DEC 22, 2008

Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Tanakh; however, it is alluded to in the apocrypha books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. In the Second Century BCE, Judah Maccabees and his brothers led a revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had desecrated the Temple, murdered Jewish citizens, and outlawed the Jewish religion. In 165 BCE, Judah successfully reclaimed the Temple and rededicated it. The 8-day festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate that rededication. The Gospel of John references the festival in Chapter 10, verse 22: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”

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