Numbers 7:1 says: “Now it came to pass when Moses had finished setting up the Tabernacle that he anointed it and consecrated it and all of its furnishings and the Altar and all its utensils so he anointed them and he consecrated them.” Though this might be a familiar verse for many Bible readers, what is less known is that this was the very first Hanukkah!
The Hebrew word for “consecrated” in this verse, also translated as “dedicated,” is hanukkah. Moses dedicated the altar, and afterward, all the tribal leaders came forward and made their offerings on behalf of their tribes. Later in Numbers 7:84, these are specifically called “dedication offerings” for the altar.
The modern celebration known as “Hanukkah” comes from a later story that took place under the Greeks during the intertestamental period, and that is referred to in the Gospel of John 10:22–23:
Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s Porch.
The Feast of Dedication commemorated the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire in 164 BC and the rededication of the altar of the temple back to the God of Israel.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, an evil, oppressive ruler, had defiled the Second Temple in Jerusalem by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing non-kosher animals on it. Judas Maccabeus led a revolt with a band of freedom fighters to reclaim Jerusalem, cleanse the temple, and rededicate the altar back to the One True God of Israel.
In Numbers 7:1, we see the original pattern for this act of dedication in the very first consecration of the altar in the tabernacle.
Hearing God’s Voice
With the tabernacle consecrated and the tribal offerings completed, we see the ultimate purpose for all this preparation:
Now when Moses went into the Tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the Ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him. (Numbers 7:89)
All the offerings, the dedication, and the sacrifices served this single end: to allow God to communicate with His people. Notice that Moses heard God’s voice speaking directly to him. God was not distant and terrifying but close and intimate. Notice, too, where God spoke from—not from the judgment seat, but from the Mercy Seat.
The Bible tells of only a few times where God spoke audibly to people, usually to a collective group, and most times, it was loud and distressing. In Exodus 19–20, for example, God spoke the Ten Commandments audibly to millions of Israelites gathered at the base of Mount Sinai. The event was accompanied with smoke, lightening, and a voice like a trumpet and was so terrifying the people begged Moses to speak to them instead, for fear they would die (Exodus 20:19).
When Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven spoke over the crowd (Matthew 3:17). At the transfiguration in Matthew 17:5, a voice spoke to Peter, James, and John, who were so terrified that they fell face down. In Jerusalem, when Jesus prayed “Father, glorify Your name,” a voice replied to the crowd from heaven that some witnesses said “thundered.”
God also spoke to individuals, such as Adam and Eve in the garden, Noah with instructions for building the ark, Abraham (several times), Samuel as a young child, Elijah, the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, and John while exiled on Patmos: “I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,” John recalled in Revelation 1:10.
While these people all heard God, Numbers 12:8 tells us with Moses, God spoke “face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings.” God even allowed Moses to catch a glimpse of His image on Mount Sinai.
Something separated Moses from everyone else.
Why God Spoke with Moses Face to Face
A few verses earlier in Numbers 12, we learn why Moses’ relationship with God was so unique:
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. (v. 3, emphasis added)
Humility is a quality that our “selfie society” does not esteem today; our culture tells us it’s all about “me, me, me”—how I look, what I'm doing, what I'm saying—and showing it off to the world. We want people to follow us on social media, to be interested in our personal lives, and to watch us. We want to be lifted up above others.
But Moses shows us a different way, and it isn’t about thinking less of yourself—it’s about thinking of yourself less. It’s a posture of surrender to self so that a person can be filled with God’s presence. Moses didn’t seek accolades, position, a platform, or a following—he sought the face of God. He knew how low he was and that God could lift him high—and because of his contrite spirit, God allowed him to hear His very voice—the voice that spoke creation into being.
The greatest leader in Israel's history—the man who stood down Pharaoh and parted the Red Sea—was not defined by his ego, but by his emptiness of self. Humility, not self-promotion, is what made Moses special to God.
Humility Required to Follow God
This same humility wasn’t just a personal trait of Moses; it was the exact lesson God needed the entire nation of Israel to learn. We see this clearly in Numbers 9, which describes a peculiar scene:
Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. (Numbers 9:15–16)
In the Bible, this imagery of the cloud and pillar of fire reflects God’s presence. Verses 17 and 23 tell us that when the cloud or the pillar of fire began to lift, it was time to pack up and go because God was on the move, and wherever the cloud settled, “there the children of Israel would pitch their tents.”
This absolute reliance on God’s instruction and pacing was essential preparation for entering the promised land—it was a daily exercise designed to break Israel’s self-will and teach them to move only at His command.
However, while millions of Israelites had to look outward and upward to discern God’s will, Moses, the humblest man on earth, simply walked inside the tent of meeting to hear God’s quiet voice from the Mercy Seat and know what He was doing.
Conclusion
Long before Hanukkah became associated with oil and menorahs, it was about cleansing the place where God meets man. Paul tells us that as believers, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Just as Moses and Judas Maccabeus refused to let God’s altar be defiled, we, too, need an intentional rededication of our hearts. This requires a continual commitment to step out of the spotlight of self-promotion, look to the Mercy Seat, allow God to cleanse our “temples,” and rely on Him for everything—always remembering that the highest place we can ever reach is found when we are low enough to let God lead.
