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The history of the holiday of Chanukah/Hanukkah is recorded in 1Maccabees and 2Maccabees, which are included in the Apocryphal books.
Alexander the Great had conquered the Persian empire and was the emperor of the area from Macedonia to India, but he unexpectedly died at a young age and his empire was broken up between his four most favored generals. As the Greek empire fell apart after the death of Alexander the Great, the holy land came under the control of Selucius and his descendants.
The descendant of Selucius who was the ruler of the Holy Land at the time of the Maccabees was named Antiochus IV Epiphanies. It was the common rule that when one conquered a territory, not only did they ethnically mix up and ethnically cleanse the land to stamp out nationalism, they would also impose a new religion on their conquered peoples.
For the Greeks, Jewish traditions such as circumcision, the Shabbat and studying Torah became death penalty offenses. When the Maccabees kicked the Greeks out of their land, the people celebrated their liberation from persecution, and passed on the legacy to the future generations.
Yeshua and His disciples grew up only about 150 years removed from the events of the Maccabees, which is a shorter period than our distance from the events of the American Revolution. Yet just as the events of 1776 still define us as Americans today, the events of the Maccabean revolt defined Jewish identity and nationalism in Yeshua’s day.
The Maccabees, rather than staying in their station as priests, decided they wanted to be kings. Civil war broke out and one of the faction sold out to the Romans, specifically the Roman General Pompey came in and installed the Herodian family as the royal family of the Holy Land. That’s the backdrop of Yeshua’s celebration of Hanukkah.
So, God gave the Maccabees a great victory, but because the people were spiritually bankrupt, they did not maintain their liberation, instead they swapped out the oppressions of the Greeks with the oppression of Romans.
Yeshua preached that He was the Good Shepherd. He did not come up with that out of the blue. The prophets before them had called out the bad shepherds and promised that God would put a good shepherd in charge of His people in the future. Those who know the voice of the good shepherd will not follow the voice of the false shepherds.
When Yeshua was visiting the Temple at Hanukkah, the elders in the Temple asked Yeshua to reveal His identity plainly.
The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”
John 10:24–30 NASB 1995
Jeremiah told the people that God is the Good Shepherd and Yeshua also referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd. Jer. 31:10 is one of the key references to the Good One’s gathering scattered Israel like a shepherd, and true leaders likewise are competent shepherds Jer. 3:15. Jer. 10:21; 12:10; 49:19; 50:44; 51:23 specifically rail against the bad shepherds of Israel.
But following from the description of Adonai as “Shepherd of Israel” (Joseph, Northern Kingdom; Psa. 80:1), prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos and Zechariah also contrasted bad shepherds with The Shepherd and His servants.
How did Yeshua respond to his detractors?
In Ezekiel 36, the prophet says that God will unite the lost tribes of Israel and the gentiles who are associated with them together into one people, one nation and they will be in God’s hand. This is God’s work, and this is Yeshua’s work. When Yeshua said that He has other sheep in other sheep folds, He is referring back to Ezekiel. He is working for restoration and working for the Kingdom. His primary mission was not to do miracles. His primary mission on earth was to restore God’s kingdom.
One of the key objections by those of Judah is that Yeshua hasn’t restored the Kingdom. They aren’t asking about whether He raised the dead, restored sight to the blind and hearing of the deaf, after all, the Apostles after Him did the same. Peter raised the dead, the Apostle Paul healed the sick. What the unbelieving Jews are asking about is the restoration of the Kingdom of God. That is something that only the Messiah can do. Only the Servant of the Lord can bring about the ultimate restoration of the Kingdom of God.
Yeshua reminds them that they have been looking for the Psalm 23 shepherd. They had suffered under many false shepherds who scattered rather than gathered.
The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”
John 10:31–32 NASB 1995; emphasis added
If this is the second time they tried to stone Him, when did they pick up stones to try stone him the first time?
Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
John 8:54–59 NASB 1995
Let’s look more deeply at why they were trying to stone Him. First we have to look at the word blasphemy, which is the Greek word blasphēmía. Where do we find examples of this word in the Torah? Here’s the first example:
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
Exodus 20:7 NASB 1995
The Targums, which were a Torah paraphrase that was commonly used in synagogues in the first few centuries A.D., render this verse differently:
“Thou shalt not swear in the name of the Lord thy God vainly; for the Lord will not acquit him who swears in His Name with falsity.”
Exodus 20:7 Targum Onkelos, Etheridge translation
In other words, if you use His name to denigrate it by making promises in His name you have no intention to keep, this is grievous violation. Here’s how 12th century Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra explained it:
In any case, one who invokes God and does not keep his promise is as if denying God’s existence. For the point of mentioning God’s name is to say, “Just as God is truth, so is my word.” God, too, “swears” a thing, making it an unconditional decree, “by” His right hand, or the Throne of Glory, or the heavens—all of them things of permanence. So one who swears to a falsehood is desecrating God’s name. After idolatry, there is no sin worse than a vain oath.”
Michael Carasik. “Exodus.” The Commentators’ Bible. Accordance electronic edition, version 1.4. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005.
