The Public Festivals, or Solemn Convocations

“NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLINQ Or T0UBSELVE8 TOOETBER.” Hcb. X 25.

“THET CONTINUED STEADFAST IN THE APOSTLES* DOCTaiNE AND FELLOWSHIP.”

—Acts ii. 42.

“a day in thy courts IS BETTER THAN A THOUSAND.” Psalm Ixxziv. 10.

THE SABBATH.

Y.en. I, 2, 3. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord a all your dwellings.”

The Lord begins with the Sabbath. “The assemblies (^nsio) of the Lord which ye shall call (by sound of trumpet, Num. x. 10) to be holy meetings, these (that follow) are my assemblies.” Of these, the foremost is the Sabbath.

It was with the rest of the Sabbath that unfallen man was blest; and that unfallen rest is thus ever presented by the Lord to man as each week revolves.

That rest was the Lord’s own refreshing rest, mad* known to man, to be shared in by man newly created. The eye of God rested on his holy creation, and was refreshed; so was the eye of man to rest on the creation and the Creator, and be refreshed.*

This Sabbath-feast is to be ever repeated, each week — as a testimony of the Lord’s good- will to have men restored to their original rest. And it is to be kept when all other feasts have finished — a type of the deep rest yet to come when earth’s sins are swept away, and creation itself is restored to holiness, and the liberty of the sons of God.

It is beautifully supposed by some, that Israel’s feasts represent the Course of Time — this earth’s days, from creation down to the final end. The Lamb slain (passover) commences it, and the eighth day of the happy Feast of Tabernacles is its close; while the Sabbath, the rest — God’s rest in himself, and his creatures’ rest around him — both precedes and follows this Course of Time.

It is remarked, that “no worW’’ whatever was to be done on this day; and no other festival has so strict an injunction put on it, except only the day of expiation. Thus, the rest in atonement is to equal the rest that was enjoyed in an unfallen creation. Is it so with thy soul, believer? Hast thou rest in God as if thou hadst never sinned? Hast thou no more conscience of sin? Was not the rest of Jesus as deep (nay, deeper might we not say?) when he rested from his agony, as was the Father’s rest after creation? And thou enterest into his peace. Israel’s Sabbath was to be “linaiB naia, “a rest-day of rest,” a thorough season of repose from care and toil (ver. 3):

* It is a Jewish remark, that “whoever does any work ou the Sabbath denies the work of creation.” (Patrick.)

80, surely, ought thine to be, even in this tumultuous world. And thy soul should keep its constant Sabbath, too, since thy work is all ended by thy risen Lord.

THE PASSOVER.

Vers. 4, 5. “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which je shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.”

The first feast is passover, commemorating their escape from Egypt. The Lord finds Israel in bondage, and makes him free, that he may serve him.

“The lamb slain” is the first object held up to the view of Israel about to be redeemed. “Behold the Lamb of God!” is still the cry that first reaches a sinner’s ear and a sinner’s heart. Here is the first feast for fallen man. What grace meets the sinner! God meets him with the Lamb, and that Lamb is his beloved Son; and shows him in that Lamb fife out of death, even life to the sinner out of the death of the Son of God. The first altar we read of exhibited a Iamb slain; the first act of God for Israel is the slaying of the lamb; the first deed of the new dispensation was, presenting the true Lamb to the view of all, and then offering it up to God; and the first opening of the sanctuary above (Rev. iv. 1), where the coming glory is preparing, exhibits the Lamb that was slain, loved, adored, ruling, reigning, with all heaven gazing on him in unutterable transports of delight and thankfulness.

“We should notice, however, that a people delivered is essentially connected with the passover. The lamb is not slain in vain. Behold a people going forth in perfect freedom, in the fresh joy of recent deliverance from imminent peril. A people thus escaped, cheerful, thankful, solemn, with a heaven-ward eye, and a step lifted up to tread on Canaan’s kingdom, — this is as essential to the full idea of the passover as the lamb. Hence, our Lord’s words in Luke xxii. 16,” I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’’’’ The Second Coming of the Lord will exhibit the full line — the whole company — of blessed ransomed ones, saved forever from wrath, and made heirs of a glorious kingdom.

