HANUKKAH AND ITS SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
By Dr. Lee Warren, B.A., D.D.
(c) November/December 1996 "PLIM REPORT"
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See Related Articles: Carnal Ordinaces
Introduction
Around the time of Christmas, the Christian celebration of Jesus Christ's birthday, the Jewish people celebrate their feast day called Hanukkah, which means 'dedication.' The only account of this feast day is found in a book that is not a part of most Protestant Bibles (see "What Is the Apocrypha?" p. 13 in the July/August 1993 issue of the "PLIM REPORT"). The first book of Maccabees (4:52-59) of the Apocryphal covers Jewish history during the 2nd century before the Messiah's birth. The Maccabees was a family of priests that resisted Syrian-Grecian domination.
Hanukkah is also called the Feast of Dedication, the Feast of Lights, or the Feast of Maccabees (See the subtitle "How did the Menorah become involved in the celebration of Hanukkah?" in the article on the Menorah in the March/April 1993 issue of the "PLIM REPORT"). Hanukkah is an observance to commemorate the rededicating of the Second (Zerabbable's) Temple in 165 BC. It was desecrated three years earlier by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Syrian king who wanted to annihilate the Jewish faith. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia (Vol. IV; p. 895), Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days beginning on Kislev 25, which corresponds to the Christian calendar November-December. It was the last feast day that the Jews instituted before the Messiah's birth.
[NOTE: Hanukkah was not one of the original seven feast days that Yahweh instituted under the Law of Moses (Lev. 23rd Chapter). Articles on these feast days have been written in most prior issues of the "PLIM REPORT."
1. the Passover, referred to in article below;
2. the Feast of Unleavened Bread, "Feast of Unleavened Bread," p. 4, in the September/October 1995 issue;
3. the Feast of First Fruits, "The Feast of First Fruits," p. 5, in the March/April 1996 issue;
4. the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), "The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost," p. 5, in the May/June 1996 issue;
5. the Feast of Trumpets, "The Feast of Trumpets," p. 5, in the July/August 1996 issue;
6. the Day of Atonement "The Day of Atonement," p. 4, in the November/December 1995 issue;
7. the Feast of Tabernacles "The Feast of Tabernacles," p. 5, in the January/February 1996 issue.]
What is the intent of this article?
This article will examine the institution, fulfillment, and spiritual reality of Hanukkah. Truly, the rededication of the temple at the time of Maccabees points to the Holy Spirit transforming or illuminating a man's defiled mind (Rom. 12:2).
This article also intends to prove that without the book of Maccabees that the Protestants left out of their Bible, the desecration of the temple that Daniel prophesied cannot be scripturally documented nor fulfilled.
The history of the Jews contained in the King James Version and other Protestant versions of the Old Testament ends at the time of the Jews under Media & Persian captivity. The Protestant Bibles do not document the Jews' captivity by the Greeks or the Romans. This history can only be obtained in the Apocryphal. The New Testament begins at the time of the Messiah's birth when the Jews were under Roman rule.
Has the Bible always been in the form we have it today?
Before we can begin to examine Hanukkah, we have to understand that the Bible has not always been in its current compiled form (see "How Did the Old and New Testaments Develop?" in the "Did You Know?" sections of the March/April and May/June 1993 "PLIM REPORTs."). Moses and the prophets wrote various books during their life or told accounts of their experiences that were later written down. Councils of men compiled them into official writings for their particular sects or denominations. At the time of Moses, about 1500 years before the Messiah's birth, only the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah, had been written. The prophets, from Joshua through Malachi, wrote the remaining Old Testament books. No one began to write the New Testament until 20 years after the Messiah's death. The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation about 96 A.D., 63 years after the death of the Messiah.
The New Unger's Bible Dictionary by Merrill Unger (©1988 Moody Press) states the following on the canon books in the Old Testament of the Protestant Bibles. "The thirty-nine books of the Protestant canon are identical with the ancient Hebrew canon. Roman Catholics have a larger canon, consisting of eleven of the fourteen apocryphal, (p. 939)." Mr. Unger goes on to say the following about the Apocryphal. "These books, however, have no legitimate place in the canon."
Why do some versions of the Bible omit 14 books?
