John 10:22

Feast of the dedication. [At the Feast of Dedication, John 10:22-42. See Closing Peraean Ministry; The Ministry of Our Lord] This feast was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus to celebrate the cleansing of the Temple and the restoration of its services following the defilement by Antiochus Ephiphanes (see on Dan. 11:14). According to 1 Mace. 4:59 “Judas and his brethren with the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, with mirth and gladness.” Josephus says the festival was called “the festival of Lights” (Antiquities xii. 7.7 [325]). It was celebrated in somewhat the same manner as the Feast of Tabernacles (2 Mace. 10:6, 7). The month of Casleu (Kislev, or Chisleu) corresponds to our Nov./Dec. (see Vol. II, p. 116). In rabbinical literature the feast is called Hanukkah, meaning “dedication.”

It was winter. According to the Talmud (Baba Mezi‘a 106b, Soncino ed., p. 608) winter extended from about the middle of Kislev to the middle of Shebat (about the middle of December to the middle of February). The word for winter (cheimon) may refer either to the season or simply to wet, stormy weather. John may have introduced the remark simply to show that Jesus was in Solomon’s porch (v. 23) because the weather was inclement at that season.