Chanukah and Maccabees (I)

[Duvduv]

It is interesting how the story of the institution of the holiday of Chanukah is expressed in the Books of Maccabees, the Talmud and the Scroll of Antiochus.
Neither 1 Maccabees or 2 Maccabees make any mention of the menorah lights lasting for eight days on an amount of oil sufficient for one day. In fact they give no actual reason for the institution of the eight day holiday for all time.

Indeed, there were a number of times that the Temple was recovered and purified during earlier times in the period of the prophets and First Temple, but no holiday was ever instituted for all time in those periods, such as when Shishak came to Jerusalem, when Menasseh the king repented after defiling the Temple, and several other occasions. Even when the two temples were actually built no permanent holiday was ever instituted to commemorate these monumental occasions. The authors of the Books of Maccabees give no reason at all why the events of Chanukah should be so different than any other event in history to warrant a holiday prescribed AFTER the days of the prophets.

48 And they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple: and they sanctified the temple, and the courts.
49 And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
50 And they put incense upon the altar, and lighted up the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple.
51 And they set the loaves upon the table, and hung up the veils, and finished all the works that they had begun to make.
52 And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Casleu) in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
53 And they offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of holocausts which they had made.
54 According to the time, and according to the day wherein the heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals.
55 And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and blessed up to heaven, him that had prospered them.
56 And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise.
57 And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors upon them.

Second Maccabees:
When Maccabeus and his companions, under the Lord’s leadership, had recovered the temple and the city,
2 they destroyed the altars erected by the foreigners in the marketplace and the sacred shrines.
3 After purifying the temple, they made another altar. Then, with fire struck from flint, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years,* burned incense, and lighted lamps. They also set out the showbread.
4 When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and begged the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, and that if they should sin at any time, he might chastise them with moderation and not hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous Gentiles.
5 On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the foreigners, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Kislev, the purification of the temple took place.
6 The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths, remembering how, a little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild animals in the mountains and in caves.
7 Carrying rods entwined with leaves,* beautiful branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had successfully brought about the purification of his own place.
8 By public decree and vote they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year.
9 Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes.

Scroll of Antiochus:
The Hasmoneans entered the Sanctuary, rebuilt the gates, closed the breaches, and cleansed the Temple court from the slain and the impurities. They looked for pure olive oil to light the Menorah, and found only one bottle with the seal of the High Priest so that they were sure of its purity. Though its quantity seemed sufficient only for one day's lighting, it lasted for eight days owing to the blessing of the G-d of heaven who had established His Name there. Hence, the Hasmoneans and all the Jews alike instituted these eight days as a time of feasting and rejoicing, like any festival prescribed in the Torah, and of kindling lights to commemorate the victories G-d had given them. Mourning and fasting are forbidden on Chanukah, except in the case of an individual's vow which must be discharged. Nevertheless, the Hasmoneans did not prohibit work on this holiday.
From that time on the Greek government was stripped of its renown. The Hasmoneans and their descendants ruled for two hundred and six years, until the destruction of the Temple
And so the Jews everywhere observe this festival for eight days, beginning on the twenty-fifth of Kislev. These days, instituted by Priest, Levites and Sages of Temple times, shall be celebrated by their descendants forever.

Tractate Shabbat 21:
What is the reason for Hanukkah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev commence the days of Hanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient for one day's lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit the lamp therewith for eight days. The following year these days were appointed a Festival with the recital of Hallel and thanksgiving

[Duvduv]

So we find agreement that Jewish leaders instituted a festival occasion lasting 8 days, but aside from the claim about the menorah lights, there is no explanation of WHY it should be instituted for 8 days for all time, EVEN if Maccabees wanted to argue that it was relevant to the festival of Sukkot. Non-rabbinic Jews never accepted the institution of Chanukah, and even if there were no issue of the menorah, Jews who did not abide by the rabbinical leadership would not find any reason to keep a festival for all generations, especially since it did not originate in the days of the prophets such as Purim, and especially since something similar had never existed before, making rabbinic Chanukah totally unprecedented.

On the other hand, rabbinic Jews would have accepted any holiday instituted by the rabbinic leadership/Sanhedrin regardless of whether there were lights that last for 8 days or not.

And if the belief in the miracle originated in rabbinic times, certainly there would have been some indication of this, or some dispute about this very issue found in Jewish texts, especially since by that time Jews were spread out from Morocco to Persia. And since the miracle did not directly affect the observance of the holiday, there would be no reason not to discuss not only the belief in such a miracle, but whether such a miracle warranted the institution of a permanent festival on the Jewish calendar.

So if there had always been a belief in the miracle, why didn't the Books of Maccabees mention it since if most Jews had accepted the belief it would do no good to ignore it in a story about Chanukah, UNLESS the target audience of Maccabees was not Jews who accepted the institution of the new holiday by the religious leadership, but NON-JEWS, who were unlikely to believe or care about such things at all.??

