Where in the Bible did the story of Hanukkah?

Answer 1

The story of Hanukkah is not in The Bible. When the war between the Jews and the Syrian-Greeks occurred in 165 BCE, the Hebrew Bible was already written.

The Story of Hanukkah is recorded in the Apocryphal book of the Maccabees and in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b).

Answer 2

Hanukkah is a minor holiday that commemorates the victory of the Jews against the Syrian-Greeks in the Maccabean War of 165 BCE.

The Hebrew Bible was already written by then, so the story is not in the Bible.

Answer 3

Answer # 1

Hanukkah is one of the few Jewish holidays that does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. It is about a miracle: the menorah of the Temple which was supposed to burn for only a day (due to lack of oil), but burned for eight.

However, there are some texts not included in the Hebrew Bible, that recount the story of Hanukkah: 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Answer # 2

In the Gospel of John, and in 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Hanukkah is a Jewish term that is translated in at least three different ways into English. Hanukkah is referred to as the 'Feast of the Maccabees', the 'Feast of Lights', and the 'Feast of the Dedication.'

In the third sense above (Feast of the Dedication), we find Hanukkah referred to explicitly in the Gospel of John:

"It was the feast of the Dedication [emphasis added] at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon." (Jn 10:22)

In this passage, the author of the gospel of John is making reference to the episode in Jewish history when "...Judas Maccabeus, in the year 165 BC, after liberating Jerusalem from the control of the Seleucid kings of Syria, cleansed the temple [in Jerusalem] of the profanations of [the Syrian ruler] Antiochus Epiphanes." (cf. Navarre Bible - Gospels and Acts, p. 628)

Details of the historical events that led up to the regaining of, cleansing of, and celebrating (the celebrating is what Hanukkah refers to) in the Temple by the Jews are recorded in the works of Josephus, Talmudic writings and Midrashim.

The history is also chronicled in 1 Mac 4:36-59 and 2 Mac 1-2, 19; 10:1-8.

Jews, Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christian scholars all regard 1 and 2 Maccabees as reliable historical data. Catholics and Orthodox Christians also consider the Maccabean texts as inspired Scripture, thus including them in their respective canons.

REFERENCES

The Navarre Bible, Gospels and Acts - Reader's Edition. (Princeton, NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2003).

Answer 4

It depends on the Bible in question. The quasi-sacred books of Maccabees 1 & 2 recall the events of Hanukkah.

Jewish Bible:

No it is not. The Seleucid war didn't occur until about 180 years after the Hebrew Bible was already canonized. Maccabees 1 & 2 are considered to be part of the Apocrypha.

Protestant Bible:

No. Only the books of the Jewish Old Testament were preserved in the Protestant Bible. Since Maccabees 1 & 2 were not in the Jewish Bible, they are not in the Protestant Bible either. Maccabees 1 & 2 are considered to be part of the Apocrypha.

Catholic, Orthodox, and Eastern Christian Bibles:

Yes. Maccabees 1 & 2 are part of the Deuterocanon, which are books added to the Old Testament concerning events that happened between the closing of the Jewish Bible and the Arrival of Christ.

Ethiopian Tawhedo Church:

No. The Maccabee books are replaced in the Ethiopian tradition with the books of Meqabyan, which although sound similar are about completely different events.

Answer 5

It didn't start in the Bible. Hanukkah commemorates a war that occurred AFTER the Hebrew Bible was already canonized.

Answer 6

Hanukkah is the only Jewish holiday not biblical.

Answer 7

Hanukkah was instituted after the canon of the Hebrew Bible was sealed.