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

Vers. 6, 1, 8. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”

We might have expected that the direction which follows in vers. 10, 11, should come in in the midst of this week of unleavened bread; but as they were then in the wilderness, not in Canaan, it is stated apart.

The feast, then, of unleavened bread* was meant to be a continuation of the same topics on which they had begun to meditate on the passover-night. The passover was the cause, the feast of unleavened bread the effects of their deliverance from the grasp of Egypt. To a believer now, the one exhibits the way of pardon, the other exhibits the fellowship of God, and the holiness that follows upon pardon.

All Israel in one great family kept the first day as a “holy convocation,” wherein, though they prepared food, no servile work was done. On that day they joined

* In Mat. xxvi. 17, and Mark xiv. 12, the passover is called the fint day of unleavened bread, because of its intimate connection with it, and on tht evening of the passover the feast did actually begin.

together inrjemembering their escape; the community of believers felt on that holy day that all alike were ransomed from Egypt, and had common joys and common remembrances of sorrow, and common reason for gratitude now. “With all saints” (Eph. iii, 18) they could look back on the night when they hastily bound up the unleavened dough on their shoulders and hastened out of Egypt. (Exod. xiii. 34.) Unleavened bread was thus a mark of begun deliverance.

Having thus, on the first of the seven days, mutually excited each other’s feelings, the rest of the days were spent in remembrances and enjoyments of the same things, but by each individual alone. Each day, after the sacrifice had been offered, they called to mind their hasty jiight from Egypt in joy and fear, associating that deliverance with every crumb of unleavened bread on their tables.

But the Lord had a reason for so ordering the matter, that it should be necessary to leave Egypt before leaven was put into their dough. He thus brought out a type of the truth, Ihat a delivered, redeemed man must shake off his former connection with pollution. His deliverance from corruption (leaven) is to date its commencement from the very hour he rises to forsake his house of bondage. And all saints rejoice to keep a feast to this effect — seeking holiness more than joy in their festivals, and rejoicing in deliverance from corruption as much as in deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. “We are redeemed from our vain conversation” (1 Pet.i. 18) as well as from our state of death and condemnation. “Purge out the old leaven.” (1 Cor. v.)*

* Tha bUter herbs, elsewhere mentioaed, may hare k light sorrow orer

Though not mentioned at this place, it was during the time that this feast of seven days ran on that the sheaf of first-fruits of barley harvest was presented; thus casting in a new element of joy to the worshippers, sweetening their cup, and giving a relish to their food by the held-up prospect of abundance soon to be theirs. A risen Saviour and his benefits never fail to urge on the felt joy of every believer’s soul; he returns ever to that pledge of plenty, “Christ is risen.” But more of this at ver. 11,

On the closing day, the seventh, after each had spent the intervening space alone, there was a “holy convocation” again. Thus they fired each other’s heart anew. They offered a sacrifice peculiar to the day, and rejoiced at the altar for all the great blessings they had been commemorating and receiving. The first and the last of the feast-days was thus a day of rest, for meditation on the past, and preparing for a return to ordinary duties.

THE SHEAF OF FIRST-FRUITS.

Vers. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.” And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye become into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and lie shall -wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto the Lord. And the meat-offering thereof shall be two tenth-deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears,* until the self-same day that ye

the lost and ruined Egyptians, and over their own sin, which exposed them to the sword of destruction.

* iaiS is used here, and chap. ii. 14, and Num. xviii. 13. This term, bare brought an offering unto your Ood: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in nil your dwellings.”

