Dedication

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

According to common usage, ‘dedication’ is another word for ‘consecration’. The two words refer to the act of setting apart people or things from the ordinary affairs of life and presenting them to God for his service ( Exodus 13:2;  Exodus 13:12;  Exodus 29:1;  Exodus 29:22;  Numbers 7:10-11;  1 Samuel 1:11;  1 Samuel 1:24-28;  1 Kings 8:63;  1 Chronicles 26:26;  Ezra 6:16-17; for details see Consecration ).

The Jewish festival known as the Feast of Dedication celebrated the rededication of the Jewish temple after the defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC ( John 10:22; for details see Feasts ).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

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 40:1-38   1 Kings 8:1-66   Ezra 6:1 -  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 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The act of setting apart or consecrating to a divine Being, or to a sacred use, often with religious solemnities; solemn appropriation; as, the dedication of Solomon's temple.

(2): ( n.) A devoting or setting aside for any particular purpose; as, a dedication of lands to public use.

(3): ( n.) An address to a patron or friend, prefixed to a book, testifying respect, and often recommending the work to his special protection and favor.

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

A religious ceremony, whereby any person or thing is solemnly consecrated, or set apart to the service of God and the purposes of religion. The use of dedications is very ancient, both among the worshippers of the true God, and among the heathens. In the Scripture we meet with dedications of the tabernacle, altars, &c. Under Christianity dedication is only applied to a church, and is properly the consecration thereof.

See CONSECRATION.

King James Dictionary

DEDICATION, n.

1. The act of consecrating to a divine Being, or to a sacred use, often with religious solemnities solemn appropriation as the dedication of Solomons temple. 2. The act of devoting or giving to. 3. An address to a patron, prefixed to a book, testifying respect and recommending the work to his protection and favor.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a religious ceremony, whereby any person or thing was set apart to the service of God, and the purposes of religion. Dedications of persons, temples, and houses, were frequent among the Jews. See Consecration .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DEDICATION . See House, § 3.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Dedication, a religious ceremony, whereby anything is dedicated or consecrated to the service of God; and it appears to have originated in the desire to commence, with peculiar solemnity, the practical use and application of whatever had been set apart to the divine service. Thus Moses dedicated the Tabernacle in the Wilderness (Exodus 40; Numbers 7); Solomon his temple (1 Kings 8); the returned exiles theirs Herod his. The Maccabees, having cleansed the temple from its pollutions under Antiochus Epiphanes, again dedicated the altar , and an annual festival was established in commemoration of the event. This feast was celebrated not only at Jerusalem, but everywhere throughout the country; in which respect it differed from the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, which could only be observed at Jerusalem.

In , we are told that Jesus was at Jerusalem, walking in Solomon's porch at the time of 'the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.' This is usually supposed to have been the feast commemorating the dedication by Judas Maccabæus, which was celebrated in the month Chisleu, about the winter solstice (answering to the 15th of December). There seems no reason to disturb this conclusion; for the dedication of Solomon's temple was in the seventh month, or autumn; that of Zerubbabel's temple in the month Adar, in the spring; and, although that of Herod's temple was in the winter, we know not that it was celebrated by an annual feast, while the Maccabæan dedication was a festival much observed in the time of Christ.

Not only were sacred places thus dedicated; but some kind of dedicatory solemnity was observed with respect to cities, walls, gates, and even private houses (; Psalms 30 title; ). We may trace the continuance of these usages in the custom of consecrating or dedicating churches and chapels; and in the ceremonies connected with the 'opening' of roads, markets, bridges, etc., and with the launching of ships.