B'rit Chadasha Referencing Chanukkah?

[Pray4Isrel]

Ok, I probably spelled every word wrong in the title of this thread. :P
My co-worker was listening to a Christian preacher on the radio this morning that was laying out the Scriptures for Chanukkah...

I thought this was interestiing:
John 10:22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;John 10:23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.
It is said that the Feast of the Dedication is actually Chanukkah. If you read Stern's Complete Jewish Bible it says "Chanukkah" specifially instead of "Feast of the Dedication".

Thoughts? I find it fascinating, personally!

[debi b]

My husband and I are just finishing up reading 1st & 2nd Maccabees. I would highly encourage reading Maccabees. Really good to get the history.

I have no trouble seeing the Feast of Dedication as Hanukkah AKA Chanukah AKA .......

[Sephania]

Yes, Hanukkah is a celebration of the re-dedication of the temple after getting it back and cleansing it from the pagan activities done there by antiochus, who slaughtered a pig on the holy altar and installed a idol of Zeus and worshipped it there.

It was cleansed and rededicated to the L-RD on the 25 of Kislev. This would have been a one day celebration, but when they searched the storehouses of hte Temple for oil they only found one flask with the seal still intact. This they emptied into the Menorah, but the L-RD showed himself by making it burn for 8 days until they could get more purified and sanctioned for temple use.

[Zacharias]

The Orthodox church believes that the seven golden lampstands from Revelation is the seven branched menorah.

[debi b]

1st Maccabees 4:59

Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the 25th day of the month of Kislev.

IT'S ALMOST HERE :wave:

[Sephania]

In 168 BC, on a date corresponding approximately
to December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, the temple was
dedicated to the worship of Zeus Olympius by order of
Antiochus. An altar to Zeus was set up on the high altar.
When Judas Maccabee recaptured Jerusalem three years later,
he had the temple purged and a new altar put up in place of
the desecrated one. The temple was then rededicated to God
with festivities that lasted eight days. According to
talmudic tradition, only one cruse of pure olive oil,
sealed by the high priest and necessary for the
rededicatory ritual, could be found, but that small
quantity burned miraculously for eight days.

Yes, it is a talmudic tradition, but we do know that at least one day was being celebrated in Yeshua's time.

**Hanukkah also should be a reminder to us of things to come, for the temple will once again be desecrated.**

[Sephania]

The Orthodox church believes that the seven golden lampstands from Revelation is the seven branched menorah.
A lampstand is a menorah, it is not a single candlestick. The menorah is the seven branched candlestand and the chanuchiah is the nine branched candle stand used for hanukkah.

[Zacharias]

A lampstand is a menorah, it is not a single candlestick. The menorah is the seven branched candlestand and the chanuchiah is the nine branched candle stand used for hanukkah.

In english that may sound wrong, but what about the original manuscript?

(Rev 4:5 KJV) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

God isn't seven seperate spirits. Maybe The Thadman knows what the original manuscript says.

[Sophie The Questioner]

Hi Pray4Isreal :wave:

I must concurr with Zait on this, this is why it is of considerable importance to the tradition I follow. It was a hellenic invader who had defiled the temple and the festival celebrates the re-dedication of the temple upon thier removal.

Some years later the Romans tried to insult the preisthood in what is known as the "Standards Incident" where they took the military banners etc into the temple area.

Of course the Sicari were very angry about this, and the removal of that form of defiant idolatry (Romans bearing standards) from the temple came to be an aspiration or something to strive for, symbolically Hanukkah played a role in this, for obvious reasons.

To us (Not sure of other messianic Jews) the festival has a wider meaning, the appearence of a military leader to drive the Romans out, or the return of the messiah to establish a kingdom of Gd (Rededicating the world) has connected undertones. Of course the latter additional meaning generally persists today.

Shalom

Sophie

Only five days to go :clap:

[Sephania]

Sophie, what was on those banners? Lion, snake or eagle?

[Sophie The Questioner]

Hi Zayit :wave:

Sophie, what was on those banners? Lion, snake or eagle?
I really dont know, I Imagine Eagles would have been used by most legions on their banners. Anything else depends on which legion was involved. I may look that up actually. Either way they were symbols of an emperor that thought of himself as a demi-god. So the the people in the temple they would have had a similar effect to statues or idols or something. I understand that the Romans did this knowing that this would upset the Jews.

Shalom

Sophie

[simchat_torah]

During this festival of lights (chaunnukah) Y'shua stood up to the crowd and spoke about himself being a light to the world. This is very fascinating because here the Jews had a visual representation of his teaching right before them (the giant channukiah [menorah] that could be seen for miles in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem).

[Pray4Isrel]

Thought this could be bumped back up in light of the celebration of Chanukkah.
(no pun intended) ;)

[Sephania]

Who said that? :confused:

[debi b]

In english that may sound wrong, but what about the original manuscript?

(Rev 4:5 KJV) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.



In Aramaic of the Peshitta the word for "lamps" (which is plural) correspondes to torch, light, lamp. Aramaic does have the word "menorah" (singular) which is not used in this verse.