Dedicate yourself!

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

This is a study on Chanukkah. Or Hanukkah (the English spelling of Hebrew words is nothing to stress over, apparently). It's that time of year when Christians (and pagans) celebrate Christmas and Jews celebrate Hanukkah. Back when I was ignorant I used to think that Hanukkah was just something the Jews cooked up to match Christmas so they wouldn't feel left out of the end of year festive feeling. But I digress. You're probably wondering what that verse from Proverbs has to do with Chanukkah. Hanukkah. Whatever.

I'll get to that.

Hanukkah is also known as the "Festival of Lights", or the "Feast of the re-dedication of the Temple". It's not a Biblical feast or high holiday as per Leviticus, in other words it wasn't a feast ordained by YHWH to Moses. However, it is mentioned in the Bible and in fact Yeshua attended the feast, mentioned in John 10 v22. It is Biblically verified. In fact, a study of Hanukkah is a journey of Biblical cross-referencing taking you from the early Kings to Daniel to Ezra and Nehemiah. It's a real trip, and I will try to skim over some of it here.


It centers around the Jewish temple. The first one was built by Solomon, evidence of which is constantly being dug up around the Temple Mount in Israel today. We find this in 1 Kings 6 through to 8, where Solomon dedicates the Temple. This Temple was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in around 590 BC, these events being outlined in 2 Kings 25. The same events are mentioned elsewhere, with extra details added, in 2 Chronicles 36, and Jeremiah 52. Basically, Jeremiah tried to warn the kings of Israel at the time not to rebel against the Babylonian king. They ignored him, and got hammered. They kept doing this until Nezzer got so jacked off with it all he decimated Jerusalem and the Temple.

Then we find the man of whom no evil is spoken, and one of the most amazing careers in the Bible besides Joseph; the prophet Daniel. Daniel oversaw a few regime changes in Babylon, one of the final ones being the famous King Cyrus. In an incredible series of events, Cyrus was supernaturally lead to not only allow the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, he sponsored them to do so. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that an elderly Daniel greeted Babylon's new king Cyrus by handing him a scroll from Isaiah, written over a century earlier, which mentioned him by name, namely Isaiah 44:27-28, and 45:7.

Who says to the deep, 'Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers';
Who says of Cyrus, '[He is] My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid."

And Isaiah 45:1
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

You see, Cyrus dammed the river Euphrates to lower the water levels to get under Babylon's rather impressive defenses. Then he just strolled in through the main gates without a fight. This old prophecy clearly got his attention, as it would. It called him by name.

The famous Cylinder of Cyrus (British Museum), containing references to him allowing conquered tribes to return to their homelands and preserve their cultures

So the Jews returned and rebuilt their Temple, although not without incident, but that's another story. They even took back the spoils which Nebuchadnezzer had ransacked. This is all outlined in the book of Ezra. In Daniel 9, a tour de force of Messianic prophecy, Daniel is informed by the Angel Gabriel that Jerusalem and it's walls would also be rebuilt. These events came to pass, described in the book of Nehemiah.

Jump forward to around 168 BC under the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes IV. This nasty piece of work almost succeeded in destroying Judaism, but YHWH wouldn't have it. Besides burning copies of the Torah, making public Torah reading punishable by death, and so on, he drew the final straw by sacrficing a sow in the holy Temple, and erecting a statue of Zeus there.

The son of a Jewish priest by the name of Judah Maccabee ("the Hammer") inspired a national revolt, and they overthrew the Syrian despot and his empire. They were then able to re-dedicate the Temple, destroying all the defiled articles and replacing them. This was done on the 25th Kislev, 164 BC. This is the celebration of Chanukkah.

Hanukkah in Melbourne

Note, the Jewish communities do not celebrate their military victories. They are celebrating the regaining of the holy Temple.

Here's another digression in this tangled spaghetti of inter-related Bible cross references, and one which should be very important to us: Yeshua has a private little discussion with some disciples who were curious about how to identify the "end times" in Matthew 24. In verse 15-16 He says:

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation', spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains...

In other words, that's when things will start to get ugly, at the occurrence of this "event" spoken of by the prophet Daniel. It was yet future. Yet the only thing regarded as truly abominable by Jews, the desecration of the holy place, had happened in 168 BC. This was a "dress rehearsal", so they could be absolutely sure about what YHWH was telling them.

Some will argue that the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD qualifies as most of the "end times" events Yeshua discussed in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation. These arguments obviously have merit but we cannot escape the fact that in 70 AD Titus Vespasian simply destroyed the Temple. He didn't have time to go offending his victims by desecrating their most holy place with an abomination as spoken of by the prophet Daniel. This may sound like a triviality but I happen to think Yeshua did not speak trivialities. The Roman Legions burned the Temple to the ground, dismantled every stone and made off with the golden ornaments. No room for pagan niceties.

The Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the sacking of Jerusalem in 70AD, here showing the soldiers carrying off the Menorah

The point is, there are several connections we need to make to this festival which, although not ordained by YHWH amongst the Levitical feasts, is clearly intended as a pointer to some vital issues for us as Christians.

So what has the Proverbs verse at the head of this post got to do with Chanukkah?

For "train up" the Hebrew word is "chanak", upon which "Chanukkah" is built. It doesn't only mean teach. It means "to dedicate, inaugurate". Think about the purpose of Chanukh- to clean out the defilement, rid of all abominations, refurbish with new furniture, then celebrate the newness!

Yep, Chanukkah has a lot to do with us Gentiles. Merry Christmas!


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