Shepherd's Fool

Celebration of Lights

Admiring the Christmas trees displayed in his neighbor’s windows, five year-old Nathan asked his father, “Daddy, can we have a Hanukkah Tree?”

His father replied “No, of course not.”

“Why not?” ask Nathan.

“Because, Nathan,” his father replied, “the last time we had dealings with a lighted bush we spent 40 years in the wilderness.”

The Maccabees

Hanukkah began in another wilderness experience. The Maccabees were dodging Seleucid troops, like David when he sought to avoid king Saul. Except those Maccabean guerrillas, living in the wilderness, were keeping out of the clutches of the Seleucids.

Alexander the Great conquered the world from Greece to India and from Egypt to Armenia. He conquered that vast region in just 13 years. As he began consolidating His empire, unexpectedly, he died leaving no heir. The resulting confusion was eventually resolved as his four generals divided the empire into four kingdoms:

• The kingdom of Seleucus (later the Seleucid Empire), comprised present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and parts of Central Asia.
• The kingdom of Cassander, consisted of Macedonia, most of Greece, and parts of Thrace.
• The kingdom of Lysimachus, included Lydia, Ionia, Phrygia, and other parts of present-day Turkey.
• The kingdom of Ptolemy I, included Egypt and neighboring regions.

Wojciech Stattler’s “Machabeusze” (“The Maccabees”), 1844

Initially the Holy Land fell under the control of the Ptolemies, who treated the Jews well. Alexandria in Egypt became a center of Jewish scholarship. The Jews there translated the Torah, Prophets and the Writings onto Greek. Their work is called the Septuagint. The Jews paid tribute to the Ptolemaic government, but were governed locally under the High Priest.

Antiochus III was a Hellenistic king of the Seleucid Empire. He defeated Egypt and seized the Holy Land. His son and successor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (meaning “God Manifest”) was king from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was the eighth in succession to rule over the Seleucid Empire. Many if not most scholars identify him as the “Little Horn of Daniel”.

“And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven.

“And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them. Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual burnt-offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one who spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering, and the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”  (Daniel 8:7-14)

Bust of Antiochus IV at the Altes Museum in Berlin

Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ kingdom included the Holy Land. He sought to consolidate the kingdom by insisting on the Hellenization of the whole region under his control. That meant a common language, coinage and culture, including religion. All the various local religions were to be suppressed and the Greek gods, including Antiochus IV were to be worshiped. Most people groups were amenable. It was no stretch for idolaters to add one or more idols to their pantheon. Antiochus was willing to accommodate the peoples that wanted to keep their local deities, so long as they worshiped the Greek idols and him first and foremost.

Most people, except the stiff-necked Jews. They insisted that Adonai Elohim was the One true God. They would not compromise!

Antiochus IV Epiphanes, would tolerate no resistance to his edict; therefore, he came down on the Jews with a hobnail boot. The King had allies in Judea among the Hellenized Jews. However, the High Priest was Onias III, a strictly orthodox Jew. He was replaced by Jason, who promised a larger tribute to Antiochus. Under Jason, Greek culture was encouraged. Hebrew orthodoxy was considered passé.

Menelaus, offered a larger bribe to the Seleucids, and bought the High Priest position. He was a Benjaminite with no claim to the Priesthood, let alone the High Priesthood. For orthodox Jews that was too much; they rebelled. Antiochus responded by a Sabbath attack, when the orthodox Jews would not fight. He seized the Temple, slaughtering a great many orthodox Jews.

To wipe out Judaism, Antiochus identified Adonai Elohim with Jupiter and the latter’s statue was placed in the temple and pigs were slaughtered on the altar. Under threat of capital punishment, Jews were forbidden to circumcise their boys, worship on the Sabbath and could not celebrate the Jewish feasts. Scriptures were ordered destroyed. Priests who refused to eat swine flesh were flogged to death. These outrages inspired zeal for the faith.

In a village ca. 15 miles west of Jerusalem Mattathias [muh-tath-I-as] was the priest. Antiochus’ troops entered the village and insisted that Mattathias offer a pagan sacrifice. When he refused, a more compliant priest started to offer the sacrifice. The aged Mattathias slew both the Jewish priest and the leader of the Seleucid contingent. Then, with his five sons, he destroyed the pagan altar. Knowing their fate, they fled to the hills. Living in primitive conditions and constantly changing locations, just as David did, they mostly evaded the Seleucids.

