I certainly don’t claim to have any evidence to support this claim, but I do think that it’s plausible, and I agree that the number 8 does need some kind of explanation.
It is more likely that the 8 days came since Succot and Shimini Atzeret last 8 days. Thus, when the Maccabees rededicated the temple they had a festival that was essentially a late Succot. This is consistent with the text in Maccabees 1 as well as that in Josephus.
Perhaps the number 8 came from the fact that it really did take 8 days to get new sacramental oil. Suppose that the flame was lit, after which it was discovered that there wasn’t enough oil for 8 days, so the religious authorities, as they so often have done, said, “Well, we really screwed this one up, but we can just not let anyone look, then claim it was a miracle.”
Except that it isn’t a major screw-up. Given how badly everything else was going, if they had waited a few days to relight the Menorah it wouldn’t have been a big deal. It only seems like a big deal to people now precisely because they’ve heard the miracle story.
You’re right, when I think about the situation as if I hadn’t heard the miracle story, it seems very plausible that it would have been a comparatively trivial delay, and in retrospect I did read that about Succot somewhere… anyway:
It is more likely that the 8 days came since Succot and Shimini Atzeret last 8 days. Thus, when the Maccabees rededicated the temple they had a festival that was essentially a late Succot. This is consistent with the text in Maccabees 1 as well as that in Josephus.
Except that it isn’t a major screw-up. Given how badly everything else was going, if they had waited a few days to relight the Menorah it wouldn’t have been a big deal. It only seems like a big deal to people now precisely because they’ve heard the miracle story.
You’re right, when I think about the situation as if I hadn’t heard the miracle story, it seems very plausible that it would have been a comparatively trivial delay, and in retrospect I did read that about Succot somewhere… anyway:
Your Version > My Version
Thanks for the clarification!