Is Hanukkah Biblical?

Is it biblical for Christians to celebrate Hanukkah? Yes!

1. Jesus celebrated Hanukkah. "Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's Colonnade." (Jn. 10:22-23 NIV) Hanukkah means dedication. Jesus went to the temple during Hanukkah, a festival celebrating the dedication of the temple. There is no reason for John to mention this unless he wants his readers to infer that Jesus recognized the significance of Hanukkah. Of course, Jesus is Jewish and celebrated all the Jewish festivals, so this should not be a surprise.

2. The story of Hanukkah is in the Bible. Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 give detailed prophecies of all the events related to Antiochus Epiphanes and the desecration of the temple. Daniel 8:14 specifically speaks of the temple's rededication, the event that Hanukkah celebrates.

3. The New Testament specifically calls on Christians to look to the heroes of Hanukkah as heroes of the faith. Hebrews 11:35 (the "faith chapter") says, "Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection." The "others" must be a woman who was tortured while placing her hope in the resurrection. This story is told in 2 Maccabees 7, and it is a powerful story of faithfulness to God's Word in a time of intense persecution. This is part of what Hanukkah remembers. True, 2 Maccabees is not part of the canonical books of the Bible. However, the author of Hebrews refers to the events described there as true events. We can learn from books even if they aren't part of Scripture.

4. Jesus, referring to Daniel, called on his followers to prepare for a time of persecution (Matthew 24-25). Daniel and Revelation connect the events of Hanukkah with the end-time antichrist. Hanukkah is like a preview of what the final seven year period will be like. Christ's return will itself result in a rededication of the temple. Celebrating Hanukkah is a great way to prepare for and look forward to this time.

5. Hanukkah reminds us that we are God's temple. We must seek purity and flee from idolatry.

6. But isn't Hanukkah a Jewish holiday? Well, yes. But Christianity is a Jewish religion. Jesus and the apostles were Jewish. The writers of the Old and New Testaments were Jewish. Christmas is a celebration of the Jewish Messiah coming into the world. Good Friday remembers God's Passover lamb slain for us. Communion was instituted during the Jewish Passover. And so on. Just because something is Jewish does not imply that Christians need to avoid it, otherwise there wouldn't be much that Christians could do.

None of this means that Christians have to celebrate Hanukkah, or that there is anything wrong with celebrating Christmas. In my opinion, the more the merrier! Adding Hanukkah traditions to your holiday celebrations can have helpful spiritual benefits.


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The Impossible Census?

Every December, critics of the Bible will share thousands of posts declaring the impossibility of the biblical story of Christmas. They will claim that no Roman census would require everyone to return to their ancestral homeland. They will say that any such census should be well known from other sources, and none exist in the right time period (just prior to 4 BC.) They will add that Quirinius was not governor at that time, but that there was a census when he was governor...more than 10 years later. And they are mostly right! 

I have never been satisfied with the standard Christian responses. They go something like this: There was a census in AD 7 and 14 years later. Perhaps there was a census 14 years earlier, in 8 BC, that we don't know anything about. Perhaps it didn't occur all in one year, but in stages throughout the empire, meaning that it did not occur in Israel until a few years later, the year Christ was born. Perhaps Israelites were required to return to their homeland when people of other lands weren't. Perhaps! It sounds like Christians are grasping for straws.

This is frustrating because I believe there is a much better answer. There are two reasons why even Christian scholars usually overlook it. First, centuries of tradition about the Christmas story cloud our interpretation of what the biblical text actually says happened. Second, most people incorrectly date the birth of Christ to 4 BC or earlier. It is true that no record of a census occurred in that time, but that is the wrong time to look.

The census occurred in 2 BC when the Roman Senate conferred on Caesar Augustus the title "Pater patriae," meaning, "Father of the fatherland." It was not a tax (Luke never says it was). Nor was it a census to count people (Luke never says that either). It did involve a requirement that heads of households register a loyalty oath to the emperor, acknowledging and agreeing with the title. Augustus approved of the measure and made the decree that the registration requirement go out. This is well-known and well-documented registration. See, for instance,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/pater-patriae.

But what about Jesus being born on or before 4 BC? Although it is cited often, there is little evidence for it. The date is based on several references in Josephus about Herod's death, which the gospels say occurred sometime after Jesus was born. Josephus mentions that a lunar eclipse occurred shortly before Herod died. There was a partial eclipse in 4 BC, but there was also a total lunar eclipse in 1 BC that fits Josephus' description much better. Josephus also records dates for other events that scholars use, some of which are based on late and unreliable manuscripts of Josephus's work. For a detailed explanation of why the Nativity should be dated to 2 BC, see: https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2012/PSCF12-12Nollet.pdf.You can find many other helpful resources here: http://www.bethlehemstar.com/academic-resources/.

What about the requirement that everyone return to their ancestral homeland? As far as we know, this did not happen, but Luke does not say it did either. He merely says that "everyone went to their own town." I would take that to mean they went to the place of legal residence. Joseph probably lived in Bethlehem. Matthew implies that Joseph owned a home in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11, 2:22). Today, we assume that Joseph could not have lived in Bethlehem because of the wildly speculative part of traditional Nativity stories that have Mary and Joseph riding into Bethlehem as she was beginning labor. The story continues that all the hotels were full that night.

Of course, an examination of the customs of the time and the Greek words Luke uses reveals that this is simply not the case. Mary and Joseph were staying in a home in Bethlehem, possibly weeks before Jesus was born. They continued living there after Jesus was born. The best explanation as to why they stayed is that it was Joseph's home. Joseph may have been staying in Nazareth temporarily to find work in the town of Sepphoris, where many "carpenters" or construction workers were being hired at the time. Naturally, a legal registration would have to take place in the town of your legal residence. So Joseph returned home with Mary to fulfill the census obligations.

As for Quirinius, there is some mystery here, but we really don't know who was governor of Syria at the time. The articles referenced above have plenty of more information about this.

There are many implausible elements of the way the Nativity story is traditionally told, but nothing difficult at all about what the biblical text actually says.

Trust the Bible's purpose is to grow your confidence that the Bible is true and the ultimate resource for life." You can join the Facebook group by clicking here. Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. Listen to previous programs online: www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html