The Seleucids surrounded a rebel band on the Sabbath. The Jews refused to fight and were slaughtered. Mattathias, in response, ruled that fighting in self-defense was permissible on the Sabbath.

Mattathias was old and soon died. His Son Judas, the Maccabee (meaning “The Hammer”) became the heroic leader. His exploits drew an increasing army to his banner. Their guerrilla tactics were able to keep the also increasing Seleucid army at bay.

In a strategic move Judas’ army defeated a combined force of Seleucid troops and Hellenized Jews. Fresh from that victory, they marched on Jerusalem. The Maccabees beat the Seleucids back into their fortress, the Akra. Pinning them there, the Jews began cleansing the Temple. They cast out the statue of Jupiter, ground it to dust, eradicated all the signs of pagan worship, the altar dedicated to Jupiter was destroyed and they erected a new altar.

The Traditional story suggests that because the Temple had been corrupted all the supplies for a pure sacrifice were difficult to obtain. The Menorah needed sacred oil, but there was none available for the seven lamps. It would take days to assemble the ingredients and the blend them into the proper oil to be consecrated. But it was the 25^th of Kislev (our December), the anniversary of the defiling of the Temple. It was appropriate to have a rededication that day.

Someone found a small cruse of consecrated oil, not even enough fill all seven lamps. They began filling the pottery lamps. They soon realized that the oil in the cruse was not being diminished as they filled each lamp. When the final lamp was filled, the small cruse was still full. That miracle continued for eight days, until a store of consecrated oil became available.

Celebrating the victory Adonai gave the Maccabees and the Jews, has become a tradition of joy for Jews and others whose choose to recognize our Lord’s faithful intervention to save God’s Chosen People.

Applying the Lessons of Hanukkah

We must be aware that this is not from Scripture. The Books of Maccabees are history, but not inspired. Nevertheless, they show that Adonai’s truths that are revealed in Scripture are not only valid for our lives, but they are active in the world if we but have the eyes to see.

While we have come to focus on the miracle of oil, that is a footnote to the real miracle: The continuous pouring of oil is Adonai’s blessing on His people and their zeal to worship Him.

But had the Almighty not given His people a far greater miracle, there would have been no one to restore the true worship of Adonai.

Let’s look in the pages of Scripture – in the Writings and the Prophets.

Gideon Trusted God

Gideon, ca. 1150 B.C.

The Children of Israel sinned against Adonai, so he took his hand of protection from them. The Midianites persecuted the Children of Israel. Boldly stealing their crops and their cattle. Adonai’s people repented enough to gain Adonai’s attention. He called Gideon,

“And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12)

Let’s see what kind of valor Gideon had.

• An angel of the Lord brought fire out of the rock to consume the food he had offered, so Gideon saw the power of Adonai. Gideon was directed to tear down the altar to Baal that the Israelites had built. Did he bravely tear it down in full view? No, he snuck in at night and tore it down, taking a few of his cohorts to help. His valor had the staying power of a snowflake on the palm of your hand.

The Combined army of the Midianites, Amalekites and other city states rose up and gathered to destroy the Children of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon and he sent word and called up an army of Israeli’s to oppose the enemy army. Did Gideon attack?

• No, he said to Adonai, “If you really want me to save Israel, then here’s this fleece. Overnight make the fleece wet and the ground around dry.” The next morning, he was able to wring water out of the fleece that was laying on dry ground. Did He attack?
• No, he put out another fleece. “Make the ground wet and fleece dry, and I’ll attack.” The next morning the fleece was dry and the ground wet. Was he confident in leading the Israeli onto battle? Sort of, until Adonai changed the rules.

After Gideon sent word and mustered his army, Adonai said, “Gideon, you have too many men. Israel will say, ‘We won the battle!’” So, Adonai’s winnowing began. First, He dispensed with all who were fearful. Then He dismissed all but 300!

• Gideon’s valor got shaky again. So, Adonai understandingly had him sneak into the Midianite camp and heard that the enemy soldiers were fearful, too.

So, the 300 men, each armed with a pitcher, a torch, and a horn, moved out at night. In a co-ordinated attack, they broke the pitchers to reveal the torches, sounded their horns and cried, “The sword of the Lord and Gideon!” Awakened out of sleep, the Midianite soldiers were confused; it seemed Gideon’s soldiers were everywhere. The Midianites panicked. They thought the Israeli army was in their midst. They began killing every one that moved around them.

