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Just as President Ahmadinejad of Iran said “Israel should be wiped off the map,” the ancient King of Syria, Antiochus IV, sought to destroy the people of Israel. IF he had been successful, Jesus/Yashua of Nazareth would never have existed.

To understand that statement, one must understand the situation at that time and the story of Chanukah.

Alexander the Great conquered the known world, from Greece to India. Because he had no heirs, his generals asked who would inherit the empire. On his deathbed in 323 BC he said: “to the strongest.” After forty years of war, the Greek Empire was divided into four portions.

Because Israel was caught between Ptolemy in Egypt and Seleucid in Syria, the Jews were victims in a tug-of-war. Just like Alexander the Great, his generals sought to Hellenize all citizens. They wanted everyone to speak Greek, worship Greek Gods, participate in Greek philosophy, art, and activities. In short…Be Greek!

This did not pose a significant problem to most nations who were willing to assimilate and adopt the Greek gods. Sadly, not all the Jews in Israel followed God’s ways. May “Hellenized” Jews wanted to be like the Greeks, even to the point of reversing their circumcision and abandoning the Holy Covenant of God.

But to the righteous God-fearing Jews in Israel, obeying God was a great issue!

Antiochus IV, the King of the Seleucid Empire northeast of Israel, plundered the treasures of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, stealing the gold furniture and silver objects. He burned the city, destroyed the houses, raped the women, seized the livestock, and enslaved those he did not kill. He left Hellenized Jews to rule Jerusalem, as Antiochus’ representatives.

Antiochus forbid: Studying and Obeying God’s Torah, Circumcising Sons, Celebrating Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD, and Eating Kosher. Disobedience by punishable by torturous death! Torah scrolls burned. Anyone studying Torah was executed. Circumcised infants were killed and hung on their mother’s necks.

The worst affront was when Antiochus erected an idol of Zeus, with his own face, in the God’s Holy Temple. Daniel the prophet had prophesied of this event around 600 BC in Daniel 9:26: “On the wing of the Temple the ruler will set up an abomination that causes desolation.” After erecting the idol of Zeus on Kislev [approximately December] 25, Antiochus sacrificed a pig on God’s holy altar and splattered pig’s blood all over the Temple.

The Righteous Jews, who had refused to assimilate, rose up under the leadership of Mattathais, a priest of the tribe of Levi. When the Syrian Greek general tried to coerce Mattathias, with bribes and threats, to eat the pig sacrificed to Zeus, Mattathias grabbed a sword and slew the general and many of the Greek army. He called out: “Let everyone who is zealous for God’s law and covenant come with me!” (1 Maccabees 2:27).

Mattathias and his five sons led a rebellion against the ungodly Greeks that controlled Israel. They fought valiantly, and God intervened and gave them supernatural victories, over the massive Greek army with formidable battle-trained elephants.

On Kislev [approximately December] 25, 165 BC, the Maccabees and righteous Jews recaptured Jerusalem from the Greeks, cleansed the Temple, and sanctified it for seven days, according the instructions God gave Moses.

Important enough that the New Testament records that Jesus celebrated the Feast of Dedication:

John 10:22-39

“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication [Hebrew= Chanukah], and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the Temple.”

If Chanukah had not happened, Yeshua/Jesus, a righteous God-fearing Jew who obeyed His Father’s commandments, would never have existed.

And if Jesus had not existed, where would you be today?

Let me challenge you, take time and study about Chanukah. I urge you to DWJD “Do What Jesus Did” and celebrate God’s saving His people.

A: There’s only one way to spell it in Hebrew… חֲנֻכָּה‎

But it has been transliterated 10 ways:

1. Hanukkah
2. Chanukah
3. Hannukah
4. Hanukah
5. Hanukka
6. Chanuka
7. Channukah
8. Chanukkah
9. Hanuka
10. Hanakkah

A: According to the instructions God gave to Moses, the Tabernacle/Temple was to be consecrated for seven days, and the eighth day the Shekinah presence of God indwelt the Tabernacle/Temple (Leviticus 8:31-9:1; I Kings 6). The Maccabees, righteous Jews and Priests, cleansed the Temple for seven days and dedicated it on the eighth day. Tradition says that only enough sanctified oil was found to light the Menorah for ONE day, but miraculously it lasted EIGHT days, long enough to consecrate the Temple as God commanded.

A: We light candles for each of the eight nights. It is customary to eat potato pancakes or donuts cooked in oil, remembering the Menorah [lamp stand] in the Temple. A game of dreidels [spinning tops] is played, remembering how children would hide Torah study under the guise of playing games.

A: The Menorah at Chanukah [called Chanukiah] has EIGHT branches to remember the eight days of Dedication, and a Shamash [Servant] Candle to light the other branches.

Menorah in Jerusalem fashioned after the one plundered by the Romans in 70 AD

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