The Captivity of Edom is internal or spiritual
exile from G-d. It causes individuals to be internally split,
holding on to two conflicting, diametrically opposed cultures:
Greek or Western culture vs. the ethical and moral beliefs that
are taught in the Bible.
G-d provided the Jewish people with the secret to ending this Captivity of Edom through the Hanukkiyah, the nine-branched menorah that is the focus of the Festival of Hanukkah. The word Hanukkiyah means, to begin again with G-d. While the Torah Scrolls represent the written word of G-d, the Hanukkiyah, it is taught, represents the Oral Torah, G-d's verbal instructions to the Israelites that more fully explain His Word. The one Torah has two parts. The written Torah is kept hidden in the synagogue in an ark. But the oral Torah, the Hanukkiyah, is out for everyone to see and experience. Just as the Temple menorah was kept filled with oil, continuously burning, to signify the presence of G-d in the midst of His people, the Hanukkiyah and its flames represent the light of G-d's wisdom manifested in the soul of His people.
This rabbinical teaching serves to explain the spiritual significance of the Captivity of Edom and G-d's way of return.
From Israel's birth in Egypt, the Devil has persistently tried to prevent her from fulfilling her destiny in G-d. Each onslaught by the enemy, to the amazement of the world, was met by uncharacteristic bravery that preceded Divine miracles. Victory was procured, not by the might of a small and weak people, but by the power of Divine intervention in the face of certain defeat. The Jews are said to be mankind's paradigm for perseverance because despite their small size and weakness, they have outlived great empires. They attribute their existence to their Divine partnership and to miracles. David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, touched upon the essence of the continued existence of the Jewish people when he said:
Over millennia, Satan has used different strategies to defeat G-d's chosen people: Egypt and Russia tried to enslave them; Haman and Hitler tried to annihilate them; Assyria and Rome dispersed them throughout the world where most nations despised and persecuted them. Unlike the others, though, the Greek general, Antiochus IV, who called himself Epiphanes (G-d manifest), sought only to destroy their distinctiveness as Jews through assimilation into the Greek culture.
Many Jews did, in fact, willingly embrace the Hellenistic (Greek) lifestyle with its focus on the perfection of man and the beauty of Greek form: physical, intellectual, philosophical, and cultural. Hellenism is the antithesis of Judaism which focuses on G-d and His beauty reflected in His creation and His Word. It is said, though, that the captivity of the Jews by the Greek General Antiochus IV was only a precursor to a deeper, darker, more insidious captivity that would follow, the Captivity of Edom.
Edom, also known as Esau, was Jacob's twin brother who sought to kill Jacob before he ever became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Bible records that Esau despised his birthright [G-d's privilege extended to the firstborn] when he traded his birthright for a bowl of stew. Jacob, on the other hand, coveted G-d's birthright privilege so much that he conspired with his mother, Rebecca, to trick his blind father into blessing him instead of Esau.
The struggle between Jacob and Esau is said to be the struggle between the ways of the world and the ways of G-d: mankind's struggle between good and evil, between Hellenism and Judaism. Because Esau put his hunger before his birthright (hunger for G-d), the L-rd said:
"Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage.Even though Edom has said, 'We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,' thus says the L-rd of hosts: 'They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the L-rd will have indignation forever.'" (Malachi 2c-4)
The sages of Israel understood that Daniel's vision of the kingdom of brass was Alexander the Great and his Empire, Greece. When Alexander's army marched into Jerusalem unchallenged by the Jews, they told him about the biblical prophecy that predicted his victory over Israel. Alexander was so impressed that the G-d of Israel knew him, that he allowed the Israelites to continue worship-ping in their Temple. Antiochus IV of Syria, though, one of Alexander's successors, eventually tried to force the end of Temple worship in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew sages say the prophet Daniel saw Greece spreading its philosophy, through intellectual prowess, out to the four directions of the world, moving swiftly like its other image, the leopard with four wings, and ruling the whole earth (Daniel 2:39, 7:2-7). The rabbis say that the Hellenistic culture, the spirit of Edom, was transferred to Greece's successor, Rome. Rome was the carrier of Greek culture and the last kingdom identified by Daniel before the coming of the Messiah.
