Chanukah-Hope Lights Kindled for Coming Messianic Hope Age |
Eric M. Meyers, a teacher of Jewish Studies at Duke University, points out that a section from the book of Prophet Zechariah is the Haftarah (an extra Bible reading) for the holiday of Chanukah. The rabbis chose Zechariah 2:14-4:7 as the haftarah for the Shabbat that fell on Chanukah. The setting of the Book of Zechariah is the Jewish return from Exile in the Persian period, the last third of the sixth century B.C.E.
For this post, the Persian government selected Zerubbabel ben Shealtiel, a governor and descendant of King David, and Joshua ben Jehozadak, a high priest, to cooperate and rule the new province together. The Persian king required them to accept only limited sovereignty—they were to remain a province of Persia—in exchange for permission to rebuild the Temple and practice their own religion.
On the simplest level, Zechariah chapter 3 was probably chosen because it describes the (re)dedication of the Second Temple, which could be seen as anticipating its rededication centuries later by the Maccabees. Specifically, the chapter describes the investiture of Joshua by God as High Priest of the restored Temple and purifying him for his role in the rededicated Temple.
The haftarah then continues into chapter 4. Here we have probably the most memorable vision of the Temple Menorah in all Hebrew literature. It is a lamp-stand of gold with seven lamps on top if it with spouts. As we learn from vv. 11-14, they pour “liquid gold” into the two olive trees that flank the menorah, which the text (v. 14) identifies as “the two sons of oil who stand by the Lord of all the earth represent the two leaders, Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel, governor and Davidic scion. Zech 6:13 says also that there will be a “peaceful counsel between them.”
In theory, you could end the piece here and say that the Rabbinic Sages simply chose a prophetic passage that dealt with themes relevant to Chanukah as a day when the temple was rededicated.
But Eric M. Meyers don’t think this explanation does this choice justice. As I see it he says the sages’ chose this passage from Zechariah wisely, subtly, with a number of other points in mind.
In addition to describing the investiture of the high priest and the menorah, the chosen passage puts forward a solution to the classic universalist-particularist dilemma. How can YHWH be the God of the Jews and the entire world at the same time? The world persecutes the Jews (in the time of the rabbis and the Maccabees), or at least rules over them in the name of other gods (in the time of Zechariah). How is a Jew supposed to make sense of this?
Prophet Zechariah solves this tension by envisioning a future where there will be peaceful cooperation among peoples under God’s universal dominion. Zechariah proclaims the centrality of the Temple in the Judean heartland, symbolized by the Temple Lamp-stand, but imagines that this centrality will be felt by all human beings, not just Jews
Consider the following passages: Zech 2:14 Shout for joy, Fair Zion! For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst—declares........