Hanukkah Studies - Day 7 by Sarah McIlvaine

Hanukkah – Day 7

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Although Hanukkah is the Feast of Dedication it is also known as the Festival of Lights.  Why does the light of the menorah occupy such a central place in this feast?  It would seem that the main message of the feast is actually found in the scripture we looked at yesterday.  It is one of the traditional Hanukkah readings:

 

Zech. 4:6

Then he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 

 

I read recently that Antiochus had come against the Jewish uprising with “one of the largest armies ever to take the field in ancient times: 200,000 footmen, 12,000 horsemen, and 32 battle elephants.” (“The Meaning and Importance of Hanukkah” by Dr. Ruth Fleischer in Messianic Jewish Life, Jan—Mar 2000)  Certainly it was not by might or power that this band of Jewish rebels was able to overcome the mighty Syrian army.  No, that took the power of their mighty covenant-keeping Lord of Hosts.  The book of

1 Maccabees records, “That day God fought for His people.”

 

What caused God to fight so mightily for them in this situation?  It was simply because they were keeping His covenant.  God had  revealed himself to the people ofIsrael in the Exodus and then at Sinai.  And he gave them something of himself – something eternal – His Torah. (His instruction and teaching to let them know how a holy people should behave.) Then He charged them to walk in obedience to Torah and He would be their God.   Devotion to keeping His commandments was what made them a people and kept them a people.  And that band of rebels had made up their minds that they would not defile their holiness – their separation unto God – by disobeying His Torah.  They were willing to die rather than sin. 

 

What does this have to do with light?  Let’s look at some of the places in scripture that we see God’s word equated with light:

Proverbs 6:23

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

 

Psalm 19:8

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

 

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

 

2 Peter 1:19

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 

 

We could go on and on with these quotations, but that should suffice.  The point is that God’s Word is light and the light of the menorah, which is so central to the Hanukkah story, corresponds to the Torah, God’s Word.  God’s light blazes forth to illuminate us just as the menorah lit up the Holy Place.  And those Jews who stood against all of Antiochus’ might were standing on the strength of God’s Holy Word. 

 

But it gets even better for us as believers in Messiah Yeshua.  We know that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14)    Even better we learn that “in him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1: 4)   In a sense Jesus became the living menorah, the living light of God in human flesh.  But the very best part is that He was “the true light, which enlightens everyone.” (John 1: 9)  From His light, when we are born again, we are lit from within by the Spirit of God.  Thus we become little menorahs to the world.

 

We become dim however if we do not continue in the Word, diligently studying to obey.  And then there is the oil.  After all Hanukkah is the miracle of the oil.  Oil is what filled the lamps of the menorah and caused them to burn.  Throughout scripture oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Although we must study the Word, it takes the Holy Spirit to bring it alive.  For we are told in 2 Corinthians 3: 6:  “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant -- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

To come back to the Hanukkah story, it was the dedication of those faithful Jewish fighters to keeping God’s Word that enabled the miracle of their victory over the Syrian army.  God backed them up with the power of the Spirit.  So it is fitting that this should be symbolized by the miracle of the oil which caused the menorah to blaze for eight days.  God supplied the oil – the power of the Holy Spirit – in response to their consecration to His Holy Torah.  Dr. John Garr is fond of summing this all up with the phrase, “Dedication produces light.” 

 

May we dedicate ourselves to the study of God’s Word and to seeking to stay filled with the Holy Spirit.  Then we can be the lights to the world that we are called to be. 

 

Shalom,

Sarah McIlvaine

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-Sarah McIlvaine (2008)