What the feast of dedication (Hanukkah/Chanukah) has to do with the Good Shepherd - Jesus

During the feast of dedication (Chanukah/Hanukkah), Jesus had a conversation with the Jews (John 10.1-22). In this conversation, Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. ... Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. ...And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

When you learn about the history of the feast of dedication (Chanukah/Hanukkah) and how it came about, you will see why Jesus said what He said, during this feast.

Here is a summary of how the feast of dedication (Chanukah/Hanukkah) came to be according to the writings of Josephus and from the books of the Maccabees.

There were two men who disputed over the high priesthood. One was appointed and was successor of the previous high priest Onias, while the other was appointed by the king. Because the people were divided in their support for the two men, the majority supporting the former, the other priest (appointed by the king) informed Antiochus (king of Macedonia) that his party no longer wanted to follow the laws of their people (the Jews), but wanted to follow the laws and customs of the Greeks and to adopt their way of life. They even wanted to build a Gymnasium at Jerusalem. Antiochus liked this idea, and gave them permission to do so. Antiochus then decided to go to Jerusalem to seize it (being motivated by his greed and by this new support of the wicked Jews). When he got to Jerusalem, the wicked Jews opened the gates unto him. He therefore went in peaceably, but then attacked the city after seeing the wealth within it and within the temple. He plundered the temple of its gold and treasures, the altars, and even the veils. He killed many people and took 10,000 captive. He burnt down buildings and tore down the city walls. He then built a citadel overlooking the temple and fortified it. He placed a garrison there with the wicked Jews. He forbade the Jews to offer their daily sacrifices and even built an idol altar on the altar of God. He slew swine upon it and commanded that it be done daily there, and everywhere. He commanded that like-altars would be built in all the towns and villages in order that these daily swine sacrifices would be offered. He employed overseers to see that this was done and that his commands were enforced. He commanded the Jews not to keep their own laws and ordered that they not circumcise their sons. Persecution was great – the Jews were tormented, tortured, whipped with rods, their bodies torn to pieces, and they were crucified alive if they did not obey Antiochus. The women who circumcised their sons were strangled and their sons were hanged and crucified. If any of the books of their law were found, they were destroyed and the persons who had them were killed. 2Maccabees 6 says this of that time: Not long after that, the king sent an elderly Athenian to force the Jews to abandon their religion and the customs of their ancestors. He was also to defile their Temple by dedicating it to the Olympian god Zeus. The temple on Mount Gerizim was to be officially namedTemple of Zeus the God of Hospitality, as the people who lived there had requested. The oppression was harsh and almost intolerable. Gentiles filled the Temple with drinking parties and all sorts of immorality. They even had intercourse with prostitutes there. Forbidden objects were brought into the Temple, and the altar was covered with detestable sacrifices prohibited by our Law. It was impossible to observe the Sabbath, to celebrate any of the traditional festivals, or even so much as to admit to being a Jew. Each month when the king's birthday was celebrated, the Jews were compelled by brute force to eat the intestines of sacrificial animals. Then, during the festival in honor of the wine god Dionysus, they were required to wear ivy wreaths on their heads and march in procession. On the advice of Ptolemy, the neighboring Greek cities were also instructed to require Jews to eat the sacrifices; they were told to put to death every Jew who refused to adopt the Greek way of life. It was easy to see that hard times were ahead. For example, two women were arrested for having their babies circumcised. They were paraded around the city with their babies hung from their breasts; then they were thrown down from the city wall. On another occasion, Philip was told that some Jews had gathered in a nearby cave to observe the Sabbath in secret. Philip attacked and burned them all alive. They had such respect for the Sabbath that they would not fight to defend themselves.

The Samaritans, seeing this persecution of the Jews, wrote to Antiochus asking to be considered separate from the Jews, for at the time they too observed the laws and customs of the Jews. They told Antiochus that they wanted to follow the Grecian way of living and wanted to forsake the Sabbath and all of the other Jewish laws and customs. They even built a temple and called it the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.

[It is probably appropriate to insert here an explanation of the worship of these Grecian gods and this temple dedicated to Jupiter. After Nimrod, the Babylonian king who deified himself was killed; his mother/wife claimed to be pregnant with him reincarnated, after searching for all of his body parts after his death. She however never found his private part, and this initiated the worship with symbols such as the obelisk and the trees with ornamental testicles on them. Her son was deified, just as she was deified as the queen of heaven. His birthday was honored as the 25^th of December (the winter solstice). He was later killed by a wild boar. Their stories were glorified in all of the pagan cultures, just with different names, Jupiter being one of them. And the sacrifice of the swine was done in representation of the wild boar being killed in return.]

Antiochus liked this idea of the Samaritans, and agreed to allow them to do all that they requested, recognizing them as separate from the Jews.