Although the Hellenistic empires of Greece and Rome cease to exist, the spirit of Edom still rules the modern world. It epitomizes man's final exile from G-d, holding much of mankind captive to a civilization that views itself as ethical, moral and humane, caring for knowledge, peace, life, and ecologya civilization where man is primary and G-d or gods fit into man's agenda. Historians say that there is almost nothing in our society that doesn't have its roots in ancient Greece.
This spirit of Edom, they taught, would continue to empower the West until the last days. Its captivity would be the last captivity of the Jewish people before Israel's redemption and the coming of the Messiah. Where Antiochus failed in his attempt to destroy Israel through outward assimilation, Edom has succeeded to do inwardly to many Jews especially in the West. While the sages apply the term, Captivity of Edom specifically to the Jewish people, it should be applied to the Church as well. The Captivity of Edom is the greatest enemy that Israel [and the Church] has ever faced.
The light of the Hanukkiyah is considered to be holy and is to be used only for meditation. It is said to be the light that existed on the first day of creation, the Primordial light. (The sun and stars were not created until the fourth day.) It is said to be the light that was preserved from the creation of the world for the righteous. This is the light that was separated from darkness (Genesis 1:4), the light that G-d called good. It is taught that the Torah is that light.
Antiochus, in calling himself Epiphanies (G-d manifest), sought to replace the Temple menorah with himself by extinguishing its lights and in its place, erecting a statue of himself as G-d. Likewise, the Captivity of Edom seeks to extinguish the symbol of G-d's presence in the human soul, the Hanukkiyah, by erecting the G-d of 'self' in its place.
The Hanukkiyah represents a spiritual truth: In Jewish teaching, the number seven represents the natural, physical world [The world was created in seven days.] The number eight, therefore, represents that which transcends the natural realm, that is, the spiritual realm. For this reason the rabbis call the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah the Days of Eight, or days of transcendence from the natural to the spiritual.
The story of Hanukkah relates the miracle of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, transcending their limitations by the power of G-d as seen in Israel's Maccabees defeating the vast Syrian army. The one-day's supply of oil for the Temple menorah that lasted eight days when the Maccabees began to cleanse the re-claimed Temple pointed to another spiritual reality, that the oil of G-d never runs out.
The Hanukkiyah pointed to the New Covenant that G-d made with mankind through the death of the Messiah, Yeshuathe covenant of the Holy Spirit in redeemed man that is the covenant of the one true and only Oral Torah. While Yeshua is the Written Torah who will remain hidden in Heaven until the time of restoration (Acts 3:21), the Holy Spirit is the Oral Torah who can speak to and through man, giving him wisdom and understanding that never contradicts the Written Torah, Yeshua.
Yeshua is the Servant Candle or Shammash of the Hanukkiyah that sits higher than the rest. He must light the other candles because He is the source of all wisdom and understanding. He is the Living Word of G-d (John 1:1), the Primordial Light that has always existed (John 1:4-9), wisdom on which to meditate. Yeshua said:
"I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" (John 8:12)
In the Bible, pure oil is used to represent the Holy Spirit or presence of G-d. Just as the Holy Spirit filled Yeshua at His baptism in the beginning of His ministry, the Holy Spirit must fill each new believer. Yeshua can bring the light of understanding only to those who are filled with the pure oil of the Holy Spirit. The oil that lasted for eight days testifies to the fact that the oil of the Holy Spirit does not burn like ordinary oil but transcends the natural realm and lasts eternally.
The secret strategy that G-d gave to end the Captivity of Edom is to be filled with the Spirit of G-d. With Him, each new day offers the opportunity to have Yeshua light the oil of understanding within to begin again with G-d.
"By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." (1 John 4:13)
The Hanukkiyah is the key. It is said, By lighting the menorah, we ignite the flame in our souls, the spark that cannot be extinguished, that will burn not for eight days but for eternity. Our Inner Light must shine against the darkness of evil and indifference and must kindle the spirits of our fellow man. The menorah reminds us that no matter how dark life may be there remains a source of light deep inside of us. That light reflects and refracts the light from the One who is 'All Brightness'.
When the Written Torah, the Word of G-d [Yeshua] is hidden in our hearts, the oil of the Hanukkiyah [Holy Spirit] burning in our lives will be visible for the world to see.
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden ...Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)