Guest Article!
Keys To the Kingdom Series
#10 The Key Against Compromise
by Rabbi Dani’el Rendelman ~ emet@bellsouth.net
Member Union Of Nazarene
Yisraelite Congregations www.uonyc.org
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,”
source unknown.
“The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which
is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the
sun. Is there anything of which it may
be said, ‘See this is new?” It has been
already of old time, which was before us,” Keheleth (Ecclesiastes) 1:9-10,
Restoration Scriptures Version.
The year
is 173 BCE.
A vicious
war is just beginning. This is a clash
that was not started on the battleground of weapons and slaughter but first in
the battleground of the mind. The Greek
King Antiochus Epiphanies is championing the cause of hellenization throughout
the Middle East. In other words,
Antiochus is trying to make all the people of his kingdom like the rest of the
Greeks. His cause is to conquer the
minds’ of the people and make them live like the ‘civilized’ Greek world.
History teaches that Antiochus founded more new Greek cities
than any previous ruler. He also
brought great persecution to the Hebrew believers in the Land of Yisra’el. First, the temple high priest was replaced
by a Greek named Jason. Jason strived
to change the religion of the Hebrews to be more accepting towards the worship
of other gods. By 167 BCE things had
gotten really bad as the Hebrews were forced under the penalty of death to "to
depart from the laws of their fathers, and to cease living by the laws of
Torah. Further, the sanctuary in Jerusalem was to be polluted and called after
Zeus Olympius," says the book of 2 Maccabees 6: 1, 2.
Antiochus
entered the Temple, even the Holy of Holies, offered unclean animals and
performed sexual acts upon the altar of sacrifice. He forbade the Hebrews to circumcise their sons. He even required the new brides to spend the
night with a Greek general before any marriage took place. Clearly, this was a bad dude with a bad
cause!
Many
Hebrews quietly gave in to the ways of the King. They compromised their beliefs by departing from the true faith
and accepting the many gods of Greece.
Instead of fighting back they gave in.
Some even had painful surgeries to reverse their circumcisions! However,
there was a family that refused to concede.
One man
named Mattitiyahu and his five sons resisted.
Their opposition started a rebellion that would be inscribed in the
history books as one of the greatest military battles of all time. Their refusal to go along with Greek ways
would a kindle a flame of hope within the persecuted people of Judea. This flame continues to shine even to this
day.
The story is told that the Greeks came to the city where Mattitiyahu and his family lived. The evil army told everyone to bow down and
worship a huge statue of zeus. When Mattitiyahu, who was of a priestly lineage,
saw a fellow Hebrew begin to worship the idol he quickly went into action. Mattitiyahu killed the Hebrew and declared
to those around him, “Mi la YHWH elai,” or whoever is for YHWH join me. He took his son Yahudah, his family,
and other loyal Ivrim with him as they fled to the mountains where they could
plan and wage a war. “These men
believed that they could not free Israel from foreign rulers, but they were
willing to risk their lives so that the Jewish people could enjoy spiritual
freedom and control of their Temple.
Mattitiyahu died, but the sons continued to fight under the leadership
of Yahudah the Maccabee. The Maccabees, with four battalions of 1,000 men each,
defeated an army of 40,000 soldiers and 7,000 cavalry. Then in 165 BCE, Yahudah
gathered a force of 10,000 Jews and defeated an army of 60,000 soldiers and
5,000 cavalry,” wrote Rabbi Moshe Koniuchowsky.
Finally
the Maccabees were able to overthrow the Greeks and regain control of
Yerushaliym and the holy Temple site.
They found that this area of worship had been desecrated and destroyed. So, they began the tedious task of setting
up the sanctuary in the prescribed way.
They remade certain items that were missing, they washed dirty utensils,
they cleaned the whole place and set a date to set it apart and re-dedicate the
temple to YHWH. Their celebration was
to be eight days of prayer and worship during which they would consecrate the
place to Elohim. They story is told
that when the priests went to light the Menorah that stands in the holy place,
they did not have enough set apart oil to last for the whole feast. The priests trusted YHWH and the oil burned
for eight days, just long enough to consecrate new oil as prescribed by the
Torah. By the way, the Hebrew word for
dedication is “Chanukah.” It is from
these events that have the Festival of Chanukah as celebrated by our Messiah
Yahshua in Yochannan 10.
