Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 152:607 (Jul 1995)
Article: Jesus’ Celebration of Hanukkah in John 10
Author: Jerry R. Lancaster

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BSac 152:607 (Jul 95) p. 318

Jesus’ Celebration of Hanukkah in John 10

Jerry R. Lancaster

R. Larry Overstreet

[Jerry R. Lancaster is Pastor, Starkey Road Baptist Church, Largo, Florida, and R. Larry Overstreet is Professor of Communication Arts, Clearwater Christian College, Clearwater, Florida.]

Few Christians are knowledgeable of the Jewish holiday known as Hanukkah. It occurs about the same time as Christmas, although it has no connection with it. Hanukkah is an important feast for the Jewish people, for it reminds them of how God miraculously delivered their ancestors when they were persecuted. To help Christians grasp the significance of Hanukkah from a biblical perspective, this article examines (a) Hanukkah’s origin in the intertestamental period, (b) Daniel’s prophecy of its events, and (c) the significance of Jesus’ celebration of Hanukkah in John 10.

The Identification of Hanukkah

A Description of Hanukkah

The word “Hanukkah” means consecration or dedication. Hanukkah originated with the rededication of the Jewish temple in 165 B.C.,1 after it had been desecrated by the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The eight-day feast commemorates the cleansing of the temple. At that time the Jews supposedly found a cruse of holy oil sufficient to light the temple lamps for only one day, and yet, after they were lit, they miraculously burned for

BSac 152:607 (Jul 95) p. 319

eight days. The common version of the story is well summarized in a popular magazine.

After the Jews had routed their oppressors and regained the right to worship in the Temple, they found that the Eternal Light, meant to burn perpetually in front of the Holy Ark housing the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) had been extinguished. When the Temple was cleansed of idolatry only enough uncontaminated oil for the first day of rededication was found—but the cruse of oil miraculously burned for eight days! On the eighth day, the story goes, more oil had been readied by the priests.2

Jewish scholars have carefully examined this common version and discovered intriguing details about its perpetuation. The apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees tell the story of Hanukkah, including the cleansing of the temple, its rededication, and the relighting of the temple lamps. However, neither book refers to the miracle of the cruse of oil. Their reason for the eight-day observance of Hanukkah is not because of any miracle, but “because it is modeled after the holiday of Sukkot [Feast of Tabernacles], which the Maccabees could not observe while they were s...

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