It is the wrong time of year to talk about Hanukkah, but I tripped over this in a study I was doing and thought I would share…. Blessings to you. God is bigger than we can imagine… There is more insight and meaning in the Bible than we begin to grasp. God has much more for us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altar_(Bible)
After their (the Jews) return from the Babylonian captivity it (the altar) was re-erected (Ezra 3:3-6) where it had formerly stood. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes pillaged Jerusalem, (165 BC) he defiled the Altar of Burnt Offering by erecting a pagan altar upon it. Judas Maccabeus renewed the altar when he re-took Jerusalem. Since the existing altar had been defiled by the blood of pagan sacrifices the old stones of the altar were removed and replaced with new, unhewn ones. However, since the old stones had been previously sanctified by the Jewish sacrifices they could not be moved to an unclean place; so they remained on the Temple Mount, "until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them." (1 Maccabees 4:41-47).
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2010:22-42&version=NIV
John 10:22-42
Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah - 25th of Keslev - around December - remembers the Antiochus Epiphanes defiled temple and the restoration) at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[b]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, (interesting that on Solomon's porch on the temple mount that there were stones just lying around, in a place fastidiously clean) 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.
http://www.letusreason.org/doct4.htm
But really it is the feast of miracle’s which is its real emphasis.
Jn.10:22-24: describe for us what happened at this time Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's’ porch, the people asking him if you are the Christ tell us plainly.
In 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.” He attributes all the miracles to himself. This is to have the people to come to his person and not follow his miracles his miracles authenticated his person. But the people wanted the show and not the person nor his message. Their reaction to Jesus stating “I and my Father are one” was in vs.31-33 “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 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.” The people finally found out what to do with the stones of the temple that were desecrated from Antiochus and put aside when the Messiah would come. They were used to be thrown at the Messiah for telling them the truth that he was God. The stones that were torn down because of the temple desecration by an abomination were then used against the messiah who was the temple made without hands.