First notice this institution as, like the rest, bearing on the people’s present state. See its reference to their harvest. It is the barlciz-harvest that is meant, for it only is ripe at passover. A sheaf is taken as representative of the whole harvest. It was to be observed on the first day after passover- Sabbath; and that happened to fall sometimes on the third day after passover, sometimes later. The priest w ived it before God, along with the sacrifice of a he-lamb — intimating that even thanksgiving cannot be accepted but through blood and through a mediator. There was a meat-offering besides — two tenth-deals — double the usual amount, because here they are expressly offering property to God; and the fourth part of the hin of wine (the usual rate) indicates that they did all this most cheerfully, no grudging, no reluctance.* (Ps. civ. 15.) Till this was. done, they had no right even to a green ear (ver. 14). How forcibly it taught dependence on the Lord! (Hos. ii. 8, 9; Jer. v. 24.) Yet “how gently did the Lord thus bind fast the bonds of connection between him and his people. They must dip every temporal blessing in this fountain of life ere they ventured to use it; but what was this but sweetening it to their taste? They remembered that he who in the desert daily gave them manna, had ripened harvest for their present use. They had found it ready

for “full cars of corn” occurs only once elsewhere, viz., 2 Kings ir. 42. It was a term nut u.sed in common life, but appropriate to things presented for holy uses. Hence (see Hengsteuberg, on the Gen. of the Pentateuch, Dissert II.), that man of Baal-8hali.xha appears to have been one who intended to recognize Elisha as God’s true Levite, while he refused to recognize the apostate Church which Jeroboam had organized. * The drink-oflfering has been spoken of, p. 53.

on the very week of their entering Canaan, (Josh, v, 11.)

Next, view it as typical. The sheaf is evidently Christ, the first-fruits {<’^^»qxv Xgiaiog Cor. xv. 23). Jesus rose on the third day after passover; and this has become our Sabbath ever since.* Jesus was the first-fruits. Being in our true and very nature, he rose as our head. The Father was waiting for his presentation — his “being waved;” and this was done when, raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness, he stood at the opened sepulchre, no more a Man of Sorrows. His life of sorrows had that morning ripened into the full ear of bliss; and there he stood in the sunshine of eternal love. And He stood, on our earth and in our nature, not for himself personally so much as “first-fruits” — pledge and earnest of all the harvest; because He was accepted by the Lord, therefore shall we also be. Until He was thus presented and accepted, none of us could speak of a harvest day (ver. 14); no blessing was secured to us or free to our use.

The first time that the Jews ever waved the sheaf before the Lord must have been on their first entering the land. They entered and found the barley ripe for use. This was “on the morrow after the passover” (Josh. V. 11.) On that day they would eat the old corn and unleavened cakes; and that very day would cut down the sheaf of first-fruits, to be waved “on the morrow after the Sabbath.” (Lev. xxiii. 11.) Thus the first employment of Israel in Canaan was preparing” the type of the Saviour’’ s resurrection, and their first religious act

* Perhaps he himself appointed it to be so; J xvptaxri fifiepa (Rev. i. 10) may mean this as much as in 1 Cor. xL 20, “xvpiaxov Senrvov” means, the Supper instituted by the Lord.

404 PUBLIC FESTIVALS, OR SOLEMN CONVOCAllONS,

was holding” up that type of a risen Saviour. Their land was to be renowned for this wonder more than any other, — resurrection! and that resurrection implying redempption and completed deliverance. The paschal lamb in Egypt showed deliverance begun; this showed it finished. This first sheaf is the pledge of our resurrection as well as acceptance; or rather, of our declared acceptance and full freedom by our resurrection. Christ is “first-fruits of them that sleep.” (1 Cor. xv. 20.) It is type and pledge of our harvest — this earth’s season of ripe increase — the day for which every providence, every event has been preparing — the day for which every blast and every hour of sunshine has been ripening the wide fields — the people, cities, and hamlets of the whole world.” Christ the first-fruits; then they that are ChrisVs at his coming:.’’’’ The Lord himself will then rejoice with joy of the harvest. When Israel tasted the barley of Canaan, then were they fully sensible of completed deliverance from Egypt and from the desert. Tasting even Marah-ivells made them know they were escaped from Egypt; but it must be receiving the harvest of the land that assured them of their complete escape from the desert. So the believing soul feels his escape from sin and the law even by the frowns of a self-righteous world, and his sorrow in the midst of its sin: that resurrection (of which Christ was the earnest, or first-fruits) will be his blessed Eissurance that every hardship of the desert also — and so every remaining mark of having oorao from Egypt — is obliterated and forever gone.

