Hanukkah: Bringing More Light into the World...Continued from page 1
Eva Marie Everson & Miriam Feinberg Vamosh
Jesus and Hanukkah
by Eva Marie Everson
I will never forget the first time I read John 10:22 with an inkling of understanding. I was sitting in the sanctuary of the church, reading a nearby passage with the congregation and our pastor, when my eyes diverted to the lines placed halfway down the left-hand side of the page.
Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem.
It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade.
I remember clearly wondering what the “Feast of Dedication” was, exactly. I looked in the “cheat notes” at the bottom of the page and saw these words: That is, Hanukkah.
I was struck with a sudden revelation: Jesus was a Jewish man and as a Jewish man, he celebrated the Jewish feasts and festivals. It was important to him, so much so that he took himself to near the very place where the Hanukkah miracle had occurred.
Solomon’s Colonnade was an open, roofed 45-foot walkway with double columns that were 38 feet tall. It was situated along the east side of the Court of Gentiles (Westerholm 1988:772). Although it was part of the temple complex, it was not considered to be part of the actual temple (Brown 1966:402), as evidenced by the fact that Gentiles were not allowed into the temple but they could be present in Solomon's Colonnade.[1] This “portico” was a type of gateway or entrance to the inner court.[2]
In Jesus' time there was an extra illumination of the Temple during the celebration of Hanukkah, the annual commemoration of the Dedication of the Altar' and of the Sanctuary’; in 165 B.C. (some scholars give 164 B.C.). (I Maccabees 4:36-59; Alfred Edersheim. The Temple. Its Ministry and Services at the Time of Christ, p. 334)
The Levitical musicians provided instrumental background to the Levitical choirs who chanted the Hallel - Psalms 113 to 118. Some scholars say that Psalm 30 was included since it was A Song of the Dedication of the Temple.
The worshippers responded to the choirs, and waved palm branches, as they had celebrated The Feast of Tabernacles' two months earlier. (II Maccabees 10:6-8) [3]