Today 12/11/20 – 25 Kislev 5781 (or yesterday 12/10/20 at sundown) was the beginning of Hanukkah. What is Hanukkah? “The Hebrew word Hanukkah means “dedication.” The holiday is also known as the Feast of Dedication or the Feast of Lights. Hanukkah commemorates an historical event, the Jewish victory in 162 the Syrians in the Maccabean War. At this time Judea was part of the Syrian empire, in which Greek culture predominated. Some Jews began to adopt Greek ways of life and thought. A small group of Jews, led by the Maccabee family, resisted this process of assimilation by taking up arms against the Syrian political authorities. After their victory, they cleansed and rededicated the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which their opponents had occupied and used to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. One record states that those present at the dedication witnessed a miracle. A small amount of oil, enough to keep the temple lamp lit for one day, lasted a full eight days.” (https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Feast+of+Lights#:~:text=The%20Hebrew%20word%20Hanukkah%20means,in%20which%20Greek%20culture%20predominated.)
Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian who invaded Jerusalem and the Temple, had set up a bust of Zeus also known as Jupiter in the Temple inside the holy of holies, and them slaughtered a pig in honor of him. The Maccabee brothers then revolted and took the Temple back. “Antiochus went first to the temple in Jerusalem and set up a statue of the Greek god Jupiter Olympus in the holy of holies. On the altar of sacrifice in the temple courtyard, he forced the priests to sacrifice pig flesh to the pagan gods. Anyone in Jerusalem who was seen practicing any form of religion other than Antiochus’s was sentenced to immediate death….His decree stated that “the whole kingdom should be one people and that each nation must give up his customs.” According to Polybius, a historian of the time, while Antiochus was en route to destroy the Jews, he was struck down and troubled with a “perpetual delirium” of some sort, “imagining that specters [terrifying spirits] stood continually before him, reproaching him with his crimes.” This torment drove him literally insane. Soon after, in 164 B.C., Antiochus died.” (https://watchjerusalem.co.il/191-who-was-antiochus-epiphanes)
This story I believe is a type and shadow of what would happen 160 years later with Mary conceiving Jesus through the Holy Spirit and then bearing the Son of God, who was to Tabernacle with men and be the final Light of this world. Jesus is the Light that is put in our hearts through the Spirit of God, that doesn’t just stay lit for 8 days, but stays lit as looking as you let Him tabernacle in you. Our temples are desecrated daily and this is why we are to make ourselves a living sacrifice to God, and die to self daily. We let those “dirty pigs” in our tents and allow ourselves to become the same detestable abomination that the Temple became in 162 B.C.
Scripture shows us the everlasting Light that was to come into this world to burn on the candlestick of your heart.
Luke 1:31-35
And behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore, also, that holy child which is to be born shall be called the Son of God.
This time historically in Like 1 was the 6th month and if the birth of Jesus was in September sometime, his would put this around the first of December 2020 or in Kislev 5781. This is why the feast of Lights happened the way it did, to point to the real Light of this World, Jesus Christ. Some may rail on Christmas lights per say, but I do believe this is why lights are so predominate at Christmas time. The real meaning of this has been lost. It is representing the Temple being filled with light for 8 days. The CONCEPTION of Jesus Christ. And this brings up another debate. When does life start? I’d say on the 8th day, when a fertilized egg implants itself on the uterine wall about 8 days after ovulation. Not when you come out of the womb, but when you enter the womb. The 6 month on the 8th day.
Hidden in the Crag 