Thus the “sheaf of first-fruits’^ was like a “heap set about with lilies;” so many truths, so many visions of the future, so many tokens of Divine purpose begun, clustering round it when it was waved before the Lord.

FEAST OF WEEKS,

it or, as it is otherwise called, “Feast of Fifty Days;” in Greek, nByztjxoan]^ Pentecost.

Vers. 15, 16. “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall ofler a new meat-offering unto the Lord.”

There is a way of viewing these feasts as containing a prefiguratiori of the different dispensations which the Lord has chosen for the manifestations of his ways to man. In this case, we can easily see that the coming Feast of Tabernacles refers to the millennial glory; but to what do Passover and Pentecost refer? Passover seems peculiarly to describe Israels dispensation, it is a time of exhibiting blood poured out for the people’s deliverance; and if so, Pentecost may be considered as descriptive of the dispensation that followed, viz., the apostolic Church instinct with the fruits of a Saviour’s death, resurrection, and ascension. Our Lord’s stay on earth for forty days after his resurrection, and his ten days in heaven before the day of Pentecost, exhibited in earth and heaven the blood of Passover fully poured out and needing no more to be repeated; and thus brought that dispensation to a close.

There were to be” Seven Sabbaths’’^ running their course ere another feast came — to indicate a full and complete period, during which ordinances and services were carried on appropriate to the time. Israel’s system had a full development during this passover-time.

At the close of the” seven weeks’’ the new meat-offering was to be brought forward; that is, the first-fruits of the new, or luheaten harvest.

Vers. It, 18, 19, 20, 21. “Ye ahall bring out of yoiu- habitations two wave-loaves of two tfinth cicala: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blonii^h of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt-offering unto the Lord, with their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto the Lord. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, sind two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits f«r a wave-offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”

“We here see iYiditihe first-fruits of wheat harvest were to be presented on the fiftieth day after the waving of the barley-sheaf. But they were not to be ofTered in the form of a sheaf. They are to be made into two loaves of breads which the priest (ver. 20) shall afterwards feed upoQ. A special quantity of flour, double the quantity of a common meat-ofleringp was to be taken from some Israelite’s dwelling, and baked into loaves, and so waved before the Lord. There was to be” leaveiC in the loaves; for they were to be loaves found among men in daily use — thereby presenting to the Lord a thanksgiving for their supply of food, even of the finest of the wheat.

But of what was all this typical? We reply, 1. These first-fruits do not seem to typify Christ himself; for then there would have been no leaven. 2. Neither do they seem to typify the gift of the Holy Grhost; for what is there here significant of the Spirit peculiarly? But, 3. They typify something- made out of loheat-seed. If so, then, we find in John xii. 24, that Jesus is the corn of wheat; and here we will have lohat was produced from that seed of wheat. The ttoo loaves, made .out of the wheat-seed, are his Church, which sprang from him who died; made of finer flour than the Old Testament economy (the passover economy) furnished, because the Spirit is abundantly given; taken from the common abodes of men (John xvii. 5), and becoming part of the body of our High Priest.

They are two in number, also; just as in Rev. xi. 3, and Zc’.’h. iv. 3 two is the number; an adequate number, but not seven; for that would have signified a complete numbor. It seems, too, to be ChrisVs Church after he was risen; viz., his Church founded by Apostles. Some, indo’jd, say that the two loaves point to the two dispensations of his Church — Jew* and Gentile; but the progressive order of the types is against this view. The types have shown us Christ’s dying — the passover lamb; then his rising again — the sheaf waved; and now what he accomplished at Pentecost in proof of his being ascended. The result was, the production of a Church, in which there was leaven, or corruption, still; but which was of fine wheat, the Holy Ghost being now given.

