News Letter 5852-031
Sukkot
The Shemitah Year
The 15th day of the 7th month 5852 years after the creation of Adam
The 7th Month in the Seventh year of the Third Sabbatical Cycle
The 3rd Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes, Famines and Pestilence
The Year of letting the land rest
The Sabbatical year that begins March 10, Aviv 2016 and goes to Aviv 2017
September 17, 2016
Shabbat Shalom and Joyous Sukkot to The Royal Family of Yehovah,
Today, the weekly Sabbath of Sept 17, is the first day of Sukkot. It is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the start of the week long rehearsal of our wedding party to our King Yehovah and it takes place at the start of the 8th millennium. If you had watched our video last Sabbath you were shown these things in detail.
James has now met up with me yesterday in Jerusalem along with 24 other brethren from around the world, and we are going to rejoice here because we are repeatedly commanded to be full of joy at this time. Well, actually as this goes to post Friday morning, I am still somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea en route to Tel Aviv. We will be touching down at noon local time.
After taking James to the airport, Telesphore, along with one of the visiting Pastors from Kenya, went to speak to the Government leaders about those things we have been teaching them. As of this posting we have no more news other than it went well.
Last week, I was so excited by the things James was telling us from Burundi and those things Telesphore was doing there and is now going to do that I completely forgot to share another teaching with you. It is about Chanukah. Many people say we should keep it. Myself and others say we should not be keeping it. Well, that is not correct. We should be doing both, keeping it and then not keeping it. Huh?
Yes, that is 100% correct. We should be keeping the Chanukah celebrations Yehshua kept which we are told of in John 10:22 and we should not be keeping the Chanukah celebrations that are not found in Lev 23. If you are the one saying “Huh?” again, then you need to read this week’s teaching.
Today is the 1st day of Sukkot. On this first day we are, and you should, be reading the entirety of Deuteronomy out loud with your group. I am also going to read Exodus 19 to about the end along with Lev 23, 25 and 26. I am going to close with Lev 26 and the hope that is given there in the final prayer. It is the same hope Solomon asks for at the Feast of Dedication which you are about to learn in this week’s lesson. It is the same prayer Daniel prayed when he realized the end of the 70 years of captivity were now over.
May Yehovah bless you during this Sukkot season.
My News letters may not be sent out over the next few weeks while I am away.
Also, the Sabbatical year does not end at this Feast season. It continues until Aviv which could be in March again in 2017 or maybe April. You are halfway through this Sabbatical Year test. Yes, Yehovah tests those He loves. Do not fail yourselves now that you are this far along. I am so thrilled to hear from those joining me in Israel that they are bringing the foods they have stored up since 2015. Praise Yehovah.
“Chanukah When is it according to John 10:22”
Once again, this week I am going to offend and make some of you mad.
Each year I try not to get involved in the Chanukah lies that are taught and used to justify each persons own desires to keep this false festival of lights. Others, using the exact same excuses, do so to justify the keeping of Christmas and if they are from the East Indian background, the keeping of Daliwa.
Let’s be clear here. The story of the birth of Yehshua in a manger is never the issue for not keeping Christmas. It is all the pagan trappings that people want to hang to that causes them to keep Christmas. The fact that Yehshua was born on the Feast of Trumpets and not Dec. 25th is the main reason most of us no longer keep it, and also that Christmas is not found in Lev 23.
Concerning the Chanukah season, it is Not the story of the Heroic deeds of the Maccabees that is in question here. The lie about the oil being lit for 8 days and the twisting of scriptures to justify keeping this event is what we are against. Let’s talk about the Maccabees in July or at Passover then. The Jewish tradition of Chanukah is also the adding to the Torah of another holiday not found in Lev 23.
This false festival of lights season is an attempt to impersonate the true light of Yehovah, even using the same Scriptures He uses speaking of Himself- the True Light.
