​​​​​​​Vol. H-0008  No. H-0012 December 2001

CELEBRATE

Our April, 2001 issue entitled “CELEBRATE” focused on the Jewish feast of Passover and the celebration of Easter in the Christian church. Since the publication of that issue the Jewish people have celebrated the other two feasts that Yahweh commanded them to celebrate in Exodus 23:14-16 – Savu’ot and Sukkot. During this month of December they will celebrate Chanukkah and the Christians will celebrate Christmas. We will now take a look at these celebrations.

Shavu'ot (the Festival of the First Fruits or the Feast of Weeks) commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple. Yahweh’s instructions concerning the required offerings for this celebration are described in Leviticus Chapter 23. Shavu'ot is also sometimes known as Pentecost, because it falls on the 50th day after Passover. From the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu'ot is 49 days or 7 full weeks. “You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. … On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.”
(Lev. 23:16, 21) 

The Festival of Sukkot begins on Tishri 15, the fifth day after Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The word "Sukkot" means "booths," and refers to the temporary dwellings in which Yahweh commanded His people Israel to live during this holiday. The name of the holiday is frequently translated "The Feast of Tabernacles." The holiday commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Sukkot is also a harvest festival, and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Ingathering. “On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Lev. 23:39-43)

Chanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a nonkosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: one group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and another group, which were the forerunners of the Pharisees. They joined forces in a revolt against the oppression by the Selucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.

According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. (1) 

As we have stated previously, Yahweh instructed His people Israel to celebrate the three feasts of Passover, First Fruits, and Tabernacles. Obediently, His people Israel continue to celebrate them. There is no mention of Chanukkah in Scripture. However, His people celebrate it annually, also.

The Christian church has chosen to celebrate its own feasts instead of those established by Yahweh for His people. Christmas is one of those feasts. Since the Jewish people do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah we wouldn’t expect them to celebrate Christmas. However, should Christians celebrate Christmas? If you answered yes, then a look at the origin of the Christmas celebration may change your mind. Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua Ben Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost. There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to indicate that Yeshua was born in the fall, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians. By the beginning of the 4th century CE, there was intense interest in choosing a day to celebrate Yeshua's birthday. The western church leaders selected DEC-25 because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods.

Many symbols and practices associated with Christmas are of Pagan origin: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc. Polydor Virgil, an early British Christian, said "Dancing, masques, mummeries, stageplays, and other such Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalian and Bacchanalian festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them." (2) A fascinating book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" discusses the pragmatic political motives of the fourthcentury Roman emperor

Constantine, who first moved the celebration of Christmas to December 25. The authors claim that Constantine followed the cult of Sol Invictus, a monotheistic form of sun worship that originated in Syria and was imposed by Roman emperors on their subjects a century earlier. "His primary, indeed obsessive, objective was unity -- unity in politics, in religion, and in territory. A cult or state religion that included all other cults within it obviously helped to achieve this objective...In the interests of unity, Constantine deliberately chose to blur the distinctions among Christianity, Mithraism [another Sun cult of the time] and Sol Invictus..."

That's why Constantine decreed that Sunday -- "the venerable day of the sun" would be the official day of rest. (Early Christians before then celebrated their holy day on the Jewish Sabbath -- Saturday.)  That's also why -- by his edict, the book claims -- the celebration of Jesus' birthday was moved from January 6th (Epiphany today) to December 25, celebrated by the cult of Sol Invictus as Natilis Invictus, the rebirth of the sun (confused yet? don't be!) 

And are you wondering about the concept of the 12 Days of Christmas? The midwinter festival of the ancient Egyptians celebrated the birth of Horus (the prototype of the earthly king) son of Isis (the divine mother-goddess). It was 12 days long, reflecting their 12-month calendar. This concept took firm root in many other cultures. In 567 AD, Christians adopted it. Church leaders proclaimed the 12 days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season. (3)

The first quote comes from a “religious” source. The second comes from a “pagan” source. Yet both dispute the accuracy of Yeshua’s birth on December 25th. Please read on.

It is also generally accepted that the date of Christmas is an arbitrary one; that it was chosen to coincide with the pagan solstice celebration, as a way of "converting" the "heathens" (or country folk, heath-dwellers) to the Christian way of life.

The first written record of the reason for this holiday's occurrence on December 25th was in 354 AD, in Rome, when one scholar wrote: "It was customary for pagans to celebrate the birth of the sun...when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnized on that day." 

