The Gift Of The Maccabees
What gift did the Maccabees give the world?
The Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) came to this earth in the fullness of time to live a perfect life in accordance with the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law), so he could bring redemption to those who could not live a perfect life in accordance with the Law of Truth (Galatians 4:4-7).
The Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) had used the rise and fall of empires to create the perfect conditions to spread the Good News over a large area in a short amount of time. These perfect conditions made it possible for messengers to broadcast a message to the places where about half the people on Earth live in just seventy years.
This perfect message system would have been useless without a message. So, the Father of Truth also set up the conditions in the land of Israel to make it possible for the Man of Truth to bring about redemption. His means to accomplish this was the Maccabees.
The story of the Maccabees was first told hundreds of years before it happened. How they were used to bring about the fullness of time is tied to the Greek Empire. This is just another example of Greco-Judeo wrestling.
The Father of Truth brought about the unified Greek Empire, and then split it into four smaller Greek Empires (Daniel 11:2-4).
In one of the four smaller Greek Empires, the Seleucid Empire, a vile man came to power named Antiochus Epiphanes (Antiochus IV) (Daniel 11:21). He then made a covenant to depose Onias, the rightful high priest of Israel, and allow Jason to be the high priest instead, for a large sum of money (Daniel 11:22). He then broke his covenant with Jason, and deposed him, so Menelaus could be the high priest instead, because he gave Antiochus Epiphanes an even larger bribe (Daniel 11:23).
Antiochus Epiphanes then gained favor with his subjects by throwing them money, and prepared for war (Daniel 11:24). Soon, he waged war against another of the smaller Greek Empires, the Ptolemy Empire, to the south (Daniel 11:25). He sought to win the war by bribing many of the key supporters of his opponent to bring about the defeat of their ruler (Daniel 11:26). The war ended with a peace treaty that neither ruler intended to keep, but their evil intentions for each other were ended by a treaty that they were compelled to make with the Romans (Daniel 11:27).
Antiochus Epiphanes then returned to the land of Israel with great plunder, and began to wage war against the Law of Truth, because the Jews had held great celebrations over a report that he had died in battle (Daniel 11:28).
Antiochus Epiphanes then set out to wage war against the Ptolemy Empire again, but his efforts were not successful, because the Romans showed up in ships, and forced him to abandon his efforts to break his treaty, when he was only seven miles from the capital of the Ptolemy Empire (Daniel 11:29-30).
Antiochus Epiphanes then resumed his war on the Law of Truth, where he outlawed possession of a Torah scroll, wearing tzitzits, refusal to eat pork, and circumcision, because Jason had lead the Jews in a war to restore him as the high priest, instead of Menelaus (who had assassinated Onias), but this time Antiochus Epiphanes made many Jews, who did not want to obey the Law of Truth, his allies (Daniel 11:30). With the help of these Jewish allies, he sprinkled swine broth all over the Temple, broke into the Holy of Holies, sacrificed three pigs and a dog on the altar, and finally set up a giant statue of Jupiter, with his own face on it, in the Temple, that people worshiped (Daniel 11:31).
However, not every Jew was corrupted by the flatteries of Antiochus Epiphanes, but the ones who knew the Father of Truth, called the Maccabees, started a rebellion against him to restore the observance of the Law of Truth in the land of Israel (Daniel 11:32). All of the Jews who kept the Law of Truth joined the Maccabees, and made tremendous sacrifices in the long war of independence from the Seleucid Empire (Daniel 11:33). Although many Gentiles told the Maccabees that they admired their just cause, very few actually helped the Maccabees in their struggle (Daniel 11:34).
Nonetheless, the Maccabees eventually defeated the Seleucid Empire, four years after Antiochus Epiphanes died in Persia; restored the land of Israel as an autonomous Jewish province of the Seleucid Empire governed by the Law of Truth; rededicated the Temple, after eight days of effort to cleanse it from the pollution of Antiochus Epiphanes; and purged Jewish society of idolatry to prepare it for the time of the end (Daniel 11:35).
This victory of the Maccabees, which lead to the Temple being rededicated to the Father of Truth after eight days of cleansing, is what the Man of Truth celebrated during the eight day feast of Chanukah (John 10:22-23). (Chanukah means "dedication". The "miracle of the oil" never occurred in the historical record, and was added about five hundred years after the fact by the Rabbis. This is another example of Rabbinic distort.)
Chanukah is ultimately a celebration of the gift of the Maccabees.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by cleansing and dedicating the Temple.
Without the Temple, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist (Yochanon the Mikveh Man) could have never came about (Luke 1:5-25).
Without the Temple, the Levitical shepherds, who maintained the flock in the fields between Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the daily sacrifices in the Temple, could not have been the first to inspect the Man of Truth when he was born, as they did with every lamb offered for sin (Luke 2:8-20). Without the Temple, Simeon and Anna could have never spoken by the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) that he was the Messiah of Israel, when he was presented to the Father of Truth in the Temple (Luke 2:22-39).
Without the Temple, the parents of the Man of Truth could never have brought him to Jerusalem each year for Passover (Pesach) (Luke 2:41). Without the Temple, he could not have been examined by the leaders of the Temple, when he became the age to be counted as no longer being a child (Luke 2:42-46).
Without the Temple, the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) could have not tempted the Man of Truth completely (Matthew 4:5-7). Without the Temple, it would have been impossible for the the Man of Truth to have fulfilled the Law of Truth in every way, as he was sent to do (Matthew 5:17-19).
