Once again Hanukkah and Christmas meet on the pages of December’s calendar. What do these two celebrations have in common? We remember how Tevye the milkman would sing his beloved song ‘Tradition! Tradition!’ in the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ But today, as we ‘pan for gold’ – sifting through the traditions and the history – what will we discover?

Foundations of the feasts

Modern holiday traditions of both Christmas and Hannukah are fun and cheery, family-based and heartwarming. For many Christians and Jews, that is enough – let’s just ‘enjoy the season,’ but let’s not focus too much on reasons for the season. But some of us really do want to know what these holidays are about. Here’s a quick look at some of the historical and biblical foundations of Hanukkah.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah

Hanukkah has a pretty successful world-wide brand recognition – the nine-branched menorah (candelabrum), and the consumption of oil-based foods like latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganiyot (jelly donuts). These symbols have roots – some historical, some theological, and some traditional.

Hanukkah – it’s all Greek to me!

‘Hanukkah’ means ‘dedication’ in Hebrew (see Psalm 30:1, where the dedication of the original Jerusalem Temple is described). The ancient events (ca. 164 B.C.) which form the foundations of today’s modern feast were spoken of by Daniel the seer, nearly 400 years prior to the clash of Jews and Greeks. In Daniel 11:31-32 a prophetic word is given: Greek forces led by a future king (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) would try to commit genocide against the entire Jewish people, but would be successfully resisted by stalwart Jewish warriors, the Maccabees:

• “The people who know their God will be strong and take action. And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. Now when they fall, they will be granted a little help . . . And some of those who have insight will fall” (Daniel 11:32-35)

History tells us that, after Alexander the Great’s empire had broken up into four pieces starting in 322 B.C., one of those empires – the Greek pagan Seleucids based out of Syria – moved to crush Jewish national existence, to obliterate the Hebrew Scriptures and to eradicate the pure worship of YHVH. Believe it or not, these Greek assimilationist plans (described today by the word ‘Hellenization’) were ardently supported by some top Jewish leaders at that time (the ‘anti-traditionalists’) – collaborators who fully embraced the ‘woke’ agendas of Alexander the Great’s ‘One World’ Hellenistic empire. These Judean quislings – or ‘renegades,’ as they are labeled in 1 Maccabees 1:11 – wanted the Jewish state to be fully accepted as part of the Greek world, even at the cost of the Hebrews abandoning their own Jewish biblical perspectives and lifestyles:

• “In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, ‘Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles around us. For since we separated from them, many disasters have come upon us.’ This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king, who authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil” (1 Maccabees 1:11-15)

But YHVH was prepared for such challenges. The prophet Ezekiel had prophesied over 400 years before this Jewish ‘woke’ form of apostasy: “And whatever comes into your mind certainly will not come about, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone” (Ezekiel 20:31-35).

‘One New Greek Man’

Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ was king of the Greek Seleucid Syria-based Empire from 175 B.C. until his death in 164 B.C. At one point in his regime (168 B.C.), he challenged Rome for supremacy in the Mediterranean Basin, but lost the superpower ‘game of chicken.’ According to the Greek historian Polybius (200-118 B.C.; The Histories, Fragments of Book XXIX), the Roman consul Gaius Popillius Laenas threatened Antiochus by drawing a circle in the sand around him on the beaches just outside of Alexandria, Egypt:

• Popillius “drew a circle round Antiochus and told him he must remain inside this circle until he gave his decision about the contents of the [Roman Senate’s] letter. The king was astonished at this authoritative proceeding, but, after a few moments' hesitation, said he would do all that the Romans demanded . . . So, as a fixed number of days were allowed to him, he led his army back to Syria, deeply hurt and complaining indeed.”

Antiochus then marched toward Judea. Entering the Promised Land, he vented his wrath upon the Jewish population there, in an ancient form of ‘October 7, 2023’:

• “Then there was massacre of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of young girls and infants. Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting, and as many were sold into slavery as were killed” (2 Maccabees 5:11-14).

