Is Hanukkah a replacement for Christmas?
What I believe 1.1.3, Christmas pt 3
This is a question I get asked a lot.
Isn’t Hanukkah just the Jewish equivalent of Christmas?
Or
Isn’t Hanukkah just a replacement for Christmas?
Before I answer this question, let me answer:
What is Hanukkah?
In the second century BC, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in God. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of God.
When they sought to light the Temple's Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.
To commemorate and publicise these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.
— chabad.org (I edited some of the spelling)
You can find the story of Hanukkah in 1 & 2 Maccabees, books in the Apocrypha (books taken out of canon scripture) and in the Catholic Bible.
Okay, back to the original question. Is Hanukkah a replacement for Christmas?
In short, the answer is no.
But why? It’s called The Festival of Lights…that sounds like Christmas to me. And it happens in the winter, you give gifts, it’s about gathering with family…it’s literally the Jewish version of Christmas.
Before I dive in to the logistics of Hanukkah vs Christmas, you first have to understand what the Biblical feasts are. There are different types of Biblical feasts, but in general, there are two categories of Biblical feasts/holidays:
Leviticus 23 Feasts vs… Not
Most Biblical feasts are in Leviticus 23, as you can see, but some are not, meaning they are not required. At least by God, and for all of God’s people.
God’s people? You mean the Jews, right? Christians shouldn’t celebrate the Jewish holidays, because we have different holidays now like Christmas and Easter.
While that is a completely different argument that I will(!!) cover in a later post (because it is super important and definitely needs to be covered), I will cover it very briefly for the sake of this post. This is by no means exhaustive at all. There’s much more to this topic!
In Leviticus 23:1-2, it says:
Yes, he was talking to the Israelites, and as it says in Romans 11 we (Gentiles) are “grafted into” Israel:
So here it is saying that Gentiles are grafted into Israel.
Even if you don’t believe that Gentiles/you are a part of Israel, God still says “These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord.”
God doesn’t say “These are the appointed festivals for the Jews” or “The Jews must observe these appointed festivals”. He says that they are His appointed feasts. Don’t we believe in God? Are we not to obey his commands?
I have much more to say on that topic, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
I will just say, though, that for Purim it does specifically say that it is for the Jews, so we as Gentiles are under no obligation at all to observe it. That does not mean that we can’t celebrate it, but compared to Passover and Sukkot (for example), it is not commanded or required for us.
But Hanukkah is not in Leviticus 23! Do we have to celebrate it?
If the Bible tells us to do something, then we should do it.
Unless God has personally convicted you or commanded you to celebrate Hanukkah, you are not required to do so.
So then why would we celebrate it if it isn’t required?
Is Christmas or Easter required in the Bible? Nope! And yet Christians still celebrate it. A holiday doesn’t have to be required for you to celebrate it.
I think the biggest reason to celebrate Hanukkah is that Jesus himself celebrated it. Here we have John 10:22-23:
And if you’re wondering how that suggests that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah, I’ll explain.
First off, the word “Hanukkah”, or “Chanukah” means “dedication”. “Hanukkah” is also called “The Feast/Festival of Dedication”, or “The Festival of Lights”.
Second, three of the seven festivals (Passover, Shavuot, & Sukkot) in Leviticus 23 were commanded by God to be celebrated in Jerusalem, and people would go into the temple to celebrate it.
So by knowing that Jesus was in the temple in Jerusalem during the time of Hanukkah, we can assume that he celebrated it.
So...what do you believe about the Old and New Covenant? What does the sacrifice of Christ and the fulfillment of the Old Covenant when the curtain was torn mean to you?
John 10:22 22 "Then came the Festival of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade."
This seems like a weak statement that doesn't really support Jesus "celebrating" Hanukkah. Wasn't Jesus in the temple all the time? Just because he was there during the feast of dedication doesn't mean he really celebrated it, right? When asking the question, did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah, we have to consider where He spent most of His ministry. Perhaps we think that Jesus spent most of His time around the temple in Jerusalem which was the center of the Jewish faith. This is not the case. As Eowyn mentioned, there are a few Leviticus 23 feasts that Jewish men were supposed to travel to Jerusalem in order to observe. The feast of dedication (Hanukkah) was not one of them. Most of Jesus' ministry was spent in the region of Galilee and trips to Jerusalem were primarily reserved for the feasts. The fact that Jesus took the time to travel to Jerusalem and appear in the temple during the feast of dedication is a strong endorsement of Him celebrating Hanukkah.