Miraculously, Adonai gave Israel the victory of 300 men over an overwhelming army of two nations and others!

Due to that great victory, Adonai gave Israel peace as long as Gideon lived.

Jehoshaphat Trusted God

Valley of the Tombs of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, Holy Land

Jehoshaphat, ca. 853 B.C.

Ammon, Moab and Edom combined forces to gather a huge army to attack and defeat Israel. King Jehoshaphat heard of the threat. He called the people together at the Temple. There the king prayed publicly and appealed to Adonai to save them. Adonai through the prophet Jahaziel, told Jehoshaphat that Israel did not have to fight the battle. They had to march out and see Adonai’s effect upon their enemies.

The next morning early, the king mustered the people. He set up the order of march for them to approach the enemy. In the vanguard, he placed the Levitical musicians, to sing loud praise to Adonai as they marched. Next came the Israeli army, followed by the people.

Jehoshaphat encouraged them all,

Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.  (2 Chronicles 20:20)

They approached the encampment to discover that the three armies had attacked one another and all had been slain. It took the people of God three days to transport all the spoil from the slain soldiers into Jerusalem.

King Hezekiah Trusted God

Hezekiah, ca. 701 B.C.

Sennacharib, king of Assyria was battling Egypt. He did not want an ally of Egypt attacking his back. So he sent Rabshakeh, one of his ministers, to talk Jerusalem into surrendering to Assyria. He had an army of 185,000 at his beck and call. One of his arguments encouraging Israel to surrender was to point out that Assyria had destroyed numerous nations, whose gods were unable to protect them; therefore, the Israeli’s could not depend upon Adonai to protect them from Assyria’s irresistible force.

At this threat King Hezekiah fled to the Temple to pray. He sent messengers to the Prophet Isaiah to pray as well. Adonai spoke to His Prophet and Isaiah related to the king that he need not fear. The Lord would “send a blast” and Sennacharib would return to Nineveh and be murdered. Adonai sent a destroying angel into the Assyrian army camp and slew all of the 185,000 troops. Sennacherib did return home, and there, as he was praying to his nothingness, two of his own sons murdered their father.

Thus, the Maccabees were operating in the godly tradition of a small force under Adonai defeating the much larger anti-God force. What is the phrase that epitomizes this truth in our day? “One with God is a majority”.

Unhappily, the Maccabees did not hold Jerusalem long. The Seleucid army drove them out and recaptured Jerusalem. But because of trouble at home, the Seleucid General Lysias, negotiated a peace, which guaranteed the Jews the right to worship according to the Torah.

Lessons from Trusting God

Lessons we can learn:

1. There is no power that is able to resist Adonai
2. People, in their own strength, are no match for worldly power
3. Our Lord Almighty will defend His own people

Our responsibility is to

• Be surrendered to Adonai
• Know Him and His way
• Pray in confident belief and expectation.
• Obey His directions
• Not wander outside his sphere of protection

We must first discover Adonai’s will and seize tightly to it. We must be flexible to change directions as our Lord commands

• Adonai commanded Gideon to winnow his forces down to 300, then used strategy to defeat the enemy
• Adonai Commanded Jehoshaphat to march into battle with the musicians leading in praise
• Adonai commanded Hezekiah to patiently watch while Adonai defeated Assyria

What that means for us is that Adonai’s will must be our will. We must diligently pray to discover His will. That means we must set aside our preconceptions – even our traditions – to be open to what Adonai is teaching us and calling us to do today. Jehoshaphat could have used Gideon’s technic of winnowing the Israeli forces. He probably would have been utterly defeated, because it was not God’s plan.

Hezekiah could have used Jehoshaphat’s plan of musicians leading troops into Battle. But most likely the musicians would have been massacred and the Israeli army defeated. Stay close to Jeshua. Listen for the Good Shepherd’s voice. And be obedient, while remaining open to God’s redirection.

Hanukkah Prayer

Please pray with me

Our blessed Lord, we praise You for Your might acts in the past. We magnify Your Name for Your mighty victory over the world, our flesh and the devil. We are deeply grateful that You have chosen us to be children of God, adopted into His glorious family.

Give us the will and the courage to share our knowledge of Jeshua with others in our circle of contacts. Give us Heavenly appointments where we can share with those whose hearts are open and interested to hear about our magnificent Lord and Savior. Send us into the world equipped be the Holy Spirit.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Obedience, Trust