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Chapter 52
The Annual Feasts
[This chapter is based on Leviticus 23.]
THERE were three annual assemblies of all Israel for worship at the
sanctuary. Exodus 23:14-16. Shiloh was for a time the place of these
gatherings; but Jerusalem afterward became the center of the nation's
worship, and here the tribes convened for the solemn feasts.
The people were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, that were eager to
seize upon their lands; yet three times every year all the able-bodied
men and all the people who could make the journey were directed to leave
their homes and repair to the place of assembly, near the center of the
land. What was to hinder their enemies from sweeping down upon those
unprotected households, to lay them waste with fire and sword? What was
to prevent an invasion of the land, that would bring Israel into
captivity to some foreign foe? God had promised to be the protector of
His people. "The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear
Him, and delivereth them." Psalm 34:7. While the Israelites went up to
worship, divine power would place a restraint upon their enemies. God's
promise was, "I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy
borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to
appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." Exodus 34:24.
The first of these festivals, the Passover, the feast of unleavened
bread, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year,
corresponding to the last of March and the beginning of April. The cold
of winter was past, the latter rain had ended, and all nature rejoiced
in the freshness and beauty of the springtime. The grass was green on
the hills and valleys, and wild flowers everywhere brightened the
fields. The moon, now approaching the full, made the evenings
delightful. It was the season so beautifully pictured by the sacred
singer:
"The winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance." Song of Solomon 2:11-13, R.V.
Throughout the land bands of pilgrims were making their way toward
Jerusalem. The shepherds from their flocks, the herdsmen from the
mountains, fishers from the Sea of Galilee, the husbandmen from their
fields, and sons of the prophets from the sacred schools--all turned
their steps toward the place where God's presence was revealed. They
journeyed by short stages, for many went on foot. The caravans were
constantly receiving accessions, and often became very large before
reaching the Holy City.
Nature's gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel and gratitude to
the Giver of all good. The grand Hebrew psalms were chanted, exalting
the glory and majesty of Jehovah. At the sound of the signal trumpet,
with the music of cymbals, the chorus of thanksgiving arose, swelled by
hundreds of voices:
"I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
Our feet are standing
Within thy gates, O Jerusalem. . . .
Whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, . .
To give thanks unto the name of Jehovah. . . .
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
They shall prosper that love thee." Psalm 122:1-6, R.V.
As they saw around them the hills where the heathen had been wont to
kindle their altar fires, the children of Israel sang:
"Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?
Whence should my help come?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Which made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1, 2 (margin).
"They that trust in the Lord
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
So the Lord is round about His people,
From this time forth and forevermore." Psalm 125:1, 2, R.V.
Surmounting the hills in view of the Holy City, they looked with
reverent awe upon the throngs of worshipers wending their way to the
temple. They saw the smoke of the incense ascending, and as they heard
the trumpets of the Levites heralding the sacred service, they caught
the inspiration of the hour, and sang:
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King."
Psalm 48:1, 2.
"Peace be within thy walls,
And prosperity within thy palaces."
"Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord."
"I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem,
Praise ye the Lord."
Psalm 122:7; 118:19; 116:18, 19.
All the houses in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms
were furnished free; but this was not sufficient for the vast assembly,
and tents were pitched in every available space in the city and upon the
surrounding hills.
On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was
celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating the
deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice
that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up
His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same
event of which the Passover had been a type.
The Passover was followed by the seven day's feast of unleavened bread.
The first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no
servile work was to be performed. On the second day of the feast, the
first fruits of the year's harvest were presented before God. Barley was
the earliest grain in Palestine, and at the opening of the feast it was
beginning to ripen. A sheaf of this grain was waved by the priest before
the altar of God, as an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this
ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered.
Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost, called
also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks. As an expression of
gratitude for the grain prepared as food, two loaves baked with leaven
were presented before God. The Pentecost occupied but one day, which was
devoted to religious service.
In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering.