2Co 11:13 For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light? 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
It is time we admit it; some of you are working on Satan’s behalf. You would rather follow the traditions of men than the word of Yehovah. You “yeah but…” yourselves into justifying everything and fight against those who expose the truth.
Those of you who used to be of the Christian faith and are now keeping Torah, sort of, justify the keeping of Chanukah based on John 10. So now lets take a look at it.
Joh 10:22 And the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s Porch.
Did Yehshua keep the Feast of Chanukah on the 25th day of the 9th month? It is time you learned the truth. But once you do will you “yeah but…” yourselves to deny the facts, just so you can feel good and keep the company of others who are also deceived? Have you become so steeped in your vain traditions that you can no longer serve your first love – the keeping of Torah and obeying Yehovah by not adding ANYTHING to His Word? You may be mad at me now but you will know the answer to my question by the end of this article.
The word winter here is;
G5494 cheimn khi-mone’
From a derivation of che? (to pour; akin to the base of G5490 through the idea of a channel), meaning a storm (as pouring rain); by implication the rainy season, that is, winter: – tempest, foul weather, winter.
It was the rainy season when Yehshua walked in the Temple of Solomon’s court.
In Israel, the yearly cycle with its four seasons are not as clearly marked as the lands to the north of it. But to the Jew every season was a special time and a reminder of the promises of God, as He said to Noah “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter” (Genesis 8: 22).
Gen 8:21 And Jehovah smelled a sweet odor. And Jehovah said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. And I will not again smite every living thing as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Though the Bible specifically mentions summer, winter, spring and autumn, it may come as a surprise to know that the Bible never mentions four seasons, but only two. The Hebrew word “stav”, translated today as “autumn,” is mentioned only once in the Bible in the Song of Solomon “for lo, the winter is passed, the rain is over and gone…” (Song 2:11), “stav” really speaks of the time of the winter rains. The Hebrew word “aviv”, translated today as spring is mentioned twice in the Bible, both referring to a stage in the ripening of barley rather than a season. The month of Aviv (hodesh ha’aviv) is the time when this ripening of barley takes place. This is, of course, the Hebrew month of Nissan. There is no mention of a season called spring anywhere in the Bible therefore we must conclude that the Bible only recognizes two seasons of summer and winter, or as the writers of the Talmud put it, “the days of sun” and “the days of rain.”
With just two seasons we can then understand that the season of summer begins when the Barley is Aviv and the first month has begun. In this first month are the Spring Holy Days of Passover and Unleavened Bread.
Six months later begins the 7th month, and because the year has 12 months, 6 for the summer and 6 for the winter, the 7th month begins in winter. That 7th month contains the Fall Feasts; The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles as well as the Eighth Day Feast of “Simchat Torah.” These all take place in the season of “winter”.
We are commanded to keep the Feasts of Yehovah three times a year.
Exo 23:14 You shall keep a feast to Me three times in the year. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty. 16 Also the Feast of Harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
Yehshua was Jewish and would have kept this commandment. If He did not keep it then He would have sinned and disqualified Himself as being the Messiah.
Now let us get the proper perspective of what is going on leading up to the statement in John 10 that so many use to justify giving up Christmas in order for them to begin the keeping of another false holiday today called Chanukah.
Joh 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for He did not desire to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 2 And the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
As we continue to read John we see that Yehshua was then teaching in the Temple.
Joh 7:14 Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
Joh 7:28 Then Jesus cried in the temple as He taught, saying, You both know Me, and you know from where I come. And I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
Joh 7:37 And in the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” 39 (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.) 40 Then when they heard the Word, many of the people said, Truly this is the Prophet.
The last day of the Feast is the Seventh Day. There is yet one more Holy Day called The Eighth Day. This is what we are reading about as John 7 ends and John ch. 8 begins.
Joh 7:53 And they each went to his own house.
Joh 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him. And He sat down and taught them.
It is at this time on the Eighth Day Feast that we read about Yehshua being the “Light of the world” and it is these words that many will try to steal and apply to the Feast of Chanukah on the 25th of the 9th month which is totally out of context.
