Hanukkah and Osama bin Laden
We're all still reeling from the destruction of the World Trade
Centers and the subsequent anthrax attacks. And from what we're
hearing in the news, the terrorists may strike again. All this
is designed to develop dread in our hearts, and that's why Hanukkah
is so important right now.
The apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees, and Josephus' Antiquities
of the Jews, state that this holiday arose because of the
persecution of God and his chosen people. Alexander the Great,
the fierce military leader, had conquered most of the known world
in his attempt to attain international dominance, not unlike what
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are trying to do today.
After his death, his kingdom was divided up between four his
four top generals, one of whom was Antiochus the King. When he
died, his son, Antiochus took over his kingdom in about 175 BCE.
This latter Antiochus took the surname Epiphanes, meaning "God
manifest." He saw himself as the son of the gods. In order to
dominate the world, he strove to make everyone Hellenistic—Greek
in every way—so he could obtain more control. It was particularly
critical for him to get Jews to give up their ways and let him
be their "lord."
He "went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude,
and entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden
altar and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,
and the table of showbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials,
and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the
golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off."
He totally ransacked the holy Temple.
Next, the Greeks made Jerusalem a sanctuary for their religion,
and Antiochus made each ethnic and religious group in his kingdom
to leave their own laws and customs. Those Jews who stood up against
these pronouncements were killed. On 15 Kislev (November/December),
168 BCE, the Syrian-Greeks set up the "abomination of desolation"
upon the altar—a statue of Zeus. They also burned incense
to their "gods." When they came across copies of the Torah, they
tore them up and burned them. The Syrians did everything they
could to wipe out the religion of the Jews. But they finally broke
the last straw.
I Maccabees states,
"Now the five and twentieth day of the
month [Kislev] they [the Syrian-Greeks] did sacrifice upon the
idol altar, which was upon the altar of God." This pagan "Saturnalia"
ceremony in which a pig, an unkosher animal, was sacrificed in
the Holy of Holies, the heart of the Temple, was totally abhorrent
to any God-fearing Jew.
The next step in Antiochus' attempt to dominate Israel was
to get Jewish leaders to follow him, and many did. But one man,
Mattathias, a priest in the Temple, refused, saying, "I and my
sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers. God
forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances."
But when another priest, a Jew in Modin, a small Israeli town,
yielded to the Hellenistic ways and, in the sight of everyone,
sacrificed on the king's altar, Mattathias was inflamed with both
holy anger and righteous zeal. He slew the priest who sacificed
to Zeus. He pulled down Antiochus' altar and cried throughout the
city, "Whoever is zealous for the Torah and maintains the covenant
follow me!"
The freedom fighter and his sons fled to the hills to fight
the much larger armies of Antiochus doing whatever they could
to purge Hellenism from the holy land. After the death of Mattathias,
his son, Judah, led the zealous band (later known as the Maccabees,
or hammers). After three years, they overcame the Syrian-Greeks
and cleansed and rededicated the Temple to God on 25 Kislev, 165
BCE. The dedication took place on the same day as the desecration,
"And they kept eight days with gladness, as in the feast of tabernacles"
(II Maccabees 10:1-6).
Tradition teaches that when the Temple was restored only one
flask of oil had the high priest's seal of approval on it, making
it usable in the Temple menorah. However, one day's worth of sacred
oil miraculously lasted eight days. Since that day, we Jews have
been commemorating the miracle of the oil in the eight-branched
Hanukkiah, and recalling the "great miracle that happened there."
On December 15, we will once again celebrate this great victory
of God over paganism with a Hanukkah party, immediately after
our morning Shabbat service. The details for this special event
are still being worked out, so call or check our website for details.
With the terrorism of the past months still fresh in our minds,
it will be good for us to remember that God is the ultimate victor
over all enemies, no matter how things look. That's what Hanukkah
will show us again as we celebrate it this year.
Shalom in Yeshua,
Rabbi Baruch (Barry) Rubin
|
