Let’s remember some foundational principles first…
Lev 23:2 “Speak to the children of Yisra’El, and say to them, ‘THE APPOINTED TIMES of YaHuWaH, WHICH YOU ARE TO PROCLAIM as set-apart gatherings, MY APPOINTED TIMES ARE THESE (No Hanukkah listed to proclaim).
We are reminded not to add to what is written and commanded in Scripture!
Deu 4:2 “DO NOT ADD TO THE WORD which I command you, and do not take away from it, so as to guard the commands of YaHuWaH your Elohim which I am commanding you.
Proclaiming festivals outside of Scripture just never turns out well.
Exo 32:5 And Aharon saw and built an altar before it. And Aharon called out and said, “Tomorrow is a festival to YaHuWaH.
Hanukkah history lesson, according to the Jewish encyclopedia…it states:
It had been celebrated as the WINTER SOLSTICE FEAST BY JEWISH PEOPLE BEFORE it became a historical festival associated with the great Maccabean victory (Did you get that? Formerly it was a Jewish SOLSTICE FESTIVAL!).
But…but…Messiah celebrated it! Really? Did He??
Joh 10:22-39 At that time the Hanukkah came to be in Yerushalayim, and it was winter. And Yahusha WAS WALKING in the Set-apart Place, in the porch of Shelomoh. So the Yahudim SURROUNDED Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, say to us plainly.” Yahusha answered them, “I HAVE TOLD YOU, and YOU DO NOT BELIEVE. The works that I do in My Father’s Name, they bear witness concerning Me. “But YOU DO NOT BELIEVE, because YOU ARE NOT MY SHEEP, as I said to you. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. “And I give them everlasting life, and they shall by no means ever perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. “I and My Father are one.” Again THE YAHUDIM PICKED UP STONES TO STONE HIM. Yahusha answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. Because of which of these works do you stone Me?” The Yahudim answered Him, saying, “WE DO NOT STONE YOU FOR A GOOD WORK, BUT FOR BLASPHEMY, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself Elohim.” Yahusha answered them, “Is it not written in your own Torah, ‘I said, “You are elohim” ’? “If He called them elohim, to whom the word of Elohim came – and it is impossible for the Scripture to be broken – do you say of Him whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘YOU ARE BLASPHEMING,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of Elohim’? “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME, believe the works, so that you know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Therefore they were SEEKING AGAIN TO SEIZE HIM, but He went forth out of their hand.
Let’s recap: He was WALKING at the temple. He gets surrounded by a mob. The mob questions and accuses Him. He tells them they DO NOT believe; and that they ARE NOT His sheep. The mob grabs stones to kill Him. He escapes.
That is some celebration! Now ask yourself: WHAT were the YAHUDIM that He said WERE NOT His sheep doing? THEY were the ones keeping the festival!
To be honest, there is absolutely NO precedence in the above that Messiah celebrated this as a festival whatsoever. He was WALKING at the temple. That’s it. If that is enough ‘evidence’ to support such a claim as He celebrated the event, then the leap into Talmudic Judaism concerning the matter becomes a short step. You may as well then purchase an UNScriptural 9 branch candlestick, and tell also of the non-existent ‘oil miracle’ that was added some 600 years after the temple dedication also.
It is not my place to tell you what to do, but it is necessary to inform folks before they hop into more traditions of men.
With thanks to brother Stew Piddasol, Restoration Prison Ministries, for sharing this with us.