Without the Temple, the Man of Truth could have not fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by driving the money changers out of the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13). Without the Temple, he could not have fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by healing the blind and the lame in the Temple (Matthew 21:14-16). Without the Temple, he could not have been teaching in the Temple (Matthew 21:23). Without the Temple, he could have never gave the destruction of the Temple as a sign that his prophecies concerning the end of days would come to pass (Matthew 24:1-31).
Without the Temple, the Man of Truth could have never been falsely accused and condemned to die (26:59-66). Without the Temple, Judas could have never fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by betraying him (Matthew 27:3-10). Without the Temple, the Man of Truth would have never been mocked while he hung on the cross (Matthew 27:37-44). Without the Temple, the veil to the Holy of Holies would have never been torn, when he died (Matthew 27:50-51). Without the Temple, the Children of Truth would have not been rejoicing in the Temple over his resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:45-53).
So, if the Maccabees had not restored the Temple, then there would have been no Good News to tell.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by saving the Original Covenant (Tanakh aka The Old Testament) from being destroyed.
During this long war for independence, they found ways to possess Torah scrolls. They would gather to study their scrolls, but hiding them when Greek soldiers came near, and got out dreidels instead, so that they appeared to be gambling. This is why people play with dreidels at Chanukah.
They also hid copies of all the books of the Original Covenant in the desert, like the Essenes did with the Dead Sea scrolls, so they could preserve them through the long war of independence.
These scrolls that contained the Original Covenant identified the Man of Truth as the Messiah of Israel (Luke 24:25-32). They showed the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah of Israel as the unique identifier of the Messiah of Israel (Luke 24:44-46). They showed that those Jews, who rejected the Messiah of Israel, would bring about these events (Acts 13:27-37).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Original Covenant from being destroyed, then there would have been no way to verify the Good News that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preventing the Jews from being assimilated into the Greek world.
They found ways to maintain circumcision. Some circumcised their boys on the eighth day, and then hid their sons from the Greek officials. Some circumcised their boys on the eighth day, and Greeks sympathetic to their cause simply looked the other way. Some waited to circumcise their boys until after the war was over.
They preserved the practice of circumcision, so the Man of Truth could be circumcised on the eighth day in fulfillment of the Law of Truth (Luke 2:21).
They found ways to hide their tzitzits by creating smaller tallits that they could hide under their Greek clothing. These tallits are the cloaks, aprons, and handkerchiefs found in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament).
The tzitzits on the corner of the garment of the Man of Truth is what the woman with the issue of blood touched to be healed (Matthew 9:20-22).
They found ways to secretly avoid eating pork. In some cases, those few Gentiles who helped them would eat the pork that they were supposed to force the Jews to eat, and show that the pork had been eaten. In some cases, they would disguise meat from clean hoofed animals, or even clean birds, to look like pork, similar to turkey bacon, and eat that before the Greeks. In some cases, one of them would create a diversion of some sort, and the rest would toss their pork into the fire during the diversion.
The Jewish disciples of the Man of Truth knew what was for dinner according to the Father of Truth. This is why the Jewish disciples of the Man of Truth did not understand him, when he said that what a man eats does not defile him (Mark 7:14-23).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Jewish world from being assimilated into the Greek world, then there would have been no Jewish people to bring about the events of the Good News.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the Feasts of Truth (Moedim aka Feasts of the Father of Truth).
From the time that Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Temple, until the Maccabees restored the Temple, people were not able to go to the Temple to keep the Feasts of Truth as required by the Law of Truth. The required observance of the Feasts of Truth could have been lost during this struggle, if the Maccabees had not found ways to rehearse them without the Temple, like people do today, and then restored them after the Temple was restored.
Without Passover, the Man of Truth would have never been able to show his understanding of the Word of Truth to the religious professionals in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-47).
Without Passover, the Man of Truth would not have went to the Temple at the beginning of his ministry, and drove out the money changers, as a sign that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 2:11-17). If many people had not been in Jerusalem for Passover, then they would not believed the signs that the Man of Truth did to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 2:23). If people from Galilee had not been in Jerusalem for Passover, then they would not have accepted him as the Messiah of Israel based on what he did in Jerusalem (John 4:45).
The Man of Truth would have never healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, if he had not been in Jerusalem for the next Feast of Truth (John 5:1-9).
It was just before the next Passover, when the Man of Truth multiplied the barley loaves and fishes in Galilee, to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 6:1-14).
The Man of Truth then went to the Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, even though his enemies there sought to kill him (John 7:1-10). His enemies looked for him, because they knew that the Man of Truth had to come to Jerusalem to keep this Feast of Truth (John 7:11-13). In the middle of this Feast of Truth, they found him teaching in the Temple, and doing miracles to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (7:14-31). On the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great day, the Man of Truth told everyone that he was the Messiah of Israel, who would pour out the Spirit of Truth on those who came to him, but his enemies could do nothing to him (7:37-44).
Not long before the next Passover, the Man of Truth raised up Lazarus from the dead, after Lazarus had started decaying, as undeniable proof that he was the Messiah of Israel, so his enemies sought to kill the Man of Truth when he came to Jerusalem to keep Passover (John 11:39-57). Six days before Passover, the Man of Truth was anointed for burial to show that he would soon die, while his enemies plotted to kill Lazarus, because he was living proof that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel (John 12:1-11). When he came riding on a donkey into Jerusalem on the next day, five days before Passover, crowds of people praised him as the Messiah of Israel, because he had raised Lazarus up from the dead - after his body had already started decaying, so the enemies of the Man of Truth could do nothing (John 12:12-19).
