Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights

Hey guys, I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I'm super happy - the semester is almost over, and this Friday is STAR WARS!!!!!!

(Not that I'm excited or anything.)

Ahem.  Anyway, on with the post!  The Jewish people celebrate several festivals throughout the year.  Last week we talked about the festival of Purim; this week, in keeping with the season, we're going to talk about Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated in December.  I think most people know at least that much about the holiday.  Menorahs, the eight-branched candleholders used in the festival, may also be familiar to some.

But how many of us know the history behind the holiday, or the reason for the candles?  I know I didn't until I took an Old Testament class last year.  I found the story of the origins of Hanukkah beautiful, and I wanted to share it with you.

The story of Hanukkah takes place after the end of the book of Isaiah.  In the Christian Bible, Isaiah is the last book of what Christians call the Old Testament.  Following Isaiah is the period of several hundred years before the next book in the Christian Bible - the gospel of Matthew.  This is quite a large time gap, with nothing there to fill in the blanks.

The Jewish Bible ends at Isaiah, but they have several writings to fill in the centuries-long period that follows.  These writings are not actually part of the Hebrew Bible, but are considered historical instead of sacred.  Their stories are commonly taught in synagogues, for they focus on a part of history that is particularly important to the Jews.

The story of the origins of Hanukkah is contained in the books of 1st and 2nd Maccabee.  Its events take place between 200-150BC, when Greece took over Jewish lands and attempted to outlaw their religion.

The Greek leader in charge of this expansion was named Antiochus; texts more commonly refer to him as Antiochus Epiphanes.  "Epiphanes" translates to "God Manifest", and it was a title Antiochus had given to himself.

Yeah.  He was slightly full of himself.

Antiochus hated the Jews because they refused to acknowledge the Greek gods.  As revenge, he passed laws forbidding the Jews from practicing their faith.  One law forbade the Jewish custom of circumcision, something their beliefs required of them.  Another set a death sentence for any Jew found worshipping their God.

Then Antiochus did something truly horrific: he stormed the Temple of Jerusalem and desecrated it.  He raised a statue of Zeus within the Temple, and sacrificed a pig upon its altar.  These acts were known as the Abomination of Desolation.

I don't know how familiar you guys are with the Jewish religion, so I'd like to explain why these acts were so awful.  One of the 10 Commandments given by the Hebrew God is "You shall have no other God before me."  Raising a statue of a heathen god within God's own Temple was a huge violation of that commandment.

Certain foods are considered unclean in the Jewish faith.  Eating them is forbidden.  This includes anything with cloven hooves - including pigs.  The act of sacrificing an unclean animal upon the Temple's altar made the entire Temple unclean.  No additional sacrifices could be made to God, because they would be tainted and unpure.  At the time, animal sacrifice was a huge part of the Jewish faith - and it had to be done at that Temple.  Antiochus' act made that nigh impossible.

One of the books I have on the subject calls this act "abhorrent".  The word does not do the deed justice.

For some Jews, this was the last straw.  Instead of subduing them, it made them rise up.

In a village near Jerusalem there lived an old priest named Mattathias.  His temper was at the breaking point, and it snapped completely when a group of Greek soldiers attempted to force him to make sacrifices to the Greek gods.  He rose up and killed the soldiers, then escaped into the country with his five sons.

(These sons were called the Maccabees, commonly translated as "hammer".  It is from them that the books of Maccabee get their names, along with the Maccabean revolution I'm about to talk about.)

Jews began to flock to Mattathias, who led them in rebellion against the Greeks.  The Jewish army was small, but its members knew the land well.  They used their knowledge of the area to make hit-and-run attacks against the larger forces of the Greeks.  The tactic was quite successful.

Eventually Mattathias died of his age and his son Judas took his place.  Under his leadership Jews who had fled when the Greek army first came returned to take up arms.  Judas was a genius at military strategies; after many defeats Antiochus began to consider the Jews a serious threat.

Antiochus raised an army of tens of thousands to crush the Jewish rebellion.  Several generals commanded this army, and one of them led a few thousand men to make a surprise attack on the Jewish camp.

Judas got wind of this before it happened and moved his army.  Instead of running, he headed straight for the main part of Antiochus' army, hoping to catch them unawares.  The plan worked beautifully - after all, the Greeks expected Judas and his army to be under attack!  Though vastly outnumbered, the element of surprise left the Jews victorious and sent the unprepared Greek army fleeing.

When the general who had planned to ambush Judas' forces returned to camp his found it in ruins.  Realizing that the Jews had bested his allies, the general retreated with is remaining soldiers.

With no forces left to oppose them, Judas and his men made for Jerusalem.  They retook the city and began to ritually cleanse the Temple - a process that would be quite lengthy and difficult.  Eventually the work was completed, and Judas began to rededicate the Temple to God.

After he had lighted the menorah Judas made a nasty discovery.  Once lit, the menorah was supposed to stay aflame.  This was a problem, because here was only one jar of oil left - and that was only enough for the light to burn for one day!  It would take eight days to prepare more oil.

There was nothing the Jews could do.

And then...a miracle occurred.

The oil that was only enough for one day somehow kept the lights burning for eight days.  It was enough time for more oil to be prepared.  The menorah was able to stay lit.

And so it is that the Jews celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights - a festival which revolves around the lighting of a menorah for eight days.

Whether you guys celebrate Hanukkah or are just reading this post because you were curious, I hope you have a happy Hanukkah, since today is the last day of the holiday this year.  And, given the approaching movie, I'll end with this picture:

Have a great week!