Chanukah, the festival of lights, is a Rabbinic celebration that begins on 25 Kislev. Chanukah celebrates the miracle of the oil in the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees’ defeat of the Greek army as well as the Jew’s freedom in the current time.
Chanukah is not mentioned in the Tanakh but is related in the book of Maccabbees, which Jews do not accept as scripture. The only religious observance related to the holiday is the lighting of candles in a chanukiah.
Antiochus III, the King of Syria, reigned from 222 to 186 BCE. After waging war against King Ptolemy of Egypt, Antiochus annexed the Land of Israel to his empire. In the beginning his reign was favorable toward the Jews and they were accorded some privileges. However, after being defeated by the Romans, he was compelled to pay heavy taxes. These taxes were levied against the people of his empire – including the Jews. Upon Antiochus’ death, his son Seleucus IV took over and further oppressed the Jews.
The influence of the Hellenists was increasing which prompted Yochanan, the High Priest, to foresee the danger to Judaism. Yochanan opposed attempts to bring Greek and Syrian customs into the Land of Israel.
Eventually, a Hellenistic Jew told the King’s commissioner about the great deal of wealth that was in the Temple treasury. This wealth was for the general maintenance of the Temple, sacrifices on the altar, and a fund for the orphans. Seleucus sent his minister Helyodros to take the Temple treasure. After ignoring Yochanan’s pleas to not take the money, Helyodros entered the Temple gate. Upon doing so, he became very pale with fright and he fainted and fell to the ground. After reviving, he refused to enter the Temple again.
In 174 BCE Antiochus IV began his reign over Syria after his brother Seleucus was killed. Antiochus IV was brutal and tyrannical with contempt for religion. He suppressed all the Jewish Laws and removed Yochanan as High Priest – placing Yehoshua (Yochanan’s brother) in his place. Yehoshua was a Hellenist and preferred to be called by his Hellenistic name, Jason. He used his office to spread the Hellenistic culture among the priesthood.
Menelaus later replaced Joshua, promising Antiochus that he would bring even greater riches to the king. Menelaus, tiring of hearing Yochanan protesting against the spread of Hellenistic ideas, hired people to assassinate Yochanan.
In Jerusalem, a rumor spreads that Antiochus was dead. The people rebelled against Menealus who eventually fled Jerusalem. When Antiochus learned what had taken place in Jerusalem, he ordered his army to slaughter the Jews. He enacted harsher rules outlawing Jewish worship, Shabbat rest, circumcision, kashrut, and confiscating the Torah Scrolls. Anyone who was caught breaking these new laws were under penalty of death.
Phillip, the governor of Judea, decided to begin his campaign of enforcing the king’s edicts by arresting the High Priest Elazar. Elazar chose martyrdom over submission leaving Philip to arrest Elazar’s wife Hannah and their seven sons who were brought before the king.
Antiochus tried to convince the eldest son to abandon Torah. The son refused and spoke out against the king. Antiochus had the eldest son’s tongue, hands, and feet severed and placed in the fire. The soldiers proceeded to torture him in front of Hannah and her other six sons. After the eldest was murdered, the king brought the next five sons before him. All stood resolute in their stand against submission and they were all tortured and murdered.
Antiochus then turned to the youngest son (seven years old) who again refused to submit. He was also tortured and murdered before Hannah’s eyes. Hannah prayed, exalting God then threw herself from a roof and died beside her martyred sons.
Antiochus’s men went from town to town and from village to village to force the inhabitants to worship foreign gods. The only partial refuge that remained was the hills of Judea and the caves within that land.
Antiochus’s men came to the village of Modin where the priest Mattityahu lived. The Syrian officer built an altar in the square and demanded that Mattityahu offer sacrifices to the Greek gods. Mattityahu refused. A Hellenistic Jew approached the altar to offer a sacrifice, whereupon Mattityahu took a sword and killed the man. Mattityahu’s sons and friends attacked the Syrians – killing many and chasing the rest away from Modin. They then destroyed the altar and fled the village with Mattityahu. Many loyal Jews joined them and formed legions to destroy pagan altars and attack the Syrians.
Before his death, Mattityahu told his sons to continue to fight in defense of God and the Torah. He told them to follow the counsel of their brother Shimon the Wise and in warfare to follow their brother Yehuda the Maccabee.
Antiochus attempted to defeat the Maccabees but twice, the Syrians were defeated. Antiochus sent an army of 40,000 men under the leadership of Nicanor and Gorgiash to defeat Yehuda and his followers. The Maccabees assembled to Mitzpah where the Prophet Samuel offered prayers to God. After a series of battles, the Maccabees won the war against the Syrians.
The Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to liberate it. They entered the Temple and cleared out all the Syrian idols that had been placed there. Yehuda and his followers built a new altar and dedicated it on the twenty-fifth of Kislev in the year 139 BCE.
The Menorah had been stolen by the Syrians so the Maccabees had to make another one from a cheaper metal. When they went to light it, they only found one cruse of pure olive oil which bore the seal of Yochanan. This cruse of oil was sufficient to light the Menorah for only one day. By a miracle of God, that cruse of oil burned for eight days until new oil could be made. That miracle showed that God had taken His people under His protection. In memory of this miracle, the sages appointed an annual eight-day festival for thanksgiving and lighting candles.
Source:
Antiquities of the Jews (Flavius Josephus) [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/ant-12.htm]