Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 25, 26. & Antiq. l. 15. c. 14.DEDICATION, a religious ceremony, whereby any Place, Temple, Altar, or vessel is consecrated to the worship of God. Moses dedicated the Tabernacle which he Exod. xl. Numb. vii.built in the wilderness. He likewise consecrated the vessels which were set apart for the service of the Tabernacle, and the worship of the Lord. Solomon solemnly dedicated 1 Kings viii.the Temple which he erected. The Israelites, who returned from the Babylonish captivity, dedicated the new Temple Ezra vi. 16, 17.which they built, and upon the day of this dedication sacrificed a great number of 1 Mac. iv. 52, 53, 54, &c.victims. The Maccabees having cleansed the Temple, which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes, again dedicated the Altar; and this is believed to be the Dedication which the Jews continued to celebrate in the winter, and at which our Lord was one day present, as is observed in St. John x. 22.John’s Gospel. The Temple likewise rebuilt by Herod was dedicated; it was the most beautiful and magnificent of any that were built after the Jews returned from their captivity. Herod celebrated the dedication of it with great solemnity; and in order to make the festival on this occasion more august, he appointed it to be performed upon the anniversary day of his accession to the crown. Now he was declared King towards the end of the year 3964. before Jesus Christ 36. before the vulgar Æra 40. and the Temple which he built was dedicated at the end of the 32d year of Herod, of the world 3996, four years before the birth of Jesus Christ. It is very probably of this Dedication of the Temple, that there is mention made in Saint John, which was celebrated in the winter, and at which Jesus Christ was present.See Bassage’s Antiquit. des Juifs, t. 1. P. 103. Nehem. xii. 27. Deut. xx. 5.
Not only sacred places were thus dedicated, but cities, walls and the gates belonging to them; and lastly, the houses of private persons. When Nehemiah had finished the walls and gates of Jerusalem, he dedicated them in a solemn manner. The title of the xxix Psalm implies, that it was sung at the dedication of David’s house. And Moses ordered proclamation to be made upon the day of battle at the head of the Army, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. This dedication Vide Chald. ad Deut. vi. Talmud. Maimon. Halac Tephilim. Deut. vi. 9, 10, 11.was performed principally, according to the Rabbins, by pronouncing a certain blessing, while some particular words of the Law written upon parchment, rolled up in a cane or hollow stick, were fasten’d on the doorpost.
From hence the custom of dedicating Churches, Oratories, Chapels and Altars took its rise among Christians: a custom practis’d among all people of all religions. But we confine ourselves to what relates more particularly to the Holy Scriptures.