Joh 8:12 Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
So far, everything we have been reading in John 7 and 8 has taken place during Sukkot and the eighth day. Now as we finish chapter 8 it is still the 8th Day, The last Holy Day. Chapter 9 continues from chapter 8 when Yehshua passed by those who wanted to stone Him, and as He passed by them He sees the blind man. It is still the 8th Day, it is still a Holy Day and He is still in Jerusalem because the blind man went to the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes.
Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I AM! 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and passed on by.
Joh 9:1 And passing by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
We read something very important in verse 14.
Joh 9:14 And it was a sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
The word translated Sabbath here is Sabbaton.
G4521 sabbaton sab’-bat-on
Of Hebrew origin [H7676]; the Sabbath (that is, Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extension a se’nnight, that is, the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications: – sabbath (day), week.
Strong’s has it wrong here. Sabbaton is number H7677. Yes, it originates from 7676. But there is a huge difference. 7677 is the word Sabbaton! And Sabbaton is a high Holy Day.
H7677 shabbâthôn shab-baw-thone’
From H7676; a sabbatism or special holiday: – rest, sabbath.
Yehshua healed the blind man on the High Holy Day of the Eighth Day. We read of the events with this blind man for the rest of Chapter 9 and ongoing into chapter 10. This conversation between Yehshua and the Pharisees continues right up until verse 18.
Then John tells us the results of these conversations because of the healing of the blind man right up until the verse when John then states Yehshua was walking in the porch of Solomon’s Temple. This is a continuation of the things that had just happened during the Feast of Tabernacles. Once the Feast of Tabernacles is over another new and separate feast begins and it is called the Feast of Dedication. It is the 8th Day Feast
Joh 10:22 And the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Yehshua walked in the temple in Solomon’s Porch. 24 Then the Jews encircled Him and said to Him, How long do you make us doubt? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. 25 Yehshua answered them, I told you and you did not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
The Feast of Tabernacles was now over and it was the day after, when people no longer resided in booths. At the end of the 7th day they begin to go back to their homes. It was at this time after the Feast of Tabernacles was over that the Jews surrounded Yehshua during 8th Day Feast called the Feast of Dedication and they continue the same conversation they had been having during the Feast of Tabernacles.
This false notion that this is referring to Chanukah on the 25th of the 9th month is so untrue it is sickening; to know so many have taken John 10:22 and twisted it and misapplied it as they now do, all in order to justify themselves to keep something that was invented by the Pharisees in the Talmud. Those things in the Talmud were not written down until after 200 C.E., long after the Temple had been destroyed in 70 C.E.
The keeping of what today is known as Chanukah (Chanukah in Hebrew is “Dedication”) and justifying it because of John 10:22 is false, as you have just read. Yehshua was not keeping Chanukah on the 25th of the 9th month! He had just finished keeping The Feast of Tabernacles which is one of the Hags we are commanded to go up to Jerusalem and observe. It is followed by the 8th Day Feast also called the Feast of Dedication.
Let me give you something else to consider.
Exo 16:4 Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not. 5 And on the sixth day it shall happen, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather day by day.
The giving of the manna was a way for Yehovah to test the people of Israel and see if they would OBEY Him.
Exo 16:22 And it happened, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, This is that which Jehovah has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to Jehovah. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24 And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses said. And it did not stink, neither was there any worm in it. 25 And Moses said, Eat that today. For today is a sabbath to Jehovah. Today you shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27 And it happened some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather. And they did not find any. 28 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My Laws? 29 See, because Jehovah has given you the sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Each one stay in his place. Let not any one go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Through providing manna on six days of the week but not the seventh, Yehovah was testing His people. But how was He testing them? As noted in verse 4, Yehovah was learning “whether they will walk in My law or not.” Would they choose Yehovah’s way, or their own way? Some immediately failed the test (verses 27-29).
