Christmas and Hanukkah Collide!

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:29:55 +0000

Chanukkah and Christmas collide!
Channukkah and XMAS collide
1st night of chanukkah 12/25. The contrast is stark. But with the real history of Chanukkah from the Apocryphal book of 1 Mac.
I encourage you to read the first four chapters of 1 Mac. To get that, look at the Brenton translation of the Old Testament.
Matthew 24:15-20 is a direct reference to the Maccabean revolt and Channukkah.
The abomination of desolation had already been set up once by the Greeks. Their flight was indeed in winter. And they refused to fight the first Sabbath of the revolt due to their obedience to Torah and they lost.
The crux of this was compromise and mixing. The first time the Greeks came to Judea, they were welcomed. Many of the Israelites mixed Greek customs with Torah and compromised themselves. The Greeks came back after a battle with Egypt and compromise was no longer an option. They forced Israel to forsake the commandments. No more Sabbath, no more circumcision, no more festival days, temple defiled, and they had to eat pork. Or die. And they had to adopt the Greek holidays and culture wholesale, including the sacrificing of pigs and the eating of the same.
This was very bad. Judas Maccabeus couldn’t take it and started a revolt, ultimately pushing the Greeks out and restoring Torah to judea.
How does this align with Christmas? XMAS is a non-biblical observation where people partake in rituals derived from pagan religions and dine on pork. But they do it in the name of God. This is impossible if we understand Matthew 24 to be warning us against these abominations.
I’ll be talking about Chanukka on Friday night, December 20, on a friend’s study group if you want to learn the details about this commemoration. However, don’t lose the irony that the Greeks forced believers into pagan customs while modern Christianity voluntarily partakes. Hopefully more folks will read their bibles and history and come to the realization that the worship of Yahweh is easy if we just relent and to it the way His Son showed us. Have a blessed week!