Gift giving seems to originate in another December holiday. The feast of Saturnalia (which honored the god Saturn) was long established by the Romans before they invaded Britain, and was celebrated from December 12-17. It was a time when masters waited on servants at mealtime, and gifts of light were given, particularly candles (this may have been in honor of a solar deity for the upcoming solstice). Other traditional gifts exchanged were coins, honey, figs and pastry. Honey and figs were believed to be aphrodisiacs, but also they were highly prized for their nutritional value (honey is a natural preservative and is believed to restore youthfulness to the skin). The giving of coins predates the traditions in England of handing out coins to the less fortunate, or the opening of a lord's purse to feed his household servants. These Roman customs surrounding the use of candles, and the exchange of gifts at midwinter, shows that many later Yuletide traditions may have originated in the older festival of Saturnalia. It may also be where the tradition of wassailing and caroling door to door, in expectation of gifts of money, arose, but many of these customs developed somewhat naturally over the years out of various practices by both the nobility and the peasant classes of England. (4) The early true church never heard of Christmas. Centuries passed before the large, apostate church ever so gradually began adapting purely pagan practices and mythology to a time they originally called "the epiphany" (relating to Christ's baptism, which they erroneously believed occurred early in January). Later, some writers began urging a celebration at the same time as the pagan winter solstice observances. This was done for the simple reason that so many pagans were already accustomed to "joyous," sometimes "riotous" orgies of feasting at the time of the winter solstice.

The Britannica, Eleventh

Edition, states, "In Britain the 25th of December was a festival long before the conversion to Christianity [and therefore a pagan festival], quoting Bede, who said the pagans called it "the mother's night." This may be very significant indeed, as will be seen later. The Puritans in England, as late as 1644, by an act of Parliament, declared "Christmas" on December 25th to be an "heathen festival," and to show their contempt, ordered people to fast on that day. Their descendants outlawed any celebration of the pagan December 25th in New England up until only about 22 years before my father...was born, in 1892! Actually, following their custom of superimposing "Christian" observances upon purely pagan, heathen celebrations, the apostate church eventually established December 25th as the birthday of Jesus Christ in order to make it easy for hundreds of thousands of Teutons and others, who were accustomed to feasting on that day in commemoration of "the Saturnalia," or the "birthday of the invincible sun," to embrace nominal Christianity. (5)
Once again we see both the “religious” and the “pagan” sources are in agreement with the fact that Yeshua was not born on December 25th. Then why does the Christian church celebrate this holiday? Because their parents celebrated it; and their parents also did; and their parents also celebrated; and their parents, and their parents, and their parents ….  I trust you understand the point we are trying to make. Those who celebrate Christmas do so because Christmas has been celebrated from generation to generation. The Christian church has perpetuated the myth of Yeshua’s birth on December 25th, to its disgrace. Each year churches are decorated with evergreens, candles and ribbons, as well as a nativity scene depicting Yeshua in a manger, His mother Mary and His father Joseph. In an effort to separate the commercialism of Christmas gift-giving from the “religious” aspect of Christmas, the church reminds its people that ‘Jesus is the Reason for the Season.’ To those of you who are willing to hear the truth, we say JESUS IS NOT THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! Yeshua was not born on December 25th. There is no mention of a Christmas celebration in Scripture. Even the name ‘Christmas’ is not scriptural. The name originates from the Roman Catholic designation of Christ’s Mass, celebrated on December 25th. So the answer to the question “Should Christians celebrate pagan Christmas?” is a resounding NO!

The information that we have mentioned is merely a sampling of the vast information that is available about the true origins of the Christmas celebration. It would be profitable for you to do some searching yourself on the Internet or in a library. You will find more information than you will be able to read. When you complete your research then go to the Scriptures. There you will find the Truth about the birth of Yeshua.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

CHOICE

Choosing not to celebrate Christmas is a difficult choice to make. It’s a choice that reminds us of Joshua’s statement of obedience. “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15) Do we choose to celebrate those holidays and feasts that everyone else is celebrating or do we choose to celebrate those that Yahweh has commanded us to celebrate? If we are to be the obedient children that our Father Yahweh desires us to be we will choose His ways and not our own.

Many in the organized Christian church believe they have replaced Biblical Israel and are now the present-day Israel. This belief conveniently allows them to think they receive the blessings of the original Israelites. It would seem reasonable, then, that the church, as “Israel”, would celebrate the feasts that Yahweh instructed the Israelites to celebrate. However, they do not. Instead, they celebrate the holidays (Christmas and Easter) that the early church fathers chose to replace the feasts that Yahweh established. How easy it is to pick and choose only those parts that are pleasing enough to keep and disregard that which is not!

CURRENT EVENTS

Again, for the second year in a row, there will be no celebration of Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Yeshua. The current war between the Israelis and the Palestinians has caused the events to be cancelled. Israeli troops recently withdrew from this area after moving in to stop terrorist activity originating from here. The lack of tourists has severely affected the economy of the city. Perhaps, if the terrorists would cease their activities, the tourists would return!

FROM THE BRIDEGROOM

(Many are the ways of the world, but the world’s ways are NOT to be our ways.)

“Where are you, My children? Why is the narrow path so empty? So many of you have stopped along the way to pick the flowers, and in doing so, have left My path. I long for you to rejoin Me. No other path will bring you to Me. I so long for you to be with Me. Come My children, come to Me. I desire your heart to beat with Mine. We long to have you here with Us.”  (September 9, 1998)

Baruch Ha ba B’Shem Adonai

Blessed Is He Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord

(1) Condensed from Judaism 101 (www.jewfaq.org)
(2) http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstic e.htm
(3) http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html
http://www.witchvox.com/holidays/yule/yulehist ory.html
http://www.gtaea.org/christmas.htm