The Original Meaning of Channukah (Also read John 7-10 to determine which feast Yeshua kept that most erroneously pull out of context to support the reason to celebrate this false nonscriptural chanukkah -- fake feast of lights). If the reason for Channukah is not the miracle of the magical oil, then what is it? 1 Maccabees explains that the reason for the celebration by Judah the Maccabee and his men was the dedication of the altar. But what does the dedication of the altar have to do with Channukah? The word Channukah actually means dedication (deriving from the root נך1ח = to dedicate). The full name of the festival is Chanukat Ha-Mizbeach meaning dedication of the altar! So the original Channukah had nothing to do with the alleged miracle of the candelabrum and the magical oil. Instead it was a celebration over the Dedication of the Altar, since the Maccabees built a new altar to replace the old one which had been desecrated by pagan sacrifice. This is exactly what 1 Maccabees says, (56) So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days... (59) Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days. From 1 Maccabees it is clear that the historical festival of Channukah had nothing to do with the alleged miracle of the magical oil. The celebration was a Channukat Hamizbeach, a Dedication of the Altar. That is still unclear from 1 Maccabees is why the dedication celebration lasted for 8 days. The dedication of the original altar in the time of Moses is also called a Channukat Hamizbeach dedication of the altar. The dedication of the altar of the Tabernacle lasted for 12 days, as we read in Nu 7:11 And YHWH said to Moses, one prince each day shall offer their sacrifice as the dedication of the altar. Since there were 12 princes, one for each tribe, the dedication lasted 12 days (Numbers 7:84). The dedication of the altar of the First Temple lasted 7 days, as we read in 2Chr 7:9-10, And they observed an assembly on the eighth day, for they had performed a dedication of the altar for seven days and the pilgrimage-feast for seven days. (10) And on the twenty-third day of the Seventh Month he (Solomon) sent the people to their tents... (see also 1Ki 8:65-66). So Solomon dedicated the altar from the 8th-14th of the Seventh Month. After the dedication of the altar they observed the pilgrimage-feast of Sukkot from the 15th-21st and the Eighth of Assembly on the 22nd. When Zerubabel led the exiles back from Babylonia they rebuilt the altar as described in Ezra 3:2-4: (2) And Yeshua the son of Yotzadak and his brethren the priests and Zerubabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer upon it whole-burnt offerings as written in the Torah of Moses the man of God. (3) And they set up the altar on its foundations[, but did not rebuild the Temple], for the terror of the inhabitants of the land was upon them, and they offered whole burnt offerings to YHWH, whole-burnt offerings for the morning and evening. (4) And they performed the Feast of Sukkot as it is written... We see that Yeshua and Zerubavel only set up the altar but were afraid to complete the rebuilding of the Temple itself because of the threat of the surrounding nations. So in the time of Zerubavel, Mt. Zion had an altar upon it without a temple! Perhaps this is the reason that the altar is described as being set up rather than dedicated. The actual dedication occurred in the 3rd year of Darius on the 3rd day of the 12th Month after the Second Temple itself was finally completed (Ezra 6:16-18). Because the altar had been set up years before, the dedication of the Second Temple is described [in Aramaic] as a Dedication of the House of YHWH (Ezra 6:17; cf. Psalm 30:1) and not a dedication of the altar. 2 Maccabees cites the dedications of Moses and Solomon as precedents for its own Channukah celebration (2 Mac 2:8-9) as well as the celebrations of Nehemiah when he dedicated the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:27). From the four dedications described in the Tanach we can see that the dedication of altar/ Temple is not always according to a set number of days or at a set time. Moses dedicated his altar for 12 days, Solomon for 7 days, and in Second Temple times the altar or Temple were dedicated for an undetermined number of days. We also see that the exact season of dedication varies. Solomon and Zerubabel dedicated/set up their altars around Sukkot time, but the Temple in the time of Darius was dedicated on the 3rd day of the 12th month and in the time of Moses the date of dedication is not given. The Maccabees celebrated their dedication on the 25th of Kislev because this was the third anniversary of the original desecration of the Temple, as described in 1 Maccabees: (52) Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, (53) they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. (54) At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. (1 Maccabees 4:52-54) Similarly we are informed in 2 Maccabees. (5) It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Chislev. (2 Maccabees 10:5) Hannukah as Sukkot Sheni (Second Booths) It is clear why the Maccabees celebrated their dedication on the 25th of Kislev, but why did they celebrate it for 8 days? Was this somehow related to the alleged miracle of the magical oil? It was not! 2 Maccabees explains the reason for the eight days of celebration: And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. (2 Mac 10:6). And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. (2 Mac 10:6). So according to 2 Maccabees the eight days of Channukah were intended to make up for the Feast of Booths which the Maccabees had been unable to observe while they were rebels in the mountains. Channukah was essentially a Sukkot Sheni (Second Booths).
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:07:58 +0000
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