The haftara for Shabbat Chanukah (or, in a year such as this, for the first of the two Shabbatot of Chanukah) is taken from early part of Sefer Zekharya (2:14 - 4:7). The prophet Zekharya received this prophecy on the 24th day of the month of Shevat during the second year of the reign of the Persian emperor, Daryavesh (Darius; see 1:7). This occurred exactly two months after the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael resumed the project of rebuilding the Bet Ha-mikdash, on the 24th of Kislev (see Chagai 2:18; according to Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, the project actually resumed on the 25th of Kislev, the day which later became Chanukah). The haftara begins with the prophet's exclamation, "Shout for joy, Fair Zion! For lo, I come, and I dwell in your midst – declares the Lord." God here promises to once again dwell among the Jewish people in the new Temple, just as He had in the First Temple, before its destruction.
Many commentators try to reconcile the straightforward meaning of this verse with Chazal's comment that the Shekhina did not return to the Second Temple. How could God promise the people that He will restore His Shekhina to the Temple under construction and then renege on His promise?
Ibn Ezra claims that this promise was initially given on condition that the Jews come in large numbers from the Diaspora back to Eretz Yisrael. This is how Ibn Ezra interprets the haftara's second verse: "On that day many peoples will attach themselves to the Lord and become His people… " Ibn Ezra explains this to mean that if "many peoples" from among Am Yisrael "attach themselves to the Lord" – return to Eretz Yisrael and the rebuilt Temple, then, as the verse concludes, "He will dwell in your midst." Since, as we know, the overwhelming majority of Jews remained in Bavel, the Shekhina never returned to the Temple.
However, this approach is very difficult to accept, for several reasons. For one thing, it necessitates inserting the allegedly missing word "if" at the beginning of the verse. Additionally, it requires understanding the word "goyim," which generally refers to foreign nations, to mean people from amthe Jewish people. Moreover, Zekharya, along with the other two prophets of the early period of the Second Commonwealth (Chagai and Malakhi), seem to direct their prophecies specifically toward the people living in Eretz Yisrael. We do not find them addressing the Jews who remained behind in Babylon. It seems strange, then, that Zekharya would implicitly issue an order that the Babylonian communities should emigrate to Eretz Yisrael.
In any event, other commentators suggest different interpretations. Many commentators, including Radak, Abarbanel and Malbim, explain this prophecy as referring to the final redemption, rather to the Second Temple period. In fact, Abarbanel writes that the prophet intends specifically to contrast the current situation with the glory of the Messianic era, when the Shekhina will actually return to the Temple.
The difficulty with this approach, as noted by these commentators themselves, involves the later portion of the prophecy, where Zekharya conveys God's message to Yehoshua, the kohen gadol (see 3:6-8). If this prophecy is meant to describe the Shekhina's return during the ultimate redemption, why does the prophet suddenly given instruction and admonition to the current leadership?
Faced with this problem, Radak suggests that indeed the prophet changes focus in this prophecy, and his discussion shifts from his prediction of the Messianic era to his message to Yehoshua.
Abarbanel, however, takes a drastically different, and particularly novel, approach in resolving this issue. He claims that Zekharya does not address Yehoshua at all. In fact, Abarbanel maintains that Yehoshua died before this prophecy was ever transmitted. Rather, the prophet here speaks to Yehoshua's offspring, the kohanim of future generations, specifically, the Chashmonaim. When Zekharya sees in his vision "Satan" standing to the right of Yehoshua (3:1), he actually beholds the religious persecution mounted by Antiochus – represented in this vision by the Satan – against Yehoshua's descendants, Matityahu and his sons, who remained faithful to tradition. But the angel in Zekharya's vision admonishes the Satan, claiming "this is a brand plucked from the fire." The righteous Chashmonaim were spared from the fire of Hellenization and will survive, and the "Satan" thus stands not a chance in his efforts to win them over. In any event, in this way Abarbanel manages to interpret this prophecy as foreseeing the future redemption, despite what seems to be direct instruction to Yehoshua the current kohen gadol.
We may, however, suggest an entirely different approach to the haftara's opening verse, the promise of the Shekhina's return to the Jewish people. The Sefat Emet (Chanukah, 5654) writes explicitly, "The Chanukah miracle served as testament to the Shekhina's resting in Israel." According to the Sefat Emet, the Shekhina did, in fact, reside in the Second Temple, but only after the Chashmonaim's defeat over the Greeks. The Chashmonaim saw the miracle of the menorah as a clear indication to the fact that the Shekhina has now returned. Th argument can be made that this is foreseen here, in Zekharya's prophecy of the Shekhina's return. The prophet seeks to encourage the current leadership, Yehoshua and Zerubavel, to continue the project of building the Temple, despite the many obstacles they encountered and despite the fact that what was emerging was a far cry from Shelomo's Temple. He promises them that one day the Shekhina will return, one day the "filthy clothes" of the kohen gadol (see 3:3 and Ibn Ezra) will come off and be replaced with "machalatzot" (priestly robes – see 3:4). Zekharya promises the current leadership that the project on which they have embarked will indeed succeed, if not in that generation, then many generations later.
The haftara concludes with the famous vision of the menorah, which we will iy"H discuss tomorrow. It is likely that the miracle of the oil brought to mind this prophecy of the menorah, the prophecy which foresaw the Shekhina's return to the Temple. To this, perhaps, the Sefat Emet referred when he said that the miracle of the oil proved that the Shekhina returned. It showed the Chashmonaim that the prophecy of the menorah had come true – the same prophecy that promised the ultimate return of God's presence to the Second Temple.