I suppose” Christ ascended,’’^ might have been typified by the waving of a ‘’^ sheaf of fine wheat,’’^ his own glorious body, when ascended, being fine wheat; but he prefers to show how that body became food to a blessed company of souls, whom he called to be his Church, in whom there was imperfection still, as denoted by the leaven. These two loaves are the fruit of the one corn of wheat (John xii. 24), or a specimen of the harvest that has sprung from that One. Look over the land, and

* There can properly be no symbolic type of the Jewish Church, for that Church itself was a symbol of what was yet to come — “good things to come.”

everywhere you find the ripe wheat ready to be gathered into the granaries; even so the Church, exhibited in its beginnings at Pentecost, was to increase and spread, and be found all over earth; but all originating in Christ, the seed.

And ever to keep us in mind that our blessings, and God’s doings for us, are the effects and fruits of atonement, many sacrifices are to attead this offering of first-fruits. It is meant, thereby, to keep us on earth as intently fixing our eye on the Lamb of God, as those round the throne. Hence we have here tho injunction to offer, 1. A very complete burnt-offering, seven lambs, two rams, one bullock — victims of all the usual sorts. 2. The usual meat-offering, 3. The usual drink-offering. 4. A kid, as usual, for sin-offering. Then, 5. A special peace-offering. This last was to be two tender lambs, as if one along with each of the two loaves. And over these two lambs of peace-offering, the two loaves were to be waved.* The priest is thus directed to exhibit the peace between God and his Church by waving the two loaves over the two lambs! “We have peace loith God through our Lord Jesus Christ” is the voice of the whole Church of God. The two witnesses on earth ever cry, “The chastisement of our peace was laid upon him” as they look on the slain Lamb. “We have fellowship one with another — truly our fellowship is with the Father — and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Peace and fellowship through blood is the experience of every saint — the loaves are presented to the Lord over the lambs of the peace-offering!

This day was to be proclaimed a “holy convocation“”t

* “With the two lambs” is is “over.”

t I do not see why our translntors have adopted so awkward a render

—kept like a Sabbath, excepting that work might be done, if it was not “servile work.” The reason for so specially saying, “that self-same day’’ is, that on this occasion there was no season or space of time kept, like as at the offering of the sheaf; there was only one day. The Jews say that this feast commemorated the giving of the law on Sinai; but not one word of this object is mentioned here, or in any of the passages of Scripture that refer to this feast. That idea is evidently an idea started by the Jews themselves; they did not receive it from Grod. And it is natural for them to adhere to it while they know not the glory of an ascended Saviour. For this feast has no meaning that can be discovered except in Him who is “gone up, and has received gifts for men.” But to us how significant! It tells of Jesus ascended, and of the proofs he gave of his ascension, in “shedding down the Spirit.” (Acts ii. 33.) Indeed, we may use these feasts as a symbolic language for the grand facts on which our hope and joy depend. The passover is just symbolic language for “Christ died for our sins.” The waving of the sheaf is symbolic language for “Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that sleep.” The waving of the two loaves at the commencement of wheat-harvest, is symbolic language to express the words of Jesus, “Yerily, verily, unless a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. .... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto me.” Here is the fruit of “the corn of wheat” — here are two loaves I a specimen and earnest of abundance beyond measure, all arising from the one

ing as we find in the text. It is quite literally rendered thus — “Ye shall proclaim, on the selfsame day, a holy convocation to you.”

seed of wheat! And in duo time, the Feast of Tabernacles will expresj* to us the truth contained in the words, “The tabernacle of Grod is with men, and he will dwell among them;” or in the saying of the Master himself, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come unto you,”

Oh, to be able to see the wonders of thy law, 0 God! Anoint our eyes with eye-salve. Lead us through these types thyself, as thine angel led John through the wondrous streets of New Jerusalem. Show us here the precious stones, and the fine gold; yea, let the Lamb himself be our light, as he has said, “I will send you another Comforter, and when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will lead you into all the troth,” even as he shall, in person, lead us yet to fountains of living waters.