Antiochus proceeded to dictatorially enforce Greek ways, religion, diet and lifestyle on the people of Jacob by imperial decree. Jews were forced to worship Greek gods on pain of death. Jewish Temple sacrifice was forbidden; sabbaths and biblical feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, becoming a capital offence for both mother and baby. Possession of the Bible was punishable by death. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (1^st century B.C., less than 100 years after these events) wrote about these persecutions in his Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική (‘Historical Library’; 34:1[4]):

• Antiochus “sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations [i.e., a false and anti-Semitic charge], should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine’s flesh. And he put out the lamp [the menorah] (called by them ‘immortal’) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine’s flesh.”

Had Antiochus been successful in his murder, torture and religious persecution of the Jewish people, Messiah might never have been born in Bethlehem, nor would the Jewish people have survived as bearers of God’s light to the world.

The God of Jacob now raised up flesh-and-blood Jewish warriors – five descendants of Aaron the High Priest: Yonatan (Jonathan), Shimon (Simon), Yehudah (Judah), Elazar (Eleazar), and Yochanan (John) (see 1 Maccabees 2:1-5). Judah was the main general from among his brothers and was nicknamed ‘Maccabee,’ (‘maqqəḇa’), a Hebrew/Aramaic word for ‘hammer’ – referring to Judah’s ferocious warrior spirit. The term ‘Maccabees’ would later be used to describe all five brothers, and later on still it was used to refer to the Maccabean dynasty of kings descended from these five brothers.

Eyewitness Jewish news

The Maccabees waged an all-out seven-year guerilla war against the Greek Seleucid army of occupation (167-160 B.C.), and eventually re-conquered Jerusalem. Here is the historical recounting of those days, taking place during the Hebrew month of Kislev in164 B.C. That month (equivalent to our modern December) is described in 1 Maccabees 4 as “the ninth month of the year.” This use of the phrase ‘the ninth month’ indicates that the Jewish people were not using the modern rabbinic calendar (where Kislev is the third month of the year) but were still using the original biblical calendar (which counts the first month of the year as being Aviv/Nisan – Passover time, according Exodus 12:1-2).  Here is the description of the first Hanukkah, written by someone who knew the main actors in this amazing drama:

• Then Judah and his brothers said, ‘See, our enemies are crushed! Let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins. Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation. They sprinkled themselves with ashes and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.

• Then Judah detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. He chose blameless priests devoted to the Teaching [the Mosaic Torah], and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt-offering, which had been profaned. And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the Temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them. Then they took unhewn stones, as the Torah directs, and built a new altar like the former one. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the Temple, and consecrated the courts. They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand [menorah], the altar of incense, and the table into the Temple. Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand [menorah], and these gave light in the Temple. They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.

• Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Kislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the Torah directs, on the new altar of burnt-offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt-offerings. They offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving-offering. They decorated the front of the Temple with golden crowns and small shields. They restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors. There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed.

• Then Judah and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.

Josephus – silence about a Hanukkah miracle

The Jewish general and historian Josephus describes the historical origin of Hanukkah in his magnum opus The Antiquities of the Jews; 12.7.6. He writes nothing about an eight-day miracle of oil, but instead mentions that that the Hanukkah deliverance brought light to the Jewish people at a time of great national darkness:

• “So [Judah] chose some of his soldiers and gave them an order to fight the men that guarded the upper city until he has purified the Temple. When therefore he he had carefully purged it he brought in new vessels – the menorah, the table and the incense altar, which were made of gold, and hung up the veils at the doors and restored the doors themselves. He also took down the altar and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and such as had not been hewn with iron tools. 

• And on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, which the Macedonians call Apellaios, they lighted the lights [phôta - φῶτα] that were on the menorah, and offered incense upon the altar, and laid the loaves upon the table, and offered whole burnt offerings upon the new altar. 

