Hannukah

Hanukkah reminds us of the victory won by the Maccabees in 165 B.C.E to insure the purity of the worship of HaShem and to preserve the distinctiveness of Israel and Jewish identity. After HaShem granted this tremendous victory, the people cleansed and rededicated the Temple. The Syrian ruler Antiochus had defiled the Temple and turned it into a heathen shrine, hence the need for cleansing. Therefore, Hanukkah originated as the festival of the dedication or cleansing of the Temple.

Yeshua used the Feast of Dedication (John10:22) to proclaim himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:1ff). In Jewish writings shepherds frequently represented the leaders of Israel, both good and bad. (The Macabees, for example, would have been considered among the good shepherds). Yeshua therefore announced himself as the good shepherd par excellence.

The book of Daniel predicted the rise of Antiochus and his defiling of the Temple (Dan 8 & 11). Daniel also used Antiochus to represent a figure in the future whom Christian theologians call the Antichrist (Antimessiah), who will also defile the Temple (in this case, the Third Temple which is not yet build). The Antimessiah will cause great persecution for the Jewish people, a time known as Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:4-7, Zech 13:8-9). At this time Yeshua the Messiah, as the great shepherd-leader (Zech 12-14, 1 Peter 5:4), will come and win a tremendous victory, greater than that won by Yehudah the Maccabee. He will save Israel and establish his worldwide rule.

Hanukkah looks back to a victory and the preservation of the Jewish people when they were in the land. For us it also looks forward to a time when our Jewish people will be preserved despite intense suffering. This preservation, again while the Jewish people are in the land, will culminate in the victory won by the Great Shepherd, Yeshua.

Dvrh