The Ninth Month, concluded

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.)

Continuing our look at the month of Kislev, loosely corresponding with December, the last fall month in the Roman calendar:

“And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob a son, and he called his name Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week.” (Jubilees 28:11)

The book of Jubilees is a pre-Christian work, dated between 160-150 B.C., and is regarded as apocryphal by Christians and Jews alike. Nevertheless, it sometimes adds some details that might be significant, especially given its antiquity. Such ancient texts often reflect some old traditions that might be worthy of consideration. It is important to remember that the spirit of prophecy still existed among the people of God (perhaps in a more subdued form) even in the later post-exilic centuries before the coming of Christ.

Returning to the canonical scriptures, the birth of Reuben is very appropriate for this time of year:

And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” (Gen 29:32)¹

God the Father was certainly greatly pleased by the birth of His Son from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and He loved her all the more because of it. The 14th day of the month is typically the day on which the full moon rises at sunset, heading into the 15th day.²

Things take a turn for the worse for the Jewish people, however, for on the very next day in their history the following event is commemorated (skipping ahead quite a bit historically speaking).  We now find ourselves in the time of the Maccabees:

Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah, and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death. They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities. (1 Mac 1:54-58)

This “desolating sacrilege” is perhaps better known as an “abomination of desolation.” This continues through to the end of the month:

They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities.  And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks. (1 Mac 1:59-60)

All these events harmonize well with the matins reading assigned to the Saturday of the second week of Advent, from Isaiah, the prophet of consolation (15 Kislev on our constructed calendar):

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of strangers is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the strangers; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines—of fat things full of marrow, of choice wines well refined. And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Is 25:1-9)

The Ember days of Advent have been often connected with the “fast of the tenth month.” (Zech 8:19) As we have previously seen, this is not entirely accurate but understandable in the context of the possible development of the Roman liturgy from primitive Jewish practices, because Roman sensibilities were also taken into account, according to whom, the “first month” was not April, but March. Absolutely no reference is made in the Roman liturgy at this point in the year to the fast of the tenth month commemorating the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem. Instead, the Ember Days of Advent all deal with some aspect of the Incarnation, that is, the rebuilding of the temple that was destroyed. The gospel of Ember Friday is particularly significant, as it reminds us that it is the voice of Our Blessed Mother that “undoes” the curse of Eve³ when she salutes Elizabeth, and it is at the sound of her call that the infant John leaps in the womb of St. Elizabeth.

We continue on through the month, and leaving aside the hardships that the Jews are going through in the time of the Maccabees, we are reminded of still other hardships that they underwent after their time of exile in Babylon. Unfortunately we are jumping all around history now, from the time of the Maccabees all the way back to the time of the building of the second temple:

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests to decide this question, ‘If one carries holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touches with his skirt bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy?’ ” The priests answered, “No.”  Then said Haggai, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It does become unclean.”  Then Haggai said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.  Please now, consider what will come to pass from this day onward. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the temple of the Lord,  how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.  I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider:  Is the seed yet in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.” (Hag 2:11-19)

It seems the point being made here is that the container does not sanctify what touches it, implying that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified before becoming the mother of God. Mere physical proximity or contact is not enough to remove a stain of sin, even if it can cure one of physical ailments, as it did several times during the earthly ministry of Christ and even the apostles. But once the body is sanctified by grace, that grace cannot be lost except by an act of the will, since we have been taught that nothing that goes into the body can defile it, only what comes out of it. (Mt 15:11) In the case of the Mother of God, neither what went into her nor what came out of her ever defiled her. How many mothers can say the same about what came from their wombs, the very same which was nourished and raised by them? Only one mother in all human history can honestly say that she did not contribute to the problem of every act of procreation propagating the sin of Adam, because she did not participate in this act natural generation which serves to propagate the sin of Adam.

The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month,  “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth,  and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his fellow.  On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.” (Hag 2:20-23)

Zerubbabel is a direct ancestor of our Lord. (Mt 1:12) The foundations of the second temple were laid in Jerusalem on this day. Some later traditions connect this to the rededication of the second temple under the Maccabees (see below). Presumably the temple was recaptured on this day, the 24th, and the rededication took place on the following day.

Jumping forward again to the time of the Maccabees, after their city and temple were defiled, we are told:

But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. And very great wrath came upon Israel. (1 Mac 1:63-64)

After the heroic Jews regain control of the temple three years later, we read:

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.  So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.  They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors.  There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed.

Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev. (1 Mac 4:52-59, cf. 2 Mac 10:5)

This, of course, is the origin of the Jewish observance of the eight days of Hanukkah, nowadays observed some time in late November through mid-December. Just as we have seen some other solar dates line up with lunar observances, this one comes as no surprise, and is celebrated around the same time of year. December is in fact considered a fall month, not a winter month, snowy decorations aside, and so once again we see signs that some days numbered on the lunar calendar show up on the same-numbered analogous day on the solar calendar (the third fall month in both cases). This particular day seems to be the one nobody argues about because everyone wants to feel warm and fuzzy around the holidays. Hanukkah rarely beginning on or after Dec. 25 might explain the secular Christmas season creeping back into Advent. It is ironic, but very consoling, that we consider as inspired scripture the very writings (the books of the Maccabees) that establish this observance, while the Jews themselves (as well as most protestants) consider them apocryphal. This is most unfortunate, as the stories of the heroic Maccabees have been inspiring to Catholics for centuries, especially the story of the seven brothers and their mother who were martyred. (2 Mac 7) We just read about these events about two months ago. Perhaps we are meant to turn these things over in our minds once again around this time of year, as the the Nativity of our Lord draws near, since, as we well know, the disciple is not greater than the Master.