ἐγκαίνια

From the study of John 10:22

Range of meaning

In this period the word means 'dedication' or 'inauguration' festivities: the ceremonies that put a new or restored altar, building, wall or image into use. It comes from en + kainos ('new'), so the root idea is making something new or renewing it for its purpose. The related verb enkainizō means 'to inaugurate, to renew' (Hebrews 9:18; 10:20). In Jewish usage of Jesus' day, the Enkainia was the eight-day festival starting 25 Kislev that marked Judas Maccabeus' cleansing and rededication of the temple altar. Its Hebrew name is ḥanukkah ('dedication'), from the root ḥ-n-k, 'to dedicate, inaugurate' (Deut 20:5 for dedicating a house; the title of Ps 30, 'a song at the dedication of the house').

Against the English

English versions say 'Feast/Festival of (the) Dedication', which is accurate. But most English readers do not recognise this as Hanukkah, and 'dedication' sounds like a one-time ceremony, such as dedicating a church building. The Greek points to a well-known annual festival of national and religious renewal. The NLT is the only major version that writes 'Hanukkah' outright.

How it drifted

Over centuries of Christian reading the festival's Jewish identity faded from view. The Latin Vulgate just transliterated the word as encaenia. English 'dedication' kept the dictionary meaning but lost the festival's identity.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament the word group is used for the dedication of the tabernacle altar (Num 7:10–11, 84, 88), the second temple (Ezra 6:16–17 = LXX 2 Esdras 6:16–17), Jerusalem's wall (Neh 12:27), and Nebuchadnezzar's statue (Dan 3:2). 1 Maccabees 4:36–59 tells of the altar's rededication on 25 Kislev, three years after Antiochus IV had defiled it (1 Macc 1:54–59), and of the decree that it be kept yearly for eight days 'with gladness and joy' (4:59). 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18 and 10:5–8 describe it being kept 'in the manner of Booths', with palm branches and wreathed wands. Josephus (Antiquities 12.316–325) says it was called 'Lights' (phōta). The Mishnah mentions Hanukkah lamps (m. Bava Qamma 6:6). The story of the oil that lasted eight days first appears much later, in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 21b).