Two days before that Passover, the Man of Truth announced that he would soon be crucified, even as his enemies plotted to kill him before Passover, so he was anointed for burial again, which caused Judas Iscariot to make a bargain with his enemies to betray him (Matthew 26:1-16). This betrayal came as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was about to begin (Luke 22:1-6).
The Passover Lamb would be killed on the day of Passover (Luke 22:7). So, the Man of Truth ate Passover with his disciples, and explained that Passover was really about redemption that would come through his death (Luke 22:8-21). The Man of Truth knew that Passover meant, that it was time for him to suffer and die, so he let Judas leave to betray him (John 13:1-29).
His enemies then sought to have Pilate kill the Man of Truth before Passover (John 18:28-35). Pilate instead found the Man of Truth innocent, and sought to release him for Passover, but his enemies demanded that he release Barabbas instead (John 18:36-40). So when it came time for the Passover lambs to be killed while hanging from trees, Pilate sentenced the Man of Truth to killed by hanging from a wooden cross, as his enemies demanded (John 19:14-18).
The Man of Truth died that day as the Passover Lamb, so those who would accept him as the Messiah of Israel could have the leaven of sin taken out of them (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). However, he rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits, as the first fruit of those who will be resurrected to eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Feasts of Truth from being lost, then there would have been no Good News that the Man of Truth had fulfilled the role of the Messiah of Israel in first three acts of The Greatest Play Ever.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the Sabbath.
They found ways to keep the Sabbath as well during their long struggle. They would separate themselves from the large cities that the Greeks controlled, and live in the wilderness away from the Greeks. They would go on journeys the day before the Sabbath started, get out of sight of the Greeks before the Sabbath started, rest on the Sabbath, resume their journey after the Sabbath, and finish their journey the day after the Sabbath. Sometimes, a Gentile sympathetic to their cause would hide them during the Sabbath, while these Gentiles that they hid among would work, so nobody suspected that they were resting on the Sabbath. Sometimes, they would grab tools and act like they had been working on project, that they had started the previous day, whenever the Greek soldiers appeared, and then put down their tools to resume resting, when the Greek soldiers left.
Without the Sabbath, the hometown of the Man of Truth would have never had the time to hear his teaching, and then reject it (Mark 6:1-4). Without the Sabbath, his hometown would have never sought to kill him, for announcing that he was the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:16-29).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth would have never became famous for casting a demon out of a man on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-28). Without the Sabbath, he would have never healed people on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17). Without the Sabbath, he would have never caused the lame to walk on the Sabbath (John 5:5-9). Without the Sabbath, he would have never caused the blind to see on the Sabbath (John 9:1-16).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth could have never taught that it was right to take care of people on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8). Without the Sabbath, he could have never taught that it was right to heal people on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-5).
Without the Sabbath, the Pharisees would have never plotted against the Man of Truth for healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-14). Without the Sabbath, the Jewish religious professionals would have never sought to kill him for healing on the Sabbath (John 5:10-16). Without the Sabbath, they would not have sought to kill him for saying, that he was doing the work of the Father of Truth on the Sabbath (John 5:17-19).
Without the Sabbath, these Jewish enemies of the Man of Truth would not have had the opportunity to know, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel from the scriptures, before they brought about his death, burial, and resurrection (Acts 13:27-41).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth could not have risen from the dead on the first day of the week, after the Jewish religious professionals had him crucified (Matthew 28:1-7)!
So, if the Maccabees had not preserved the Sabbath, then there would have been no Good News to tell.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the use of synagogues.
Before the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, the congregations of Jews throughout the southern kingdom of Judah met in synagogues, which the Babylonians also destroyed (Psalm 74:3-8).
When the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they did not need synagogues, since they could all meet every Sabbath at the Tabernacle. After they became spread out among the cities that they had conquered in the Promised Land, then they had to build synagogues, so they had somewhere local to meet together each Sabbath. These original synagogues ("Beth Knesset" in Hebrew, literally "House of Assembly") were just regular buildings with a large place for people to meet in. Initially, people met there for prayer, and after they began obtaining copies of the scriptures, to study. On days other than the Sabbath, these buildings often served other purposes. This was similar to how the same building was the church on Sunday, the school on Monday through Friday, and the town hall on Saturday, in rural communities in America, until about 1960.
Synagogues did not begin to be decorated to appear differently from other buildings, until some time after the Jews returned to the land of Judah from Babylon. In fact, the oldest buildings found that are identifiable as synagogues by their decorations, were built in Egypt about 100 years before the Maccabees.
Antiochus Epiphanes did not just desecrate the Temple, but also the synagogues. Sometimes, he turned them into places of idol worship, and other times he simply burned them.
However, the Maccabees preserved the use of synagogues by congregating in ordinary buildings on the Sabbath, and carrying out the services of the synagogues in those buildings. In some cases, they built decorations that could be quickly flipped over or hidden, so that if any Greek soldiers came in, then they would see no evidence that the building was being used as a synagogue.
The Maccabees even set up tents in the wilderness where they hid out, that served this same function, much like the Tabernacle had served the same function as the Temple, when their ancestors were in the wilderness. In some cases, they even carried out the synagogue services in caves. They were literally having underground meetings.
The use of synagogues might have died out, if the Maccabees had not preserve them in Judea.
The synagogues had also developed external decorations that allowed them to be clearly identified as synagogues. This allowed any Jew to locate the synagogue in any Jewish city in Judea.
The synagogues made it possible to know the location of where those looking for the Messiah of Israel gathered on Sabbath. If the use of synagogues had not been preserved by the Maccabees, then this would have been near impossible.