Ver. 22. “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corner of the field w-heti thou rcapest, neither ehalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.”

See chap. xix. 9. In this manner, love to man was taught in these thanksgiving feasts, at the very time they taught love to the God who so kindly gave them their plenty.

This may be considered, farther, as a rule applicable to both harvests, viz., barlet, and wheat harvest — being placed at the close of the directions given for both. Now, some have thought that this gleaning left to the poor, in comers of the fields and scattered up and down, may refer figuratively to the. remnant to be gathered, during this dispensation of the Christian Church, from Israel. I would rather apply it to both dispensations. During Israel’s dispensation (barley-harvest) there were to be handfuls left to the stranger. This may be the Gentile remnant brought to knx)w Jehovah in that age, such as Rahab, Ruth, Ittai, the Queen of Sheba, Hirara, king of Tyre, the Widow of Sarepta, Naaman, and the Rechabites. Then, during the Christian dispensation, there have been gleanings left for Israel, now a stranger, and poor and needy, ‘as at this day we see in the converted Jews of our own land, or at Pesth, or even in the late Bishop of Jerusalem.

A feast is coming on that will unite Jew and Grentile in equal fulness.

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS.

Vers. 23, 24, 25. “And the Lord spake xinto Moses, sfvying. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”

Instead of “But ye shall offer,” it is better, as it is more literal, to read, “And ye shall offer.”

The seventh month is a kind of sabbatical month, full of feast and fast days. It was also the beginning of their civil year. The Heathen kept their new year with mirth and folly; Israel keeps his with joy and solemnity. His new year ever reminds him of the coming on of a period of jubilee and joy, when the Feast of Tabernacles shall be kept; so that their new year’s mirth was, for the most part, caused by the prospect of things to come.

No month opened to Israel such a scene of rejoicing as did this; for no other had in it the Expiation-day and the Feast of Tabernacles. Hence, it is very probable that this month’s Feast of Trumpets was “the joyful sound)’’ referred to in Ps. lxxxix. 15, “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound” (nsnn as here).

Where else are there a people who know at once of ful. atonement and of the joy of tabernacle feast, present acceptance and future glory? At the same time, the ^’’joyful souncV^ might equally refer to the silver trumpets which summoned the people to all the solemn services of this chapter. For Num. x. 7, 8, proves that they were sounded on occasion of each of these solemnities, though more especially on “the Feast of Trumpets The people who know “justice and judgment, mercy and truth,” all harmonized, enter fully into the blessedness of this joyful sound.

But why is it called “a memorial .^” What does it keep in memory? Some say it kept the Creation in memory, being the first day of the common year,* as Abib — the passover-month — was the first day of the sacred year, celebrating redemption. If so, it might be held as a memorial of the “sons of God shouting’ for Joy” at the world’s foundation; for the original word is the same as that used for “the glad soufici,” and “the blowing of trumpets” And we might take into view, also, the suggestion of others, that the trumpet-sound, which so often is connected with the voice of God (e. g., Exod. xix. 19; Rev. i, 10), was a special memorial of God having, in those days, spoken with man — a sound more joyful far than all the shouting of the sons of God.

