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Contents:
The Seleucid Greek-Syrian
Hellenizers
and the Hasmonean
Maccabees.
Israelite Tribes and their Gentile National Counterparts.
The Tribe of Dan and
Chanukha.
The Tribe of Joseph and Chanukha.
The Seleucid Greek-Syrian
Hellenizers
and the Hasmonean
Maccabees.
The Feast of Chanukha was inaugurated by the Jews in ca. 165 BCE under the
leadership of the Chashmonian (Hasmonean) family.
They were Priests (Cohens) from the Tribe of Levi. The Hasmoneans led the Maccabee
resistance to their Greek-Syrian Seleucid rulers.
Alexander of Macedon (Northwest Greece of that time) had conquered the Middle
East. When he died the Empire split up into different sections one part of which
was ruled by the Seleucids. The Seleucids were based in what is now northern
Syria. They had a policy of forcibly Hellenizing their subjects. Helenizing
meant speaking the Greek language, and adopting Greek religion and culture.
At that time this was considered the equivalent of Modernization and Progress.
Many Jews enthusiastically participated in the Hellenization process. The
Maccabees suppressed the Hellenizing faction amongst the Jews. They also
out-maneuvered and defeated in battle the Seleucid military forces despite
lackings in manpower, technical proficiency and professional training.
The Seleucids in Rabbinical sources are usually referred to as "Yavanim" which
is the plural form of "Yavan" i.e. Greece.
Israelite Tribes and their Gentile
National Counterparts.
Fishel Mael (p.160 ff) quoting from Rabbinicial sources, points out that
different Israelite Tribes were destined to offset or otherwise encounter
specific Gentile adversaries on an individual national basis.
Judah whose strong point was monotheism was to be set against Babylon the mother
of pagan religions.
Benjamin was parallel to Persia and Medea.
See the Book of Esther whose plot is located in Persia and whose heroes,
Mordecai and Esther, are both from Benjamin.
Benjamin like Joseph is associated with the "Foundational" Principle ("Yisod").
This is the Key to Spiritual and Material Plenty and is concomitant with the Power of Sexual Restraint. The
Persians on the other hand were licentious and indulged in incest. Paradoxically
the Persians were also known as being modest and for their chaste behaviour. The same applies to Benjamin.
The modesty of the Persians however had lewd motivation whereas that of Benjamin was
genuine.
Joseph is paired to Esau. Joseph is the adversary of Esau. Joseph and Esau are
similar to each other. The failing of Esau expresses itself in violence and
murder. Joseph also has a tendency in this direction that he needs to overcome
or channel to positive lines.
The Tribe of Levi was set against Yavan (Greece).
The Yavanim (Seleucid Syrian-Greeks) attempted to take Jewish daughters and
property. They were characterized by idolatry, sexual immorality, and violence.
The Levites may have had similar inclinations but they restrained themselves,
acted in the opposite manner, and so were enabled to overcome their opponents.
The Tribe of Dan and
Chanukha.
The Tribe of Dan is also associated with Chanukha.
A section of Dan comes from the north, from the place of Darkness. Yavan
(Greece) is also from that region. Jeroboam the son of Nebat after he had
induced the Ten Tribes to rebel against the House of David set up golden calves
in Bethel and in Dan in the north (2-Kings 12:28). This brought Darkness to the world.
One of the symbols of Dan was a serpent. The Patriarch Jacob had blessed Dan by comparing him to a
serpent.
Genesis 49:
16 Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path,
That bites the horse's heels So that its rider shall fall backward.
The serpent may have both sacred and profane symbolic importance.
The sacred aspect pertains to the characteristic of Dan derived from the word
"din" connoting strict judgement and correctness.
Dan may well have a puritanical streak as well as a licentious one.
The word for serpent in Hebrew is Nachash. The same word root is used in the
term "Nachoshet" which literally means "copper"
though in Scripture could also refer to Bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) or
Brass (an alloy of copper and zinc, often occurring naturally).
Bronze and brass are similar in appearance and attiributes. Copper is the dominant element in both.
In the vision of Daniel (Daniel ch.2) the statue of Nebuchadnessar has a head of
gold (Babylon), chest and shoulders of silver (Persia), thighs of Bronze (Nechoshet)
symbolizing Greece. The Bronze (Nechoshet) aspect of Greece is parallel to Dan.