The people were not working on the Sabbath, because there was no manna to be picked up. What they did was not obey Yehovah and believe Him. Yehovah asked them:
How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My Laws?
Week after week for 40 years Yehovah tested the people to see if they would obey Him or not.
Deu 8:2 And you shall remember all the way which Jehovah your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
Deu 8:15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground, where there wasno water, who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you and so that He might prove you, to do you good in your latter end, 17 and so that you might not say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. 18 But you shall remember Jehovah your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, so that He may confirm His covenant which He has sworn to your fathers, as it is today.
Here we are now in the Last Days and Yehovah has poured out His Holy Spirit on each one of you. He again sets His Sabbaths before you as a sign between you and Him, to see if you will obey Him or not. If we are to keep His Torah we will LIVE in it.
Eze 20:10 And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 12 And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sets them apart. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly profaned My Sabbaths. And I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them.
Many of you presume to be smarter than Yehovah. You have developed whole theologies about Chanukah and Yehshua. Yehovah has given you His Sabbaths and all of them are found in Leviticus 23. The weekly Sabbath and the Holy Days. Yes, you say “we keep these,” but then some of you refuse to keep the Sabbatical Year and you justify it, and then you also justify adding other holidays to the ones in Lev 23.
We are in the very last days and Yehovah is TESTING you now to see if you will obey Him or not.
Deu 4:2 You shall not add to the Word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, so that you may keep the commands of Jehovah your God which I command you.
Deu 12:32 All the things I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
Rev 22:18 For I testify together to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book.
When you add other holidays to those in Lev 23 you are endangering yourself and your family to the curses of Lev 26. Look again at what Ezekiel says; “And they greatly profaned My Sabbaths. And I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them.”
It is my strong opinion that Yehovah allowed John to state that it was the “Dedication” and “winter” in order that Yehovah could test you in these last days as to whether or not you would profane His Sabbath by adding to it other holidays. He is proving those who are to be Kings and Priests in the Kingdom. King David will rule over them during the Millennium and King David has never heard of the “Chanukah” festival in the 9th month on the 25th day.
Psa 26:2 Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me; purify my heart and my mind.
Prove your love to Yehovah and keep only what He has said to keep in Lev 23 and Lev 25. Do not add to it.
Now read of the real Dedication which Solomon did and the one Yehshua was keeping a memorial to. The REAL LIGHT came and filled the Temple. Not some imposter light on a candle.
1Ki 8:1 And Solomon gathered the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel were gathered to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came in, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels which were in the tabernacle; even those the priests and the Levites brought up. 5 And King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled to him, were with him before the ark sacrificing sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. 6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah into its place, into the holy place of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubs. 7 For the cherubs spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark. And the cherubs covered the ark and the staves of it above. 8 And they drew out the staves, so that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place, in front of the Holy of Holies. And they were not seen outside. And there they are until today. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it happened when the priests had come out of the Holy of Holies, the cloud filled the house of Jehovah. 11 And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah. 12 And Solomon said, Jehovah said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built a house of loftiness for You, a settled place for You to abide in forever. 14 And the king turned his face around and blessed all the congregation of Israel. And all the congregation of Israel stood. 15 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to David my father, and has fulfilled it by His hand, saying, 16 From the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose any city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, so that My name might be in it. But I chose David to be over My people Israel. 17 And it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. 18 And Jehovah said to my father David, Because it was in your heart to build a house to My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 Only, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall come out of your loins, he shall build the house to My name. 20 And Jehovah has performed His Word which He spoke, and I have risen up instead of my father David. And I sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised. And I have built a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. 21 And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens. 23 And he said, Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like You, in Heaven above or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, 24 who have kept with Your servant David my father what You promised him. You also spoke with Your mouth, and have fulfilled with Your hand, as it is today. 25 And now, Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, what You promised him, saying, There shall not be cut off from you a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel– if your sons take heed to their way so that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me. 26 And now, O God of Israel, I pray You, let Your Word be proved to be true, the Word which You spoke to Your servant David my father. 27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house which I have built? 28 Yet, O, Jehovah my God, You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and to his request, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; 29 for Your eyes to be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. 