HANUKKAH
In 323 B.C. Alexander the Great
died and his kingdom was divided among his four generals.
The land mass north of Israel, known as Syria, was ruled
by Seleucid. One one of his descendants, Antiochus
Epiphanies, inherited the kingdom. In 168 B.C. Antiochus
began a campaign of atrocities against the Jews. People
by the thousands were killed, and the sacred altar was
defiled when a pig was sacrificed on it. Also, the temple
was looted and defiled and a statue of Zeus was erected
in the Holy of Holies.
These acts of degradation were met
by the rebellion of a priest named Matthias and his five
sons. The family gathered other Israelites to their cause
and soon formed an army. The family would later take the
name of Maccabee, which means, "hammer." After three
years of fighting, the Maccabean army drove the Syrians
out of the land.
One of the Maccabees' first actions
was to cleanse and rededicate the Temple on the 25th of
Kislev ( December ). This was the beginning of Hanukkah,
which means, "to dedicate." and is referred to in the
Bible as "the Feast of Dedication" (John 10:22). ... In
2001 (5762) Hanukkah lasted from sundown December 9th to
the 17th.
Some years later, a tradition arose
that during the temple cleansings, they found a one-day
supply of oil for the seven-branched lampstand. It would
take days to ceremonially prepare more oil. A miracle is
supposed to have occured when the one-day supply of oil
lasted for eight. That is why there is eight candles are
lit during Hanukkah. From this, the holiday became known
as the Festival of Lights. Jewish historians are devided
on how the lights came to play such an important role in
the holiday. They readily admit two facts: 1) that the
lights played no part in the festival; and 2) the concept
of lights originated shortly after 30 A.D. The obvious
question is, why were the lights added ???
After Jesus' death, burial, and
resurrection, Hebrew Christians began to associate Light,
Jesus, the Temple and Hanukkah. The center branch of the
menorah stands taller than the other eight. It is called
the shamash, or "servant," light and was the early
Christians' way of illustrating John 1:9: "That was the
true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
World." Four times in the Gospel of John, Jesus claimed
to be the "light of the world" (John 8:12; 9:5; 11:9;
12:35). and in Chapter 10:22 , during the Feast of
Dedication--( Hanukkah )
The Temple was to be the dwelling
place of God on earth, a place where His glory could
shine forth. The incarnate Jesus, too, was the dwelling
place of God. He, too, radiated the glory of God (John
1:1). The relationship between the Temple and the body of
Jesus was so close that when pressed for a sign to
authenticate His life and ministry, He compared his body
to the Temple (John 2:19).
