‘Tis The Hanukkah Season – HANUKKAH 2

HANUKKAH 2

The Joyous Festival of Hanukkah also called the Festival of Lights – is for eight days celebrates two miracles – a great Jewish military victory and a miraculous supply of oil for the Temple.

Judah Maccabees’ victorious three-year battle against the Syrian Greeks concluded in the cleaning and rededication of the Jewish Temple.

Since the Jewish tribe was unable to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot at its proper time in early autumn, the victorious Maccabees decided that Sukkot should be celebrated once they rededicated the Temple, which they did on the 25th of the month of Kislev in the year 164 B.C.E. Since Sukkot lasts seven days, this became the timeframe adopted for Hanukkah.

Celebration of victory in a physical battle. According to Lord Jesus Christ, in the Book of Zechariah 4:6 "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," is written on the menorah in Jerusalem that stands across from the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

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enorah.  The Hanukkah menorah holds nine candles, one for each of the eight nights and an additional candle that’s used to light the others. One holder anchors the Shamas or Shamash or Shammash, the "worker" candle that is used to light the others. The candles are inserted in the menorah incrementally each night of the festival from right to left, but are lit from left to right - one for the first night, two for the second, and so on.

A blessing is also offered while the candles are lit each night. Menorah is Hebrew for "candlestick, candelabrum," or "lamp stand." The original menorah in the ancient temple in Jerusalem had seven branches; it now has eight branches and a holder for the shamas to celebrate Hanukkah. The seven-branched menorah is still a symbol of Judaism and also the nation of Israel. Shamas(h) is Hebrew for "attendant," from a base word meaning "to serve." The Hanukkah menorah is also called the hanukkiyyah. The first candle is lit at sundown on the 24th day of Kislev.

·      Day 1 — Rededication

·    Day 2 — The Light of Hope

·    Day 3 — Be a Maccabee

·         Day 4 — Be a Source of Light

·         Day 5 — Take the Time to See theLight

·         Day 6 — Seeing in the Dark

·         Day 7 — Spiritual Victories

·         Day 8 — A Season of Miracles

Chanukah Menorah: Miracle of the Oil

What the Miracle Signified

In the Temple, an eternal flame had to stay lit all the time. This indicates that God’s presence is in the temple all the time.

At the end of the victorious battle, the Jews went into the Temple to light the eternal flame. However, upon arriving, it is learned that there is only one flask of clean, pure olive oil to use_ only enough to keep the flame burning for one day.

Lighting the flame anyway, an act that propels a strong and striking message of trusting in God. The people trusted in God, and a miracle occurred — the lamp that was only to last for one day stayed lit for eight days until the new oil arrived eight days later! This is how Hanukkah became the "Festival of Lights."    …to be continued.

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

http://mybiblestoriesblog.blogspot.com