The Temple Menora and the Last Coins of the Macabees

If you look closely at the modern Israeli 10 Agorot coin, you’ll notice something strange.

It has an engraving of an irregular-shaped ancient coin on it.

That ancient coin was minted by Mattathias Antigonus (Matityahu), the last King of the Hasmonean Dynasty. As you may know, the Maccabees who defeated the Syrian/Greeks in the Chanukah story were called the Hasmoneans. When they reconquered the Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it, their first act was to light the Temple Menora.

It’s widely known that they could only find enough pure sealed olive oil for one day, and miraculously it lasted for 8 days. What is less known is that the Temple Menora was nowhere to be found, so they had to construct a makeshift Menora out of metal stakes.

Why was it so important to light the Menora?

The physical light of the Menora represented the spiritual light of Torah that spreads forth from Zion to illuminate the spiritual darkness in the world. That is the mission of the Children of Israel, to fill the world with God’s Wisdom.

As time passed and the Hasmoneans consolidated power and wealth, eventually they were able to refurbish the Temple and construct a more appropriate Menora made out of gold.

The Hasmonean Dynasty lasted 103 years. Matityahu Antigonus was the last of the Hasmonean Kings and he put the Menora on his coins. During Antigonus’ three-year rule, Herod succeeded in having himself declared king of Judea by Rome. On Herod’s return to Judea from Rome in 39 BCE he opened a campaign against Antigonus and laid siege to Jerusalem. The Romans eventually captured the city and Antigonus was taken to Antioch and executed which ended Hasmonean rule.

Herod went on a building spree and refurbished the Second Temple into the grandest structure in the world. But eventually Herod’s Judea came to represent Roman values and not Torah values. The Jews revolted and the ensuing war ended with the Romans destroying the Temple in 70 CE and carrying off the Temple Menora to Rome… as if to extinguish the Light of Torah from the world. The Victory Arch of Titus currently in Rome has a sculpture on it depicting the event.

That light has never really been extinguished as the Jewish people continued to protect and learn the Torah and pass down its wisdom from generation to generation throughout the 2000 years of exile.

With the re-establishment of the State of Israel the Hasmonean Menora as depicted on the Arch of Titus and the ancient coins of Matityahu Antigonus was adopted as the National Emblem of Israel.

In 1985 the State of Israel decided to “re-mint” the coin of the Hasmoneans by placing a replica of the ancient coin and the Menora on the modern 10 Agorot coin. It is still in circulation and is carried in every Israeli’s pocket or purse as a constant daily reminder of our mission, our history and our ultimate destiny as a people.

We are including three of these coins as a gift to our subscribers in July 2024 while supplies last!