But I rather think this feast was a memorial in another sense. We read of a memorial, chap. ii. 9, in the sense of something taken or done to keep in view what was lying in sight, though not brought forward. In Leviticus, the term “memorial” does not mean the keeping

Exodus xxxiv. 22, speaks of it as bappcning “in the end,” or rather “at the revolution of the year,” nsisn nsprif It ia W’^1*’. Job xxzviii. 1- in memory of a thing past. Many have erred from overlooking the sense of the term. It is, in fact, a ceremonial or tabernacle terra, signifying something done in order to call attention to something yet remaining. It should be rendered, “a reminding’’’ of something present, or of something just at hand; rather than “memorial’’ which suggests the past. In Hebrew, the term is liiat, from the same root as ni-i’^siar!, Isaiah lxii, 6,” Ye who are the remembrancers of the Lord,” reminding him of what is to be done. So, also, Exod. iii. 16, “This is my name forever, and my memoriaV (‘^’^i’r), q, d., to remind my people of what I still am, and may be expected to do. So also. Acts X, 4, “Thy prayers and thine alms are oome up for a memorial before God” — to remind him what to do for thee; every prayer and every giving of alms called the attention of God to the centurion. The word may, in other connections, call attention to the past, but the above is sufficient proof of its very usual sense in calling attention to things coming on, and not yet actually arrived. Now, it was in this sense that Maimonides understood this Feast of Trumpets. It awakened (he thought) the people to repentance in prospect of the Day of Expiation. It has, indeed, been objected to this view,* that nsnn always signifies a joyful sound, and so could not be used in prospect of such a solemn fast. But the objector forgets that that solemn day was not merely confession, but pardon also, and introduced the most joyful of all feasts, that of Tabernacles.

It was, then, a feast whose object was to rouse all Israel to joyful expectations, and summon their attention. The silver trumpets ever sounded a glad note,

* See Jennings, “Jewish Antiq.”

414 PUBLIC FESTIVALS, OR SOLEMN CONVOCATifS.

they being in reality the voice of God uttered to Israel. Whensoever these silver trumpets sounded, whether to proclaim a solemn sacrifice, or to call out Israel to the battle-field (Num. x. 7-20), their utterance was the voice of Jehovah, saying, “Come, my people.” Even as the trumpet on Sinai indicated God speaking; and as Christ’s voice in Rev. i. 10, was heard as if a trumpet sounded; and so “the last trump,” or the trump at the close of all things, shall intimate what is written in Ps. 1. 3, “Our God shall come, and shall not be silent.”

This feast, therefore, is to be considered as God’s solemn call to attention in prospect of the very special causes for joy in this month. In short, it is just the symbolic language for that word “Behold,” which prefaces many a New Testament call in regard to the same truths. “Behold I the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world” — the expiation day is at hand. “Behold I the Bridegroom cometh!” the day of joy is at hand — the feast of fat things.

There were several sacrifices (Num. xx. 1-10) offered on this day; but we are not called on here to specify them. Indeed, they were no way more special than others of a similar kind, offered on other solemnities. It was the trumpet-sound heard from morning to evening, that was peculiar to this feast. On other occasions, the trumpet blew once or twice; but on this day they blew all day long; and this is the special meaning of Ps. lxxxi. 3 ;* not to every new moon, but to the new moon feast of trumpets in this one month — “our solemn feast day.”

* Pfl. lxxxi. 8, “Blow trumpets at new moons.” If it be asked why is not the monthly festival of new moons noticed in this clmpter, the answer is — there were additional sacrifices offered on the day of the new moon, but it was not set apart in any other way. It was not a Sabbath-day.

What a God of love have we! He calls us to bliss. If there be one time more blessed than another, then we find that to that time he calls our special attention. He would have our whole soul engaged in the enjoyment of those special prospects presented to our eye and heart in the coming feasts of fat things that follow the great day of atonement, as well as to atonement itself. Ho calls us to the contemplation of both — that we may find holiness and happiness together.

Does not all this lead us at last to the true significance of this Feast of Trumpets? It is the grand type of the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is God’s voice; “sec that ye refuse not him that speaketh.” (Heb. xii. 25.) It declares both the suffering’s and the glory of the Saviour — both the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles. Or, we should rather say, it signifies the cry and testimony of God by a host of witnesses age after age; all of them sounding the silver trumpets and saying, “Repent, for the kindom of heaven is at hand.” Passover represented Israel’s dispensation; Pentecost represented the Christian dispensation. But this month’s feasts are to unite and blend both. Hence, it begins with a feast that sets forth God’s voice of love and warning under both dispensations. “How often would I have gathered you!” is equally true of God under both dispensations.