[The rest of the statue had belly and legs of iron
meaning Rome and then feet of mixed clay and iron possibly symbolizing what was once the
Holy Roman Empire and today is the European Union.]
Fisher Mael opines that even though the victory over Yavan (the Seleucids) was
due to the Levites and Judah, elements from Dan (and possibly also from other
Tribes) were too present.
The link between Dan and Greece had historical precedents as we have discussed
elsewhere.
See:
Dan and the Serpent Way.
Dan in Northern Israel, Greece, and Elsewhere
http://britam.org/dan3.html
See articles by John Salverda
involving Dan and the Greeks:
http://www.britam.org/salverda/salverdacontents.html
"Perseus
Compared to Moses and the Danites
of Jaffa".
The Wanderings. Perseus
at the Danite
seaport of Joppa.
Perseus,
Dan, and the Golden Calf of Dionysus.
Athens and the Hebrews. The Other Lost Israelites.
http://www.britam.org/salverda/athens.html
For Irish traditions implying a link between Greece and Dan see:
THE TRIBE OF DANA [TUATHA
DE DANAAN]
http://www.britam.org/traditions3.html
The Tribe of Joseph and
Chanukha.
As a result of their victory over the Seleucids the Hasmoneans ruled over Judah
for about a hundred years.
Coming from the Tribe of Levi they could not be considered permanent rulers
since such a status belongs only to the House of David from Judah. The
Hasmoneans were rather parallel to the rulers of the Ten Tribes who were first
ruled by Jeroboam from the Tribe of Joseph.
Chanukha in a symbolic sense is associated with Joseph and with the Messiah son
of Joseph.
Yavan was a precursor of Esau-Edom. Yavan epitomized beauty and aesthetics.
Amongst the Israelites, the sons of Rachel (Joseph and Benjamin) also possess
these qualities (Mael p.499).
Judah was destined to rule over Israel.
The Sons of Rachel (especially Joseph) are to rule over the Gentile Nations (Mael
p.499).
The Tribe of Joseph was supposed to rule over Yavan and at some stage may have
done so.
Yavan was symbolized by a bow and so was Judah.
Judah will serve as a bow and Joseph as an arrow sent against Yavan.
Zechariah 9:
13 For I have bent Judah, My bow,
Fitted the bow with Ephraim,
And raised up your sons, O Zion,
Against your sons, O Greece [Yavan],
And made you like the sword of a mighty man.
See:
THE BOW OF JUDAH AND THE ARROWS OF EPHRAIM.
Parallels in Prophecy between the
Maccabees
and Ephraim in the Future.
http://britam.org/zechariah.html#THE
Malbim
on [Zechariah 9:14]: These messages are also parallel to each other. In the time
of the Maccabees
the Almighty made HIS presence felt amongst them to save them... HIS ARROW SHALL
GO FORTH AS THE LIGHTNING...in the Last War against
Gog
and Magog,
He SHALL BLOW THE TRUMPET [Hebrew: "shofar"]
to gather in the outcasts from the four corners of the earth, as it says,
http://www.britam.org/isaiah/Isaiah26to30.html
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, THAT THE GREAT TRUMPET [Shofar]
SHALL BE BLOWN, AND THEY SHALL COME who were lost IN THE LAND OF ASSYRIA [Isaiah
27:13].
Yavan was a descendant of Japhet (Genesis 10:2).
Genesis 9:
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may
Canaan be his servant.
The descendants of Japhet have the right to expand and develop their
potentialities.
They are not however to impose their will over the descendants of Shem but
rather should receive direction and guidance from them through Israel.
Note:
This has NOT been an entirely original article by Brit-Am but rather mainly an adaptation of material presented by Fishel Mael.
Rabbi Fishel Mael quotes from Rabbinical Sources as well as, where necessary, suggesting his own interpretations
based on exegetical principles.
Despite this reservation Brit-Am remains responsible for ALL content in the present article.
Fishel
Mael,
"Sefer
Shiftei
Israel" (Book of the Tribes of Israel, Hebrew), 5757.
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"Shoshana Yaacov" |
