John situates certain events in Jesus' ministry specifically during four Jewish festival seasons: Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles, and Dedication. According to John, Jesus replaces these feasts in his special relationship to the Father, making them obsolete. The Book of Signs [John 1:19-12:50], is important for this study because it is here that John explores the significance of Jesus in light of the symbolism of the Jewish feasts. . . . We will therefore focus our discussion predominately on the Book of Signs, pointing out in the course of our study where the festival motifs are resumed in the Book of Glory [John 13:1-20:31]. --from the Introduction

This study elucidates the role of the Jewish feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and Dedication in John's presentation of Jesus. Gerry Wheaton examines the Fourth Gospel in relation to contemporary Jewish sources and applies his findings to the larger debate surrounding the alleged anti-Jewish posture of the Gospel as a whole.

In this work Michael A. Daise broaches the question of the rationale lying behind the six feasts mentioned in the Gospel of John. He argues that, in an earlier recension of the Fourth Gospel, those feasts were sequenced into a single, liturgical year and, as such, furnished temporal momentum for the concurrent motif of Jesus' 'hour'. After reviewing the feasts as they appear in the narrative, then critiquing the major theories proposed for their purpose, the author presents his key premise that the Passover at John 6:4 is to be read not as a regular Passover, observed on 14 Nisan (first month of the Jewish calendar), but as the 'Second Passover' of Numbers 9:9-14, observed on 14 Iyyar (second month of the Jewish calendar). The law of "hadash" for barley (6:9) requires a date for chapter 6 after the regular Passover; the Exodus manna episode (Exodus 16), on which John 6 largely turns, dates to 15 Iyyar; the contingent character of the Second Passover explains Jesus' absence from Jerusalem in John 6; and, with John 5 and 6 reversed, the chronology of John 2:13-6:71 coheres. On such a reading, the feasts of the entire Fourth Gospel unfold within a single, liturgical year: Passover (2:13), Second Passover (6:4), the unnamed feast/Pentecost? (5:1), Tabernacles (7:2), the Dedication (10:22-23) and Passover (11:55). Inasmuch as this scheme brings chronological design to chapters 2-12, and inasmuch as those same chapters also chronicle the imminent arrival of Jesus' "hour" (2:4; 12:23), an overarching purpose for the feasts emerges; namely, to serve the motif of Jesus' "hour" by marking the movement of time toward its arrival.

Most readers of the New Testament study the great stories of Jesus through the lens of western culture. But how well can we really understand this Jewish teacher if we don't understand his context? In this series of books, Gary Burge uses his extensive knowledge of the first century world and the Middle East to offer insights not available to the average person. Each book will develop important cultural themes and wrap them around well-known New Testament passages. And the result will be insights rarely gained elsewhere. In this fourth volume of the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series, Dr. Burge explores six different Jewish festivals as they were celebrated in the first century and examines how Jesus used the imagery of the festivals to unveil his own mission. Discover the Jewish Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles, and Hanukkah as Jesus knew them.

The Jewish Gospel of John is not, by any standard, another book on Jesus of Nazareth written from a Jewish perspective. It is an invitation to the reader to put aside their traditional understanding of the Gospel of John and to replace it with another one more faithful to the original text perspective. The Jesus that will emerge will provoke to rethink most of what you knew about this gospel. The book is a well-rounded verse-by-verse illustrated rethinking of the fourth gospel. Here is the catch: instead of reading it, as if it was written for 21 century Gentile Christians, the book interprets it as if it was written for the first-century peoples of ancient Israel. The book proves what Krister Stendahl stated long time ago: "Our vision is often more abstracted by what we think we know than by our lack of knowledge." Other than challenging the long-held interpretations of well-known stories, the author with the skill of an experienced tour guide, takes us to a seat within those who most probably heard this gospel read in the late first century. Such exploration of variety of important contexts allows us to recover for our generation the true riches of this marvelous Judean gospel. "A genuine apologetic is one that is true to the texts and the history, akin to the speeches of a defense attorney with integrity. Using the best of contemporary scholarship in first-century Judaic history and contributing much of his own, Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg has demonstrated that the Gospel of John is not an anti-Jewish, but a thoroughly Jewish book." Daniel Boyarin, Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California, Berkeley "Dr. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg places the text of John's Gospel in its authentic context by examining the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, rabbinic literature, and suggesting innovative explanations for the nomenclature, 'the Jews.' His fresh analysis is sure to stir meaningful debate. His creative approach will make an enduring contribution to the discipline of New Testament studies." Brad Young, Professor of Biblical Literature in Judeao-Christian Studies, Oral Roberts University "For some time, research on the Gospels has suffered from stagnation, and there is a feeling that there is not much new that one can say. In light of this, Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg's new commentary on the Gospel of John, with its original outlook on the identity of the original audience and the issues at stake, is extremely refreshing." Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Head of the Talmud and Late Antiquity Department, Tel-Aviv University.

"John situates certain events in Jesus' ministry specifically during four Jewish festival seasons: Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles, and Dedication. According to John, Jesus replaces these feasts in his special relationship to the Father, making them obsolete. The Book of Signs [John 1:19-12:50], is important for this study because it is here that John explores the significance of Jesus in light of the symbolism of the Jewish feasts. . . . We will therefore focus our discussion predominately on the Book of Signs, pointing out in the course of our study where the festival motifs are resumed in the Book of Glory [John 13:1-20:31]." --from the Introduction