For over
two thousand years the story of the Maccabees has been told and retold as the
reason for the season of the eight-day celebration of Chanukah. But please, please don’t just dismiss these
events as only for holiday time. Don’t
think of the Chanukah story as even a fable for children to replace
Christmas. The miracles that took place
during the revolt of Judah and his army are too special to remember only once a
year. They should have lasting impact
and memory all year long. You’ve heard
of Christmas in July, well, its time to have Chanukah everyday. We can learn much from the Maccabees if we
will just gleam from the glamour and glimmer of the menorah and the message of
perseverance.
As this
historic account unfolded many miracles occurred like the military victories
and the oil lasting eight days. But,
perhaps these outward marvels are secondary when compared to the miracles that
took place within the Hebrew people at that time. As this teaching brings understanding, wisdom, and knowledge may
it be Chanukah all year long within the people of Yisra’el. May we learn from the Maccabees how to
conquer compromise?
The Real Deal Miracle
You see,
King Epiphanes’ goal was not to necessarily kill the Hebrews. His real purpose was to change them. He wanted them to be like the rest of the
worldly Greeks. Epiphanes, who was
renamed Epimanes or “madman” by his contemporaries, did not allow the Hebrews to
keep Shabbat or study Torah. He thought
that by passing faith-damaging laws and even destroying their place of worship
that he could defeat the Hebrews faith and cripple their culture. The king was wrong. The king did not understand that the
Biblical faith is not about buildings but about being. The king soon found out that even though the
Temple Menorah was obliterated the oil remained. The faith of the Hebrews was within the people and not based on
something on the outside.
It is
this miracle, the miracle of opposition that stands out greater than the oil
and the military battles. Antiochus
wanted compromise or middle ground. He
did all he could to get the Israelites to assimilate, to mix, to pollute their
faith, to give in, and walk the middle of the road. Some of the Jews did this.
They accepted the Greek ways and they traded their tallits for
togas. They mixed in with other peoples
and other faiths and lost their identity.
Others did not.
Let us learn from the examples of Mattitiyahu and his sons as they refused to
give in to compromise because the enemy has not changed over time. The battle is still the same. Will we follow the words of the Bible and
walk out our Hebrew lifestyle or will we compromise and mix with the world? This is a daily fight for faith that still
rages within the life of each and every believer. “Therefore come out from among them and be set-apart, says the
Master YHWH, and touch not the unclean things; and I will receive you, and will
be an Abba to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Master YHWH
the Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 Restoration Scriptures Version.
In Hebrew
the word for compromise is “p’shara.”
This term means to “expose or make liable to danger, suspicion, or
disrepute.” It also means to, “resolve
differences by mutual concessions esp. to prevent or end a lawsuit.” How?
P’shara is a choice to give in and even give away. Compromise, as the definition states, is a
mutual agreement. It is an action that
must be take and accepted – compromise is not forced. Some Hebrew chose to p’shara and others did not. Interestingly, there is not a word for
“compromise” in the ancient Arabic language that the Muslims speak. One reason why there is no compromise in the
Middle East is because the Islamic belief system does not believe in giving
in. They don’t even have a word for
compromise in their dictionary.
The war
against p’shara is one of the greatest fights Torah followers face today. The world is calling us to conform. Our children are bombarded with musicians,
actors, and the media who set the trends and fan the fads. We must resist.
Make the Decision
First we must decide not to compromise. In a split second Mattitiyahu the priest rose against the
Greeks and even killed a public sinner.
He then went to battle against those who persuaded the Hebrews to
worship zeus. Mattitiyahu wasn’t doing anything
spectacular, he was just walking in his heritage as priest of YHWH.
The priests were to teach Yisra’el to be kadosh or ‘holy or
set apart.’ The people were not to mix
with the world. They were not to mix
the clean with the unclean or even yoke different animals together. They were forbid to intermarry with pagans
and were not to wear garments of mixed materials. Yisra’el was to be different.
