Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DEDICATION, FEAST OF

A celebration in remembrance of the restoration of the Jerusalem temple and the consecration of its new altar in 165 or 164 b.c.e. under Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc. 4:36-61). The Hebrew name for the festival is Hanukkah (ḥănukkâ), first attested in the 1st-century-c.e. megillat taʿanit. The eight-day observance begins on the 25th of Kislev (Nov.-Dec.); cf. John 10:22, which refers to Jesus’ being in Jerusalem in winter, during the Feast of Dedication (Gk. enkaínia, “renewal, restoration”). The initial celebration included the offering of sacrifices, music, and the adornment of the front of the temple and the chambers of the priests (1 Macc. 4:52-58). At this first celebration it was decided that Hanukkah should be observed annually (1 Macc. 4:59; 2 Macc. 10:8). The eight days of Hanukkah are likely based on the duration of Solomon’s dedication of the first temple (1 Kgs. 8:66; 2 Chr. 7:9).

The accounts of the rededication in 1 and 2 Maccabees differ somewhat in emphases. While the focus of 1 Macc. 4:36-59 is the consecration (enkainismós, v. 56) of the new altar, 2 Maccabees emphasizes the purification (katharismós, 1:18; 2:19; 10:3, 5, 7) of the temple. 2 Macc. 10:6-7 speaks of the celebration’s similarity to the Festival of Booths (including its eight-day duration, the waving of branches); the association between the two festivals is also made in 1:18.

From early on Hanukkah was associated with light and fire. Josephus (Ant. 12.7.7 §325) relates that Hanukkah itself was known as “Lights” (Gk. phōtá) and explains that the name came from “the fact that the right to worship appeared to us at a time when we hardly dared hope for it.” 2 Macc. 1:18 associates Hanukkah with “the festival of the fire,” recalling a legend about fire from the altar of the First Temple eventuating in the altar fire in the time of Nehemiah (2 Macc. 1:19-36). A talmudic tradition tells of a small amount of oil, found by the Maccabees upon their recovery of the temple, which miraculously burned for eight days. 1 Macc. 4:50; 2 Macc. 10:3 describe how the restoration of the temple included the candelabrum and the lighting of lamps, but the reason for the emphasis on light seems to have become obscure at an early time.

Joel Burnett

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DEDICATION, FEAST OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)