Like making false oaths, blasphemy steals God’s glory.
The 13th century Jewish comentator Nahmanides wrote that blasphemy was a form of idolatry:
But the straightforward sense is that one should not pronounce the name of the Lord in vain for any reason. The Hebrew expression, literally to “raise” the name, simply means to speak, as in “to raise one’s voice”; see Zech. 9:1, where the noun form of this root means “a pronouncement.” As our Sages have said, one is not even permitted to say “to the Lord, an offering,” since the correct phrase is “an offering to the Lord” (Lev. 1:2)—how much the more so must one be careful not to take the Lord’s name in vain. This commandment follows that against idolatry because, just as it is forbidden to give God’s glory to another, one must give His name its proper glory—and one who uses it in vain profanes it. “You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:12). Just as the idolater was warned that God would “visit the guilt of the parents” and so forth, here too the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name. The one who takes God’s name in vain might think it a less grievous sin than idolatry; hence he is assured that the Lord will not clear him. Ibn Ezra has spoken properly about this verse.
Michael Carasik. “Exodus.” The Commentators’ Bible. Accordance electronic edition, version 1.4. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005.
In the John 10 incident, the leaders were accusing Yeshua of stealing God’s glory, attributing God’s glory to Himself. Yet they didn’t understand that Yeshua Himself is Elohim (John 1:1–2) and thus can’t steal Adonai’s own glory.
What does ‘you are gods’ (John 10:34) have to do with the charge of blasphemy?
“You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”
Exodus 22:28 NASB 1995
I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.”
Psalm 82:6 NASB 1995
This passage was interpreted by the Sages to mean not to curse Elohim or the ruler “Nasi” of your people. Paul quotes this verse in Acts 23:3-5 this when he accidentally rebuked the High Priest, for example.
But the judges and rulers of the people were blind and didn’t understand what Yeshua was doing and why. They should have known the scriptures and known what He was doing but they were either willfully or unwillingly ignorant.
“You shall not speak against gods, nor curse a ruler of your people.”
Exodus 22:27 Saint Athanasius Academy Septuagint
“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’”
Leviticus 19:2 SAAS
Rashi’s take on this is very interesting:
“You shall not revile God.” This simultaneously commands against reviling God and against cursing a judge, both of which are indicated by the Hebrew word elohim.
Michael Carasik. “Exodus.” The Commentators’ Bible. Accordance electronic edition, version 1.4. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005.
This verse is not only a reference to the name of God that is in the tetragrammaton. It also encompasses any euphemisms for God’s name or His titles.
Leviticus 24:10-23 is a key case study in how the Torah documented a blasphemy trial. The Talmud examines this story at many different angles about how to handle a trial for a blasphemer.
As you may recall, this is a story the rebellious son, the son of a Jewish mother and an Egyptian father. The Torah records that he both cursed and blasphemed the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He.
A Targum on Lev. 24:1 clearly defines pronouncing the Name as blasphemy:
“Then the son of the Israelite woman clearly pronounced the Name and provoked to anger, so they brought him to Moses.”
Lev. 24:1 Targum Onkelos, emphasis added
This document shows us that this was the common understanding of the definition of blasphemy operating in the first centuries A.D., that one must clearly pronounced the name. Witnesses must show that they actually heard the offending party use the actual name of God, not a euphemism. According to the Targum, this man clearly pronounced God’s name as he cursed God.
The Sanhedrin had a specific way that you were supposed to conduct a blasphemy trial because in an open court, you couldn’t actually repeat verbatim what the alleged blasphemer said. In the open court, they would use a stand in phrase, and then they would have a closed session where the witnesses were brought before the High Priest and they could only tell him directly what they actually heard.
Another key example comes from Isaiah 52:5, which says,
“So now, why are you here? The Lord says this: “Because My people were taken for nothing, marvel and lament.” The Lord says this: “Because of you, My name is blasphemed continually among the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 52:5 SAAS)
This blasphemy is one who was previously treated in a favorable way is now treated with disdain and contempt. We would call this kind of person a backstabber. These kind of blasphemers back stab God. They used to love God and praise His name but now they treat Him with low regard and slander Him.
Israel was favored but because she disdained God, the nations used what happened to Israel as justification to blaspheme God, too. God foretold through Moses that this would happen in Deut. 31-32.
The Lord says the children of Israel will disobey Him. They will enter the Land He gave them, and they will forget the Holy One who brought them to the land. They will forget the Holy One who gave them the blessings, who gave them all sorts of things. So then they actually not only forget, but they actively sought after the false gods and attributed their greatness to all the other gods of the land and not to the Holy One.
The northern kingdom, after the division, after the time of the united monarchy under David and Solomon, celebrated the festivals of God on a different schedule. Just moved them into a different time period, so that that the people of the north wouldn’t pilgrimage down to Jerusalem every year.
Paul also references Isaiah 52:5 in Romans 2:24. Israel didn’t end up in exile because the gentiles such as Sennacarib or Nebuchadnezzer were so powerful that they could yank the Israelites out of God’s hands? The nations did not pry Israel out of His hand. No, they were sent into exile by God. The gentiles were merely God’s instrument of punishment.
