DEDICATION
A religious ceremony by which any person, place, or thing was devoted to a holy purpose. Thus the tabernacle and the first and second temples were dedicated to God, Exodus 1:40-38; 1 Kings 1:8-66; Ezra 1:6-22. The Jews also practiced a certain dedication of walls, houses, etc., Deuteronomy 20:5; Nehemiah 12:27. The "feast of the dedication" was a yearly commemoration of the cleansing and rededication of the temple, when polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes, John 10:22.