Jewish Feasts - Hanukkah/Festival of Lights

Hanukkah, or Chanukah (Festival of Lights or Feast of Dedication) – Dec 18th-26th 2022

It never fails, each year I always end up hearing some “Christian” explaining/complaining that we shouldn’t be celebrating this holiday.  Normally the argument is that it was originally a pagan holiday, and we should not be participating in it. This year however, I actually heard something different.  This guy I was listening to was saying that we, as Christians, shouldn’t be celebrating any holiday/celebration that Yahweh didn’t institute.  I was a little intrigued, so I continued to listen, sometimes it’s good to listen, sometimes it’s not, just be careful.

So, his argument was, the Lord set up all the celebrations that He wanted, and we should only be honoring and celebrating them, speaking specifically to the Jewish Festivals.  If you don’t know these, go back and read what I have written this year. What he said got me to thinking.  The celebration of Hanukkah is right now, and when we look at the history of Hanukkah, it blows this guy’s argument to pieces, IMHO.  If you don’t know that last part, go grab a Millennial or a Gen Z.  I’m trying to be hip.  

The interesting thing about Hanukah, God never instituted this festival.  This festival started in the year 139 BC.  If you are looking for it in the Bible, its right in the middle of the space between the book of Malachi and Matthew.  You know, that 400 year gap of history that isn’t in scripture, also called the silent years since the Lord didn’t speak to His people.  This is the reason the Jews refer to this festival as The Silent Holiday.

Back in second century BC, the Holy land was ruled by the Syrian/Greeks, and they were trying to force everyone to accept the Greek culture and beliefs.  There was a small band of faithful Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, who would not accept this forced blasphemous worship and they went against and defeated one of the mightiest armies, and drove the Greeks from the land and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and they rededicated it back to God.  Hanukah is a commemoration of this re-dedication of the Temple.

The main piece of this festival is the nightly menorah lighting, for eight straight nights, and this is done in every household, synagogues, and in some public places.  Also, during this time, special blessings are recited, and traditional songs are sung.

So where does the Menorah and eight days of celebration come from?  Glad you asked.  When they retook the Temple, there was only enough olive oil in there to last them one day.  They lit the Menorah anyway and miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, until the new oil could be ritually prepared.

In addition to the lighting of the menorah and the blessings, the food prepared during this time is often fried in olive oil, and the Hanukah game “dreidel” is played.

OK, so I covered the history, how does this all come together with how I started? Look up John 10:22-42.  It mentions the Feast of Dedication, this is Hanukah.  Hanukah means dedication in Hebrew.  So here we have Jesus walking in the temple courts during this feast, the exact same temple the Maccabees rededicated back a few generations before. It’s easy to confer that Jesus was there celebrating it or observing it at the least.  This feast is not part of the original feasts listed in Leviticus 23.  Jesus didn’t say anything negative about observing this feast either, and if He was going to, this probably would have been the time.

We can see that the guy’s argument doesn’t stand up to the test if you ask me.  Celebrate Christmas without any guilt, but like many things not mentioned in scripture, if the Lord has convicted you to not celebrate, then that is between you and the Lord, and you need to obey.  I prefer to set this time aside and focus on the fact that THE GOD, the one that spoke everything into existence, that one that holds everything in the palm of His hand, stepped out of heaven and became man specifically for you and me.  What an amazing thing to celebrate.

I hope you enjoyed the Jewish Festival writings.  I am now deciding on what next to write about, so stay tuned.