Reasons for Christians to Celebrate Hanukkah

They sacrificed to the demons, not God,
to gods whom they had not known,
new gods who came from recent times;
their ancestors had not known them.
Deuteronomy 32:17 (LEB)

The Greeks set up Asherah poles and sacrificed a pig to Zeus in the temple of the God of Abraham on this day in 165 BCE. The Greek gods enjoy their ham and despise the commandments of the God of Abraham. Unfortunately, this history has been removed from most of our Bibles. However, it is in the 1611 KJVA version of the Bible.

1 Maccabees 1:41–50 (KJV Apoc): ⁴¹Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, ⁴²And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king. ⁴³Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath. ⁴⁴For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land, ⁴⁵And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days: ⁴⁶And pollute the sanctuary and holy people: ⁴⁷Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts: ⁴⁸That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation: ⁴⁹To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. ⁵⁰And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

ASHERAH—and pl. Asherim in Revised Version, instead of “grove” and “groves” of the Authorized Version. This was the name of a sensual Canaanitish goddess Astarte, the feminine of the Assyrian Ishtar. Its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground. Such religious symbols (“groves”) are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Ex. 34:13; Judg. 6:25; 2 Kings 23:6; 1 Kings 16:33, etc.). These images were also sometimes made of silver or of carved stone (2 Kings 21:7; “the graven image of Asherah,” R.V.). (See GROVE [1].).

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 59–60.

God’s people were being forced to forsake the commandments of God and follow a different religion with different gods. These were the same demons that the kingdom of Israel sacrificed to and were destroyed and scattered due to their idolatry. If the remnant of the kingdom of Judah had been destroyed and scattered, then that would end the promise of the one to come through the seed of Abraham. The promised seed of Abraham is Jesus, or Yeshua in his native tongue.

1 Maccabees 1:54–64 (KJV Apoc): ⁵⁴Now the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side; ⁵⁵And burnt incense at the doors of their houses, and in the streets. ⁵⁶And when they had rent in pieces the books of the law which they found, they burnt them with fire. ⁵⁷And whosoever was found with any the book of the testament, or if any committed to the law, the king’s commandment was, that they should put him to death. ⁵⁸Thus did they by their authority unto the Israelites every month, to as many as were found in the cities. ⁵⁹Now the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God. ⁶⁰At which time according to the commandment they put to death certain women, that had caused their children to be circumcised. ⁶¹And they hanged the infants about their necks, and rifled their houses, and slew them that had circumcised them. ⁶²Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing. ⁶³Wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then they died. ⁶⁴And there was very great wrath upon Israel.

The Maccabees were able to take back the temple and rededicate it at the same time in December three years later. This is what we commemorate at Hannukah. It has everything to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and most importantly, Messiah Yeshua. If the Greeks had been successful, there would not have been a people of God left to bring the good news of the Savior. Instead of celebrating Hanukkah, we would be setting up Asherah poles and eating ham to honor a Greek deity.