My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
The Jews gather to do battle with gracious words against spiteful ones. This feast, though not divine but human in origin, gave Christ eight days to improve for good purposes. Solomon's porch became His courtroom, where He observed the sanhedrim and stood ready to answer any who sought Him.
AI summary
Commenting on John 10:22-38
Here observe, 1. That all sincere and faithful Christians are Christ's sheep, and he is their great and good shepherd. This relation implies tender affection, powerful protection, and plentiful provision. The tenderness of Christ's affection, towards his sheep, appears by pitying their infirmities, by having a fellow felling with them in their suffering, by suiting their temptations to the degrees of their graces.
The Feast of Dedication commemorates Judas Maccabaeus's purification of the temple after Antiochus Epiphanes defiled it in 165 B.C., celebrated eight days from the twenty-fifth of Chisleu. That it was winter matters: it marks the setting and hints at the coldness of the Jews' hearts against Him.
AI summary
Commenting on John 10:22-42