Peace and good order marked Jerusalem under the high priest Onias III, when a temple official named Simon, quarreling with Onias, betrayed to the Seleucid authorities that great wealth lay stored in the temple treasury. King Seleucus dispatched his minister Heliodorus to seize the funds, and the whole city fell to prayer and lamentation as he pressed toward the sanctuary. As Heliodorus entered, a dreadful horseman in golden armor appeared with two radiant young men who struck him down and scourged him until he lay speechless and near death, and only through Onias's intercession and sacrifice was his life spared. Restored, Heliodorus bore witness to the sovereign power of the God who guards His house, and the chapter matters as the book's opening display of divine protection, setting the God of Israel against every hand raised to plunder His temple.