Bible Dictionary
DEDICATION, FEAST OF
The Feast of Dedication was an eight-day Jewish festival beginning on the twenty-fifth of Kislev. It commemorated Judas Maccabeus’s cleansing and rededication of the temple and altar after their defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes.
Biblical Usage
Jesus was present in the temple at Jerusalem during this winter feast, when He delivered the discourse recorded in John 10:24 and following. The festival is therefore a setting for His teaching in the temple.