When Yeshua quotes Ps. 82, the Sanhedrin and the experts of the law should have known exactly what He was trying to say, but they either didn’t understand or they understood but chose to twist His words because they didn’t like Him.
“When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD; yet they have come out of His land.’ “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.”
Ezekiel 36:20-21 NASB 1995
The Hebrew word khalal, translated “profaned” in Ezek. 36:20–21, aptly describes the great damage done to the name (reputation) of Adonai by the actions and heart condition of the kingdoms of Israel and Yehudah leading up to their exiles.
The root חלל is used to mark the act of doing violence to the established law of God (Zeph 3:4), breaking the covenant (Ps 55:21), or the divine statutes (89:31 [H 32]). Thus to profane is to misuse the name of God (Lev 18:21), the Sabbath (Ex 31:14) or the holy place, and so desecrate it.
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
Ambassadors of God are always on duty
We do not represent God only on Shabbat/Saturday between noon and 5 p.m. Pacific Time. We are on duty for Messiah Yeshua 24/7.
Profaning God’s name is not limited to pronouncing it out of turn. Profaning His name, the Shabbat, and the Holy Place are all ways that people can dragging God’s reputation down.
Remember that the mob accused the deacon Stephen of blasphemy in Acts 6:8-15, specifically accusing him of attacking the Law of Moses and the relevance of the Temple as the center of Jewish religion.
When we discuss the issue of blasphemy, we inevitably think about the injunction regarding blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. One commits blasphemy against the Holy Spirit when you attribute His power as the power of the HaSatan. That is exactly what the people accused Yeshua of doing when they accused Him in Mark 3:20-30 of casting out demons using the power of the adversary.
Going back to John 10, Yeshua asks the scribes and Pharisees bluntly:
“I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”
The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.””
John 10:31–33 NASB 1995
One could say that the leaders who were confronting Yeshua here in John 10 were dangerously blaspheming God Himself in this exchange with Him. They were conspiring to take drastic measures to assassinate someone who was speaking the truth.
Here’s how Yeshua prefaced the Sermon on the Mount, warning teachers of the Law that they can’t pick and choose which of Heaven’s instructions and teachings to obey and pass along to the people:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:17–19 NASB 1995
Implying that God’s character can change — that His law changes — diminishes God’s reputation. People who say this are implying that God’s promises are not dependable.
Many Christians have been taught to use Colossians 2 to disparage the Torah’s commandments Heaven-cancelled, focusing on this phrase: “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). Yet by associating Adonai’s Torah contextually with “elementary principles” or “traditions of men” such teachers are treading on thin ice separating them from falling into blasphemy.
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Colossians 2:8 NASB 1995
Bilam (Balaam), an ancient foreign prophet who also listened to Adonai, is a sad example of one who preached the Kingdom of God yet did not enter the Kingdom of God himself (Numbers 21–24; Luke 11:52).
These leaders that Yeshua confronted in the Temple were fighting against God, just as Bilam did.
‘Hear, O Israel … Adonai is one’: The Shema in the Gospel of John
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NASB 1995
The Gospel of John appears to be permeated with themes of the Shema (Deut. 6:4–9, etc.), particularly in John 17.
““I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” (John 17:11 NASB 1995)
““The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:22–23 NASB 1995)
Some Christians ask why we need Israel’s temple — or Adonai’s appointments — when we have Yeshua. Why do we need offerings when we have Yeshua?
The Shema is the backbone of the Jewish faith, an expression of who God is and who He is not: Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai echad. That can be translated “the LORD is one” (NASB, NIV and Jewish Publication Society 1917 verion) or “the LORD alone” (JPS 1985, 2006)?
The older translation (“the LORD is one”) was favored by Judaism starting with Rabbi Akiva (1st and 2nd century A.D.), because it was a polemic against Christianity’s view of Yeshua, according to JPS translation notes on the 1985 and 2006 editions).
That modern Jewish view is based on teachings in the prophets that on the Day of the Lord (“latter days”), Adonai will be the only deity remaining.
An argument in favor of that view is the thread through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy that the second generation of Israel post-Egypt would have only one Deity, no matter how many pretenders they would encounter in Canaan.
In other words, spiritually is not a buffet. Just as there was only one Bread (manna) from Heaven, only one Elohim.
Much of Israel as a people today still find it a challenge to see Yeshua’s inherent deity. They don’t make the connection between Yeshua and the Angel of the LORD. We see the Patriarchs including Abraham and Jacob meeting with Him face to face. Only in Yeshua, is such a thing possible.
Yeshua was not a blasphemer on Chanukah. Rather, He was a bucket of cold water on the leadership, calling them out for their dereliction of duty. They were more concerned about the edifice of the Temple, making it a pilgrim destination and seat of power than it as a light to the nations to draw them to the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
They were so convicted and upset by Yeshua’s words of criticism that they wanted to execute Him without benefit of trial to try to silence Him.
Summary: Tammy