The Story of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is not a religious holiday – it is a National Holiday, equivalent to America’s Independence Day.  Whereas America has only fought and won it’s independence once, Israel has had to fight numerous times to throw off the shackles of foreign occupation.

Invariably, Israel, like America, could not be defeated by an outside force until it had destroyed itself from within. Deliverance from overwhelming oppression is only available when the people turn back to Yahweh and submit to what He has told us is good and right.

It takes place between the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) and before the first book of the New Testament (Matthew).  Though originally in the 1611 King James Bible, the books of the Maccabees  (http://www.metaphysicspirit.com/the-books-of-the-Maccabees.pdf) were removed (along with several others) in the late 1800s, so it is not part of today’s canonized Bible. 

The story is interesting and enlightening for those who believe we are entering into the time of tribulation.  Hanukkah is celebrated because of the minor miracle that Yahweh performs to show His approval of Israel’s actions to free themselves and root out the symbols of pagan worship and idolatry.

Under Syrian Rule

From 222-186 B.C., Antiochus III, the King of Syria waged war with King Ptolemy of Egypt over the possession of the Land of Israel. Antiochus III was victorious and the Land of Israel was annexed to his empire. At the beginning of his reign he was favorably disposed toward the Jews and accorded them some privileges. Later on, however, when he was beaten by the Romans and compelled to pay heavy taxes, the burden fell upon the various peoples of his empire who were forced to furnish the heavy gold that was required of him by the Romans. When Antiochus died, his son Seleucus IV took over, and further oppressed the Jews.

Added to the troubles from the outside were the grave perils that threatened Judaism from within. The influence of the Hellenists (people who accepted idol-worship and the Syrian way of life) was increasing. Yochanan, the High Priest, was opposed to any attempt on the part of the Jewish Hellenists to introduce Greek and Syrian customs into the land.

The Hellenists hated him. One of them told the King’s commissioner that there was a great deal of wealth in the Temple. The Temple treasury consisted of the contributions of “half a shekel” made by all adult Jews annually that were used for Temple operation and maintenance (as well as other community needs).

Seleucus needed money in order to pay the Romans. He sent his minister. Helyodros. to take the money from the treasury of the Temple. Yochanan, the High Priest, beg him not to do it. Helyodros did not listen and entered the gate of the Temple. But suddenly, he became pale with fright. The next moment he fainted and fell to the ground. After Helyodros came to, he did not dare enter again.

The Madman: Antiochus IV

A short time later, Seleucus was killed and his brother Antiochus IV began to reign over Syria (in 3586 – 174 B.C.). He was contemptuous of other religions because they did not call for the worship him. He was called “Epiphanes,” meaning “the gods’ beloved.” Several of the Syrian rulers received similar titles. But a historian of his time, Polebius, gave him the epithet Epimanes (“madman”), a title more suitable to the character of this harsh and cruel king.

Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture, Antiochus tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by suppressing all the Jewish Laws. He removed Yochanan as High Priest of the Temple and in his place installed Yochanan’s brother, Joshua, who loved to call himself by the Greek name of Jason who was a member of the Hellenist party,  As High Priest, Jason used his office to spread the Greek customs among the priesthood.

Jason was later replaced by another man, Menelaus, who had promised the king that he would bring in more money than Jason did. When Yochanan, the former High Priest, protested against the spread of the Hellenists’ influence in the Holy Temple, the ruling High Priest hired murderers to assassinate him.

Antiochus was at that time engaged in a successful war against Egypt. But messengers from Rome arrived and commanded him to stop the war, and he had to yield. In Jerusalem, a rumor spread that a serious accident had befallen Antiochus – thinking that he was dead, the people rebelled against Menelaus, the High Priest who fled together with his friends.

The Martyrs

Antiochus returned from Egypt enraged by Roman interference with his ambitions. When he heard what had taken place in Jerusalem, he ordered his army to fall upon the Jews. Thousands were killed and harsh decrees were enacted against the Jews. Jewish worship was forbidden and the scrolls of the Law were confiscated and burned.  Sabbath rest, circumcision, and the dietary laws were prohibited under penalty of death.

The soldiers tested the adherence of the Jews to the Laws by forcing them to eat pork. Thousands sacrificed their lives rather than consume what G-d had instructed them was unclean. The famous story of Hannah and her seven children happened at that time – the sons were all tortured and killed individually in front of the rest until all were martyred rather than deny G-d.

