Chanukah--more than just the "Jewish Christmas"

When I was young, the only thing I knew about Chanukah was that it was a time when we as a Jewish family lit a fancy candelabra called a menorah, and we kids got presents.  I had no idea what the holiday awas all about.  All I knew was that it was close to Christmas (when we as a Jewish family got a Christmas tree, and when my Jewish mom would tell me she was meeting Santa Claus at midnight to get my Christmas gifts).

To many non-Jews (and to many Jews who were raised as I was!), Chanukah is merely the Jewish answer to Christmas.  It's nothing more than a Jewish way to participate in the holiday season without giving up our identity as Jews.  And while there's a lot to be said for that, Chanukah is about so much more.

So often we Jews are defined by who we are not.  We are not Gentiles.  We do not consider ourselves "Christians."  (Even many of us who do believe in Jesus don't accept many of the trappings of "Christianity.")  We don't eat pork.  And we don't celebrate Christmas.

But who are we?  What is our calling?  And where does Chanukah fit in to this calling? 

For those of you not familiar with the Chanukah story, here it is in a nutshell:

• Even with the memory of the banishment to Babylon still fresh in their minds, the Israelites fell quickly into sin upon return to the land.
• Her temple sacrifices became nothing more than dead ritual, and she would be overrun by a new enemy--the Seleucid Empire (one of the four Greek kingdoms that carved up Alexander's vast empire after his death).
• In 175 BCE, Antiochus IV murdered his nephew and usurped the Selucid throne.  Immediately upon taking rulership, he murdered the Jewish High Priest and sold the office to a puppet priest.
• In 168 BCE, after being humiliated in a military campaign in Egypt by the up-and-coming Roman Empire, Antiochus returned to Jerusalem and took out his rage upon the Jews residing there.  He killed 40,000 of them, forced his way not only into the Temple but into the very Holy of Holies, destroying the scrolls and sacrificing a pig on the altar.  He ordered the priests to eat the pig; those who didn't were tortured to death.
• In the nearby town of Modi'in, an old priest named Mattathias responded to the order to sacrifice a pig by murdering the Greek commanding officer and forming, with his sons, a guerilla army. 
• Against overwhelming odds, that guerilla army fought the Greeks, overcame them, and freed the Jewish people from their rule.  In 164 BCE, they captured the Temple and cleansed it of all the idols that had been set up there.

We Jews have been chosen by God out of all the families of the earth to be in relation with Him, to have fellowship with Him, and to reveal Him to the rest of the world.  This is why the Bible was written by Jews.  This is why Jesus was born into the Jewish family.  And...this is why Jews (even in our unbelief) continue to be so hated by the rest of the world (which, for the most part, is in rebellion against the Jewish God).

But way too often we lose track of who we are.  We allow, as did the ancient Israelites, the surrounding cultures to influence us, causing us to define ourselves solely in opposition to them.  In the case of the Chanukah story as described above, it took a mammoth crisis--the setting up in God's holy Temple of pagan idols--for us to reclaim our heritage and our calling.

And so it is in our day.  As the nations of the earth are gathering with increasing fury against the Jewish state, we Jews are realizing that our only friends are Bible-believing Christians.  And as the pressure mounts more and more, we will be forced into a corner and either cry out to God to reveal Himself to us--or else we perish.  My Bible tells me that in the end of days, it will be the Jewish believers in Yeshua who will be setting the pace in the fight for God's glory as evil advances.  It will be, as it were, the return of the Maccabees.

And so: Chanukah is so much more than the "un-Christmas." 

• Even with the memory of the banishment to Babylon still fresh in their minds, the Israelites fell quickly into sin upon return to the land.
• Her temple sacrifices became nothing more than dead ritual, and she would be overrun by a new enemy--the Seleucid Empire (one of the four Greek kingdoms that carved up Alexander's vast empire after his death).
• In 175 BCE, Antiochus IV murdered his nephew and usurped the Selucid throne.  Immediately upon taking rulership, he murdered the Jewish High Priest and sold the office to a puppet priest.
• In 168 BCE, after being humiliated in a military campaign in Egypt by the up-and-coming Roman Empire, Antiochus returned to Jerusalem and took out his rage upon the Jews residing there.  He killed 40,000 of them, forced his way not only into the Temple but into the very Holy of Holies, destroying the scrolls and sacrificing a pig on the altar.  He ordered the priests to eat the pig; those who didn't were tortured to death.
• In the nearby town of Modi'in, an old priest named Mattathias responded to the order to sacrifice a pig by murdering the Greek commanding officer and forming, with his sons, a guerilla army. 
• Against overwhelming odds, that guerilla army fought the Greeks, overcame them, and freed the Jewish people from their rule.  In 164 BCE, they captured the Temple and cleansed it of all the idols that had been set up there.

Comments

[Paul Wilcox]

Thanks Gary. I enjoyed this piece.
I notice you didn't mention the miracle with the menorah burning for 8 days instead of 1.
Applying the lesson personally, when we rededicate the temple of our bodies and hearts, casting out what is offensive to God, He then is glad to supply His presence with fresh oil and fire that lasts for days so that we can get it all back together.
+
paul

[Gary]

The story about the oil miraculously lasting eight days until fresh oil could be consecrated is not found in the original Chanukah narrative found in 2 Maccabees 10. It was added centuries later in the Talmud. Having said that, you are correct--when we rededicate our personal temple to the LORD, He is not only glad--He is delighted--to replenish us with fresh Holy Spirit oil.

[Andrew Skipper]

I have read up on the Maccabees lately and found the story fascinating. Thanks for re-telling it. Only wish you could go into more detail. It really is an inspirational and heroic epic!

Your friend and grafted-in brother,

Andrew