Did you know that when Christians talk about the Maccabean Revolt, they focus entirely on the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes who defiled the Temple, but when the Jews talk about it they often focus on the Hellenized Jews? Why is that? Well, the historical accounts make it clear that without the meddling of the Jews who wanted to be Greeks, even at the expense of the rest of the nation, Antiochus most certainly would have left Jerusalem and the laws of God alone! Antiochus was a pawn in local political wranglings that had been going on for some time – he still gets a lot of the blame, but he was instigated by traitors who had little or no love for God and so they are considered to be the true villains.
For fun, I am going to include a Hannukah song video that I enjoy. It is based on a Midrashic legend (meaning it isn’t true but is a story people tell to convey a concept of God’s miraculous provision) written hundreds of years later. The candelabra you see in the video is called a hanukkiah and is entirely different than a menorah. In the time before Yeshua (Jesus), the heads of the Pharisaic schools of thought, Hillel and Shammai, had an argument over how the lamp should be lit. Hillel argued that each night, a new candle should be lit, working up to eight on the last night. Shammai insisted that they should start with eight and work their way down to one on the last night. As in most things, Hillel won out in the end!
And here are some online versions of the resources I mentioned in the video – I am using different sites to let you know what is out there:
I Maccabees (starting with Chap 1)
The Hannukah Anthology by Philip Goodman