[beowulf]

So we find agreement that Jewish leaders instituted a festival occasion lasting 8 days, but aside from the claim about the menorah lights, there is no explanation of WHY it should be instituted for 8 days for all time, EVEN if Maccabees wanted to argue that it was relevant to the festival of Sukkot. Non-rabbinic Jews never accepted the institution of Chanukah, and even if there were no issue of the menorah, Jews who did not abide by the rabbinical leadership would not find any reason to keep a festival for all generations, especially since it did not originate in the days of the prophets such as Purim, and especially since something similar had never existed before, making rabbinic Chanukah totally unprecedented.

On the other hand, rabbinic Jews would have accepted any holiday instituted by the rabbinic leadership/Sanhedrin regardless of whether there were lights that last for 8 days or not.

And if the belief in the miracle originated in rabbinic times, certainly there would have been some indication of this, or some dispute about this very issue found in Jewish texts, especially since by that time Jews were spread out from Morocco to Persia. And since the miracle did not directly affect the observance of the holiday, there would be no reason not to discuss not only the belief in such a miracle, but whether such a miracle warranted the institution of a permanent festival on the Jewish calendar.

So if there had always been a belief in the miracle, why didn't the Books of Maccabees mention it since if most Jews had accepted the belief it would do no good to ignore it in a story about Chanukah, UNLESS the target audience of Maccabees was not Jews who accepted the institution of the new holiday by the religious leadership, but NON-JEWS, who were unlikely to believe or care about such things at all.??

You have stopped when it was becoming interesting; who was the target? And perhaps you may suggest the why it was done.

[Duvduv]

You ask a good question Beowulf. The authors may simply have been presenting a version of the story that would be acceptable to a non-Jewish audience in the Near East, and one that would have not been interested at all in the idea of a miracle in understanding events in Jewish history. The texts ascribed to Philo also water down the traditional Jewish narrative to accommodate his audience.

[semiopen2]

You give a poor answer Duvi.

One would think that our soul brother Josephus might mention the celebration of the miracle, he got out the part about 8 days.

I don't know how one can conclude that there was a miracle, certainly your speculation is far from convincing. Regarding audience accommodation, this seems like the only Jewish miracle that is free from some kind of humiliating admission (consider Passover and Purim) - are we saying that unless the story is humiliating to Jews in some way, we can't tell gentiles about it?

Also, it is funny how the "Greeks" take the blame. Judaism, as we know it, is Greek. The civil war was between two factions of Greeks. The logical division seems to be that the group not in favor of eliminating circumcision won.

[beowulf]

Apparently much of 2 Maccabees has been lost and 1 Maccabees is a Greek Translation.


Lawrence H. Schiffman in his book: From text to tradition-A history of the second temple Rabbinic Judaism, writes

1 Maccabees was written in Hebrew...It survives only in the Greek text, which served as a major source for the first-century CE historian Josephus.
2 Maccabees is an abridgement of a lost five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene
3 Maccabees is an unhistorical account.

[Duvduv]

I think you skipped over some of my points. The issue is not whether or not there was a miracle, but the belief that there was.
It should be noted that even the Karaites acknowledge the festival of Purim in its association with the Hebrew canon of prophetic books, but do not acknowledge the restoration and purification of the Temple as Chanukah. I think this could be associated with the fact that some non-rabbinic sects rejected the status of the second Temple altogether, and these strands found there way into Karaism. Because even if they did not acknowledge the miracle or an 8 day festival, they would otherwise surely have acknowledged the restoration of the Temple.

[semiopen2]

I think you skipped over some of my points. The issue is not whether or not there was a miracle, but the belief that there was.

If we know Jews are celebrating without a miracle in the first century, don't we know for a virtual certainty that there was no miracle at all? I just don't understand how the miracle can be defended.

Under the circumstances I don't see how this can be celebrated today with the fake miracle as the centerpiece. Why not celebrate just the rare win against a gentile opponent, or just the lights?... or why not use my suggestion in the old forum about celebrating the invention of money?

[Duvduv]

You'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm for Josephus. There is no record in any ancient traditional Jewish text of him or his writings as an authentic figure, either as a general, a priest, a writer or a historian. Especially in light of the imaginary story of Massada and a few other matters that are not referenced anywhere in ancient Jewish literature.

Apparently much of 2 Maccabees has been lost and 1 Maccabees is a Greek Translation.


Lawrence H. Schiffman in his book: From text to tradition-A history of the second temple Rabbinic Judaism, writes

1 Maccabees was written in Hebrew...It survives only in the Greek text, which served as a major source for the first-century CE historian Josephus.
2 Maccabees is an abridgement of a lost five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene
3 Maccabees is an unhistorical account.

[beowulf]

You'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm for Josephus. There is no record in any ancient traditional Jewish text of him or his writings as an authentic figure, either as a general, a priest, a writer or a historian. Especially in light of the imaginary story of Massada and a few other matters that are not referenced anywhere in ancient Jewish literature.

LOL. I have never read Josephus. I have only read bits of it.

I would ask Professor Schiffman not to mention Josephus in the next edition if I thought it would do any good.


Apparently much of 2 Maccabees has been lost and 1 Maccabees is a Greek Translation.

Lawrence H. Schiffman in his book: From text to tradition-A history of the second temple Rabbinic Judaism, writes

1 Maccabees was written in Hebrew...It survives only in the Greek text
2 Maccabees is an abridgement of a lost five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene
3 Maccabees is an unhistorical account