Hanukkah and the Great Tribulation
In the Gospel of John, we discover the following detail during Jesus’ ministry: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch” (John 10:22-23). In Hebrew, “dedication” is hanukkah (Strong’s # H2598), which appears several times in the Old Testament. For instance, when Moses dedicated the altar in the tabernacle, the word used for that dedication was hanukkah (Num. 7:10, 11, 84, 88). Again, Solomon’s dedication of the altar in the temple was a hanukkah (2 Chron. 7:9). Both dedications lasted seven days as God commanded (Ex. 29:37). The New Testament, of course, was preserved in Greek rather than Hebrew. But among the Jews of Jesus’ day, this would have been called the Feast of Hanukkah, it was at the temple, and it was in winter. To this day, the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah is in winter. So what is Hanukkah? Where did it come from? It isn’t among God’s commanded Holy Days, but is it okay for us to cele...