First of all, and right off the bat, I am NOT Jewish by birth. However, one could argue that I am Jewish by my faith in Jesus. (See Ephesians 2:19 and 3:6)
A few weeks before Christmas I was doing an Advent study. I love Advent. It makes Christmas less crazy for me and a little more fun. I have admitted in the past I am not crazy for Christmas as some of you out there are. I honestly most years could take it or leave it. It was probably best when my kids were little simply because of their enthusiasm and excitement. But alas, now they are older and I’m right back in the “what is all of this nonsense about?” mode. You have to agree – Christmas is a crazy time of year. Tons of people going nuts about buying the right gift; tons of food that isn’t good for anyone’s waist line (can you say cookies, fudge and cakes oh my?); and if you have allergies like me, well then it is temptation city on top of adding a few “Holiday pounds”. Ok, you get it. I am not in love with Christmas. But I am in love with Christ. Thus my battle with Christmas. Is it really supposed to celebrate the birth of my Savior? I have just never been able rationalize the whole thing. The two – Jesus and Christmas – just don’t go together in my head. No matter how many birthday cakes are made for Jesus on Christmas, it’s still plain weird to me. Before all of you who love Christmas stop reading, I will get to my point. In the Advent study, I read John 10:22-23 which says, “Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” Feast of Tabernacles I know. The Passover Feast, yep, know that, too. But the Feast of Dedication, that one I didn’t know. So I looked into it. In researching I discovered that the Feast of Dedication is Hanukkah. It is also known as the Festival of Lights.
And so my search to understand Hanukkah began. All I knew is it’s about the Maccabees and candles and oil for the lamps that last 7 days longer than it should. I will spare you tons of details so this post won’t take you an hour to read. The main points I learned was that a bad guy named Antiochus who called himself Epiphanes which means “God Manifest” defeated the Jews, took control of the temple, and desecrated the temple. On the fifteenth day of Kislev (which would be our November/December), Epiphanes held the pagan Saturnalia ceremony where a pig was slaughtered on the altar in the Holy of Holies, and the blood was sprayed throughout the temple. This was the last straw, and a rebel group of Jews known as the Maccabees fought back against Epiphanes. After a 3 year battle, they finally won. The Maccabees took back control of the temple and began to clean up the horrible things done in the Temple to defame it. The Maccabees lit the candles in the temple and kept them lit for 8 days with only enough oil to burn one candle for one day. The number 8 in the Bible means Resurrection and Regeneration or new beginnings.
The original foundation of the temple was laid in Kislev. In Haggai 2:18 it says, “From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, (Kislev) give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought.”
I will put this altogether for you now. Jesus was at the temple during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). The temple was destroyed in the month of Kislev and re-dedicated 3 years later in the month of Kislev. Oh and the original temple foundation was laid on in the month of Kislev. Call me crazy, but things are adding up. And here is where this blog gets good.
With all of that and a few other things I learned while studying, I think celebrating Hanukkah is a way to honor God. So we are going to give it a whirl this year. We will start on December 22nd because that is the day that Hanukkah starts. We will light a candle each night and my husband will read the traditional prayer spoken when the candles are lit. Then we will deviate from Jewish tradition to Storey tradition. Each prayer spoken while lighting the candle has a key phrase in it – the reason you are thanking God. We will expand on those phrases and talk as a family how we can rededicate our temple (our lives, since the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, and 6:19-20 that our bodies are temples and the Holy Spirit lives in them.) We will thank God for His goodness and offer a new way to honor Him in our lives.
It will look something like this: Click Here for the outline of traditional prayers and the Storey’s way of dedicating our lives accordingly.
We still have our Christmas tree with gifts galore under it and our advent tree; but this year we have a menorah too. This year in the midst of the craziness we will settle down, light a candle, pray, and reflect on new ways to live for God. It’s my way of pushing back against the self-absorbed ways of Christmas to shout Glory to God in the Highest, and unto us a Savior has indeed been born! That Savior is Jesus who now lives in me and I will honor Him first!