• As it happened, these things took place on the very same day on which, three years before, the divine worship had been reduced to an impure and profane form of worship; for the Temple had remained desolate for three years after being made so by Antiochus...And the desolation of the Temple came about in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel, which had been made four hundred and eight years before; for he had revealed that the Macedonians would destroy it. 

• And so Judah and his fellow citizens celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasure, but everyone feasted upon very rich and splendid sacrifices. And they honored God, and delighted themselves with psalms of praise and the playing of harps. Indeed, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs and, after so long a time, having unexpectedly regained their right to worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should keep a festival celebrating the restoration of their Temple worship for eight days.

• And from that time to this we celebrate this, which we call the Festival of Lights [phôta - φῶτα], because, I imagine, beyond our hopes this right was brought to light [phanênai], and so this name was placed on the festival.”

Hanukkah is actually a delayed Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

According to the Jewish historical record written less than 100 years after the first Hanukkah:

• “On the very same date on which the Temple was profaned by foreigners, there occurred the purification of the Temple – on the 25^thday of the ninth month (that is, Kislev). Joyfully they held an eight-day celebration after the pattern of Tabernacles … remembering how a short time before, they spent the Festival of Tabernacles like beasts… Therefore, holding wreathed wands and branches bearing ripe fruit, and palm fronds, they offered songs of praise to Him Who had victoriously brought about the purification of His Place. By vote of the commonwealth they decreed a rule for the entire nation of the Jews to observe these days annually” (2 Maccabees 10:5-8).

In Leviticus 23:39 Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) is described as an eight-day festival occurring during the seventh month of the biblical calendar year (see I Kings 8:1-2; the month of Eitanim, today called Tishrei). So Judah and his brothers decided to celebrate a new feast – a special Sukkot-like festival two months after the regular calendar date – as a commemoration of the mighty military victory which YHVH had granted the Jewish people through the hands of the Maccabees. So the Maccabean re-dedication of the Temple took place two months after the usual calendar date for the Feast of Tabernacles (which was the seventh month Eitanim/Tishrei). The Maccabean Hanukkah/Rededication Feast would now be celebrated in the ninth biblical month, today called Kislev.

The principle of an unusual second holiday (established here by the Maccabees in 164 B.C.) can be found in other places in Scripture. A similar ‘repeat dedication’ had been done in King Hezekiah’s day, as described in both 2 Chronicles 29:15-17 (a general re-dedication) and in 2 Chronicles 30 (a second Passover).

Heroes of the faith

The writer of the Book of Hebrews quotes from 2 Maccabees 6-7, looking back at the exploits of the Maccabees, and describing Judah and his brothers as heroes of the Messianic faith:

• “These, having gained approval through their faith, who by faith . . . conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight . . .” (Hebrews 11:32-38)

Judah Maccabee (a hero of the faith) passes on stirring words for our encouragement, according to the writer of 1 Maccabees (ca 100 B.C.). Here is a small portion of his address to his Jewish troops as they prayed and prepared to attack the Greek forces of Seron at the ascent of Beit Horon:

• “It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few. It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven. They come against us in great insolence and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us. But we fight for our lives and our laws. He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them!” (1 Maccabees 3:18-22).

When a priest becomes a king

The Maccabees were descendants of Aaron the High Priest. They started out as a revival movement of warriors, and led Israel to great victories and to powerful restoration. But within 23 years of their battlefield triumphs, these revivalist warriors began to slip downhill, spiritually speaking. They established a royal dynasty for themselves, with Simon becoming the first ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty in 141 B.C. This was a problem, Biblically speaking, since the only dynasty covenantally acceptable to the God of Jacob was the from the royal House of David (see 2 Chronicles 13:4-6; 2 Chronicles 21:6-8; Jeremiah 33:20-22), Within a very short stint, the Maccabees were co-opted and seduced by the Greek Hellenistic spiritual forces they had originally opposed.

