The notation of time and place in verses 22–23 is intended to set the stage for a new encounter between Jesus and the Jerusalem authorities, not to locate the events of 9:1–10:19. The time frame of Jesus’ ministry, especially in Jerusalem, is provided by the Jewish religious festivals. The last of these to be mentioned was the autumn Feast of Tabernacles (7:2), the setting of chapters 7–8. Now it is winter and time for the Feast of Dedication (known today as Hanukkah); the events of 9:1–10:19 are assumed to have taken place in late autumn, between the two festivals.

The Feast of Dedication celebrated Jewish independence and the recapture and reconsecration of the temple in 165 B.C. under Judas Maccabaeus after its desecration by the Greeks under the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes (see …