Hanukkah in the Narrative Chronology of the Fourth Gospel

Abstract

It is almost universally supposed that the narrative chronology of the Fourth Gospel does not turn to Hanukkah until 10.22, but the first explicit reference to ‘the feast of Dedication’ need not represent the point at which the narrative first turns to that feast. This article argues, in turn, for a Hanukkah setting throughout John 10, then throughout chap. 9, and finally throughout chap. 8 (minus vv. 1–11). Thus Jesus' claim to be ‘the light of the world’ (8.12) invokes the symbolism of Hanukkah rather than of Sukkoth.