30 And You shall listen to the cry of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and when You hear, forgive! 31 If any man sins against his neighbor, and if an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and if the oath comes before Your altar in this house, 32 then hear in Heaven, and do, and judge Your servants, to declare the wicked to be wicked, to bring his way on his head, and to declare the righteous to be righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 33 When Your people Israel are crushed before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall turn again to You and confess Your name, and pray, and cry to You in this house, 34 then hear in Heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You gave to their fathers. 35 When the heavens are restrained, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, 36 then hear in Heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, for You shall teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance. 37 If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blasting, mildew, locusts; if there are stripping locusts; if their enemy encircles them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness, 38 any prayer, any supplication from any man of all Your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know. For You, You only, know the hearts of all the sons of Adam. 40 Do this so that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. 41 And concerning a stranger who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes out of a far country for Your name’s sake; 42 for they shall hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your stretched-out arm; and if he shall come and pray toward this house, 43 hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as Your people Israel do, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name. 44 If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to Jehovah toward the city which You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name, 45 then hear in Heaven their prayer and their cry, and maintain their cause. 46 If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them, and have delivered them up before the enemy, and they have been led away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near, 47 yet if they shall think within themselves in the land where they are carried captives, and repent, and pray to You in the land of their captors saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have done wickedly, 48 and so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and if they pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, to the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name, 49 then hear their prayer and their cry in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, 50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their sins which they have done against You, and give them pity before their captors, so that they may have pity on them. 51 For they are Your people, and Your inheritance, which You brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the furnace of iron, 52 for Your eyes shall be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call for to You. 53 For You have separated them from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah. 54 And it happened as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to Jehovah, he rose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant. 57 May Jehovah our God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us, 58 to incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers. 59 And let these my words, with which I have prayed before Jehovah, be near Jehovah our God day and night, so that He may maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel of each day in its day, 60 for all the people of the earth know that Jehovah is God; there is no other. 61 And let your heart be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day. 62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Jehovah. 63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah. 64 On that day the king sanctified the middle of the court before the house of Jehovah. For there he had offered the burnt offering, and the food offering, and the fat of the peace offerings; because the bronze altar before Jehovah was too small to contain the burnt offering, and the food offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65 And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away. And they blessed the king and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that Jehovah had done for David His servant, and for Israel His people.
Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, was and is the Dedication on the 8th day that Yehshua was keeping in John 10:22. Yehovah filled the Temple so that the Priest could not preform their duties. If you understand the meaning of this 8th Day Feast then the fact that Yehovah filled the Temple is extremely significant.
Now let us read about the Feast of Chanukah the Jews keep on the 25th day of the 9th month.
The Talmud ( talmud “instruction, learning”, from a root lmd “teach, study”) is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also traditionally referred to as Shas , a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the “six orders”. The Talmud has two components. The first part is the Mishnah (Hebrew: c. 200 CE), the written compendium of Judaism’s Oral Torah (Torah meaning “Instruction”, “Teaching” in Hebrew). The second part is the Gemara (c. 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Jewish Bible. The terms Talmud and Gemara are often used interchangeably, though strictly speaking that is not accurate.
The whole Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in Tannaitic Hebrew and Aramaic. The Talmud contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including Halakha (law), Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law and is much quoted in rabbinic literature.
Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral. Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah (the written Torah expressed in the Jewish Bible) and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes (megillot setarim), for example, of court decisions. However, this situation changed drastically, mainly as the result of the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth and the Second Temple in the year 70 CE and the consequent upheaval of Jewish social and legal norms. As the Rabbis were required to face a new reality — mainly Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without at least partial autonomy — there was a flurry of legal discourse and the old system of oral scholarship could not be maintained. It is during this period that Rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing.[1][2] The earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, when Rabbi Judah haNasi redacted the Mishnah.
