8 Nights & 8 Lights

Hanukkah has started. Matisyahu, the Hasidic Jew Reggae artist, has a pop video out about the celebration. It's quite catchy but a very goofy video:

Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after it was defiled by Antiochus IV (Grape guy in video) in 167 BC.

After the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Israel ceased to control the promised land, but experienced relative peace and prosperity under her new landlords: first with Alexander the Great (332-323) and then under the Ptolemies (333-198).  

As Greek philosophy and language were mixing with the Semitic cultures, a process known as Hellenism, Judaism struggled to figure out if the two cultures could co-exist.  The issue was mainly divided among the upper classes who embraced Hellenism and the middle and lower classes who resisted.

Alexander knew that assimilation was key to controlling such a vast empire.

All of this would come to a head when the Seleucid ruler Antiohcus IV, who inherited Alexander's empire in Mesopotamia and Syria, took control of Judea and began to force Jewish assimilation. He saw the distinct identity of the Jews as a potential problem and so he plundered the Temple and outlawed religious practices.

His plan backfired on him and lead to the first Jewish war of independence, a story told in the wonderful book of 1 Maccabees. When the Jews recaptured the Temple and were in the process of rededicating it, they only had enough oil to fuel the Eternal Flame (cf. Leviticus 6.13),  a candle representing the presence of Yahweh among his people, for one day.

A Menorah, in D.C. The middle light, called the shamash, is used to light the others.

But miraculously the oil lasted 8 days, just enough time for new oil to be pressed and consecrated. The Jews ended up gaining their independence and ruled Judea autonomously until 63, when the Romans took over.

Hanukkah is a wonderful holiday, rich with meaning and intrinsically tied to the Christian faith. It commemorates a definitive moment of God's saving activity in the world and one all Christians should be aware of.