At the time of all this, there was a certain family, of which the father’s name was Mattathias. He had five sons and was well respected in his town. One of Antiochus’s overseers came to his town and set up an idol altar as Antiochus had commanded. The overseer approached Mattathias and asked that he be the first to offer the sacrifice, for after all, if the other Jews saw him offer sacrifices to the idols, they would do the same. Mattathias refused and answered in a loud voice,
I don't care if every Gentile in this empire has obeyed the king and yielded to the command to abandon the religion of his ancestors. My children, my relatives, and I will continue to keep the covenant that God made with our ancestors. With God's help we will never abandon his Law or disobey his commands. We will not obey the king's decree, and we will not change our way of worship in the least. in front of the altar in the presence of the people, that he would never do such a thing, nor any of his family, and nor should any of the people; that they should always, no matter what, be faithful to the LORD their God and to all His ways and laws -1Maccabees 2.19-22.
As he spoke, another Jew in the crowd; went up and proceeded to offer the sacrifice upon the idol altar. Mattathias was filled with great indignation and ran up and killed the man who offered the sacrifice. He and his sons, who were armed with swords, then killed the overseer and some of the soldiers. They then fled, leaving all of their property behind. They fled to the deserts and wilderness and caves – many people following them. One of the garrisons pursued and found a group in the caves. They tried to convince them forsake their laws and their God and offer up sacrifices to their gods. But the people would not, and so on the Sabbath, the garrison set fire to caves and killed 1,000 people. The people would not fight back, because of the Sabbath. Many fled and escaped to Mattathias, and joined his army. Mattathias taught them to fight on the Sabbath day if they had to, because if not, they would be their own worst enemy. Mattathias led his army to tear down idol altars, to slay those who did not obey God’s laws, and commanded the boys to be circumcised. After ruling for a year, he became distempered and died. He appointed his son Simon to be father of them all, and for his son Judas (Maccabeus) to be general over the army. Judas continued to cast out their enemies, to encourage his men to fight courageously (though they were smaller in number and often weak without provision):
It is not difficult, Judas answered, for a small group to overpower a large one. It makes no difference to the Lord whether we are rescued by many people or by just a few. Victory in battle does not depend on who has the largest army; it is the Lord's power that determines the outcome. Our enemies are coming against us with great violence, intending to plunder our possessions and kill our wives and children. But we are fighting for our lives and for our religion. When we attack, the Lord will crush our enemies, so don't be afraid of them - 1Maccabees 3.18-22.
Judas continued to purify the land of its pollutions and killed those who transgressed the laws. He was victorious in many battles.

Finally, Judas went back to take the temple in Jerusalem back. He attacked the citadel and overthrew it. When they came to the temple, they lamented over its abandoned condition and its desolate state. Thus, as the army continued to fight, they purified the temple and built a new altar out of new stones and brought back altars for the shew bread and the candlesticks. They were then able to reinstitute the daily sacrifices. It was 3 years to the day that the temple had been overtaken (the 25^th day of Kislev). They rejoiced so greatly that they feasted for 8 days. They then made it a law among their people to celebrate it as a feast yearly. Judas continued to fight battles – encouraging his people to fight to live for their God and for His ways and His laws. Judas was eventually killed in battle, fighting to the end for his people and for His God.

Therefore, when we hear the words of Jesus during the feast of dedication - which commemorates the account of a thief, a robber, and a destroyer, being overthrown after a great deal of suffering, persecution and death is inflicted upon the people of God - we can see how Jesus is alluding to this past. He is saying how He is not like the false shepherds who come in deceitfully and with bad intent to steal, to kill, and to destroy; but He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10.14-15). He is the Good Shepherd who was given honor by the lives given to fight for Him and for the way of life that He gave His people.

All of these verses talk of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and He being God:

Psalm 80.1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

Psalm 23.1 The LORD is my shepherd…

Ezekiel 34 (whole chapter) refers to the LORD being the shepherd.

John 10.11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10.14 I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.

Isaiah 40.10-11 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

1Peter 5.4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (2Timothy 4.8 says the LORD shall give me a crown of glory)

Therefore, as the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah/Chanukah) approaches, let us celebrate it with a greater understanding and appreciation for our LORD and Savior Who is worthy to praised and honored in all the feasts. In fact let us not only honor Jesus as being the Light of the world, but let us reflect and honor the words of Jesus in where He refers to Himself as being the Good Shepherd. Let us also remember how people were persecuted and killed for choosing to obey the LORD rather than honoring idols, and how the LORD blessed their efforts and gave them victory over their enemies. Let us remember and reflect on the truth of being saved from deceptions that lead us towards the idols and pagan customs of the world and being returned back to God and His ways. - Therefore, let us be thankful to our Good Shepherd Jesus who gave His life for His sheep and Who leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Let us be thankful for the truth that sets us free.