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From: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

Purification and Dedication of the Temple

[36] Then said Judas and his brothers, “Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us
go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.” [37] So all the army assembled
and they went up to Mount Zion.

[52] Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the
month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, [53] they rose and of-
fered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they
had built. [54] At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had pro-
faned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. [55] All
the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had pro-
spered them. [56] So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days,
and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance
and praise. [57] They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and
small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fur-
nished them with doors. [58] There was very great gladness among the people,
and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. [59] Then Judas and his brothers
and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days
of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days,
beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.

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Commentary:

4:36-61. Now that the enemy threat has been removed, the Maccabees’ first pri-
ority is to cleanse the temple and reinstate religious worship—which would put
their relationship with God on a proper footing, and which was what the war was
all about.

The cleansing is entrusted to “blameless priests” as the Law laid down (cf. Lev
22:3-9). The stones of the altar that Ezra consecrated in his time (cf. Ezra 3:2-5)
must be thrown into the Gehenna valley like those from the pagan altars; so they
seek a temporary solution until such time as a prophet should come (v. 46; cf. 9:
27; 14:41; Dan 3:38). The building of a new altar in line with what Exodus 20:25
laid down reminds us of the dedication of the temple by Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 8:
1-66) and the dedication of the temple of Ezra-Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 5:1-6:22). In
2 Maccabees 10:1-8 these events are reported more briefly, but mention is made
there of how the fire for the sacrifices was made.

The importance acquired by the feast established to commemorate the dedica-
tion of the temple can be seen from 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18; 2:16. In Hebrew this
festival is called “Hanukkah” and in Greek “Encenias” because to mark it lamps
or candles are lit in people’s houses (as is the Jewish practice today) to symbo-
lize the light of the Law. It was on this feast that Jesus told the Jews that he
was the Son of God (cf. Jn 10:22-39).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.