Stopping the blending of the truth with falsehood was just part of being
a priest. As Mattitiyahu stood up against the opposition
he proclaimed “Mi la YHWH elai,” or whoever is for YHWH join me! Like Mattitiyahu we have to overcome our fears
and make a firm commitment not to give in.
Press On
Second we
have to persevere. Making a decision is
one thing. Sticking by that decision is
another. For the Hebrews, victory was
not easy nor was it fast. It took the
Israelites three years of warfare to defeat the Greeks. They were outnumbered, outarmoured, and
outsmarted but they still won. Even
Mattitiyahu their leader was killed in battle.
They could have given up at any moment but they did not. Through all that happened to them, the
Maccabee army persevered and eventually conquered the king. After many fierce battles they reclaimed
what was rightfully theirs in the first place.
And it is no different today. We
must fight to reclaim the lifestyle that is rightfully ours. And we have to keep fighting. The opposite of compromise is
perseverance. We have to be the same;
we have to be ‘preserved’ through the events of life. The war against compromise is a marathon and not a sprint. Perseverance is a daily struggle. Yet it is a worthy struggle. “Fear none of those things that you shall
suffer: see, s.a.tan shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried;
and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful to death, and I will give
you the keter chayim. He that has an
ear, let him shema what the Ruach says to the Yisraelite congregations; He that
overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death,” Revelation 2:10-11.
Clean Up
Thirdly,
we will need to clean up. Compromise is
messy because it blurs the lines between right and wrong. This chaos and confusion has to be cleared
up. When the Israelites regained the
temple they found it to be in a total wreck.
It had been desecrated and needed to be rebuilt. This took a lot of hard work and a refusal
to take shortcuts. Throughout this
process the Hebrews could have compromised by using furniture and items other
than what was prescribed in the Torah.
They could have compromised.
When the priests only had enough sacred oil for one day they had to make
a decision. Should they mix the sacred
oil or just used regular lamp oil for the menorah?
They might
have compromised the holy but they did not.
They believed and trusted in YHWH with what they had. Because of this trust we commemorate this
miracle every year around the month of December. Think for a minute though if the Hebrews would have compromised
and not trusted YHWH to multiply the oil.
Do you think we would have the eight-day celebration of Chanukah with a
special menorah? Probably not.
Indeed,
the greatest miracle of Chanukah is what occurred INSIDE the people. Their resistance against compromise of the
spiritual world led to physical wonders in this world. Like the widow whose meal did not run out
and like the fishes and loaves that multiplied to feed thousands the single
cruz of oil was enough. As the Passover
song and phrase “Dayenu” – it is always sufficient. When you trust YHWH and do not compromise your needs will always
be met.
A Remnant and a fall
Something
important to remember is that all of these events centered on a remnant. A remnant is a ‘small piece of an original
that has not been mixed.’ A remnant is
like the beginning, yet remains through the end. It was a remnant of the original oil that was used by the
priests. And even the priests
themselves were a remnant of the original bloodline that served at the
tabernacle in the wilderness. Like
their ancestors the priests had to stand up and defy the world of
compromise. They also had to ‘tikkun’
or fix/rectify the errors of their past.
During
Yisra’el’s journey from Egypt the priests gave in to the people and compromised
true worship. “And when the people say
that Moshe delayed to come down out of the Mount, the people gathered
themselves together to Aharon, and said to him, Get up, make us elohim, that
shall go before us; for as this Moshe, the man that brought us up out of the
land of Mitzrayim, we do not know what has become of him. And Aharon said to them, Break off the
golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, and of your sons, and of
your daughters, and bring them to me.
And all the people broke off the golden earrings that were in their
ears, and brought them to Aharon. And
he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he
had made it a golden calf: and they said, These be your elohim, O Yisrael.
Which brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim,” Shemot 32:1-4.