Mattityahu

Antiochus’s men went from village to village to force the inhabitants to worship pagan gods. One of the tricks the Syrians used was to wait for the Sabbath to attack the Jews, who would not fight on the Sabbath . . . and would die easily at the hands of the Syrians.

When they arrived in the village of Modiin, where Mattityahu the old priest lived, the Syrian officer built an altar in the marketplace. They first tried to bribe and then threatened Mattityahu to offer sacrifices to the Greek gods. Mattityahu replied, “I, my sons, and my brothers are determined to remain loyal to the covenant which our G‑d made with our ancestors!”

Thereupon, a younger, Hellenistic Jew accepted the bribe and approached the altar to offer a sacrifice. Mattityahu grabbed his sword and killed him.  Mattityahu’s sons and friends fell upon the Syrian soldiers – killing many of them and forcing the rest to flee for their lives. They then destroyed the altar.

Mattityahu knew that Antiochus would be enraged when he heard what had happened. He would certainly send an expedition to punish him and his followers. Mattityahu, therefore, left the village of Modiin and fled together with his sons and friends to the hills of Judea.

Loyal and courageous Jews joined them. They formed legions and from time to time they left their hiding places to fall upon enemy detachments and outposts, and to destroy the pagan altars that were built by order of Antiochus.

The Maccabees

Before his death, Mattityahu called his sons together and urged them to continue to fight in defense of G-d’s Torah. He asked them to follow the counsel of their brother, Shimon the Wise. In waging warfare, he said, their leader should be Judah the Strong. Judah was called “Maccabee,” a word composed of the initial letters of the four Hebrew words Mi, Kamocha, Ba’eilim, and Hashem, (“Who is like You, O G‑d”).

Antiochus sent his General, Apolonius, to wipe out Judah and the Maccabees. Though greater in number and equipment than their adversaries, the Syrians were defeated by the Maccabees, who fought on the Sabbath and were given an astounding victory by G-d (Mark 2:27). Antiochus sent out another, larger, expedition which was also defeated.

After these defeats, an army of more than 40,000 men swept the land. When Judah and his brothers heard of that, they exclaimed: “Let us fight unto death in defense of our souls and our Temple!” The people assembled in Mitzpah, where Samuel, the prophet of old, had offered prayers to G‑d. After a series of battles, the vastly out-numbered Hebrews were strengthen by G-d and war was won.

The Dedication

Now the Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to liberate it. They entered the Temple and cleared it of the idols placed there by the Syrian vandals. Judah and his followers built a new altar, which he dedicated on the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev, in the year 3622 (139 B.C.).

Since the golden Menorah had been stolen by the Syrians, the Maccabees now made one of cheaper metal. The Temple Menorah was fed by a basin that the Priests would continually fill so the light would never go out.

When they went to fill the basin and light the Menorah, they found only a small cruse of pure olive oil bearing the seal of the High Priest Yochanan. It was sufficient to light only for one day but the purification process for new oil took seven days.

By a miracle of G‑d, the Menorah continued to burn for eight days with the one day supply of oil they started with, till new oil was made available. That miracle proved that G‑d had again taken His people under His protection. In memory of this, our sages appointed these eight days for annual thanksgiving and for lighting candles.

The Hanukkah menorah is different from the Temple menorah.  Yahweh directed Moses to make a seven candle light for the tabernacle.  The Hanukkah menorah has nine – the ‘shamash’ (center candle that lights the rest) and eight to remember the deliverance of the Jews and the miracle that Yahweh performed in the Temple.

The shamash remains lit, but each night a new candle is lit until all the candles are lit on the eighth day.

After Hanukkah

Judah led the Maccabees in several more battles to free the rest of the land from the Syrians, other neighboring enemies; and the Hellenistic Jews who were destroying Israel from within.

This respite would not last . . . the shadow of Rome loomed over the horizon and the Hellenistic Jews would eventually erode the faith from within.  (https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102978/jewish/The-Story-of-Chanukah.htm)

Are you ready to stand for the Faith . . . no matter what?

Will you compromise with ‘fellow believers’ who twist the Word in order to curry favor with the ruling elites?

Freedom comes at a cost.

Hard decisions are coming that will affect your life . . . and your everlasting life.  You may be hated, you may be ‘cancelled’, you may one day be beaten and/or killed, but you must determine now that you will believe in and stand for something bigger than yourself.

Stand (in thoughts and deeds) for the one, true Yahweh, who has given us his Instructions on life in this fallen world – until his son arrives with an army of angels to take back the creation and make all things right.