John 10:22

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication More literally, Now there took place at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication. This feast might be celebrated anywhere, and the pointed insertion of -at Jerusalem" seems to suggest that in the interval between John 10:21 and John 10:22 Christ had been away from the city. It was kept in honour of the purification and restoration of the Temple (b. c. 164) after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes; 1Ma 1:20-60; 1Ma 4:36-59 (note esp. 1Ma 4:36and 1Ma 4:59); 2Ma 10:1-8. Another name for it was -the Lights," or -Feast of Lights," from the illuminations with which it was celebrated. Christian dedication festivals are its lineal descendants.

"The feast was of comparatively recent institution.… It is not a feast the name of which would be likely to occur to any but a Jew; still less the accurate note of place in John 10:23 (-in the temple in Solomon's porch"). Both these verses proclaim the eye-witness. So does the admirable question in the verse following. Attracted by His teachings and His miracles, but repelled by His persistent refusal to assume the Messianic character as they understood it, the Jews ask Jesus directly, -How long, &c." It is such a question as at this period of the ministry was inevitable, and the language in which it is expressed exactly represents the real difficulties and hesitation that the Jews would feel" S. pp. 174, 175.

and it was winter Omit -and," which is wanting in authority, and join -it was winter" to the next verse. The words explain why Jesus was walking under cover.