The Man of Truth began his ministry of teaching his doctrine, preaching the Good News, and healing the sick in the synagogues of Galilee (Matthew 4:23). He began to show that he was anointed with power by the Spirit of Truth, when he was teaching in the synagogues of Galilee (Luke 4:14-15).
The Man of Truth worked miracles to show that he was the Messiah of Israel to his hometown in the synagogue (Matthew 13:54-58). He was in habit of going to the synagogue in his hometown on the Sabbath each week, and reading from the Original Covenant about the Messiah of Israel to his community (Luke 4:16-20). The synagogue of his hometown was the first place to reject him as the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:21-29).
The Man of Truth continued teaching and casting out spirits of lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods) in the synagogue of Capernaum every Sabbath, because that was the place and time for the meetings, of those looking for the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:31-37).
After the Man of Truth taught in the synagogue of Capernaum for the last time, many people began to abandon him because they did not believe that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 6:59-66).
Yet, the Man of Truth healed many, and cast out more spirits of lies, from those who followed him from the synagogue on that Sabbath (Luke 4:38-41). He then went and preached in other synagogues throughout Galilee (Luke 4:42-44).
After that, the Man of Truth went on to do this in synagogues throughout Judaea (Matthew 9:35).
The Man of Truth was in the synagogue when he healed people, because that is where those, who were looking for signs to identify the Messiah of Israel, gathered on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-13). He taught in the synagogue, because that is where those, who wanted to hear the doctrine of the Messiah of Israel, gathered on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-22). He was in the synagogue when he cast out spirits of lies, because that is where those, who were looking for the Messiah of Israel to deliver them, gathered on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-26).
He preached in the synagogues and cast out spirits of lies there, because that is where those, who were waiting to hear the message of the Messiah of Israel, gathered together (Mark 1:39). He let loose those in the synagogue, who the Father of Lies had put in bondage, because that is where those, who longed to be set free by the Messiah of Israel, gathered together (Luke 13:10-16).
It was the ruler of a synagogue, who sought the Man of Truth to heal his dying daughter, because he recognized the Messiah of Israel (Mark 5:22-24). He raised the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue from the dead, to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (Mark 5:35-43).
The Man of Truth was put on trail by the religious leaders, who did not accept him as the Messiah of Israel, because of what he taught in the synagogues and the Temple, where those looking for the Messiah of Israel gathered (John 18:19-24).
So, if the Maccabees had not preserved the synagogues, then there would have been no place for people to hear the Good News, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible for Gentiles, by making room for Gentiles in the synagogues.
The few Gentiles, who helped the Jews during their long struggle, but were not willing to give up eating pork, or to get circumcised, shattered the Jewish world view of a neatly divided human race. These Gentiles wished to worship the Father of Truth instead of idols, but still wanted to remain Gentiles in most other respects. On the other hand, most Jews had sided with the Seleucid Empire, and had sought for total assimilation into Greek culture, even to the point of worshiping Greek idols. So, the Maccabees came up with a third category - the righteous Gentiles.
The righteous Gentiles, were also known as God-fearers, because they feared the Father of Truth instead of idols. They were only required to keep seven minimal requirements called the Noahide commandments, based on the six commandments that had been found in Genesis (Bereshit) up to the days of Noah, plus one more to establish courts of justice to settle disputes.
A God-fearer was called the stranger of the gate (ger toshav) as long as they remained uncircumcised. This is because they could only go up to the gate in the wall of partition, the soreg, in the Temple (Ephesians 2:11-14). They could also sit in the back of the synagogue and listen, but could not participate in things like reading the Torah scroll.
However, if a God-fearer was circumcised, then they were called a righteous stranger (ger tzedek), and were obligated to keep all of the commandments of the Law of Truth (Galatians 5:3). They were also called proselytes. Those who did this, became Jews, and could pass through the gate into the court of the Israelites in the Temple. They could fully participate in synagogue services.
Both God-fearers and proselytes were taught about the Messiah of Israel in the synagogues.
The Jews became very zealous in turning Gentiles into God-fearers, and especially proselytes (Matthew 23:15).
The Canaanite woman with great faith was a God-fearer (Matthew 15:21-28). The Roman centurion with great faith was a God-fearer (Luke 7:2-10).
It was Greek God-fearers who sought the Man of Truth, and signaled that it was time for him to die (John 12:20-24).
The Roman centurion, who declared that the Man of Truth was the son of the Father of Truth when he died, was a God-fearer (Mark 15:37-39).
So, if the Maccabees had not made room for Gentiles in the synagogues, then there would have been no Gentiles to testify to the Good News that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
So, without the Maccabees, The Christmas Story would have never happened. The Chanukah story is the story behind the story. The Man of Truth came in the fullness of time to take full advantage of the gift of the Maccabees.
The gift of the Maccabees, that they gave at tremendous personal cost, was the preservation of the religion of the Father of Truth in the land of Israel that made the Good News possible (Daniel 11:33-35). In like manner, the Father of Truth brought about the Good News at tremendous personal cost (2 Corinthians 9:15).
However, these gifts are only valuable to those who receive them. The Father of Truth wants everyone to receive these gifts by coming into the House of Truth (2 Peter 3:9).
These gifts will bring salvation to anyone who will come into the House of Truth, by making the Man of Truth their king, because they believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9-13).
Come into the House of Truth!
The Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) came to this earth in the fullness of time to live a perfect life in accordance with the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law), so he could bring redemption to those who could not live a perfect life in accordance with the Law of Truth (Galatians 4:4-7).
The Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) had used the rise and fall of empires to create the perfect conditions to spread the Good News over a large area in a short amount of time. These perfect conditions made it possible for messengers to broadcast a message to the places where about half the people on Earth live in just seventy years.
This perfect message system would have been useless without a message. So, the Father of Truth also set up the conditions in the land of Israel to make it possible for the Man of Truth to bring about redemption. His means to accomplish this was the Maccabees.
The story of the Maccabees was first told hundreds of years before it happened. How they were used to bring about the fullness of time is tied to the Greek Empire. This is just another example of Greco-Judeo wrestling.
The Father of Truth brought about the unified Greek Empire, and then split it into four smaller Greek Empires (Daniel 11:2-4).
In one of the four smaller Greek Empires, the Seleucid Empire, a vile man came to power named Antiochus Epiphanes (Antiochus IV) (Daniel 11:21). He then made a covenant to depose Onias, the rightful high priest of Israel, and allow Jason to be the high priest instead, for a large sum of money (Daniel 11:22). He then broke his covenant with Jason, and deposed him, so Menelaus could be the high priest instead, because he gave Antiochus Epiphanes an even larger bribe (Daniel 11:23).
Antiochus Epiphanes then gained favor with his subjects by throwing them money, and prepared for war (Daniel 11:24). Soon, he waged war against another of the smaller Greek Empires, the Ptolemy Empire, to the south (Daniel 11:25). He sought to win the war by bribing many of the key supporters of his opponent to bring about the defeat of their ruler (Daniel 11:26). The war ended with a peace treaty that neither ruler intended to keep, but their evil intentions for each other were ended by a treaty that they were compelled to make with the Romans (Daniel 11:27).
Antiochus Epiphanes then returned to the land of Israel with great plunder, and began to wage war against the Law of Truth, because the Jews had held great celebrations over a report that he had died in battle (Daniel 11:28).
Antiochus Epiphanes then set out to wage war against the Ptolemy Empire again, but his efforts were not successful, because the Romans showed up in ships, and forced him to abandon his efforts to break his treaty, when he was only seven miles from the capital of the Ptolemy Empire (Daniel 11:29-30).
Antiochus Epiphanes then resumed his war on the Law of Truth, where he outlawed possession of a Torah scroll, wearing tzitzits, refusal to eat pork, and circumcision, because Jason had lead the Jews in a war to restore him as the high priest, instead of Menelaus (who had assassinated Onias), but this time Antiochus Epiphanes made many Jews, who did not want to obey the Law of Truth, his allies (Daniel 11:30). With the help of these Jewish allies, he sprinkled swine broth all over the Temple, broke into the Holy of Holies, sacrificed three pigs and a dog on the altar, and finally set up a giant statue of Jupiter, with his own face on it, in the Temple, that people worshiped (Daniel 11:31).
However, not every Jew was corrupted by the flatteries of Antiochus Epiphanes, but the ones who knew the Father of Truth, called the Maccabees, started a rebellion against him to restore the observance of the Law of Truth in the land of Israel (Daniel 11:32). All of the Jews who kept the Law of Truth joined the Maccabees, and made tremendous sacrifices in the long war of independence from the Seleucid Empire (Daniel 11:33). Although many Gentiles told the Maccabees that they admired their just cause, very few actually helped the Maccabees in their struggle (Daniel 11:34).
Nonetheless, the Maccabees eventually defeated the Seleucid Empire, four years after Antiochus Epiphanes died in Persia; restored the land of Israel as an autonomous Jewish province of the Seleucid Empire governed by the Law of Truth; rededicated the Temple, after eight days of effort to cleanse it from the pollution of Antiochus Epiphanes; and purged Jewish society of idolatry to prepare it for the time of the end (Daniel 11:35).
This victory of the Maccabees, which lead to the Temple being rededicated to the Father of Truth after eight days of cleansing, is what the Man of Truth celebrated during the eight day feast of Chanukah (John 10:22-23). (Chanukah means "dedication". The "miracle of the oil" never occurred in the historical record, and was added about five hundred years after the fact by the Rabbis. This is another example of Rabbinic distort.)
Chanukah is ultimately a celebration of the gift of the Maccabees.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by cleansing and dedicating the Temple.
Without the Temple, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist (Yochanon the Mikveh Man) could have never came about (Luke 1:5-25).
Without the Temple, the Levitical shepherds, who maintained the flock in the fields between Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the daily sacrifices in the Temple, could not have been the first to inspect the Man of Truth when he was born, as they did with every lamb offered for sin (Luke 2:8-20). Without the Temple, Simeon and Anna could have never spoken by the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) that he was the Messiah of Israel, when he was presented to the Father of Truth in the Temple (Luke 2:22-39).
Without the Temple, the parents of the Man of Truth could never have brought him to Jerusalem each year for Passover (Pesach) (Luke 2:41). Without the Temple, he could not have been examined by the leaders of the Temple, when he became the age to be counted as no longer being a child (Luke 2:42-46).
Without the Temple, the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) could have not tempted the Man of Truth completely (Matthew 4:5-7). Without the Temple, it would have been impossible for the the Man of Truth to have fulfilled the Law of Truth in every way, as he was sent to do (Matthew 5:17-19).
Without the Temple, the Man of Truth could have not fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by driving the money changers out of the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13). Without the Temple, he could not have fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by healing the blind and the lame in the Temple (Matthew 21:14-16). Without the Temple, he could not have been teaching in the Temple (Matthew 21:23). Without the Temple, he could have never gave the destruction of the Temple as a sign that his prophecies concerning the end of days would come to pass (Matthew 24:1-31).
