Dedication

The idea of withdrawing (per- sons, places, things) from a common and setting apart to a sacred use, which seems to be the original connotation of the important Sem. root thp, is embodied in various expressions of EV, Bach as consecrate, dedicate, devote, hallow (holy, etc.), sanctify. Of the first two we may say that the general usage is to apply 'consecrate' and 'con- secration ' to the setting apart of persons, and 'dedicate' and 'dedication' to the setting apart of things.

Accordingly, we read of silver being 'dedicated unto J"' (Jg 17'), so that it could no longer be used for other than sacred purposes, of 'vessels of silver, and ves.sels of gold, and vessels of briiss (nyn))' so dedicated or set apart by David (2SS'"-" = 1 Ch I8'«", 1 K7'"=2Ch5'), just as wo read of the dedication of a liowl 'of the first (quality) of copper (n^'nj)' to Haal-I.ebaiion {VIS, Tab. iv.; cf. Mesha's inscription, lines 17, 18, m.T -^^ vessels of J" dedicated to Cheinosli).

The same Hob. word is used of the dedication of the 'tent of meeting' (Ex 29", EV 'sanctify'), of the altar of burnt- oflering (Ex 29"), and of other parts of the fur- niture (Ex 40'"), all as described in Lv 8'""-. In another ref. to this dedication (so EV, but KVra dedication-gift, Nu 7»*. saj ^yg jj^gj meet with the ."ijjq Hdnuklcah (for wh. see Dillmann in loro, Jo. Selden, De Synedriis, 1679, bk. iii. p. 148 fi'., and the next art.)

Other dedication ceremonies in OT are the dedication of Solomon's temple, related in detail, 1 K8 (where note v."" -^jri, {v^Kalviaii/, EV dedi- cate, but v.'cnp,i77la<je>', EV hallow), the dedication of the second temple (Ezr 6'"") and of the wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12^). The last passage is of in- terest, moreover, as showing that the completion of buildings of a more secular character was also the occasion of a dedicatory service.

That this holds good, even of a private house, is to be in- ferred from Dt2(P. For much curious information on this practice among other ancient peoples, and on its continuation in later times, see Selden, op. cit. (cf. Consecration). A. R. S. Kennedy. DEDICATION, The Feast of the (rb. c^raioia Jn 10^, 6 dyKaivta^o^ toO dvuiaar-qpiov 1 M.ac 4"*^), was instituted by Judas Maccabajus (B.C.

104) in com- memoration of the purification of the temple and altar after they had been [lolluted by Antiochus E])i[)hanes (1 Mac 4°"). It was to be 'kept from year to year by the space of eight days from the live and twentieth day of the month Chislev ' (about the time of the winter solstice). The Feast of the Ded.

is only once mentioned in NT (Jn lO-''), and in this passage there is an incidental reference to the season of the year, apparently to explain why it was that Jesus was walking under cover instead of in the open air. This is one of the numerous instances in which the author of the Fourth Gospel shows a close acquaintance with Jewish customs.

Westcott thinks that the title chosen by our Lord in Jn 9' may refer to the lighting of lamj)S at this feast, no less than to the ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles. This illumi- nation was so prominent a feature in the Feast of the Ded. that it was sometimes called the Feast of Lights (Jos. Ant. XII. vii. 7). Josephus, however, does not mention the illumination in private houses, which has been a marked feature of the feast from the end of the 1st cent, to the present time.

According to Maimonides, every house should set up at least one light. Those who did honour to the command should set up a light for each person in the house, and those who aid mon^ honour still should begin with one light for each per.ion, and double the number each night (Liglitfoot, Hnr. Heb. in loc). Another school directed that eight lights should be used on the first night, and the number diminished by one each night. The feast lasted eight days.

The reference in 2 Mac 10" seems to show that the points of resemblance between some of the ordinances of this feast and the Feast of Tabernacles were not accidental, but were designed from the first. The Feast of Dedication, however, was unlike the great feasts, in that it could be celebrated anywhere and did not require the worshipper to go up to Jerusalem. The words of the Jews in Jn IC would natur- ally be suggested by the direction which this fiast would give to mens thoughts.

The hymn wliich is at present used in Jewish synagogues during its continuance records the successive deliver- ances of Israel, and contains a prayer for yet another. J. II. KENNEDY. DEEM was once in freq. use, but is now almost extinct. Even in AV it occurs but twice. Wis 13' ' deemed either lire or wind or the swift air, or the • The title of Pa 30 moat probahly refers to the dedicatioD by Judua Maccaba)u8 (see Baelhi;en in'loco, and next art.)

586 DEEP DEGREE circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern the world ' {iviiuaav, RV ' thought'), and Ac 27" ' the shipmen deemed (ujrffo'ow) that they drew near to some country,' though Wyclif has the word and its cognates often, and uses it with fine effect. Thus 1 Co 112»si-»a 'for he thatetith and drynkith onworthili etith and drinkith dome to hym, not wiseli demynge the bodi of the Lord.

And if we demeden wiseli us silf we schulden not be demed, but while we ben denied of the Lord we ben chas- tisid, that we be not dampned with this world.' RV gives ' surmised ' for ' deemed ' in Ac 27", but 'deemed' for 'as' in Ezr 2«^ Neh 7" ' therefore were they deemed polluted and put from the priesthood' (Heb. simply 'and were polluted from the priesthood '). J. Hastings.