This feast acknowledged God's bounty in the products of the orchard, the
olive grove, and the vineyard. It was the crowning festal gathering of
the year. The land had yielded its increase, the harvests had been
gathered into the granaries, the fruits, the oil, and the wine had been
stored, the first fruits had been reserved, and now the people came with
their tributes of thanksgiving to God, who had thus richly blessed them.
This feast was to be pre-eminently an occasion of rejoicing. It occurred
just after the great Day of Atonement, when the assurance had been given
that their iniquity should be remembered no more. At peace with God,
they now came before Him to acknowledge His goodness and to praise Him
for His mercy. The labors of the harvest being ended, and the toils of
the new year not yet begun, the people were free from care, and could
give themselves up to the sacred, joyous influences of the hour. Though
only the fathers and sons were commanded to appear at the feasts, yet,
so far as possible, all the household were to attend them, and to their
hospitality the servants, the Levites, the stranger, and the poor were
made welcome.
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory
of their pilgrim life in the wilderness the people were now to leave
their houses and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green
branches "of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of
thick trees, and willows of the brook." Leviticus 23:40, 42, 43.
The first day was a holy convocation, and to the seven days of the feast
an eighth day was added, which was observed in like manner.
At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young would be
encouraged in the service of God, while the association of the people
from the different quarters of the land would strengthen the ties that
bound them to God and to one another. Well would it be for the people of
God at the present time to have a Feast of Tabernacles--a joyous
commemoration of the blessings of God to them. As the children of Israel
celebrated the deliverance that God had wrought for their fathers, and
His miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from Egypt,
so should we gratefully call to mind the various ways He has devised for
bringing us out from the world, and from the darkness of error, into the
precious light of His grace and truth.
With those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, more than a
month of every year must have been occupied in attendance upon the
annual feasts. This example of devotion to God should emphasize the
importance of religious worship and the necessity of subordinating our
selfish, worldly interests to those that are spiritual and eternal. We
sustain a loss when we neglect the privilege of associating together to
strengthen and encourage one another in the service of God. The truths
of His word lose their vividness and importance in our minds. Our hearts
cease to be enlightened and aroused by the sanctifying influence, and we
decline in spirituality. In our intercourse as Christians we lose much
by lack of sympathy with one another. He who shuts himself up to himself
is not filling the position that God designed he should. We are all
children of one Father, dependent upon one another for happiness. The
claims of God and of humanity are upon us. It is the proper cultivation
of the social elements of our nature that brings us into sympathy with
our brethren and affords us happiness in our efforts to bless others.
The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical. It not
only pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but, as the feast of
harvest, it celebrated the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and
pointed forward to the great day of final ingathering, when the Lord of
the harvest shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares together in
bundles for the fire, and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that
time the wicked will all be destroyed. They will become "as though they
had not been." Obadiah 16. And every voice in the whole universe will
unite in joyful praise to God. Says the revelator, "Every creature which
is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor,
and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13.
The people of Israel praised God at the Feast of Tabernacles, as they
called to mind His mercy in their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt
and His tender care for them during their pilgrim life in the
wilderness. They rejoiced also in the consciousness of pardon and
acceptance, through the service of the day of atonement, just ended. But
when the ransomed of the Lord shall have been safely gathered into the
heavenly Canaan, forever delivered from the bondage of the curse, under
which "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now" (Romans 8:22), they will rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory. Christ's great work of atonement for men will then have been
completed, and their sins will have been forever blotted out.
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;
And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing:
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
The excellency of Carmel and Sharon;
They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
And the tongue of the dumb sing:
"For in the wilderness shall waters break out,
And streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water: . . .
"And an highway shall be there, and a way,
And it shall be called The way of holiness;
The unclean shall not pass over it;
But it shall be for those:
The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
"No lion shall be there,
Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon,
It shall not be found there;
But the redeemed shall walk there:
"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads:
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Isaiah 35:1, 2, 5-10.
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