Aharon
gave in to the nation’s request and gave them the idol of the golden cow. Remember, if you don’t learn from the past
then you are doomed to repeat it. If we
don’t tikkun the errors of our ancestors then we may replicate them. Compromise cannot be tolerated within the
family of Yisra’el. It not only has to
be stopped, it also has to be fixed.
Because of the sin of the golden cow, the nation was in need of tikkun.
Perhaps
part of Yisra’el’s tikkun was the actions of Pinchas. “And when Pinchas, the son of El-Azar, the son of Aharon the
kohen, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in
his hand; And he went after the man of Yisrael into the tent, and thrust both
of them through, the man of Yisrael, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stopped from the children
of Yisrael,” Bamidbar 25:7-15. Tikkun
of Aharon’s sin took place as Pinchas the priest killed a public sinner. Then in the reflection and shadow of the
remnant, Aharon’s descendant Mattitiyahu also rose to the occasion and killed a
public sinner. Pinchas and Mattitiyahu
refused to compromise. Remarkably,
Mattitiyahu then even echoed Moshe’s response to the sin of the golden
calf. “ Mi la YHWH elai,” or whoever is
for YHWH join me,” Shemot 32:26.
The
remnant continues now as you face the monster of compromise. Everyday you have an opportunity to learn
from the past and change the future.
Here at the present time you can actually recreate the miracle of
Chanukah by strengthening your faith and making up your mind up not to
compromise. “Do not love the olam hazeh
or the things in the olam hazeh. If
anyone loves the olam hazeh, the ahava of Abba is not in him. For all that is in the olam hazeh; the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of chayim; is not of Abba but
is of the olam hazeh,” 1 Yochannan 2:15-16.
Rejecting the world
Rejecting
the world is not easy but it is necessary.
In a
sense we as Yisraelites have to defy gravity.
We must resist the pull of the world.
We have to reject mixture. It is
hard to swim up stream and resist the influences of those around us. The Talmud says, “All beginnings are
difficult.” Yet it will get easier each
time we choose not to p’shara. There is
a principle of momentum that states every time you perform a mitzvot or refuse
to go along with the ways of the world your spirit is strengthened. Barriers are broken down as you reject the
urge to compromise. Take for example
the feasts of YHWH. At first they are
new and perhaps even difficult to celebrate.
But as time goes by, the new actions become habit; they become part of
you and don’t seem so strange. As the
actions are repeated, it gets easier each time to just perform the
mitzvot. And each time you refuse to
allow your life to mix with the world, you stand as a witness and example of
how a follower of YHWH should live.
Resist
the urge when you are confronted with the option to follow YHWH or not. Do not allow the adversary a foothold. “Do not give s.a.tan a chance or opening,”
Ephesians 4:27.
Be
faithful in the small matters. Most
people won’t compromise their faith by disobeying a ‘big’ commandment like
murdering or stealing. Yet will your
faith stand strong when faced with small choices about Sabbath observance,
kosher eating, or words that are spoken?
It is hard to resist p’shara in the small areas of life. The next time you are tempted to cross the
line remember how the priests would not even compromise the oil they used in
the temple.
As you
are faithful to YHWH, you can expect miracles to happen. In fact, you can make miracles happen
through your devotion. Expect the
unexpected and experience the unthinkable as your heart is molded in the
Father’s hands. Just as the Yisraelite
rededicated the Temple, recommit yourself to YHWH and His service. Clean out the areas of compromise and evil
influences. Turn off that racy TV show. Put away those clothes that reveal too
much. Look at how much money you spend
on things that are just not necessary.
Say ‘no’ when friends and co-workers tease or tempt you to disobey
Torah.
In
conclusion, when it comes to life there is nothing new under the sun. The struggles we face today like
understanding our heritage or being in this world but not of this world, are
not new. The powers and the many
peoples around us despise how we act and they want us to change. We too must stand like the Maccabees and hammer
our life through the persecution of the world.
We need to learn from the mistake of Aharon and tikkun olam or ‘fix the
world’ through our resistance to compromise.
Can you
proclaim as Moshe and Matiyahu did? “
Mi la YHWH elai,” or whoever is for YHWH join me,” Shemot 32:26.