Why does Hanukkah last eight days?
Quick Answer
1 Maccabees describes eight days of rededication; later tradition also recounts oil lasting eight days.
Key Scriptures
1 Maccabees 4:36-59; 2 Maccabees 10:1-8
Detailed Biblical Study
1 Maccabees describes eight days of rededication; later tradition also recounts oil lasting eight days. Read 1 Maccabees 4:36-59; 2 Maccabees 10:1-8 in context. This answer is framed by the Hanukkah Teaching. Distinguish explicit Torah commandments, Second Temple history, later traditions, and the speaker’s interpretations before teaching this as doctrine.
Related Teaching
Hanukkah – Should/Can Christians Celebrate This Holiday?
Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, remembers the recovery and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the persecution of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV. The speaker explains that Hanukkah is not one of Yehovah’s commanded appointed times in Leviticus 23, yet argues that disciples of Yeshua may commemorate its history. He particularly highlights the courage of Mattathias and Judah Maccabeus to resist enforced idolatry and maintain faithfulness to Yehovah.