoes the covenant theology running through the Hebrew Scriptures — fidelity to God brings material and political flourishing (cf. Deut 28:8). The "city of David" refers to the Akra, a fortress constructed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the southeastern hill of Jerusalem, which had been a thorn in the side of the Maccabean movement since approximately 168 BC. Its garrison of Hellenizing Jews and Seleucid soldiers had for decades used the citadel as a launching point for desecrations of the Temple precinct. The phrase "polluted everything around the sanctuary" is precise and charged: in Jewish thought, purity was not merely ritual but spatial — the proximity of pagan soldiers and apostate Jews to the Temple rendered the entire zone ritually compromised. Simon's achievement here is not just military but sacral; he restores the inviolable zone around God's dwelling. This is the culmination of a struggle that began under his father Mattathias and continued under his brothers Judas and Jonathan.
Verse 37 — Resettlement and Fortification Simon's response is twofold: he repopulates the purified space with observant Jews and strengthens Jerusalem's defensive infrastructure. The deliberate resettlement of faithful Israelites in the formerly polluted citadel is a reversal of the defilement: where pagans once "went out" to defile the sanctuary, now covenant-keepers are "placed in" to guard it. This act of resettlement resonates strongly with the post-exilic theology of Ezra and Nehemiah, where repopulating the holy city is an act of covenantal renewal (cf. Neh 11:1–2). The heightening of Jerusalem's walls echoes Nehemiah's great project of reconstruction (Neh 4; 6:15) and carries both practical and symbolic weight — walls signify order, protection, and the boundary between the sacred and the profane.
Verse 38 — Demetrius Confirms the High Priesthood King Demetrius II of Syria formally ratifies Simon's high priesthood. This confirmation is theologically complex: it acknowledges that foreign political power is still nominally sovereign, yet it also represents the world's recognition of a divinely ordered office. The high priesthood, by this point, had been deeply corrupted through Seleucid manipulation — Jason and Menelaus had purchased the office; Antiochus had weaponized it. Simon's confirmation by Demetrius, coming on the heels of popular and priestly acclamation (cf. 1 Macc 14:28–49), signals a restoration of legitimacy both from above (divine favor) and from earthly authority.