{
  "id": "dict_002366",
  "term": "Hanukkah",
  "slug": "hanukkah",
  "letter": "H",
  "entry_type": "jewish_festival",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "The Jewish Feast of Dedication, commemorating the rededication of the Jerusalem temple after its desecration in the Maccabean period; mentioned in John 10:22.",
  "simple_one_line": "Hanukkah is the Feast of Dedication, the Jewish festival that remembers the temple’s rededication after the Maccabean revolt.",
  "tooltip_text": "A Jewish festival, called the Feast of Dedication in John 10:22, commemorating the temple’s rededication after its desecration under Antiochus IV.",
  "aliases": [
    "Hanukkah / Feast of Dedication"
  ],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Maccabees",
    "Antiochus IV Epiphanes",
    "Temple",
    "John 10",
    "Feast of Dedication"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Feast of Dedication",
    "Maccabean revolt",
    "Second Temple Judaism",
    "John 10:22"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Hanukkah, also called the Feast of Dedication, is the Jewish festival that commemorates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple after its desecration in the Maccabean period. The New Testament mentions it in John 10:22, where Jesus is in Jerusalem during the feast.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "Hanukkah is a post-biblical Jewish feast commemorating the cleansing and rededication of the temple after its desecration under Antiochus IV Epiphanes.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Also called the Feast of Dedication",
    "Commemorates the temple’s rededication after desecration",
    "Roots in the Maccabean period, not in the Mosaic law",
    "Mentioned in John 10:22 as a recognized Jewish feast",
    "Useful for biblical background, especially John’s Gospel"
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication, is the Jewish festival remembering the cleansing and rededication of the Jerusalem temple after its desecration in the Maccabean period. It is not one of the feast days instituted in the Old Testament law, but it is explicitly mentioned in John 10:22 as a feast observed in Jesus’ day. The term is therefore best treated as a Jewish-historical and biblical-background entry rather than a distinct theological doctrine.",
  "description_academic_full": "Hanukkah, commonly called the Feast of Dedication, is a Jewish festival that commemorates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple after it had been defiled during the persecution associated with Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the second century BC. The feast arose in the intertestamental period and was not instituted by the Old Testament law in the same way as Passover, Weeks, or Booths. In the New Testament, John 10:22 places Jesus in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication, showing that the celebration was recognized in first-century Judaism. For Bible readers, Hanukkah is therefore an important background term: it helps locate Jesus’ ministry in its Jewish setting and illustrates the continued significance of the temple after the exile, without itself becoming a core doctrinal category.",
  "background_biblical_context": "John 10:22 identifies the Feast of Dedication as a known Jewish observance during Jesus’ ministry. The context emphasizes winter in Jerusalem and Jesus’ teaching in the temple area.",
  "background_historical_context": "Hanukkah arose from the Maccabean period, after the Jerusalem temple had been desecrated under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The feast celebrates the temple’s cleansing and rededication, traditionally associated with the events remembered in the later Jewish calendar.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "In Second Temple Judaism, Hanukkah served as a national-religious commemoration of God’s preservation of his people and restoration of temple worship. It belonged to the lived calendar of post-exilic Judaism rather than to the Torah’s appointed feasts.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "John 10:22"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "1 Maccabees 4:36-59",
    "2 Maccabees 10:1-8"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "From Hebrew חֲנֻכָּה (ḥănukkāh), meaning “dedication” or “inauguration.” The Greek text of John 10:22 uses the phrase translated “Feast of Dedication.”",
  "theological_significance": "Hanukkah is not a saving ordinance or covenant sign, but it is theologically useful as a witness to Israel’s longing for temple restoration and as a setting for Jesus’ self-revelation in John 10. Its inclusion in John confirms the historical realism of the Gospel and its rootedness in Jewish life.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "The feast shows how historical memory can shape religious identity: a people remembers an event, enshrines it in annual observance, and uses the commemoration to reaffirm covenant faithfulness. In the Gospel of John, that historical setting becomes part of the narrative framework for Jesus’ words and actions.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Hanukkah should not be treated as an Old Testament feast commanded by Moses, and it should not be elevated to a Christian ordinance. Its mention in John 10:22 confirms its historical presence in Judaism, but the passage does not command Christians to observe it.",
  "major_views_note": "Most interpreters understand John 10:22 straightforwardly as a reference to the Jewish Feast of Dedication. The main interpretive question is not whether the feast existed, but how John uses its setting in the flow of Jesus’ ministry.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "Hanukkah is a historical Jewish festival, not a doctrine of the church and not a requirement of Christian observance. It may be recognized for historical and biblical-background value without being given covenantal weight beyond Scripture.",
  "practical_significance": "Hanukkah can help readers understand the Jewish world of Jesus, the importance of the temple in first-century Judaism, and the setting of John 10. It is also a reminder that God preserved Israel through severe persecution and that historical deliverance can become part of communal memory.",
  "meta_description": "Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication, is the Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean period and mentioned in John 10:22.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/hanukkah/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/hanukkah.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}