In | Workbook: Silent Years Festival in John

Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

People refer to the period between the last writings of the Old Testament and the coming of Jesus as the “silent years.” While the Bible doesn’t include writings from this time period, we find an interesting reference in the New Testament from an event during these silent years. 

John 10:22 refers to the “Festival of Dedication.” That festival is what we now call Hanukkah. It is a celebration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem when the Maccabean revolt regained control of Jerusalem in 165 bc. During the rededication of the Temple, it is said that the lamps, lit with the last bit of consecrated oil, should have only lasted one night, but they burned for eight days. Thus, the festival is also known as the Festival of Lights.  

The celebration emphasizes the purification of the Temple after it had been defiled by pagan authorities in 167 bc. Thus, the Festival of Dedication was intimately linked to the issue of the Temple’s purification and by God’s indwelling.

Read John 10:22-39.

1. Is there anything in the context of Jesus’ dialogue that may relate to this festival from the silent years? What does this allusion suggest about the way Jesus related to Judaism after the Old Testament?