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 Hanukkah
(Chanukah)
Hanukkah means
“dedication”, referring to the rededication of the Temple after a
great Jewish military victory in 165 BCE
This feast did not originate with Moses, nor is it even mandated in
the Bible. It is found in the
books of First and Second Macabees in the Apocrypha, the books written in
the 400 year “silence” between the Tenach (Old Testament) and B’rit
Hadashah (New Testament). God
was not silent in these years however.
He was still at work fulfilling His promises and preserving His
people. Furthermore, there are good Biblical reasons to celebrate this feast.
The first is that Yeshua observed this holiday:
John
10:22-23
“Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem.
It was winter and Yeshua was in the Temple area walking in
Solomon’s colonnade.”
Secondly, the events at
Hanukkah were prophesied centuries before by Daniel:
Daniel
11:3-4 “Then a mighty
king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.
After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parceled
out toward the four winds of heaven.
It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he
exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.”
The “mighty king” was Alexander the Great. Then Daniel goes on to describe another person who would
succeed Alexander...
Daniel
11:21-28
“...a despicable person....and his heart will be set against the
Holy Covenant...”
Daniel
11: 31
“His forces will desecrate the sanctuary and do away with the
regular sacrifice, and they will set up the abomination of desolation.”
This prophecy accurately describes Antioch IV who reigned 175 - 164
BCE. His
reign was one of many throughout history that tried to wipe out the Jewish
people. The
survival, however, of the Jewish people is a firm testimony of God’s
faithfulness...
Genesis
12:3
“...All
peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Yeshua, the Messiah of all mankind, would come through the Jewish
bloodline.
Antiochus wanted
everyone to be united under Greek Hellenism, thus he was not at all
tolerant of the Jews.
Daniel
11:36
“Then the king shall do according to his own will.
He shall exalt and magnify himself above all gods and speak
blasphemies against the God of Gods.”
The
king called himself
“Antiochus
Epiphanies” which means “visible god”.
He made people bow down to his statues and if they didn’t
comply.....the consequence was death!
Social
and political pressures caused some Jews to follow Antiochus and they
actually bowed down to his statues (doesn’t sound Jewish to me).
Daniel
11:32 “...by
smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the
Covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take
action.”
Many Jews took the easy
way out and tried to “go Greek”.
Others understood that assimilation and elimination of Jewish
worship, sacrifices and traditions would be the destruction of Judaism
itself...making God a liar! The Jewish people faced persecution.
Antiochus’ heavily armed soldiers were sent out to force people
to worship the king and make sacrifices (pigs) on the holy altar.
This was the “abomination” that Daniel spoke of.
The penalty for resistance was death.
Antiochus’ actions
foreshadowed Hitler’s axiom toward the Jews:
First:
“You can’t live among us as Jews.”
Then:
“You can’t live among us.”
Finally:
“You can’t live.”
In 167 BCE soldiers came
to Modin outside Jerusalem to force Greek worship on an influential Jewish
family led by Matathias and his 5 sons.
Matathias would not forsake his faith.
He tore down the Greek altar and drove off the soldiers with the
battle cry, “Whoever is for the Lord, follow me!”
This was the beginning of the Jewish rebellion.
The Jewish people knew they were up against great odds, but their
banner was “Who among the mighty is like Thee, o God?” (“Mee Kamocha B’aleem Adonoi!”) The name for the Jewish heroes of Hanukkah comes from using
the first letters of these Hebrew words to form “Macabee”. Matathias’ oldest son was nicknamed
“Judah
Macabee”....the hammer....because he fought so hard.
The
battle was difficult for untrained Jewish farmers against the well
equipped Syrian soldiers.
Daniel
11:32
says:
“...the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out
great exploits.”
The
real miracle of Hanukkah is that a few, with God on their side, triumphed
over a multitude of powerful enemies.
Remember:
“God’s people + God = VICTORY!
Zechariah
4:6
“...not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord
of hosts.”
(Haftorah reading for Hanukkah Shabbat)
On the 25th of the
Hebrew month of Kislev, the date we celebrate Hanukkah, the Macabees won
back Jerusalem and the Temple that had been desecrated by Antiochus.
This date was also prophesied by
Daniel
8:13-14
“How long will it be until the daily sacrifice is restored again?
How long until the desecration of the Temple is avenged and God’s
people triumph?’
He replied:
“For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the Holy Place will be
properly restored.”
This is a great confirmation that God’s word is true:
Historically accurate from the start of Antiochus’ persecution of
the Jews in 171 BCE until the restoration of the Temple in 165 BCE......
6
years, 3 1/2 months = 2,300 days!!
How did the tradition of
the 8 days and lighting 8 candles begin?
When the victorious Macabees began cleaning up the Temple, they
found only one small jar of oil for “ner tamid”...only enough for one
day. They sent a messenger for more. Meanwhile, the small amount
of oil burned miraculously for 8 days.
Another explanation for the 8 day observance is that some Rabbis
believe it was a delayed celebration of the fall feast of Sukkot, which
also lasts for 8 days.
During the time of
Yeshua (in John 10:22), people’s minds were focused on themes of
deliverance and rededication, oil and light.
John
10: 27-28
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and
no one shall snatch them out of My hand.”
Yeshua was promising His people deliverance from sin and
death...not just for a season, but for eternity!
Earlier in John 8:12, Yeshua proclaims “I am the light of
the world...he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the
light of life.” The people
listening to Yeshua understood what He was saying...they knew what God had
promised through the prophet:
Isaiah:
(9:2) “The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a
light has shined.”
Psalm
27:1
“The Lord is my light and my salvation.”
(“Yeshua” in Hebrew means salvation.)
Hanukkah is referred to as the “Festival of Lights”
(Hag Haorim) and it was during this season that Yeshua described
Himself as the” light of the world”.
A future Hanukkah is
described in 2 Thessalonians 2: 3-8 where Paul writes about the
second coming of the Lord:
1.
Many will turn away from God (as some Jews did who followed
Antiochus’ Hellenism).
2.
The “son of perdition exalts himself above God” (as Antiochus Epiphanies
did).
3.
But the Lord will destroy him with the “brightness of His
coming”... (this victory we can all think of when we gaze at the lights of our
Hanukkah menorah).
4.
The Lord will usher in His millennial kingdom with the overthrow of
the “lawless one” in a miraculous
way. (A miracle to think
about when we retell the Hanukkah story.)
The shamash or “servant” is the candle used to light the other
candles of the Hanukkah menorah. Yeshua
is our shamash...
.
Matthew
20:28
“...the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and
give His life as a ransom for many...”
Other traditions:
1.
Display your menorah in the window to show God’s miracle to the
world.
2.
So eat some latkes and donuts already!
Oil (the symbol of the Ruach) is associated with the Hanukkah
miracle. Fry the latkes in
oil and don’t think about the calories....think about the miracle!
3.
The draydel: The four
Hebrew letters mean “a great miracle happened there”. (nes gadol haya
sham)
Children play a game with the draydel and each letter has an
assigned value: nes
(nothing), gadol (all),
hayah
(half), and sham (put in).
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