Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas
I often wonder how many Gentiles think that Hanukkah is simply the “Jewish Christmas!” But look at what they share. Both holidays fall in December. Both stress the role of light. Both include the giving of gifts. Both involve children in a significant way. But it is hard to see clearly how these similarities are more than coincidences. Also, since Nativity (1 AD) came after Hanukkah (165 BC), how could Hanukkah be a Jewish copy of events that happened much later?
Hanukkah celebrates a military victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians in 165 BC that saved the Jewish people from physical destruction. Do I need to write that Christmas celebrates the birth of a Jewish baby who would save the Jewish people (and others) from spiritual destruction?
And yet, there may be a connection between these two celebrations more substantive than lights and gifts. Maybe you never thought about it this way, but hear me out.
If there had been no Hannukah, there would have been no Nativity!
Yes, I mean that with all my strength. But that bold declaration will take a bit of explaining.
In 168 BC, the descendants of one branch of Alexander the Great’s successors, called the Seleucids after one of his generals, lived primarily in Syria. They often warred with another branch of Alexander’s successors, the Ptolemies in Egypt. The Jews of Judea were caught in the middle. During a period when they were under the Seleucids, a fanatically zealous guy named Antiochus, who declared himself the “Epiphany of God,” led the normal religiously tolerant overlords. This Antiochus Epiphanes eventually demanded that the monotheistic Jews worship him as that Manifestation of God. He even succeeded in ransacking the Jewish Temple and demanding that Jews worship his image instead of the Invisible Yahweh. He was successful for a few years until some brave Jews from the Hashmon Family rose up and defeated those Syrian/Greeks in 165 BC. A brave man named Judas Maccabee (the “hammer”) led them, and they popularly were called the “Maccabees.”
When they eventually cleansed the defiled Temple, they found enough consecrated oil to burn the renewed light for only one day. The story is that the oil, however, lasted for eight days, and since then, Jews have celebrated the dedication of the Temple for eight days. In Hebrew, that “dedication” is called “Hannukah.”
Jesus was visiting Jerusalem around 29 AD when John tells us that it was winter and the festival being observed was that of Hanukkah/Dedication (John 10:22). While it is striking that near that time, Jesus called Himself the “Light of the world” (John 9:5), I am not certain that we can say that He was trying to compare Himself with the light observance of Hanukkah.
So what, then, is the connection between these holidays? I wrote earlier the following sentence.
If there had been no Hannukah, there would have been no Nativity!
What I meant by that bold declaration may now become evident. If Antiochus Epiphanes had succeeded in defeating the Jewish people and no brave Maccabees had arisen, then the Jewish people worshiping in their Temple basically would have been wiped out, along with that Temple! And then there would have been no Jewish town of Bethlehem and no Jewish couple traveling there with the promise from that angel that she would bear the Jewish Messiah!
So, is there a connection between these two seemingly disparate observances? Much in every way. God preserved that Davidic line in the face of the vicious hatred of ancient Anti-Semites and brought forth that Jewish baby who would come to earth for you and me, and even for those who hate and destroy!
©2023 William Varner. Used with permission.
About The Author

William Varner
William Varner teaches at The Master’s University and is a pastor/teacher at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, Calif. He has written twenty books, including Passionate About the Passion Week: A Fresh Look at Jesus’ Last Days (Fontes Press, 2020).