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 YHWH. 2:15 Many nations will be joined to YHWH on that day—they will be a people to me and I will dwell in your midst…

The haftarah opens with this optimistic vision of the future. These “many nations” (goyyim) are the very nations and enemies round about who in the end of days will come close to God. Thus, Zechariah resolves the tension between Judah and its enemies/overlords by invoking the concept of one God for all peoples and nations ( Zech 8:20-23).

Zech 3:8 Hearken well, O High Priest Joshua, you and your fellow priests sitting before you! For those men are a sign that I am going to bring My servant the Shoot… 3:10 In that day—declares YHWH of Hosts—you will be inviting each other to the shade of vines and fig trees.

This supplementary oracle introduces the royal messiah or future King David, though not for the present time. Although imagining the return of the Davidic monarchy brings with it visions of military struggle, the tone of 5.10 is pacific and hopeful: in the future each person will call out to a fellow or companion under his/her vine or fig tree.

Moreover, the prophet offers this most hopeful and optimistic statement while under Persian occupation. He resolves the tension between the present and future in a peaceful way: the Davidic messiah is not a warrior but a political figure, a king, who will rule alongside a religious figure, the high priest.

While it is true that human society has changed more rapidly, violently and fundamentally in the last 250 years than ever before in human history, humanity has already survived several major revolutions and world wars. Doctors today save the lives of millions; while dictators sacrifice the lives of millions. Populations are exploding in Africa and populations are declining in Europe. Technology produces both worldwide prosperity and worldwide pollution at the same time.

Should we look upon the 21st century with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation? Is the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday? Or are both occurring almost concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?

The long tradition of trying to foresee the distant, eventual goal of human history started with the Prophets of Israel over 2.700 years ago. The Biblical vision of a Messianic Age may provide us with guidance in understanding the social, economic, scientific and cultural upheavals that will sweep society as it approaches the next stage.

Often, it is the dramatic dangers of the pre-Messianic tribulation that are emphasized in Christian, Islamic and Jewish post scriptural traditions. I will focus on the positive signs developing throughout the world that accord with the Messianic vision of the Biblical Prophets.

In most religious traditions, redemption is defined in terms of individual enlightenment or personal salvation. However, the Prophets of Israel conceived of redemption as a transformation of human society that would occur through the catalyst of a transformation of the Jewish people. This transformation, which will take place in this world at some future time, is called the Messianic Age.

The transition to the Messianic Age is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. The birth of a redeemed Messianic world may be the result of an easy or difficult labor. If everyone would simply live according to the moral teachings of his or her own religion, that would itself bring about the Messianic Age. But, if we will not do it voluntarily, it will come through social and political upheavals, worldwide conflicts and generation gaps.

As the Qur’an tells us, prophets are sent to every nation to issue a warning that their behavior has consequences, and these consequences must be faced on Judgement Day. As the Qur’an states, “Accountability for mankind is getting closer and closer, yet they are heedless and turn away.” (Al-Anbiya 1 and Al-Qamar 1-8) God of course, is always ready to help us defeat evil, if we are ready to work for the establishment of a just and peaceful local and world society; that is why one or more Messiahs will come.

A Messiah is a human agent of God who helps bring about this transformation. This agent of God (with several forerunners and many disciples) will be a person with great leadership qualities; similar to Moses or Muhammed. The arrival of the Messianic Age is what’s really important, not the personality of the agents who bring it about, since they are simply the instruments of God, who ultimately is the real Redeemer.

The Messianic Age is usually seen as the solution to all of humanity’s basic problems. This may be true in the long run, but the vast changes the transition to the Messianic Age entails, will provide challenges to society for many generations to come.

For example, the Prophet Isaiah, 2,700 years ago, predicted that someday there would be a radically new world in which Jerusalem would be filled with joy for “no more shall there be in it an infant that lives only a few days.” (65:20)

A century ago, the infant mortality rate in Jerusalem (as in most of the world) was 25-30%. Now, infant mortality is less than 1%. For thousands of years almost every family in the world suffered the loss of at least one or two infants; now it happens to less than one out of a hundred.

Truly we are close to Isaiah’s prophecy, “One who dies at 100 years shall be reckoned a youth, and one who fails to reach 100 shall be reckoned accursed.” (65:20). Such radical change will necessitate major changes in the way we think and act when faced with decisions about life and death. Yet who among us would want to return to the high mortality rates and early deaths of previous centuries?

The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy has thus gone un-noticed and uncelebrated. If you had told Soviet Jews a generation ago that the Communist regime would collapse, the Soviet Empire disintegrate, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews would emigrate to Israel, they would have conceived it only as a Messianic dream.

In our own generation therefore we have seen the dramatic fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “I will bring your offspring from the (Middle) East and gather you from the (European) West. To the North (Russia) I will say ‘give them up’ and to the South (Ethiopia) ‘do not hold them’. Bring my sons from far away, my daughters from the end of the earth.” (43:5-6)

Isn’t it amazing how people adjust to living in a radically new world and forget the past. Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah himself said, “Behold, I create a new Heaven and a new Earth, and former things shall not be remembered.” (65:17)

Where does the Messiah fit in with all of this? He will still have lots to do when he arrives. Most Orthodox Jews would not commit themselves to any individual as a Messiah unless he successfully rebuilds the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of Zachariah, “He shall build the Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, he shall sit on the throne and rule, there shall be a priest before the throne, and peaceful counsel will exist between both of them.” (6:13)

There is open land on the Temple Mount, and a small Jewish house of worship “hologram”, which is a 3D projection created with lasers, could be built adjacent to the Dome of the Rock and 600 feet north of the Al-Aksa Mosque, provided that Muslims would agree to cooperate. Anyone who could arrange such Jewish-Muslim cooperation would really be the Messianic Ruler of Peace (Isaiah 9:5).

Christian support for such a cooperative venture would also be important, and anyone who can bring Jews, Christians and Muslims together in mutual respect and cooperation would surely fulfill the greatest of all Messianic predictions, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again teach war.” (Isaiah 2:4)

Indeed, Jewish/Christian/Muslim agreements establishing world wide peace would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities. Thus, each Jewish/Christian/Muslim community could consider its leadership to be essentially Messianic, Indeed, such Jewish/Christian/Muslim cooperation would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities.

Thus, each community could consider its own leadership to be essential Messianic aids as is foretold: (“Saviors [plural] will come up on mount Zion” Obadiah 1:21) and this would fulfill the culminating verses of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy as enlarged upon by Micah (4:3-5):

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. Nation shall not take up against nation, they shall never again teach war, but every man shall sit under his grapevine or fig tree with no one to disturb him, for it is the Lord of Hosts who spoke. Though all peoples walk, each in the name of its God, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever.”

If each religious community truly follows the best of its own religious teachings; the Messianic Age of world wide peace will surely have arrived, and then-and only then-will the Temple of Solomon be rebuilt, and God’s Holy Kingdom established on earth.