These should prevent man from growing
infidel and ascribing all happiness to the course of nature. The God who
created the world from naught, may change at His will the nature which
He established. When the Hashmoneans gained, with the aid of God, their
great victory, and restored peace and harmony to their land, their first
act was to cleanse and dedicate the Temple, which had been defiled, and
on the twenty-fifth day of _Kislev_, in obedience to the teachings of
the Rabbis, we inaugurate the "Dedication Feast" by lighting the lamps
or candles prepared expressly for this occasion. The first night we
light one, and then an additional one each succeeding night of its
continuance. We also celebrate it by hymns of thanksgiving and
hallelujahs.
This feast is foreshadowed in the Book of Numbers. When Aaron observed
the offerings of the princes of each of the tribes and their great
liberality, he was conscious of a feeling of regret, because he and his
tribe were unable to join with them. But these words were spoken to
comfort him, "Aaron, thy merit is greater than theirs, for thou lightest
and fixest the holy lamps."
When were these words spoken?
When he was charged with the blessing to be found in Numbers 6:23, as
will be found in the Book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha.
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