The Oral Torah was far from monolithic; rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel. In general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud.
As you can see the Talmud was not written down until after 200 C.E. That is over 170 years after Yehshua was killed. Now lets read what the Talmud does say about the keeping of Chanukah in the 9th month.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, page 21b
Our Rabbis taught: The commandment of Chanukah requires one light per household; the zealous kindle a light for each member of the household; and the extremely zealous — Beit Shammai maintain: On the first day eight lights are lit and thereafter they are gradually reduced [by one each day]; but Beit Hillel say: On the first day one is lit and thereafter they are progressively increased. Ulla said: In the West [Eretz Yisrael] two amoraim, R. Jose b. Abin and R. Jose b. Zebida, differ concerning this: one maintains, the reasoning of Beit Shammai is that it should correspond to the days still to come, and that of Beit Hillel is that it shall correspond to the days that are gone. But another maintains: Beit Shammai’s reason is that it shall correspond to the bullocks of the Festival [of Tabernacles; i.e. Sukkot], while Beit Hillel’s reason is that we increase in matters of sanctity but do not reduce.
Rabbah b. Bar Hana said: There are two old men in Sidon: one did as Beth Shammai and the other as Beth Hillel: the former gave the reason of his action that it should correspond to the bullocks of the Festival, while the latter stated his reason because we promote in [matters of] sanctity but do not reduce.
Our Rabbis taught: It is incumbent to place the Chanukah lamp by the door of one’s house on the outside; if one dwells in an upper chamber, place it at the window nearest the street. But in times of danger it is sufficient to place it on the table. Raba said: Another lamp is required for its light to be used, yet if there is a blazing fire it is unnecessary. But in the case of an important person, even if there is a blazing fire another lamp is required.
What is the reason for Chanukah? For our Rabbis taught: On the 25th of Kislev begin the days of Chanukah, which are eight, during which lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils in it, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they [the Hasmoneans] searched and found only one cruse of oil which possessed the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient oil for only one day’s lighting; yet a miracle occurred there and they lit [the lamp] for eight days. The following year these days were appointed a Festival with the recitation of Hallel and thanksgiving.
Right there in plain site is the lie that this light stayed lit for 8 days. Now compare this to what it actually says in Maccabees. The miracle of Chanukah never took place. It is made up starting in the Talmud.
[The Second Book of Maccabees 1:1-9 and 10:1-8]
The Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, to their Jewish brethren in Egypt: Greeting and good peace.
May God do good to you, and may God remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants. May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit. May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace. May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil. We are now praying for you here.
In the reign of Demetrius, in the 169th year, we Jews wrote to you in the critical distress which came upon us in those years after Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom and burned the gate and shed innocent blood. We besought the Lord and we were heard, we offered sacrifice and cereal offering and we lit the lamps and we set out the loaves. Now see that you keep the Feast of Booths in the month of Kislev, in the 188th year…
Now Maccabeus and his followers, the Lord leading them on, recovered the Temple and the city and they tore down the altars which had been built in the public square by the foreigners, and also destroyed the sacred precincts. They purified the sanctuary and made another altar of sacrifice. Then striking fire out of flint, they offered sacrifices, after a lapse of two years, and they burned incense and lit lamps and set out the bread of the Presence. When they had done this, they fell prostrate and besought the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, but that if they should ever sin, they might be disciplined by him with forbearance and not be handed over to blasphemous and barbarous nations. It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the 25th day of Kislev. They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the Feast of Booths, remembering how not long before, during the Feast of Booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. Therefore bearing ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. They decreed by public ordinance and vote that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year.
They lit the lamps plural and never mentioned any miracle of it staying lit for 8 days. But they did keep the Feasts of Booths for 8 days at this time because they had not been able to do so for the past two years.
For those who want to read more about this I have the following articles for you.
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