Without the Temple, the Man of Truth could have never been falsely accused and condemned to die (26:59-66). Without the Temple, Judas could have never fulfilled the writings of the prophets concerning the Messiah of Israel by betraying him (Matthew 27:3-10). Without the Temple, the Man of Truth would have never been mocked while he hung on the cross (Matthew 27:37-44). Without the Temple, the veil to the Holy of Holies would have never been torn, when he died (Matthew 27:50-51). Without the Temple, the Children of Truth would have not been rejoicing in the Temple over his resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:45-53).
So, if the Maccabees had not restored the Temple, then there would have been no Good News to tell.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by saving the Original Covenant (Tanakh aka The Old Testament) from being destroyed.
During this long war for independence, they found ways to possess Torah scrolls. They would gather to study their scrolls, but hiding them when Greek soldiers came near, and got out dreidels instead, so that they appeared to be gambling. This is why people play with dreidels at Chanukah.
They also hid copies of all the books of the Original Covenant in the desert, like the Essenes did with the Dead Sea scrolls, so they could preserve them through the long war of independence.
These scrolls that contained the Original Covenant identified the Man of Truth as the Messiah of Israel (Luke 24:25-32). They showed the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah of Israel as the unique identifier of the Messiah of Israel (Luke 24:44-46). They showed that those Jews, who rejected the Messiah of Israel, would bring about these events (Acts 13:27-37).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Original Covenant from being destroyed, then there would have been no way to verify the Good News that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preventing the Jews from being assimilated into the Greek world.
They found ways to maintain circumcision. Some circumcised their boys on the eighth day, and then hid their sons from the Greek officials. Some circumcised their boys on the eighth day, and Greeks sympathetic to their cause simply looked the other way. Some waited to circumcise their boys until after the war was over.
They preserved the practice of circumcision, so the Man of Truth could be circumcised on the eighth day in fulfillment of the Law of Truth (Luke 2:21).
They found ways to hide their tzitzits by creating smaller tallits that they could hide under their Greek clothing. These tallits are the cloaks, aprons, and handkerchiefs found in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament).
The tzitzits on the corner of the garment of the Man of Truth is what the woman with the issue of blood touched to be healed (Matthew 9:20-22).
They found ways to secretly avoid eating pork. In some cases, those few Gentiles who helped them would eat the pork that they were supposed to force the Jews to eat, and show that the pork had been eaten. In some cases, they would disguise meat from clean hoofed animals, or even clean birds, to look like pork, similar to turkey bacon, and eat that before the Greeks. In some cases, one of them would create a diversion of some sort, and the rest would toss their pork into the fire during the diversion.
The Jewish disciples of the Man of Truth knew what was for dinner according to the Father of Truth. This is why the Jewish disciples of the Man of Truth did not understand him, when he said that what a man eats does not defile him (Mark 7:14-23).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Jewish world from being assimilated into the Greek world, then there would have been no Jewish people to bring about the events of the Good News.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the Feasts of Truth (Moedim aka Feasts of the Father of Truth).
From the time that Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Temple, until the Maccabees restored the Temple, people were not able to go to the Temple to keep the Feasts of Truth as required by the Law of Truth. The required observance of the Feasts of Truth could have been lost during this struggle, if the Maccabees had not found ways to rehearse them without the Temple, like people do today, and then restored them after the Temple was restored.
Without Passover, the Man of Truth would have never been able to show his understanding of the Word of Truth to the religious professionals in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-47).
Without Passover, the Man of Truth would not have went to the Temple at the beginning of his ministry, and drove out the money changers, as a sign that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 2:11-17). If many people had not been in Jerusalem for Passover, then they would not believed the signs that the Man of Truth did to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 2:23). If people from Galilee had not been in Jerusalem for Passover, then they would not have accepted him as the Messiah of Israel based on what he did in Jerusalem (John 4:45).
The Man of Truth would have never healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, if he had not been in Jerusalem for the next Feast of Truth (John 5:1-9).
It was just before the next Passover, when the Man of Truth multiplied the barley loaves and fishes in Galilee, to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 6:1-14).
The Man of Truth then went to the Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, even though his enemies there sought to kill him (John 7:1-10). His enemies looked for him, because they knew that the Man of Truth had to come to Jerusalem to keep this Feast of Truth (John 7:11-13). In the middle of this Feast of Truth, they found him teaching in the Temple, and doing miracles to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (7:14-31). On the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great day, the Man of Truth told everyone that he was the Messiah of Israel, who would pour out the Spirit of Truth on those who came to him, but his enemies could do nothing to him (7:37-44).
Not long before the next Passover, the Man of Truth raised up Lazarus from the dead, after Lazarus had started decaying, as undeniable proof that he was the Messiah of Israel, so his enemies sought to kill the Man of Truth when he came to Jerusalem to keep Passover (John 11:39-57). Six days before Passover, the Man of Truth was anointed for burial to show that he would soon die, while his enemies plotted to kill Lazarus, because he was living proof that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel (John 12:1-11). When he came riding on a donkey into Jerusalem on the next day, five days before Passover, crowds of people praised him as the Messiah of Israel, because he had raised Lazarus up from the dead - after his body had already started decaying, so the enemies of the Man of Truth could do nothing (John 12:12-19).
Two days before that Passover, the Man of Truth announced that he would soon be crucified, even as his enemies plotted to kill him before Passover, so he was anointed for burial again, which caused Judas Iscariot to make a bargain with his enemies to betray him (Matthew 26:1-16). This betrayal came as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was about to begin (Luke 22:1-6).
