Hanukkah
Its Roots and Prophetic Meaning
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This is one of the few years with the Jewish feast of Hanukkah falls on December 25th, when Christians, and a lot of the world celebrate Christmas. Therefore, I’d like to give a crash course in the feast, how it came about, and how it looks forward and finds it’s prophetic fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
The word Hanukkah is made up from two Hebrew words telling the date of this special day of when the Jewish people rested from their enemies. In the Greek language, “Hanu,” means rest, and “kah,” means 25.
It was on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, the 9th month on the Jewish Calendar, that the Jewish people rested from their enemies, under Antiochus IV, or Antiochus Epiphanes, which means illustrious one.
As a point of reference, Antiochus was considered crazy, and so later the Jews changed his name to Antiochus Epimanes (Epi’-manes), which means madman because he tried to make himself God.
The story goes back to 157 B.C. when King Antiochus of Syria, who was ruling Israel at that time, tried to force the Jews to give up their faith and to adopt the Greek custom, practices, and gods. Those Jews who refused were persecuted and put to death.
He then converted the Temple in Jerusalem to the worship of Zeus, the head of the Greek gods. He completely looted the temple and placed a statue of Zeus in the Most Holy Place and demanded the Jews to bow down to it.
He then had a pig slaughtered, or sacrificed, upon the Altar completely desecrating the Temple. Why? Because a pig was an unclean animal according to the Law of Moses.
And to top it all off, he put out the “Ner Tomid,” or the Perpetual Light of the Menorah.
At these atrocities, two groups of Jews began a revolt.
The first was the Chasidim (Chas’-idim), a group of religious traditionalists who were the forerunners of the Pharisees.
The second group, the one that was the most associated with the revolt were known as the Hasmoneans, whose leader was Judas Maccabee, or “The Hammer,” because of the hammer like blows he struck for freedom from the Syrians.
After several years, the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans, drove out the Syrians, a miracle when you think about it, but that’s not the miracle of Hanukkah.
After Antiochus was defeated time and again by this no name ragtag army, he went for the jugular. He gathered an army of 60,000 men against Judas’s force of 10,000. It should have been a slaughter, but instead Antiochus was dealt a crushing defeat, and Israel became an independent nation.
In great joy, Judas and his army entered Jerusalem, and began to cleanse the Temple. After cleansing the area, the articles and implements, and consecrating the priests. An eight-day feast of dedication was held on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month of Kislev in 165 BC.
However, to their horror they found that to rekindle the light they only had a one-day supply of the oil that was needed to light the Menorah, and it would take another 7 days to make and consecrate more.
This is where the miracle comes in, and why the feast today is more known as the Festival Lights than it is the Feast of Dedication.
But, not having enough of the sacred oil, they still moved forward by faith, knowing that they had to light the Menorah, Ner Tomid, or the Perpetual Light. And from this act of faith, God miraculously allowed the one-day supply of oil to last a full eight days.
From that event, every year thereafter the Jews would celebrate Hanukkah.
In the Babylonian Talmud it says, “On the 25th of Kislev are the days of Chanukkah, which are eight … these were appointed a Festival with Hallel [prayers of praise] and thanksgiving.” (Shabbat 21b)
Hanukkah isn’t a very important feast in Israel, mainly because it isn’t one of the seven listed in the Bible, in fact, it not even mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is brought out 1 Maccabees 4:59, which is an Apocryphal book written during the time after the Old Testament, and prior to the birth of Jesus, or between the last writings of Malachi and the coming of Jesus, which was a period of 400 years. These books are not considered inspired by God, but they do provide a history of that time.
But the festival is found in the New Testament and was celebrated by the Jews.
“Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter.” (John 10:22 NIV)
It was at this time that Jesus said that He and the Father are one, and the Jews picked up stones to put him to death for blasphemy.
