Tag Archives: chanukah
Hanukkah for believers in Messiah Yeshua [Guest Post]
The following is a guest post by Jamin Taylor with Just A Bondservant.
Hanukkah is not one of the seven Feasts of YHVH found in Leviticus 23. It is an 8 day celebration honoring the rededication of the temple following the victory of the Maccabbees over the Seleucid Empire ruled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 2nd century BCE.
The story about the oil lasting eight days is an example of Jewish legend being added hundreds of years afterwards. Hannukah is eight days long because in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Temple was defiled during Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), which is an eight day Feast, so when they rededicated and cleansed the Temple later that winter, the people of Israel celebrated the eight days of Sukkot at that time. Now it is a celebration and national remembrance of God’s miraculous victory during the war.
