a festival, lighted up

a tyrant’s filth gets a cleaning

The festival of Hanukkah begins on Thursday at sundown. [That is, the 7th.] It is an eight-day affair, also known as the Dedication of the Temple. (Or more precisely, the rededication.) More on that in a moment.

The word “Hanukkah” has several spellings. A common one is Chanukah. The Hebrew word (חַנֻכׇּה) demonstrates the confusion between “h” and “ch.” The first letter — חׅ, het — is pronounced like the ch in Bach. (Note: Hebrew is read from right to left.)

Now back to the rededication of the temple. Judea had been ruled by the Greeks for roughly two centuries when Antiochus Epiphanes came to power. He outlawed central tenets of Judaism, including the Sabbath and circumcision. He defiled the temple in several ways. He had an altar to Zeus erected within it and permitted the slaughter of pigs.

In 167 BC, a priest named Mattathias had had enough. He murdered a Greek official trying to force him to sacrifice to a pagan god. His family became known as the Maccabees, from the Hebrew word for “hammer.” A rebellion began. After Mattathias’ death, his son Judas Maccabee took up the leadership. The nation of Judah enjoyed about a century of independence.

The story is told in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which are part of what we call the Apocrypha.

The temple had to be ritually cleansed. Antiochus had done his nasty business! And that business was undone, as we see in 1 Maccabees 4:36–59. Verse 50 speaks of offering incense on the altar and lighting the lamps on the lampstand. However, there is said to be a miracle associated with that, but it doesn’t appear in Maccabees. It is briefly relayed in the Talmud.

The lampstand had nine branches, but there was only one vessel with the necessary oil. And yet, oil kept becoming available to light each candle over the successive nights.

The story of the rededication of the temple closes on this note: “Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev” (v. 59). The twenty-fifth day of the biblical month of Chislev falls on this Friday.

There is a mention of Hanukkah in the New Testament, appearing in John 10. Verses 22 and 23 report, “At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.” Observant Jew that he was, Jesus joined in celebrating the Festival of Lights — yet another name for the holiday.

This Gentile finds the name Festival of Lights an especially attractive term, because well, there’s a light in the dark. At a time in which much of the church is lighting candles for each Sunday of Advent, it seems appropriate and holy to light the candles of Hanukkah.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. The darkness was completely clueless.

So light it up!