22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.[410] [410] Acts 3:11; 5:12. 24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. =22-24. The feast of the Dedication.= A Jewish feast instituted by Judas Maccabeus, in commemoration of the cleansing of the second temple and altar, after they had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes. The profanation took place B. C. 167, the purification B. C. 164. The festival commenced on the 25th day of the ninth month, Kislev, answering to our December, and lasted eight days. It was also called the feast of Lights, from the fact that the Jews illuminated their houses as long as the feast lasted. Instituted by the Maccabean dynasty, and observed chiefly by the more rigid Judeans, it afforded to Christ an audience only of the more narrow-minded and bigoted of the Jews, a fact which must be borne in mind in studying his teaching on this occasion.--=It was winter.=--The fact is stated to explain our Lord’s walking in Solomon’s portico. For description and illustration of this portico, see Acts 5:12, note. This minute detail, the exact locality where he gave this instruction, is one of the many indications which this Gospel affords of being written by an eye-witness.--=The Judeans therefore surrounded him.= The verb (κυκλόω) is generally used in a hostile sense, _e. g._, of armies encompassing a city (Luke 21:20; Heb. 11:30; Rev. 20:9). This is the meaning here; an excited and threatening crowd hedged about Jesus as he was quietly walking in the porch. “Their fixed design was, not to leave him at liberty till he should have uttered the decisive word.”--(_Godet._) This was the earliest manifestation of that design which was finally accomplished when the oath was administered to Jesus by the High Priest, and he was adjured to say whether he was the Son of God (Matt. 26:63, note).--=How long dost thou keep our souls in suspense?= This English idiom almost literally answers to the Greek idiom (τὴν ψυκὴν αἴρεις), which is still more exactly, _How long dost thou keep our souls lifted up?_ _i. e._, with expectation and uncertainty. Commingled and contradictory feelings in the crowd were probably represented by this question; some hoped that Jesus was the Messiah and desired to compel him to declare himself; others were enraged with him, and desired to extort some utterance which would give them the opportunity to condemn him for blasphemy, or to excite the mob against him. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not; the[411] works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. [411] ch. 5:36. 26 But[412] ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. [412] ch. 8:47.