Many Christian scholars make the error of omitting the Apocryphal. They fail to see that without the Apocryphal they have no way of verifying Daniel's prophecies that dealt with the Greek and Roman kingdoms. This is why the Roman Catholic Bible is more complete.
Shortly after Constantine made Christianity a state religion in 375 A.D., Pope Damasus, in 382, commissioned St. Jerome to translate the Latin Vulgate Bible. Prior to the Latin Bible, the Septuagint, a Greek Bible translated from Hebrew in the 3rd century B.C., was the universal Bible at that time. This version of the Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments and the 11 books of the Apocrypha, stood as the official Bible of the Roman Catholics for over a thousand years until the Reformation in 1517 A.D. Martin Luther protested against Catholicism and another council of men decided to take out the books of the Apocrypha. The omission of the book of Maccabees in the Protestant version is the primary point of this article.
When was Hanukkah instituted?
Daniel prophesied the rise and death of the Greek king Alexander the Great and stated that his kingdom would be divided into four parts among his four generals (Dan. 8th Chapter). One of these four generals headed the Syrian Kingdom and would desecrate the temple. "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down (Dan. 8:11)." According to the book The Temple (© reprinted 1979 Alfred Edersheim), Judas Maccabaeus instituted Hanukkah in 164 B.C. after defeating Syrian forces led by King Antiochus. The Syrian king had taken all the vessels of the temple including the veils, and emptied the secret treasures of the temple. He forbade Israel to offer their daily sacrifices according to the Law of Moses, which fulfilled Daniel's prophecies about the daily sacrifices being taken away (Dan. 8:11-13).
According to The Jewish historian Josephus in his book named after him, King Antiochus offered a swine up in the temple to show his utter contempt for the Jewish faith (© 1960, 1978, 1981, Krugel Pub.). He states the following about this situation. "And when the king had built an idol altar upon God's altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according to the law, , He also compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own God, and adore those whom he took to be gods; made them to build temples He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, ... ." According to the Antiquities of the Jews (Book XII, chp. V), this terror lasted for three years. Now this is all in fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy. "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate (Dan 11:31)."
After Judas Maccabees defeated Antiochus, he removed the Gentile altar and brought in new vessels and veils. The rededication of Zerrabable's temple, the lighting of the candlestick, and the burning of incense began on the 25th of Kislev.
What miracle occurred during Hanukkah?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia (Vol. IV; p. 895), the Jewish Talmud speaks of the oil that lit the candlestick during Hanukkah lasting for eight days when there was only enough oil for one day. This increase of oil was considered a miracle and now an eight branched, a seven branched, as well as a nine branched, candle stick may be lit during Hanukkah (see illustration on p. 5). The number eight in divine chronology represents a new beginning as the rededication meant the Jews could begin anew to worship Yahweh according to their laws and not after the abomination of Antiochus.
How did the Messiah fulfill Hanukkah?
The Messiah's fulfillment of Hanukkah is a mystery. Some may wonder how could the Messiah fulfill a feast day that was not prophesied in the Law nor Prophets. Since the book of Maccabees was left out of the Protestant Bible, no record of Hanukkah remains. However, John wrote that the Messiah attended a feast of dedication in the winter (John 10:22). Scholars agree that this winter celebration was Hanukkah since all the other seven feast days given to Israel were between April and October. Purim, the other national holiday celebrated by the Jews that was not given to Moses in the Law, is celebrated in Adar (March, See the "Feast of Purim" in the September/October 1996 issue of the "PLIM REPORT").
What is the spiritual reality of Hanukkah?
Mark wrote that when we see the "abomination of desolation ... standing where it ought not," stand in the holy place (Mark 13:14-18; Matt. 24:15). The abomination at the time of the Maccabees was the sacrifice of a swine on the altar in the temple. In this Present Age of Grace under the New Covenant, the temple is the tabernacle of men (I Cor. 6:19-20). The "abomination of desolation" is the negative thoughts and intents of man's minds that should not be setting there after the resurrection. We are no longer bound to laws, but universal principles. Violating them causes psychological and spiritual fear, grief, anxiety, depression, guilt, etc. These negative attributes should not be in our mind if we our mind have been rededicated and we are in communication with Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to remove the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) from our consciousness or resurrect our minds to a state of peace (the Holy Place, Gal. 5:22).
© Power Latent in Man 1996