What Does Hanukkah or Chanukah Commemorate

[Harold]

I was just wondering during this season I' hearing a lot about Hanukkah and I plead ignorance.  What does Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorate for the Jews as far as Christians are concerned? Is it a old testament ceremony like the feast of Sukkoth or Tabernacles? Does anyone know?

[Sojourner]

I don't think Hanukkah is a ceremonial law made by God in the Old Testament, I think it is a Jewish tradition that has been passed down through the ages. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Dan]

The Feast of Dedication commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple following the Maccabean Revolt.  Jesus did everything the Jews did, because he was a Jew. So he celebrated with them as they were his people.

[Rich Aikers]

I was just wondering during this season I' hearing a lot about Hanukkah and I plead ignorance.  What does Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorate for the Jews as far as Christians are concerned? Is it a old testament ceremony like the feast of Sukkoth or Tabernacles? Does anyone know?

Is it a old testament ceremony like the feast of Sukkoth or Tabernacles? Yes and No. Yes, it is a Old Testament Ceremony in Scripture. No, it is not the Hanukkah  celebration that Jewish people celebrate today. That has nothing to do with the bible.

[Rich Aikers]

The Feast of Dedication commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple following the Maccabean Revolt.  Jesus did everything the Jews did

Incorrect. Jesus followed the biblical ceremonies, not the unbiblical ones.

[Theo]

Hey Guys,
   I know some Jewish Christians and they say that Hanukkah is not a true Old Testament ceremony as celebrated today. They say it is a tradition that started after around 168 B.C. These Jewish Christians only celebrate biblical holidays from the scriptures, like the feast of Passover, sukkot, dedication and such. They said that they do not consider Maccabees, from which this celebration originates,  sacred scripture. So it is not a God authored celebration.

According to them, this Jewish holiday commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. when it is said that the Jews rose up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. According to legend and some ancient sources, Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. In 168 B.C., his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. There was also a great miracle seen. None of this is in scripture so they assert that it cannot be biblical.

I would tend to agree since the bible alone is our authority on biblical ceremonies and feasts.

[Halle]

In 168 B.C., his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. There was also a great miracle seen. None of this is in scripture so they assert that it cannot be biblical.

What miracle is alleged? And if it is not in scripture, how is it relevant to Christian apologetics, the Old Testament commemorations, Judeo-Christian observances or even recognition as any part of the truth?   

[aquatic]

I’d always thought it was a national tradition, much like Thanksgiving is a United States tradition. Not really a big deal.

[Dan]

What miracle is alleged?

Halle. It's not alleged, it actually took place and the Jews at the time saw and testified to it. Do you think the Jewish people would lie about such a thing?

So once again this smacks of amillennial anti-semitism when you won't even believe history when Jewish people write it. You people did the same thing with the Jewish historian Josephus. You are always attacking Jewish sources of history. You need to stop that because judgment awaits those who attack Israel. 

[Dan]

I’d always thought it was a national tradition, much like Thanksgiving is a United States tradition. Not really a big deal.

It's a big deal to them. Thanksgiving wasn't accompanied by miracles. It's not the same, it's the preeminence of the holy people Israel.

[aquatic]

Thanksgiving wasn't accompanied by miracles.

Actually, it did.

[Robert Powell]

What miracle is alleged?

It's not in scripture so the miracle is "alleged." It is that they found a cruise of oil that could only last a day, and it burned for eight days. After a year of enduring the victory, Chanukah was installed to commemorate this as a permanent fixture in Jewish lives. This has nothing to do with inspired scripture. If this was God breathed, that would mean that God inspired another religious ceremony long after the old Testament was completed. Here's when the Jewish talmud says it was instituted.

"On the following year, they established these [eight days] as days of festivity and praise and thanksgiving to G-d.
Talmud, Shabbat 21b"

I think that would be untenable as far as God inspired ceremonies go. One because Maccabee is not inspired and so should not be consulted for matters of biblical history or Old Testament practices that are inspired of God. Christians rightly don't celebrate this.

And if it is not in scripture, how is it relevant to Christian apologetics, the Old Testament commemorations, Judeo-Christian observances or even recognition as any part of the truth?   

It's not.

[Dryfus]

The Bible speaks about the Feast of Dedication in the book of John.

[Tony Warren]

>>>
What miracle is alleged?

Halle. It's not alleged, it actually took place
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...Allegedly it did!

You weren't there to witness it, and neither was I or Halle or anyone else living today, and it's not recorded on the pages of God's holy inspired word. And so it must be alleged. ...like the Joseph of Cupertino miracle, the Incorruptible Corpses miracle, the Lourdes miracle or the miracle of the sun in 1917. All alleged because they are not proven by God, Scripture or Prophet. This is called faith in the words of men, not substantive divine proof. Like the miracle of the healed cripple man in the Manila Araneta Coliseum Revival in 2008 with 13,000 Christians watching. ...alleged!

"nosce te ipsum"
 

Peace,
Tony Warren
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. -Psalms 32:5"

[Tony Warren]

>>>
The Bible speaks about the Feast of Dedication in the book of John.
<<<

Yes it absolutely does. What it doesn't speak about is the Feast of Maccabees, the rededication of the Temple in 165 BC by the Maccabees after its desecration by the Syrians. This is what the Jewish people today celebrate as Hanukkah. ...so despite what commentaries, theologians, historians and sundry expositors will tell you, it was a biblical chanukkah or dedication rather than the ole to the triumphs of Maccabees.

"nosce te ipsum"
 

Peace,
Tony Warren
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. -Psalms 32:5"