Show Notes

What is Chanakah and how is it related to the Great Tribulation?  Did Yeshua celebrate Chanakah?

"And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication (Chanakah - emphasis mine), and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch." (John 10:22-23 KJV)

"Chanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, in which Jews since 164 B.C.E. have celebrated the victory of the Makkabim over Antiochus IV, king of Syria. This is the earliest mention of the holiday in all literature and the only mention of it in the Bible, since the Tanakh was completed before that date (the book of Daniel contains prophecy about the event celebrated). The apocryphal books, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees, present historical and other perspectives on what happened.

"Antiochus, recently defeated in Egypt, expressed his frustration by attacking Judea, ruthlessly slaughtering men, women and children, and invading the Temple. There he carried off the golden altar, menorahs and vessels; and to show his contempt for the God of Israel he sacrificed there a pig to Zeus. He forbade circumcision, observing Shabbat and keeping kosher, and commanded that only pigs be sacrificed in the Temple; he himself cooked a pig in the Temple and poured its broth on the holy Torah scrolls and on the altar." (Jewish New Testament Commentary by David Stern)