JESUS CELEBRATED HANUKKAH AND PROVED ADVENTISM’S CORE DOCTRINE WRONG

By Guest Blogger, Edited by Colleen Tinker

 

Editor’s note: We received the outline of this study on Antiochus Epiphanes from a reader who gave us permission to use it but does not wish to share a byline.

 

The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 B.C., Judea—also known as the Land of Israel—came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. 

In 168 B.C., his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls.

The story of Hanukkah does not appear in the Torah because the events that inspired the holiday occurred after it was written. It is, however, mentioned in the New Testament, in which Jesus attends a “Feast of Dedication” (see Jn. 10:22-24).

Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Mattathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee (“the Hammer”), took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah—the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.

You can read Daniel’s accurate prophecy about this event in Daniel 8 where the prophet describes seeing a two-horned ram. The ram is identified in Daniel 8:20 as representing the kings of Media and Persia; the larger horn may represent Persia’s greater influence, an understanding suggested in Daniel 8:3.

The expansion of the Medo-Persian empire is illustrated in Daniel 8:4 by the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward.

The kingdom of Greece, represented by a one-horned male goat (Dan. 8:21), succeeded the kingdom of Medo-Perisa. Note that the goat came from the west (Dan. 8:5). Its “conspicuous” horn represented its first king, Alexander the Great, and the speed of the goat aptly reflects Alexander’s conquest (Dan. 8:5). 

Alexander defeated the Persians in three decisive battles foreshadowed in Daniel 8:6-7 and recorded by history: the first was at Granicus (334 B.C.); the second was at Issus (333 B.C.), and the third occurred at Gaugamela (331 B.C.).

 

What happened after Alexander?

Daniel 8:8 explains that the large “Alexander horn” broke, and four horns arose in its place. Daniel 8:22 tells us that these four horns represent four kingdoms that arose from Alexander’s nation, but the four generals that established these kingdoms did not have Alexander’s power. 

History tells us that Alexander died at 33 years of age. His empire was divided between his four generals (Dan. 8:8): Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus I  in Syria, Cassander  in Macedonia and Greece, and Lysimachus in Thrace and Asia Minor.

Daniel 8:9 further reveals that out of one of these little horns would come another horn that would grow “exceedingly great”.

The little horn that became exceedingly great is described in Daniel 8:23-25 in these ways: sometime later a king would arise when transgressors had reached their fullness (when Israel had fallen back into sin). He would come with mighty power, but not by his own power. He would destroy fearfully and would prosper and thrive. He would destroy the mighty and also the holy people. Through cunning he would cause deceit to prosper, and he would magnify himself and destroy many in their prosperity.

Moreover, He would even rise against the Prince of princes (i.e., God Himself), but he would be broken without human hand (God would destroy him).

This “little horn” that became great is most likely Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of Syria (175-163 B.C.).  History reveals that this great general imposed Greek culture and deities upon his subjects. More specifically, when he conquered Jerusalem, he set up an image in the temple, and he offered swine flesh upon the altar. He encouraged Greek soldiers to commit fornication in the temple, and he forbade circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and possessing a copy of the Scriptures.

 

Conclusion

So, here is the lowdown. The Daniel 8 prophecy describes Medo-Persia, Alexander the Great, his four generals, and Antiochus Epiphanies.

Daniel 8:8: The shaggy goat (Greece) with one large horn (Alexander the Great) became great, but when Alexander became strong, the large horn was broken. 

Daniel 8:9–12: In its place four notable horns (generals) came up toward the four winds of heaven. Daniel saw a little horn come out of the four with great power. It grew exceedingly great toward the south and east, and toward the Glorious Land (Israel). This horn grew up to the host of heaven, casting down and trampling to the ground some of the host (God’s believing people) and exalting himself as high as the Prince of the host.

Then this powerful horn took away the daily sacrifices and cast down the place of His (God’s) sanctuary (the temple). An army was given him to oppose the daily sacrifices and the host (because of transgressions). He flung truth to the ground, and he did all these things and prospered.

This passage of Daniel describes a perfect, all-points match for Antiochus Epiphanes. 

God, however, is sovereign even over cruel tyrants. He raised up a hammer, Judas Macabbee, who in 166 BC, led the revolt that defeated Antiochus Epiphanes and cleansed the temple from its pagan defilement, restoring it for biblical worship again. 

This defeat of Antiochus Epiphanes and the cleansing of the temple is the reason for the ancient Festival of Hanukkah. It is this festival, the Feast of Dedication, that Jesus was attending in John 10 that was the occasion of His words that caused the Jews to try to stone Him:

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:25–30).

Thus we know that Jesus celebrated the cleansing of the temple necessitated by Antiochus Epiphanes’ defilement, and at the celebration He declared His identity as God. In the temple portico Jesus presented Himself as the One who guaranteed eternal life and security to all who would hear and follow Him.