Day 447 Swords of Iron – “Hanukkah means Dedication”
Chaim starts by mentioning that IDF soldiers are now deployed in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria and in all of these places, they’re lighting Hanukkah candles and otherwise commemorating the Festical of Dedication. He says that “Dedication” is what this festival is really all about. He compares it to “dedicating” a new house, or a Temple, or anything else in your life, to God. Saying that you want to be a light in that place, just as the Macabbees re-dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem on that first Hanukkah in 165 BC after they’d chased out the forces of Antiochus IV Epiphenes.
He said that today, in 2024, the IDF and Israel have that same determination to be a light in this darkness. Chaim says that his viewers are also called to be a light in the darkness and he asks them to post in the comments section if they know the verses in the Bible which talk about this.
He mentions that Hezbollah, which was supposed to be so tough, has proven to be not so tough. He talks about the 85,000+ weapons, including heavy rockets and anti-tank missiles, that Israel has captured in southerh Lebanon, which will never be fired at Israel as they were intended to be.
He also talks about the ongoing struggle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and other fronts.
All of this, Chaim says, was built up to be a mortal threat to the Judeo-Christian values of the Western world. But at Hanukkah, we remember that we are called to be a light to the world, and we know that if our light is snuffed out, the world will simply go dark.
He gives another example of what’s going on in the Gaza Strip, where tons of humanitarian aid has been sent in, but it’s not going to the people who need it because there’s such a rotten mindset there. Hamas has taught these people to hate for so long that they don’t know how to do anything else.
He mentions casualties that the IDF continues to sustain in Gaza and the hostage deal negotiations which continue to drag on because Hamas keeps changing their conditions for what they’re willing to agree to. It’s a very difficult situation but Chaim says he’s confident of one thing, that “light will win over darkness” and the last of the hostages will be freed.
In this context, he quotes Zechariah 12:5-9; “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.
“The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Chaim concludes by saying that with this in mind, he is weary and tired after over a year of war but he’s got the strength inside him which comes from is faith in the God of the Universe who promises that light will win out over the darkness.
