Jn. 10:22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival that commemorates the purification and rededication of the Temple by Judas Maccabees on Kislev 25, 165 B.C.E. Three years prior, Antiochus IV, the Seleucid (Syrian) king defiled the Temple by erecting an idol to Baal Shamen (the Canaanite counterpart for the Greek god Zeus), sacrificing a pig on the altar in the Temple and proclaiming himself to be a god. Some of the coins he minted had his features on the face of Zeus along with the words “Theos Epiphanes,” meaning “the god manifest.” He also decreed that the Torah (the Law of God) could not be studied under penalty of death. Also Jewish males were not circumcised and it was forbidden to keep the Sabbath. This brought an internal struggle within Judaism out into the open. On the one hand, there were the observant Jews who wanted to keep Torah, continue circumcision and observe the Sabbath. On the other hand, there were Hellenized Jews who wanted to assimilate into the Greek culture around them, and become “born again” Greeks! That included wrestling in the gymnasium wearing nothing but their “birthday suits.”
Perhaps the most grievous act committed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes was called the abomination of desolation, prophesied by Daniel several hundred years before (Dan. 9:27). Josephus wrote about it this way: “And that from among them there should arise a certain king that should overcome our nation and their laws, and should take away our political government, and should spoil the Temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years’ time. And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision, and what he wrote many years before they came to pass. In the very same manner Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them.” The abomination of desolation actually occurred three times in Jewish history. Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the first in 165 B.C.E. The Roman general Pompey was the second in 63 C.E. and Titus, the Roman general, was the third in 70 C.E. Reference segment #139 in volume #3 of this commentary for a full discussion of the abomination of desolation.
Sources: Jos. Ant. 10.11.7 275,276; 12.5.4 249,250; Jos. War 1.1.1 32; 12.7.7 323-25
Antiochus sent troops from village to village with a statue of himself, ordering people to bow to it. One day they arrived at a small city called Modin. An elderly man stepped forward to comply with the order, but an observant priest, Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, thrust him through with a spear and also killed one of the Seleucid soldiers. This started what is called the Maccabean Revolt. Mattathias and his five sons and others fled into the Gophna Hills and conducted a guerilla war against the Seleucids for three years. Eventually, Jerusalem was liberated, yet the Temple was defiled. During this revolt, the Maccabean fighters conquered Antiochus’ army and rededicated the Temple. The history of this revolt is found in I Maccabees 4:36-59; II Maccabees 10:1-8. While these books are in the Apocrypha and not part of the canon of Scripture, they record important historical information. When the Greeks entered the Temple sanctuary, they contaminated all of the oil. When the Hasmoneans defeated them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil bearing the High Priest’s seal. That gave them only enough oil for one day and it takes eight days worth of oil to rededicate the Temple. God provided a miracle and extended the oil for eight days until new oil could be made. So this feast is celebrated in remembrance of that miracle. It is also called the Festival of Lights. The following year, these days were declared a holiday to be celebrated with the reciting of the Hallel (Psalms 113-118), and Thanksgiving Prayers (Megillat Taanit).
Sources: I Macc. 4:36-59; II Macc. 10:1-8; Psalms 113-118; Megillat Taanit
Jn. 10:23 And Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomon’s Porch.
Jn. 10:24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
The year is probably 29 C.E. when Yeshua is in the Temple celebrating Hanukkah. Just prior to this account in John 10, the Apostle John gives two “illustrations” of Yeshua as the Good Shepherd (10:1-5, 7-10) and records Yeshua’s interpretation of these parables (10:11-18). The Jewish readers would immediately pick up on the Messianic connection of this discourse. The Davidic Messiah would be a shepherd (Ezekiel 34). As Yeshua walked through Solomon’s Porch on the east side of the Temple enclosure, some Jews approached Him and asked Him point-blank, “Are You the Messiah?”
Jn. 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.”
Yeshua had to be careful how He answered that question. During the festival, throngs of Jews caught up in nationalistic fever, ting Jerusalem. The word “Messiah” might spark off riots because of its heavy nationalistic and political overtones. Roman intelligence, headquartered in the Antonio Fortress to the northwest of the Temple, was aware of a popular song entitled “A song Of Solomon, With song, to The King.” In this song, composed during the mid-first century B.C.E. by a Pharisee, the Messiah was acknowledged as King and a Davidic Ruler who would reign forever. He describes how the latter Hasmonean rulers led the people away from the Torah, and how the Romans under the leadership of Pompey punished the people in 63 B.C.E. The Pharisee prays that the Lord will raise up a King, the Son of David, to rule over Israel. In doing so, this king would “destroy the unrighteous rulers,” “purge Jerusalem from Gentiles,” “Drive out sinners,” “smash the arrogance of sinners,” and “destroy the unlawful nations!” Their King, the Lord Messiah, would do all this (Psalm of Solomon 17).
Source: Psalm of Solomon 17
Jn. 10:26 “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.”
They now charge Yeshua with obscurity. The problem wasn’t that He was not being plain. The problem is that they are not His sheep. Doubt and unbelief provide a veil over their eyes. They see, but yet are blind. They hear, but are not comprehending.
Jn. 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Jn. 10:28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
Jn. 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
Jn. 10:30 “I and My Father are One.”
If Yeshua had answered the question “yes,” the Roman authorities would have arrested Him on the spot for insurrection. Yeshua does, however, answer the question in the affirmative, but not directly. When He answers, He is careful not to use the contemporary term and understanding. After pointing out the security that a believer in the Lord has because of faith in Him, He says, “I and My Father are One.” That statement had heavy religious overtones for the festival which they were presently celebrating. Those gathered on the Temple Mount recalled the events nearly 200 years before on the very mount where Antiochus IV, a mere man, proclaimed himself to be a god. Yeshua, God Manifest in human flesh, made the same claim – but His claim was true.
Jn. 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
Jn. 10:32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
Jn. 10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a man, make Yourself God.”
See page #38 for a discussion on blasphemy.
Jn. 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods.”’”
Jn. 10:35 “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken).”
Jn. 10:36 “Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’”
The issue of the Messiahship of Yeshua created two diametrically opposed groups within Judaism, and the process of separation began immediately after the death of Yeshua. The Jewish community apparently tied the death of Yeshua to the charge of blasphemy; hence persecution was inevitable for His followers who vocalized the same beliefs as their Master.
Yeshua declared that He was the fulfillment of Hanukkah by saying the Father “sanctified” the Son of God and sent Him into the world. “The Father was in Him and He was in the Father” (vs. 38). If the Greek word for “sanctified” were translated into Hebrew, it would be “dedicated” or “Hanukkah.”
Jn. 10:37 “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;”
Jn. 10:38 “But if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works,, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
Jn. 10:39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.
