Shabbat Midrash (Teaching) Outlines

• During the time of the Second Temple, which was nearly twenty-two centuries ago, a series of events took place that the Jews memorialize each year known as Hanukkah.

• The Jewish people had returned to Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) from the Babylonian exile. They had rebuilt the Holy Temple, but they remained subject to the reigning powers: first the Persian Empire, then later, the conquering armies of Alexander the Great.

• Alexander The Great was a kind and generous ruler to the Jewish people. He cancelled the Jewish taxes during Sabbatical years, and even offered animals to be sacrificed on his behalf in the Temple.

• After Alexander’s death, his kingdom was divided among his generals. Judea was caught in the middle and ended up under the system of the Seleucid Dynasty, Greek kings who reigned from Syria.

• A Syrian tyrant, Antiochus IV, was the new king who ruled Judea. He worshipped the Greek gods (Zeus was the main Greek god), but at first he did allow the Jews to worship Yahweh.

• During the years of Greek domination, many Jews started to embrace the Greek culture (centered around sports, art, and philosophy) and its Hellenistic, pagan way of life. The so called ‘Jewish Hellenists’ helped to further Antiochus’s goal; to abolish every trace of the Jewish form of worship from the face of the earth.

• Eventually, King Antiochus decided to go into Jerusalem and take the treasures from the Temple and forbid the Jews from keeping their holy traditions such as Shabbat, kosher laws, studying the Holy Scriptures and the practice of circumcision.

• To prove his point he entered the Temple and desecrated the Holy Altar by sacrificing a forbidden, unclean pig on it. He dedicated the Temple to the worship of Zeus Olympus, the main god of the Greeks. An altar to Zeus was set upon the high altar. The Jews were forced to bow before it under penalty of death.

• The Holy Temple was desecrated and pillaged of all its treasures. (Antiochus needed the gold to finance his military exploits) Many innocent people were massacred and the survivors were heavily taxed. Antiochus went so far as to proclaim himself a god, taking the name Epiphanes: God manifest.

• Flavius Josephus, the renowned historian who lived at the time of the Apostles, recorded the horrifying events of that time in this way: (Taken from Antiquities of the Jews, Book 12, Chapter 5):

“And when the king (referring to Antiochus) had built an idol altar upon G-d’s altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country. Antiochus also compelled them to forsake the worship of their own G-d, and to adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples and raise idol altars in every city and village and offer swine upon them every day. He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons and threatened to punish any that should be found to have transgressed his injunction. He also appointed overseers who should compel them to do what he had commanded. And indeed there were many Jews who complied with the king’s commands either voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced, but the best men, and those of noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to the punishment which Antiochus threatened to the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments. For they were whipped with rods and their bodies were torn to pieces and were crucified while they were still alive and breathed; they also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses. And if they were any sacred book of the law found, it was destroyed and all those with whom they were found miserably perished also.”

• Some Jews drifted into the Greek ways, changed their names from their Hebrew names and followed the Greek ‘modern’ practices, giving up the ‘old’ ways of their ancestors. One Hellenized Jew’s name was Joshua, but he changed it to the Greek name Jason. He offered King Antiochus a bribe so that he could take over the position of the High Priest.

• The “High Priest” Jason constructed a gymnasium near the Temple and demoralized his fellow Jews with pagan customs and licentious behavior. Another Hellenized Jew came along and offered a bigger bribe and Jason was replaced. Jason then gathered an army and attacked Menebus in the Holy City, slaughtering many of the Jews there. Antiochus interpreted this civil squabble as a revolt against his throne and sent his armies into Jerusalem, plundering the Temple and murdering tens of thousands of Jews. Altars were erected with statues of the Greek gods and goddesses in every city and town. Soldiers forced Jews to make offerings, eat forbidden foods, and to engage in other pagan immoral acts.

• Many other Jews resisted and refused to follow Greek practices and would not bow down to the Greek’s pagan idols. The Greeks tried to get the Jews to abandon the Torah and commandments, but the Giver of both (Yahweh), was still in control. Many times Yahweh had fought the Jewish battles, against all odds, delivering the evil enemies into the hands of the righteous and the outnumbered.

• Yahweh helped the Jews in this dilemma to organize the common people, farmers, workers, and servants. They all united and began to resist the Syrian persecutors.

• An aged priest named Mattathais (father of Judas Maccabee) began the revolt in 168 B.C. by striking down an apostate Jew who had been appointed a royal commissioner by Antiochus. Mattathais tore down the pagan altar in the town and fled to the hills with his sons. Early in the struggle, Mattathais died, but the battle raged on.

• This small but dedicated group of Hasmoneans, now under the leadership of Judas Maccabee (known as ‘The Hammer’), used guerilla warfare tactics to drive out the Syrians. The Maccabees regained control of the Holy Temple and began the task of purifying it. The altar, which had been defiled by the sacrifice of unclean animals upon it, was torn down and rebuilt. All new holy vessels were then crafted. A date for the rededication of the Temple was set: the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which occurs approximately in the Roman month of December.

• Taking unhewn stones, as the law commands, they built a new altar based on the model of the previous one. They rebuilt the Temple, restored its interior, and consecrated the Temple courts. They renewed the sacred vessels and the menorah (lamp stand) and brought the altar of incense and the table for the showbread into the Temple. They decorated the front of the Temple with golden wreaths and ornamental shields. They renewed the gates and the priest’s rooms and fitted them with doors. They put the Bread of the Presence on the table that was designed for it and hung the massive curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. One task remained.

• When they cleaned out the pagan idols from the Temple, they found only one small cruse of oil with only enough to sustain the Temple menorah for one day. They decided to light the Menorah anyway, and to everyone’s amazement, the Menorah miraculously burned for eight (8) days (the amount of time required to produce more pure oil).

• The light of the Menorah is the symbol of Yeshua, the Light of the World. The lighting of the Menorah is symbolic of how His Light is spread throughout the world, beginning with the Shamash candle (symbolic of Yeshua, the suffering servant). The fact that the light continued to burn even when no supply was left is symbolic of the eternity of Yahweh’s Word. The heart of the celebration of Hanukkah is not the retelling of the saga of revolt and renewal, but the retelling of the divine experience of the miracle of the oil!