From My Perspective - - -

This year the Jewish Celebration of Hanukkah begins at the evening hour. today Hanukkah means Dedication  - the time commemorating the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. The events leading up to this event are given in the writings of Flavius Josephus and in I Maccabees, especially Chapters 1 and 2. Briefly, “In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. This upset the Jewish people, but many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus IV made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods.” The oral history tells of the extent to which  Antiochus went in his Hellenization efforts. One such incident, such as, if any Mother with a male child who had been circumcised – that Mother was killed, as was her infant son, and they hung that dead son around the Mother’s neck. It was a treacherous and hideous time.

History records that “Jewish resistance began in the village of Modiin, near Jerusalem. Greek soldiers forcibly gathered the Jewish villages and told them to bow down to an idol, then to sacrifice and eat the flesh of a pig – both practices that are forbidden to Jews. A Greek officer ordered Mattathias, a High Priest, to acquiesce to their demands, but Mattathias refused. When another villager stepped forward and offered to cooperate on Mattathias' behalf, the High Priest became outraged. He drew his sword and killed the villager…” In I Maccabees 1:20-28, “After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred and forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force.  He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand   for the light, and all its utensils.  He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off.  He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found.  Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder, and spoke with great arrogance. Israel mourned deeply in every community, rulers and elders groaned…

I Maccabees 2:1-22, contains a summary of both the commitment and courage of Mattathias and his sons. Given the opportunity to compromise their core values, and in observing the degree and extent to which the arrogance of Antiochus has gone, when Mattathias : “… saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem said,  Why was I born to see this, the ruin of my people, the ruin of the holy city…the sanctuary given over to aliens?” When called upon at the moment of actual compromise, he said: “…Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments, departing each one from the religion of his fathers,  yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers.  Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.  We will not obey the king's words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left." When the victory is won and the Temple is to be rededicated, only one small vessel of dedicated oil is found to light the Menorah – only enough for one day – as they proceed, the oil lasts for eight days. That tradition and celebration – The Festival of Lights - continues to this day.

The summary of the Birth of Jesus Christ in John 1:1-14,  “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This “Festival of Light” is celebrated by the Christian world as Christmas. The sadness that attaches to this celebration is the fact of John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation (verdict, judgment): light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.But whoever does what is true comes to the light… Have you come to the Light – Jesus Christ? Do you – with commitment and courage – abstain from all compromise as you grow in knowing Him and making Him known? Consider these things with me!