Lessons from a Hanukkiah
Eight lights that lasted eight nights.
That is how the story goes.
The Jewish rebels, known as the Maccabees, defeated their great enemy through hand-to-hand combat and secured their Holy Temple once again in the second century B.C. Their desecrated temple needed cleaning and repair. There was only enough oil to light the menorah for one day but miraculously, according to tradition, it lasted eight days.
Hanukkah reflects an aspect of the nature of God’s economy: our limited resources activate His generosity.
Scripture tells us narrative after narrative of God’s miraculous provision for His people. The pattern is undeniable.
Manna that appeared daily like dew on the ground. (Exodus 14:16-35)
The widow who used her last resources to feed God’s prophet and miraculously the oil jar never ran out until the drought ended. (1 Kings 17:14-16)
The twenty loaves of bread that fed one hundred men in a famine. (2 Kings 4:42-44)
Jesus turning water into fine wine at a wedding in Cana. (John 2:1-11)
Jesus multiplied a little boy’s lunch and it fed 5,000. (Recorded in all four gospels; Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30, Luke 9:10, John 6:1-13)
In God’s economy the addition laws of mathematics don’t add up. The science doesn’t account for it. Strangely enough the laws of nature, science, and math were all created by Him to reveal to us His nature.
But when God goes public with who He is, sometimes He defies the very laws He established to govern this world.
Why?
It is the “scatter and gather” principal found in Proverbs 11:24-25:
“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in poverty. A generous person will be prosperous, and one who gives others plenty of water will himself be given plenty.”
This principal goes against my logic. If I take what I have and give it away, then logically now I have less. If I spend my time and energy, logically I have less time and energy at the end of the day, and so on.
Studying the hanukkiah (menorah with nine candles specifically used during Hanukkah) has helped me understand.
On the first night of Hanukkah, the first candle is lit. This shamash or servant candle is higher than all the others on the menorah but made of similar materials. Its job is to light the other candles.
Each night as another candle is added, the shamash lowers itself and ignites another dark place holder. The “servant candle” lowers itself to serve the others and because of this, it ends up with an exalted place on the hanukkiah. The light in the room grows night after night.
This powerful symbolism illustrates how God sent His only Son, Jesus, “the Light that gives light to all men” (John 1:1-4).
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason, also, God highly exalted Him.” (Philippians 2:8-9)
“By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great.” (Isaiah 53:11-12)
He humbled Himself to be made like one of us and in doing so His generosity transformed the heart of man.
When God intervened and served His people in history, whether in the wilderness, during a famine, or other time of great need, He wanted to display His generosity. He would defy the laws of nature to illuminate their hearts and minds to the fact that He was greater and not limited by what He created. His resources never run out of supply.
We grow in faith when we lower ourselves to serve another because out of our loss of resources or energy stands One who is infinite in supply, ready to replenish. Knowledge of who He is creates space for faith to grow in me.
The “Light of the World” stepped down and touched this dark, cold heart – and I am forever changed.
Written by Kori, Life in Messiah staff
1) How have you seen God replenish you when you had nothing left?
2) Is God asking you to lower yourself to help another?
3) How can you help the light of Jesus shine brightly in this darkening world?