But there were other Jewish leaders who remained faithful to the word of God. This godly remnant of Israel also called upon the Jewish people to remain faithful to the Scriptures. These were called ‘the interpreters’ of the Hebrew Bible (in Hebrew, ‘Perushim’ or ‘the Pharisees.’ They could not tolerate Aaron’s descendants usurping the Davidic kingship, and they opposed how the Maccabees were actively spreading Greek influence among Jacob’s children. The Maccabean King Alexander Jannaeus (Yannai in Hebrew; 126-76 B.C.) had 6,000 of his Pharisee opponents murdered. At another time he had 800 Pharisees crucified on the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho, but only after their wives and children were massacred before their eyes (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13:14:2)

Both the Maccabean kings and the Sanhedrin rulers looked down upon the Pharisees as primitive and superstitious. Herod’s Temple compound was also the Sadducees’ home base, and when it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., Sadducee political power in Judea was quashed. The Pharisees gradually took over the reins of Judaism from the Hellenized Sadducees (the High Priestly family known as Bnei Tzadok or the Tzedukim).  

This new and burgeoning Pharisaic movement would soon be called ‘rabbinic Judaism.’ It had little desire to speak kindly of the former and faded glory of the Hellenized Maccabees (the murderers of the Pharisees) in positive terms. By 135 AD, the Pharisees had created a ‘fake news’ narrative for the historical context of Hanukkah in their ‘Scroll Concerning Fasting’ (Megilat Ta’anit folio 9). This pseudo-historical account of Hanukkah (written down approximately by 120-135 A.D.) would shift attention away from the Maccabean commando-victory of 164 B.C., replacing it with a sleight-of-hand fairy-tale miracle unknown both to the original Maccabean warriors and to the Jewish general Josephus:

• “When the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils that were there. When the House of the Hasmoneans prevailed and won a victory over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest that was not defiled. It had only enough oil to burn for one day. A miracle happened, and there was light from it for eight days, In the following year they established eight festival days.”

Today’s celebration of Hanukkah follows the post-Pharisaic ‘fake news’ narrative – the downplaying of Maccabean victory and the stressing of an apocryphal rabbinic miracle. But lately, as the Jewish state of Israel has arisen anew in the 20^th century, once again the bravery of the five glorious Maccabean brothers and their burning battlefield faith is being re-emphasized.

War and persecution are running mates with revival

Champions of revival do not always hold fast to their spiritual inheritance. Consider the historical events of Hanukkah: Maccabean victors morphed into Hellenizing underminers, and these ended up persecuting the faithful remnant of Jacob – the Bible-based Pharisees. The Pharisees at first advocated for a Biblically faithful movement, but ended up belittling the Maccabean revolution, developing an extra-biblical Oral Law, and turning away from the Davidic Messiah Yeshua: “For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Let’s focus on some positive lessons to be learned here: The Maccabees are renowned for spearheading a revival in Israel which safeguarded the light entrusted by God to the Jewish people (Romans 3:1-2). The birth of Messiah Yeshua in Bethlehem of Judah to faithful Jewish parents would not have happened if Antiochus’ genocidal and anti-Semitic strategies had become reality.

• In our day, faithfulness to the message of Hanukkah also means being faithful to Yeshua, David’s Greater Son and Israel’s Messiah. He is the Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel (see Luke 2:26-34; Isaiah 49:5-6). 

How should we then pray?

• Thank YHVH for His commitment to preserve and purify a remnant in Israel and to protect His people. Rejoice before Him that there are also Gentile believers in Yeshua who are willing to identify with the Jewish people today, to stand with them, to suffer with them if need be, and even to die with them as shadows increase and days get darker

• Call out to the God of Isaac and ask Him to shine His light on Israel (promised in Isaiah 60:1-3) even as gross darkness fogs the nations, and for Him to bring the Jewish people into full recognition of Yeshua our Messiah, Son of David, the Light of the world

• Pray for all the security forces of Israel who stand guard over their people – for strength, discernment, strategies and balance

• Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth!

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

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