p. 3 | O. A. JOHNSON by O. A. Johnson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 15, 1914

O. A. JOHNSON

By O. A. Johnson

Annual Feasts and Annual Sabbaths—No. 1

O. A. JOHNSON

THE Jewish year consisted of twelve months, with alternating thirty and twenty-nine days, making 354 days, instead of 365. In order that the months might correspond with the various seasons of the year, an intercalary month was added every third year or oftener, and called Veadar.

The Jews had what they called the civil year, which began with the month called Tisri, and corresponded with our September and October. This month seems to have been the first month from the beginning, and therefore the first day of this month was their New Year's Day.

The seventh month of this civil year was called Abib, or Nisan, but since Israel came out of Egypt "in the month Abib," God therefore instructed them to call this "the first month of the year" (Ex. 13:4; 12:2); hence this year is called the "ecclesiastical or sacred year." See Horne's "Introduction," Vol. II, part 2, chap. 4, secs. 4, 5, large edition, 1852, New York.

According to the Bible the day began and ended with the going down of the sun. Lev. 23:32; Deut. 16:6. Thus "the day was computed from sunset to sunset, or rather from the appearance of the first three stars with which a new day commenced."

If the sun was not visible, sunset was to be reckoned from when the fowls went to roost."—"The Temple," by Edersheim, pages 204, 179.

They divided their day into twelve hours, but these hours were longer in the summer than in the winter. In Palestine "the longest day consisted of fourteen hours and twelve minutes, the shortest of nine hours and forty-eight minutes, the difference between the two being thus more than four hours."—Id., page 205. See Cruden's Concordance, under the word hour; Robinson's Greek-English Lexicon, under the word ὥρα (hora).

Three Annual Feasts

"Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God." Ex. 23: 14-17; Deut. 16:16.

The Hebrew word for feast in the verses quoted above is Chag, and is defined in Gesenius's Hebrew-English Lexicon as "a festival, feast." The seventh-day Sabbath is never designated by Chag. Another Hebrew word sometimes translated feast is Moed, which is defined by Gesenius as follows: "A set time, appointed season; festival day; coming together, assembly, congregation." Edersheim makes the following remark concerning these two words: "In Hebrew two terms are employed—the one, Moed, or appointed meeting, applied to all festive seasons, including sabbaths and new moons; the other, Chag, from a root which means 'to dance,' or 'to be joyous,' applying exclusively to the three festivals of Easter [Passover], Pentecost, and Tabernacles, in which all males were to appear before the Lord in his sanctuary."—"The Temple," page 196.

The Passover

was the first of these three annual festivals; it was also called the "feast of unleavened bread," because Israel was forbidden to eat leaven during the seven days of this feast, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month, or Abib. Lev. 23:5-8. The Lord's Passover was to be observed annually by Israel as a memorial of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Ex. 13: 4-10; 12:14.

The fourteenth day was the preparation for this seven days' feast, for on this day all the leaven was put out of their houses. From the hour of twelve o'clock on the fourteenth of Nisan, or Abib, Israel "was required to abstain from leaven, while at twelve it was to be solemnly destroyed.">—Id., page 221. See Ex. 12:15.

The Passover lamb was killed between the two evenings, on the fourteenth day of this month. Ex. 12:3-6, margin. This lamb was killed about three o'clock or a little later in the day, by the people, not by the priest. The slaying of the paschal lamb is thus described by Edersheim: "The priests drew a threefold blast from their silver trumpets when the passover was slain. Altogether, the feast was most impressive. All along the court up to the altar of burnt offering priests stood in two rows, the one holding golden, the other silver bowls. In these the blood of the paschal lambs, which each Israelite slew for himself (as representative of his company at the paschal supper), was caught up by the priest, who handed it to his colleague, receiving back an empty bowl, and so the bowls were passed up to the priest at the altar, who jerked it in one jet at the base of the altar."—Id., page 223. The above describes this ceremony in the time of Christ. The paschal lamb was eaten the following night, after it had been roasted with fire. Ex. 12:8.

This feast lasted seven days, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of Abib, the first and last days of this feast being annual sabbaths. Lev. 23:6-8. Special offerings were offered on each day during the entire feast of the Passover. Num. 28:16-25.

On the sixteenth of Abib, the day following the first Passover sabbath, Israel was commanded to offer a wave sheaf before the Lord. Lev. 23:10-12.

Pentecost

The Feast of Weeks, called in the New Testament Pentecost, was the second annual feast of the Jews. Deut. 16:16; Acts 2:1. This feast fell on the fiftieth day after the offering of the wave sheaf was presented before the Lord. Lev. 23:15-21. "The Pentecost, one of the three great Jewish festivals, so called because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day, reckoning from the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, or the Passover, that is, from the sixteenth day of Nisan."—Greenfield's Greek-English Lexicon. This feast of weeks, or Pentecost, fell on the sixth day of Sivan, the third Jewish month.

Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, and they arrived at Sinai on the first day of the third month, or Sivan, forty-five days after their departure. Ex. 12:6-17. Allowing one day for them to get settled and one day for the making of the preliminary covenant before the giving of the law from Sinai, which was proclaimed by God on the "third day" thereafter, making in all five days to be added to Sivan 1, this would be Sivan 6, just fifty days after Israel departed from Egypt, the very day on which the feast of Pentecost fell. Ex. 19:1-20; Lev. 23:15-21. For this reason Pentecost was commemorative "of the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai." See "The Temple," page 206; Horne's "Introduction," Vol. II, part 3, chap. 4, sec. 5, page 126; "Practical Lessons," by F. C. Gilbert, pages 250, 251.

The Feast of Pentecost, also called "the feast of harvest," continued but one day, which was devoted to religious service. Special offerings were made to the Lord on this day. Num. 28:26-31.

The Feast of Tabernacles

was the third annual feast of the Jews. It began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, or Tisri, and ended on the following eighth day, or the twenty-second day of Tisri. Lev. 23:34-39. To Israel this feast was commemorative "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."—"Patriarchs and Prophets," page 540. See Lev. 23:40-43.

The laws concerning the various offerings for the different days of this feast are recorded in Num. 29:15-38.

"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."—Ib.

The first day of every month was observed by special sacrifices. Num. 28:11-15.

The obligation to observe these annual feasts ceased at the crucifixion of Christ, when the law of ceremonies was nailed to the cross. Col. 2:14-17.

Walla Walla (Wash.) College.