The Festival of Chanukah is carried over into the beginning of the Tenth Month of Tevet, the 7th day of Chanukah on the Rosh Chodesh, and the 8th day of Chanukah the next day. (Not necessarily every year, depending on the 9th month, Kislev, having 29 or 30 days)
Later on in the month, on the tenth day, is the traditional Fast of Tevet, or ‘Assarah B’Tevet’. It is mentioned in 2Kings 25vs1 as the day that the Babylonian army began the siege of Jerusalem which lasted two years. It is a remembrance of the beginning of the destructions to come. The meditation of the fast however is not toward that, but towards repentance ourselves as individuals and collectively together as the set-apart people, that we would change our deeds and that Elohim would have mercy.
Vayikra (Lev) 26vs40; “And they shall confess their transgression and the transgression of their fathers…”
During this month the world will also try to draw us away from Holiness and invite us to be absorbed by the festivals of the world. May YHVH strengthen us, to keep our focus on Him, and be guided by the Spirit into the understanding that we should receive at this time.
The significance of Chanukah is still carried over to this month, and the symbolism of what it represents. The rededication of the Temple was surrounded by struggle, affliction, tribulation and martyrdom. It was no easy victory, and involved loss of life. There were many battles to be overcome before the cleansing of the Temple, and many persecutions and attacks which followed after. Perhaps not unlike the events taking place in Israel’s history right now. Lots of trouble. This is what Yeshuah warns his disciples of in Matt 24, yet comforts them in vs 6b; “See that you are not troubled, for these have to take place, but the end is not yet.” Vs 13; “But he who shall have endured to the end shall be saved.” Yet clearly, although a fore-shadow of what is yet to come, these events are not yet the cleansing that Yahshuah is speaking of. Yeshuah is answering a question about the signs of His coming and the end of the age (Matt24 vs 3). For the ‘Abomination that lays waste’, spoken of by Daniel, (see 9vs27) fulfilled in the time of the Maccabees, was followed by a cleansing, and so shall the final ‘abomination that lays waste’, be followed by a cleansing after His return. Shall this also be surrounded by struggle, affliction, tribulation and martyrdom?
In the Book of Revelation, we read of just such trouble. In fact the books of the Maccabees parallel the book of Revelation in many ways; the rise and fall of many powerful Kings, surrounding the stumbling block of Jerusalem and its Temple, martyrdom for obedience to the commandments. Three times in the book of Revelation it is written;
12vs17: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those guarding the commands of Elohim and possessing the witness of Yeshuah Messiah.”
14vs12: “Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones, here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of Yahshuah”
22vs14: “Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.”
The comparisons between the books of Daniel, Maccabees (Chanukah/Dedication) and the book of Revelation would not be so conclusive were it not for Yeshuah Himself drawing this parallel, as an important sign to His followers yet to be born. This teaching is from Yahshuah Himself.
Matt 24vs15b; “-he who reads, let him understand-“
Shalom and welcome to this presentation of what is a very ancient calendar system
