THE TRUE STORY OF HANUKKAH

Today I will share a special study on Hanukkah from a teaching by Nehemia Gordon explaining the true story of Hanukkah. Mr. Gordon is a Karaite Jew. Karaite Jews believe in the written word of the Torah only. They do not follow rules that were later added by Orthodox Jewry as a “fence” around the Torah.

A simple example is based on Exodus 23.19: “You must not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Basically this is a rule to prevent cruelty to animals. A new born kid boiled or cooked in its mother’s milk would show a total disregard for the birthing mother.

In many sects of Orthodox Jewry this has been interpreted to mean a person cannot eat beef and milk together at the same meal. You cannot eat a cheese burger because cheese is made from milk. Additionally, if a plate should have meat served on it and it has a speck of cheese on it, that meat is considered unclean and cannot be eaten.

That has nothing to do with boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. It does not say in the Torah that you cannot eat beef and drink milk—this has been added to the word by the rabbi’s. In Deuteronomy 4.2 it says: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

In orthodox Jewry the rabbis have taken away and added many things not written in the Torah. Karaite Jews only follow what is written. They have a joke that says, “Karaite Jews can eat cheeseburgers.”

Every religion in the world is not perfect due to men changing the word to meet their own agenda. Laws were added to the Torah by Jews to build a “fence” around the Torah. This fence theoretically would prevent a person from breaking the law because they had to go through the “fence” laws first. It was a barrier to prevent a person from breaking the law.

This is why Orthodox Jews have so many rules and regulations. This is not the spirit of the original Torah—this in the addition of men. These actions by the rabbis violate the above verse from Deuteronomy 4.2

As believers in Yeshua we follow Torah laws, but we do not follow the “fence” rules. The basic Torah laws are fairly simple rules for humanity to follow based on the Ten Commandments. Read ‘em…the Ten Commandments is our “code of conduct” for righteous living. These laws are not our salvation but merely our “code of conduct”. We are saved by Yeshua’s death on the cross for our sins.

We understand no man is capable of keeping the entire law without breaking it. That’s why Yeshua came to save us from the curse of the law by dying for our sins. Anyway, this is a short study on Hanukkah so let’s get to it.

The miracle of Hanukkah was born in the flames of the Seleucid Greek persecution of the Jews. This began three years before the first Hanukkah when the Seleucid Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, issued a series of decrees designed to eradicate the Jewish faith. The first round of anti-Jewish decrees went into force on the 3rd day of Tishrei in the year 168 BCE. These decrees are recorded in a 1st century CE document called "The Scroll of Fasting" (Megillat Ta'anit) which says:

"…on the third of Tishrei... the evil Greek kingdom decreed eradication of Israel saying to them, 'deny the Kingdom of heaven' and say 'we have no portion with the God of Israel' and do not mention the name of the God of heaven on your mouths." Megillat Ta'anit, Tishrei

These initial decrees were followed with a prohibition against practicing circumcision and observing the Sabbath. Three months later, on the 25th day of Kislev, the Greeks re-dedicated the Jerusalem Temple as a sanctuary to the sun-god Apollo, sacrificing pigs on the altar. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, and it led to a Jewish uprising.

After three years of fighting, the Maccabees liberated the Temple, tore down the defiled altar, and on the third anniversary of its defilement dedicated a new one. To this day, the full name of the holiday is Hanukkat Ha-Mizbe'ach, Dedication of the Altar, in memory of this event. The real miracle of Hanukkah is the victory of a band of ill-equipped and untrained farmers and priests defeating a world super-power that tried to force them to eat pig, give up circumcision and the Sabbath, and forbade them to utter the name of our heavenly Father Yehovah.

Today, Hanukkah is best known as a festival commemorating a miracle that supposedly happened in 165 BCE, when the Maccabees liberated the Temple from the Seleucid Greeks. According to the well-known story, the victorious Maccabees searched the Temple looking for olive oil to use in the Menorah, the candelabrum that according to Exodus 27:20-21 must be lit every day. People had been killed in the liberation of the Temple and therefore all its contents were deemed ritually impure. The Maccabees desperately searched for a vial of oil with its seal intact because the seal would shield it from ritual impurity of the dead. This is in accordance with Numbers 19:15,

"And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean."