The Passover Lamb would be killed on the day of Passover (Luke 22:7). So, the Man of Truth ate Passover with his disciples, and explained that Passover was really about redemption that would come through his death (Luke 22:8-21). The Man of Truth knew that Passover meant, that it was time for him to suffer and die, so he let Judas leave to betray him (John 13:1-29).
His enemies then sought to have Pilate kill the Man of Truth before Passover (John 18:28-35). Pilate instead found the Man of Truth innocent, and sought to release him for Passover, but his enemies demanded that he release Barabbas instead (John 18:36-40). So when it came time for the Passover lambs to be killed while hanging from trees, Pilate sentenced the Man of Truth to killed by hanging from a wooden cross, as his enemies demanded (John 19:14-18).
The Man of Truth died that day as the Passover Lamb, so those who would accept him as the Messiah of Israel could have the leaven of sin taken out of them (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). However, he rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits, as the first fruit of those who will be resurrected to eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
So, if the Maccabees had not saved the Feasts of Truth from being lost, then there would have been no Good News that the Man of Truth had fulfilled the role of the Messiah of Israel in first three acts of The Greatest Play Ever.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the Sabbath.
They found ways to keep the Sabbath as well during their long struggle. They would separate themselves from the large cities that the Greeks controlled, and live in the wilderness away from the Greeks. They would go on journeys the day before the Sabbath started, get out of sight of the Greeks before the Sabbath started, rest on the Sabbath, resume their journey after the Sabbath, and finish their journey the day after the Sabbath. Sometimes, a Gentile sympathetic to their cause would hide them during the Sabbath, while these Gentiles that they hid among would work, so nobody suspected that they were resting on the Sabbath. Sometimes, they would grab tools and act like they had been working on project, that they had started the previous day, whenever the Greek soldiers appeared, and then put down their tools to resume resting, when the Greek soldiers left.
Without the Sabbath, the hometown of the Man of Truth would have never had the time to hear his teaching, and then reject it (Mark 6:1-4). Without the Sabbath, his hometown would have never sought to kill him, for announcing that he was the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:16-29).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth would have never became famous for casting a demon out of a man on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-28). Without the Sabbath, he would have never healed people on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17). Without the Sabbath, he would have never caused the lame to walk on the Sabbath (John 5:5-9). Without the Sabbath, he would have never caused the blind to see on the Sabbath (John 9:1-16).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth could have never taught that it was right to take care of people on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8). Without the Sabbath, he could have never taught that it was right to heal people on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-5).
Without the Sabbath, the Pharisees would have never plotted against the Man of Truth for healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-14). Without the Sabbath, the Jewish religious professionals would have never sought to kill him for healing on the Sabbath (John 5:10-16). Without the Sabbath, they would not have sought to kill him for saying, that he was doing the work of the Father of Truth on the Sabbath (John 5:17-19).
Without the Sabbath, these Jewish enemies of the Man of Truth would not have had the opportunity to know, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel from the scriptures, before they brought about his death, burial, and resurrection (Acts 13:27-41).
Without the Sabbath, the Man of Truth could not have risen from the dead on the first day of the week, after the Jewish religious professionals had him crucified (Matthew 28:1-7)!
So, if the Maccabees had not preserved the Sabbath, then there would have been no Good News to tell.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible by preserving the use of synagogues.
Before the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, the congregations of Jews throughout the southern kingdom of Judah met in synagogues, which the Babylonians also destroyed (Psalm 74:3-8).
When the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they did not need synagogues, since they could all meet every Sabbath at the Tabernacle. After they became spread out among the cities that they had conquered in the Promised Land, then they had to build synagogues, so they had somewhere local to meet together each Sabbath. These original synagogues ("Beth Knesset" in Hebrew, literally "House of Assembly") were just regular buildings with a large place for people to meet in. Initially, people met there for prayer, and after they began obtaining copies of the scriptures, to study. On days other than the Sabbath, these buildings often served other purposes. This was similar to how the same building was the church on Sunday, the school on Monday through Friday, and the town hall on Saturday, in rural communities in America, until about 1960.
Synagogues did not begin to be decorated to appear differently from other buildings, until some time after the Jews returned to the land of Judah from Babylon. In fact, the oldest buildings found that are identifiable as synagogues by their decorations, were built in Egypt about 100 years before the Maccabees.
Antiochus Epiphanes did not just desecrate the Temple, but also the synagogues. Sometimes, he turned them into places of idol worship, and other times he simply burned them.
However, the Maccabees preserved the use of synagogues by congregating in ordinary buildings on the Sabbath, and carrying out the services of the synagogues in those buildings. In some cases, they built decorations that could be quickly flipped over or hidden, so that if any Greek soldiers came in, then they would see no evidence that the building was being used as a synagogue.
The Maccabees even set up tents in the wilderness where they hid out, that served this same function, much like the Tabernacle had served the same function as the Temple, when their ancestors were in the wilderness. In some cases, they even carried out the synagogue services in caves. They were literally having underground meetings.
The use of synagogues might have died out, if the Maccabees had not preserve them in Judea.
The synagogues had also developed external decorations that allowed them to be clearly identified as synagogues. This allowed any Jew to locate the synagogue in any Jewish city in Judea.
The synagogues made it possible to know the location of where those looking for the Messiah of Israel gathered on Sabbath. If the use of synagogues had not been preserved by the Maccabees, then this would have been near impossible.