During the feast of Tabernacles, a couple of months prior to this event (John 7:2), Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery, and afterwards said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 NIV)
Later that day, the Jewish leaders asked if He was greater than their father Abraham, and Jesus answered, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)
The Jewish leaders then questioned His age and His being way too young to know Abraham, and Jesus responded saying, “I tell you the truth … before Abraham was born, I Am.’” (John 8:58 NIV)
And they picked up stones to put him to death.
Later, after seeing a blind man from birth, Jesus was asked who had sinned, his parents or him? And Jesus said, “Neither … As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:3-5 NIV)
And so, what we see is that Jesus proclaimed Himself to be nothing less than the light of the world.
Now, let’s go then to the birth of Jesus and see how this whole idea of Jesus being the light of the world and the Ner Tomid, or the Perpetual Light, is prophetic. In other words, the feast of Hanukkah is a prophetic word of Jesus’s coming to this earth, and its significance.
And when it comes to the birth of Christ, or Christmas, the Old Testament prophesied that He, that is, the Messiah, would be the light that would come and shine in the darkness.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.” (Isaiah 9:2 NKJV)
Now, how does this relate to the coming Messiah, and how does this point to Jesus’s birth? The prophet Isaiah goes on in Isaiah 9:6 to identify this light as the coming Messiah saying, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)
Now Jesus as being the light of the world, we see this starting all the way back in the creation account. It says that on the fourth day God created the sun and the moon, but on the first day God said, “Let there be light.” (Genesis1:3 NKJV)
This is often a question that I like to throw out there by asking what exactly was the light that was brought forth on that first day, a light that had life giving properties as God as brought forth vegetation on the third day.
And my answer is that it was no one less than Jesus Christ. When God said, let there be light, Jesus shined, because He is the light of the world. But how can I prove that. Well, for that I have to go into the future after God puts an end to the sun and moon.
“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” (Revelation 21:23 NKJV)
And so it was that Jesus shined at the very beginning of Creation and will shine for all eternity.
But even further, Jesus is the light that shines in all or our hearts, driving out the darkness
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV)
And so, Jesus is the “Ner Tomid,” the Perpetual Light, which is what the Menorah symbolizes.
Today, Hanukkah is celebrated every year on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, which in in the winter, and is usually lands in the month of December.
Both in the synagogues and in Jewish homes around the world a special menorah is lit, but unlike the seven branched Menorah found in the Temple, this menorah has nine candle holders, four branches on each side, or eight, symbolizing the eight days that the miracle took place, and the middle holder, which holds the “Shammas” candle, or “The Servant.”
It’s this servant candle, the one that is higher than the rest that then lights the other candles; it’s what gives them light.
And what we see here is a beautiful picture of Jesus, as the “Shammas,” the servant of God, lighting all who follow Him, and in whom the world shall worship.
“Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to the Servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel; and He has chosen You.” (Isaiah 49:7 NKJV)
Who is this servant of rulers who rules over them? Isaac goes on in verse five to quote from the ruler Himself.
“And now the Lord says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him.” (Isaiah 49:5 NKJV)
This is no one less than the Messiah that is speaking, the Son of God, Jesus, because Israel cannot save itself, that is the mission of the Messiah.
Further, the Messiah is called God’s servant in Isaiah 52.
“Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at You, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:13-14 NKJV)
And so it was that God’s servant, the Messiah, Jesus Christ came to this world, a world that He created, the world that He gives light to, in order to die for humanity’s sins, and to spread the light of life into the hearts of all those who believe.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV)
And as that “Shammas,” Servant candle, Jesus came and gave light to all who believe and told them to shine.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NKJV)
And so it is that Jesus Christ came as a Servant, the Shammas candle, to light everyone who comes to belief in Him. And all who do, will never walk in darkness but have the light of life, which we saw at the beginning of our study in John 8:12.
Jesus is the “Ner Tomid,” the Perpetual Light who shines forever, who is not only the light of the world and universe, but the light of our lives. He is the light that gives life.