According to the story, the Maccabees only found a single vial of oil with the seal intact and immediately lit the Menorah with this single dose of oil. Ritual purification from the dead is a seven-day process (Numbers 19) so they could not work on producing a new batch of pure oil until the eighth day. The miracle, we are told, was that the single vial of oil burned for eight days instead of one, giving the Maccabees time to prepare a new batch of ritually pure oil.

The problem with this wonderful miracle is that it never happened. It is a pure work of fiction invented after the Temple was destroyed. It is not mentioned in a single source that pre-dates the Destruction of the Temple. To this day, the full name of the holiday of Hanukkah (Dedication) is Hanukkat Ha-Mizbe'ach, which means "Dedication of the Altar". After the Romans destroyed the altar in 70 CE, the rabbis invented the miracle of the oil to give new significance to this festival.

 

As its name implies, the original significance of Hanukkah was the dedication of the altar in the year 165 BCE. The Seleucid Greeks had desecrated the altar in the Temple by sacrificing a pig on it to the sun-god Apollo. They did this on the 25th of Kislev in the year 168 BCE. After liberating the Temple in 165 BCE, the Maccabbees tore down the defiled altar and built a new one. They dedicated this new altar on the 25th of Kislev, three years to the day after it was desecrated by the Greeks.

Here's the really important thing. The two books of Maccabees give these three reasons for Hanukkah: 1) Moses and Solomon's eight-day dedications, 2) Second Sukkot, and 3) Nehemiah's "Festival of Fire". Not a single word about the miracle of oil burning for eight days! Josephus also talks about Hanukkah and refers to it as the "Festival of Lights" but says nothing about the miracle of the oil burning for eight days.

Seven Candle Sticks

My approach in any study is to allow the Bible to interpret itself. If the Bible and history witness together I will go with these two witnesses. The historical record on Hanukkah and the Biblical record do not say anything about the eight day light miracle nor is an 8 branch menorah ever mention in scripture. Therefore, I believe, along with Nehemia Gordon that the miracle is a rabbinical made up story.

Here are a few scriptures to back this up: “You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. ³² And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. Exodus 25.31-32

And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Zechariah 4.2

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands…The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. Revelation 12.1 and 20

As you can see by these scriptures, the only candlestick in the scripture is a seven branch one.

Should Hanukkah be celebrated?

If you choose to celebrate Hanukkah, avoid the part that adds to God's Torah. Specifically, the blessing over the candles which thanks God for commanding us to light the candles, something He never commanded. This is a violation of Deuteronomy 4:2 which says:

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Yehovah your God which I command you."

The same commandment is reiterated in Deuteronomy 12:32 [13:1] and a third time in Proverbs 30:6: "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

Also, be sure to separate fact from fiction. Hanukkah means "dedication". The full name of the holiday is Channukat Hamizbe'ach, Dedication of the Altar. The Maccabees had to rededicate the Temple altar that had been desecrated by the Seleucid Greeks. They celebrated this dedication for 8 days in memory of the 8 days that both Moses and Solomon celebrated at the dedication of the Tabernacle and First Temple.

The alleged miracle of 8 days of oil was not originally part of Hanukkah. It is not mentioned in the two books of Maccabees written shortly after the events. It was only made up after the altar was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, to give the holiday new purpose. The real miracle of Hanukkah is the victory of a band of ill-equipped and untrained farmers and priests defeating a world super-power that had tried to force them to eat pig and give up circumcision and the Sabbath.

If you would like more information here is the link to Nehemia Gordon’s entire article

https://www.nehemiaswall.com/hanukkah-fact-fiction?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_12_19_2019_6_36)&mc_cid=1718159c00&mc_eid=0a3e1e32d7