John 10:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But it is necessary to consider this whole discourse from the beginning. "Then," it says, "the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter."

This was a great and public feast. The Jews celebrated with great zeal the day on which the temple had been restored after their return from the long Persian captivity.

In Chrysostom, Babylonia and Assyria are often called Persia.

This was a great and public feast. The Jews celebrated with great zeal the day on which the temple had been restored after their return from the long Persian captivity.

Christ also came to this feast. At this time He often came to Judea, because the time of the Passion was already at the door.

What dedication was there in Jerusalem? Some say that they celebrated the dedication on the day when Solomon’s temple was built. Others say otherwise, that the Evangelist here means the dedication of the temple built after the return from captivity. This feast was bright and crowded. Since the city, after a long captivity, received in the temple as it were its own adornment, the day of the temple’s dedication was regarded as a day of joy. It was winter, and after this winter, in the first month of spring, the Lord suffered. Therefore the Evangelist noted this time to show that the time of the Passion was near, and that for this reason the Lord came to Jerusalem.

By “Dedication” here one must understand either the first feast of the temple’s consecration, which Solomon performed, or the later occasion when Zerubbabel and Joshua built the temple after the departure from Babylon.

I have already told you, beloved, and you ought to remember well, that the holy Evangelist John did not wish us always to be fed with milk, but also to taste solid food (cf. 1 Cor 3:2).

Yet whoever still remains unable to taste the solid food of the word of God should be fed with the milk of faith. Let him not hesitate to accept by faith the word he cannot understand.

Faith is merit, meritum, and understanding is reward, praemium. In the very labor of attentive listening, the sharpness of our mind is honed.

Thus it becomes purified from human delusion and opened to the word of God.

Labor is not rejected where love abides. You know that one who loves does not suffer burdens. No labor is heavy for those who have love.

“Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem,” that is, the feast of the dedication of the temple. Every year the Jews solemnly celebrated the day on which Zerubbabel finished building the second temple, after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity. “And it was winter.” Such a winter also existed in the inward condition of the Jews, because of their unbelief. The time of the feast is indicated because the completion of the first temple was also celebrated. But that feast was kept in late autumn.

The first consecration of this temple, by Solomon, took place in autumn. The second, by the priests Zerubbabel and Joshua, took place in spring. The third, by Judas Maccabaeus, took place in winter. Then, as it is written, it was established that this consecration should be repeated every year with solemn rites.

The Feast of Dedication. “Now the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” The Feast of Dedication was established by Judas Maccabaeus about 160 years before the Nativity of Christ. It commemorated the restoration, cleansing, and consecration of the temple, which Antiochus Epiphanes had defiled when he captured Jerusalem (1 Macc 6:59). This feast began on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, about mid-December, and continued for eight days.

Winter had come with its rains and damp, cold winds. At the end of the month Chislev, the Jews had a new great feast, the Feast of the Dedication of the temple.

It commemorated the joyful event for the people when the temple was renewed by Judas Maccabeus after its dreadful defilement by the mad lawlessness of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Like Pascha and the Feast of Tabernacles, it was celebrated for a whole week. It was accompanied by great solemnities, heightened further by the custom of lighting lamps.

For this reason the feast itself was sometimes called the Feast of Lights.

The Savior again found it possible to be in Jerusalem at this feast. Among the gathered people He would once more proclaim His messianic dignity.

He proclaimed this under very remarkable circumstances.

"Then the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem." A completely new discourse begins, spoken a considerable time after the preceding one.

Everything described in Jn 7:10-10 took place during the Lord's stay in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2). It followed one event after another, with only small intervals, as the continuous course of the narrative shows.

It is not evident that the Lord left Jerusalem during this time.

But a considerable time passed between the discourse on the good shepherd (Jn 10:1-21) and the discourse at the Feast of the Dedication of the temple.

From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Feast of Dedication there were about two months. Where did the Lord spend them?

"Then the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's Porch" (Jn 10:22-23).

The Feast of the Dedication of the temple was established in memory of the consecration of the temple after its defilement by the paganism of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:32, 56, 59; 2 Macc 10:6-8).

It was celebrated from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, from December 15.

The Jews could keep this feast in their homes, but many of the pious went to Jerusalem to celebrate it. The feast lasted eight days, and houses were illumined with lamps (Josephus, Antiquities 12.7).

For those unfamiliar with Jewish customs, the Evangelist notes the time of the feast. By this he explains why the Savior walked in Solomon's Porch.

From the middle of Chislev a cold wind blew and rain fell. Solomon's Porch was a colonnade with marble columns on the eastern side of the temple, by the magnificent eastern gate (Josephus, War 6.12).

In Greek the feast is called εγκαὶνια. It commemorates the cleansing and renewal of the ancient temple of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes.

The day of renewal was celebrated on the twenty-fifth of Chislev, in December, and lasted seven days, according to 1 Macc 4 and Josephus.

This feast was also called the Feast of Lamps, according to Josephus.

In Josephus's reference and in his brief excerpt from Hecataeus of Abdera (Against Apion 1.8), it is evident that this Greek, who lived soon after Alexander the Great, still saw the ancient temple of Zerubbabel.

Yet he described it very unclearly and superficially.