Temple History

Our reading and the Gospel are linked.  Here they are: Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt offerings that they had made. 

On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was re-consecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors.

There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev. (1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59)

Then there is the Gospel:  Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words. (Luke 19:45-48)

Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”  And, they did to undo what Antiochus Epiphanes had accomplished at the cost of many Jewish lives.  Then, somewhat ironically and many decades later, the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people made the temple into a den of thieves, according to outspoken Jesus.  A few more decades later, the Romans destroyed the temple and sacked Jerusalem with thousands of crucifixions lining the roads.  

Such is the long history of the temple and the people who worshiped there.  Now they worship in synagogues around the world demonstrating their resilience and faith. Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the month Kislev (Chislev), which is the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar.

Deacon David Pierce