And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
And - or rather, 'Now,' as beginning a new subject,
It was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication. Recent interpreters, with few exceptions, conclude, from the silence of the Evangelist, that our Lord must have remained during the whole interval between the Feast of Tabernacles and this of the Dedication-a period of about two months and a half-either in Jerusalem or its immediate neighbourhood. But the opening words of this section - "Now it was at Jerusalem," etc.-imply, we think, the reverse. If our Lord remained so very long at the capital at this time, it was contrary certainly to His invariable practice; and considering how the enmity and exasperation of His enemies were drawing to a head, it does not seem to us very likely. But to suppose, with some harmonists, that our Lord went back during this interval to Galilee, and that a not inconsiderable portion of the matter of the first three Gospels belongs to this period, seems to us against all probability. We therefore take a middle course; and think that our Lord spent the interval between the above festivals partly in Peraea, within the dominions of Herod Antipas (where certainly we find Him at Luke 13:31), and partly in Judea, approaching to the suburbs of the capital (where certainly we find Him at Luke 10:38).
This festival of the Dedication was celebrated between two and three months after the Feast of Tabernacles. It was instituted by Judas Maccabeus, to commemorate the purification of the temple from the profanations to which it had been subjected by Antiochus Epiphanes (165 BC), and kept for eight days, from the 25th Chisleu (about the 20th December) - the day on which Judas began the first joyous celebration of it (1Ma 4:52 ; 1Ma 4:56 ; 1Ma 4:59 , and Josephus Ant. 12: 7,7).
And it was winter - implying some inclemency. Accordingly it is added,