“I will also make you a light to the nations, so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
When the Temple was defiled by Antiochus, the holy oil was poured out and the Golden Menorah was seized. Once the Temple was reclaimed from the Syrians, Judah Maccabee ordered the Levite priests to construct a new Menorah to sit in the Holy Place. This Menorah was seized by the Romans in 70 CE (Common Era) and no one knows where it is. Today, the Temple Institute has constructed another Menorah that sits in the Old City of Jerusalem overlooking the Temple Mount.
The history of the Hanukkiah or eight-branched menorah used at Hannukah is a little obscure. Josephus, the Jewish historian, mentions light in reference to Hanukkah, but not the Menorah. The Mishna, the writings of Jewish law, has nothing about a Hanukkiah even to 300 CE. Somewhere sometime, the Hanukkiah developed and was lit. The rabbis codified it in the Talmud, the written oral laws. It was also during this time that the story of the miracle of the oil came about along with many of the traditions found in the eight-day celebration. For a complete hard copy and study questions for each night of Hanukkah, please purchase the complete study guide Yeshua in His Father’s Feasts.