The Man of Truth began his ministry of teaching his doctrine, preaching the Good News, and healing the sick in the synagogues of Galilee (Matthew 4:23). He began to show that he was anointed with power by the Spirit of Truth, when he was teaching in the synagogues of Galilee (Luke 4:14-15).
The Man of Truth worked miracles to show that he was the Messiah of Israel to his hometown in the synagogue (Matthew 13:54-58). He was in habit of going to the synagogue in his hometown on the Sabbath each week, and reading from the Original Covenant about the Messiah of Israel to his community (Luke 4:16-20). The synagogue of his hometown was the first place to reject him as the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:21-29).
The Man of Truth continued teaching and casting out spirits of lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods) in the synagogue of Capernaum every Sabbath, because that was the place and time for the meetings, of those looking for the Messiah of Israel (Luke 4:31-37).
After the Man of Truth taught in the synagogue of Capernaum for the last time, many people began to abandon him because they did not believe that he was the Messiah of Israel (John 6:59-66).
Yet, the Man of Truth healed many, and cast out more spirits of lies, from those who followed him from the synagogue on that Sabbath (Luke 4:38-41). He then went and preached in other synagogues throughout Galilee (Luke 4:42-44).
After that, the Man of Truth went on to do this in synagogues throughout Judaea (Matthew 9:35).
The Man of Truth was in the synagogue when he healed people, because that is where those, who were looking for signs to identify the Messiah of Israel, gathered on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-13). He taught in the synagogue, because that is where those, who wanted to hear the doctrine of the Messiah of Israel, gathered on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-22). He was in the synagogue when he cast out spirits of lies, because that is where those, who were looking for the Messiah of Israel to deliver them, gathered on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21-26).
He preached in the synagogues and cast out spirits of lies there, because that is where those, who were waiting to hear the message of the Messiah of Israel, gathered together (Mark 1:39). He let loose those in the synagogue, who the Father of Lies had put in bondage, because that is where those, who longed to be set free by the Messiah of Israel, gathered together (Luke 13:10-16).
It was the ruler of a synagogue, who sought the Man of Truth to heal his dying daughter, because he recognized the Messiah of Israel (Mark 5:22-24). He raised the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue from the dead, to show that he was the Messiah of Israel (Mark 5:35-43).
The Man of Truth was put on trail by the religious leaders, who did not accept him as the Messiah of Israel, because of what he taught in the synagogues and the Temple, where those looking for the Messiah of Israel gathered (John 18:19-24).
So, if the Maccabees had not preserved the synagogues, then there would have been no place for people to hear the Good News, that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
The Maccabees made the Good News possible for Gentiles, by making room for Gentiles in the synagogues.
The few Gentiles, who helped the Jews during their long struggle, but were not willing to give up eating pork, or to get circumcised, shattered the Jewish world view of a neatly divided human race. These Gentiles wished to worship the Father of Truth instead of idols, but still wanted to remain Gentiles in most other respects. On the other hand, most Jews had sided with the Seleucid Empire, and had sought for total assimilation into Greek culture, even to the point of worshiping Greek idols. So, the Maccabees came up with a third category - the righteous Gentiles.
The righteous Gentiles, were also known as God-fearers, because they feared the Father of Truth instead of idols. They were only required to keep seven minimal requirements called the Noahide commandments, based on the six commandments that had been found in Genesis (Bereshit) up to the days of Noah, plus one more to establish courts of justice to settle disputes.
A God-fearer was called the stranger of the gate (ger toshav) as long as they remained uncircumcised. This is because they could only go up to the gate in the wall of partition, the soreg, in the Temple (Ephesians 2:11-14). They could also sit in the back of the synagogue and listen, but could not participate in things like reading the Torah scroll.
However, if a God-fearer was circumcised, then they were called a righteous stranger (ger tzedek), and were obligated to keep all of the commandments of the Law of Truth (Galatians 5:3). They were also called proselytes. Those who did this, became Jews, and could pass through the gate into the court of the Israelites in the Temple. They could fully participate in synagogue services.
Both God-fearers and proselytes were taught about the Messiah of Israel in the synagogues.
The Jews became very zealous in turning Gentiles into God-fearers, and especially proselytes (Matthew 23:15).
The Canaanite woman with great faith was a God-fearer (Matthew 15:21-28). The Roman centurion with great faith was a God-fearer (Luke 7:2-10).
It was Greek God-fearers who sought the Man of Truth, and signaled that it was time for him to die (John 12:20-24).
The Roman centurion, who declared that the Man of Truth was the son of the Father of Truth when he died, was a God-fearer (Mark 15:37-39).
So, if the Maccabees had not made room for Gentiles in the synagogues, then there would have been no Gentiles to testify to the Good News that the Man of Truth was the Messiah of Israel.
So, without the Maccabees, The Christmas Story would have never happened. The Chanukah story is the story behind the story. The Man of Truth came in the fullness of time to take full advantage of the gift of the Maccabees.
The gift of the Maccabees, that they gave at tremendous personal cost, was the preservation of the religion of the Father of Truth in the land of Israel that made the Good News possible (Daniel 11:33-35). In like manner, the Father of Truth brought about the Good News at tremendous personal cost (2 Corinthians 9:15).
However, these gifts are only valuable to those who receive them. The Father of Truth wants everyone to receive these gifts by coming into the House of Truth (2 Peter 3:9).
These gifts will bring salvation to anyone who will come into the House of Truth, by making the Man of Truth their king, because they believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9-13).
Come into the House of Truth!
Labels: Chanukah, Commitment, Dedication, Maccabees, Prophecy, Sacrifice, Salvation, Sovereignty
posted by The House Of Truth @ January 12, 2018
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