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By Julie Stahl

During such dark times, it’s heartening to remember that Hanukkah began after a time of utter devastation and desolation in Jewish history.

Hanukkah—which is also known as the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication—marks a great victory over 2,000 years ago.

“It’s a holiday that celebrates religious freedom and our victory against oppression and our ability to rededicate the Temple,” says Rebecca Spiro, a resident of Jerusalem’s Old City.

In the second century B.C., the Jewish people in Judea revolted against the Syrian-Greek (Seleucid) conquerors.  

The Syrian-Greek King Antiochus IV ruled over Israel in 174 B.C. He tried to unify his kingdom by imposing pagan religion and culture on the Jews—forcing them to eat pork and forbidding them from observing the Sabbath, studying the Bible (Torah), and performing traditional rituals. As a supreme insult, the Seleucids defiled the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it to the Greek god Zeus.

Mattathias, a Jewish sage from the village of Modiin, took a stand with his five sons against the prohibitions and idolatry and fled to the hills of Judea. There, they raised a small army and engaged in guerilla warfare against the Seleucids. 

Before his death, Mattathias appointed his son Judah the Strong as their leader. Judah was called “Maccabee,” a word composed of the initial letters of the four Hebrew words, Mi Kamocha Ba’eilim Adonai, which means, “Who is like You, O God.”

Mattathias, a sage from the village of Modiin, and his five sons took a stand against the prohibitions and idolatry and fled to the hills of Judea. There they raised a small army and engaged in guerilla warfare against the Seleucid Empire. 

Before his death, Mattathias appointed his son Judah the Strong as their leader. Judah was called “Maccabee,” a word composed of the initial letters of the four Hebrew words, Mi Kamocha Ba’eilim Adonai, which means, “Who is like You, O God.”

King Antiochus sent his general, Apollonius, to wipe out Judah and his followers, but he was defeated. So he sent tens of thousands more soldiers to fight. The Maccabees responded by declaring, “Let us fight unto death in defense of our souls and our Temple!” They assembled in Mitzpah, where the prophet Samuel had prayed to God. 

Despite being greatly outnumbered, the Maccabees won and returned to Jerusalem to liberate and cleanse the Holy Temple from the idols that Antiochus had placed inside.

On the 25th day of the month of Kislev, in the year 139 B.C., the Maccabees rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem. The legend says that there was only enough sacred oil to burn for one day in the menorah, a candelabrum with seven branches used in the Temple in Jerusalem. But once lit, the menorah burned for eight days—enough time to purify more oil. That’s why Hanukkah lasts for eight days.  

Although Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Old Testament, it is recorded in the New Testament: “It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade” (John 10:22-23 NLT).

The Maccabees were also important in early Christianity. Recently, archaeologists uncovered Hasmonean tombs about a mile from the modern Israeli city of Modiin in the area where the Maccabees would have lived, about 20 miles from Jerusalem.

At the site is a mosaic floor with a cross on it. Archaeologists suggest that Byzantine Christians found the original tomb and decorated it with the mosaic.

“The Maccabees were Jewish leaders, Jewish rebels. They removed the Greek empire and Greek presence from what is now modern Israel and they established an independent Jewish state, which makes it significant to both Judaism and Christianity,” says archaeologist Dan Shachar.   

Today, Jewish people light a special Hanukkah menorah, called a Hanukkiah, with nine branches—one for each of the eight days plus the shamash or “servant candle” used to light the others. Each day an additional candle is lit, so that by the eighth day they are all ablaze. Hanukkah falls around and sometimes coincides with Christmastime. Children are often given presents each day of the holiday.

Rebecca Spiro observes, “This is a holiday about spirituality; this is a holiday about values; this is a holiday about connecting to God.”

She also adds that there’s a message in the holiday for today. “The world is coming up against Israel. The wolves are circling the sheep. This is nothing new, and the message for Hanukkah is no matter what happens, our candles burn bright,” she says. “Civilizations have come and gone, but the Jewish people are still here.”

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East.