on celebrating hanukkah
shamash the sun god
shamash in hebrew scripture
the shamash puzzle
chemosh and shamash
I am indebted to Nehemiah Gordon, whose original research with verifiable sources laid a solid foundation for this history of Hanukkah documentation.
Hanukkah Fact and Fiction – Nehemiah Gordon
Ancient Hebrew Roots of Hanukkah – Nehemiah Gordon
Hanukkah Timeline (h/t Nehemiah Gordon)
-332; Alexander the Great Conquers Persian Empire
-312; Year 1 of the “Seleucid Era”
-301; Egyptian Ptolemy Greeks Conquer Israel
-200; Syrian Seleucid Greeks Conquers Israel under Antiochus III
-168; Desecration of the Temple by Seleucid King Antiochus IV
-167; “Hellenization” Decrees of Antiochus IV
-165; Liberation of Temple by Judah the Maccabee;First Hanukkah
-130; 1 Maccabees: Hanukkah celebrates the Dedication of the Altar
-100; 2 Maccabees: Hanukkah celebrates a Second Sukkot and Puros
-90; First Historical Reference to Pharisees
-63; Beginning of Roman Rule
-37; Herod the Great
70; Destruction of Second Temple
93; Josephus: “Festival of Lights” (phota)
132; Bar Kochba Revolt Against Rome
200; Talmud: Story of Eight Days of Miraculous Oil
The original history of the Maccabees and the First Hanukkah is found in 1st Maccabees and 2nd Maccabees.
The only reference to what became known as Hanukkah in Scripture is:
It was the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Joh 10:22-23
The miracle of the oil is first mentioned in a commentary of the Babylonian Talmud according to every source I checked. Nehemiah in the above articles lists its first appearance at 200 AD; My Jewish Learning lists its first appearance at approximately 600 years after the events of the Maccabees, so about twice as long as Nehemiah. At any rate, 350 years to 600 years after the event is a long time to remain silent on such a fantastic miracle, if it happened. This is why I now believe the miracle of the oil is a fiction.
The Hanukkah menorah with nine branches is a relatively modern invention beginning with European Jewish families in the 1880s, according to The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel by historian Steven Fine.
The dreidel game is also of late origin, perhaps the 16th century according to Time.
My Jewish Learning goes even further, connecting the dreidel to Christmas traditions:
As a matter of fact, all of these elaborate explanations were invented after the fact. The dreidel game originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah; it has been played by various people in various languages for many centuries.
And The Kabbalah of the Dreidel does not even hide it’s occult connection, but proclaims it.
Please use these links and resources as a springboard for your own studies. Thank you, Nehemiah Gordon, and Kraig and Anne Elliott, for sharing this information with me.
I had heard some of this same information last year – the late addition of the “miracle of the oil”, but that was news about the dreidel!
Still… there is a difference in “worshiping YHVH as the nations do” and playing a children’s game (as the one article stated.)
I was rather shocked, myself, when I read Maccabees for the first time this year to discover the only mention of the dedication of the temple is in Ch 4, no mention of oil whatsoever.
Kind of reminds me a little of the other traditions we have followed for years, not realizing the origins.
Yes, it was a shock to me as well. I encourage everyone to take this information as a starting point and do your own research. Let YHVH lead us into all truth! <3
The above scripture from John led me to believe that it was not what we consider as the modern celebration of Chanukah. The fact that this was a continuous discussion of Messiahs time in Jerusalem during Sukkot and the Eighth day. There is no redirection it is a continuation. We look at the word winter with a Greek mindset and assume this is talking about what we know to be Chanukah. (Two seasons in Israel are summer and winter.) I believed that the Messiah celebrated or memorialized Chanukah because of that equivocation with winter. One day while I was reading it a light went off! We were in Jerusalem during the seventh month not the tenth…. it is continuous. I then did a search for dedication/Chanukah first mention is dedication of the alter in Numbers. Then I saw 2 Chronicles 7:9 Bam the light went on! Yeshua was standing on Solomon’s Porch of the Herods Temple on The Eighth Day, the day of dedication according to 2 Chronicles 7:9. What an awesome event that took place in Solomon’s Temple that day! Perhaps He was not thinking about Maccabees or celebrating the later invention of Chanukah. Perhaps he was meditating on the eighth day! The prophetic timing and the past occurrences are very deep here. I praise YHVH for letting me see this. I do not light a false menorah for a made up festival. I do however light up the Menorah (7 Branch) on the evening of the 25th of Kislev to remember how YHVH preserved his Torah and his people by raising up the Maccabees to fight for his caus in those days. All things work towards his will! Praise his glorious name!!!
Toni thank you so much for visiting today and for sharing your insight. Please do come back again!