This all took place during the Feast of Hanukkah, although at the time, there was no Feast of Hanukkah! This is what began the events that led to Hanukkah exactly 3 years later. Exactly 3 years later, on Kislev 25, the Jews in the mountains were able to defeat Antiochus' army and take back the temple and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles that they hadn't been able to properly celebrate for 3 years because the temple and the altar were defiled. So, from that time on, the Jews instituted a SECOND Feast of Tabernacles to be celebrated from Kislev 25 to Tevet 2 in commemoration of the rededication of the temple.

They did the same things on Hanukkah that they did on Tabernacles and history says that the Jews could not even tell the difference between the 2 festivals, because they did the same things at both festivals.

Haggai prophesied 350 years before this that there would be a second Feast of Tabernacles that would start from the 24th day of Kislev. Haggai 2 speaks of the Lord shaking the heavens and the earth on the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, but then the Lord shows Haggai that just as the Jews were given a second Passover if they were defiled and unable to celebrate Passover on time, so there would also be a second Feast of Tabernacles for those who were defiled. He even tells Haggai when this second Feast of Tabernacles would begin, from the 24th day of the 9th month. Sure enough, around 350 years later, a second Feast of Tabernacles is started from the 24th/25th day of the 9th month.




Just as Solomon dedicated the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles and fire fell from Heaven and the Shekhinah glory fell on everyone there, so during the second Feast of Tabernacles, the temple was RE-dedicated (hence, the name Hanukkah, meaning dedication), and the fire did not go out for the entire 8 days, even though there was only enough oil to burn the lampstand for one day.