The interval between this feast and that of the atonement-day and tabernacles may be typical of the short time near the close of all, when it would almost seem as if God had spoken in vain. Jew and Gentile have in turn been tried, and have in turn rejected him. When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on earth? But this shall soon be followed by the breaking of a glorious day, when there shall be trae mourning over sin, and then an universal scene of holy joy.

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.*

Vers. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 81, 32. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day uf this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will ^pfestroy from among his people. Ye shall do do manner of work: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”

This special day of humiliation and itonement has been fully spoken of in chap. xvi. In vers 27, it is “A day of cniiDsn “expiations — atonements. It is remarkable that the chief view of it given in this place is that of its being a time for” njjiicting the suul” “VVe can perceive a propriety in this view. This afflicting’ of the soul withdrew the man from earthly joys; the world and its scenes faded away while he contemplated his guilt, and the wrath of his God, and then the atonement provided by Grod. His afflicted soul is weaned from earth. In this manner, preparation is made for the holy joy of the feast of tabernacles.

Sorrow for sin seems to be like the rough sand that a man uses to rub off rust from iron; sorrow searches

* Called by vay of eminence stxs’i among modern Jews. Bengel has an idea that is at least interesting, viz., that this day of atonement may have been the anniversary of thk Fall.

and rubs sore on the soul, but at the same time effectually removes what cleaved to the soul before. The vessel is thus rinsed of the flavor of former wines, and left quite clean for the new wine of the kingdom. Sorrow does not take away the sin, but it takes away the taste for it, and the pleasant taste of it; it does not empty out the vessel, but frees the emptied vessel (the pardoned soul) from the former relish it had for earth. It is thus that the Lord’s children pass through fire and water’ to the wealthy place. For this reason it is that their souls are tried with spiritual griefs and outward tribulation. It makes the joy of the Lord the fuller and sweeter to them. The evening of the day, or rather, the afternoon of it, bathed their souls in the refreshment of pardon and assured acceptance. And is not this also a preparation for the joy of the kingdom? It is by these beginnings that the heart is tuned for the day of universal gladness at the Lord’s appearing. By these beginnings are their souls fashioned into the feelings of heaven.

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE

Might have been expected to come in here. For it began on the evening of the day of atonement. The joy of jubilee followed up the ceasing from all othei joy. But, as this feast occurred only once in every fifty years, it is not taken in here among the annual feasts, but is delayed to a separate place. See chapter xxv.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.;;:

Vera. J”!^, 3t 5?6, 36 “.Ar.J the Lord spaJ:e ur*’; Mosrs. oaying, Speak unto the chi’dren rl Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seyenth month shall he the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocatioa; ye shall do

DO servile work therein. Seven days ye shall ofTcr an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day b1i.11I be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.”

These verses do not fully describe the feast of tabernacles, but only show its place among the other feasts. It is peculiarly marked; for this notice of it is given as if to sound the note of preparation; then, verses 37, 38, declare that when this feast shall be over, all the feasts of the year are over. It is like the manner of annunciation ia Rev. x. 7. “In the days of the seventh angel .... the mystery of God shall be finished” — thus raising high our expectation of it, ere it is itself formally declared. And hence it is, probably, that vers. 37, 38, come in here.

Vers. 87, 88. “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, everything upon his day: beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your free-will offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.”

Is it not an instance of the love of the Holy Spirit that he should so frame the language and manner of a passage as to call special attention to what is most joyful? He dilates on scenes that are peculiarly gladsome throughout all the prophets, e. g., Isaiah xxxv. and Ix., Rev. xxi. And so here; for verses 37, 38, shut up the passage, finishing the enumeration of facts and giving a general review, saying, “These are your feasts, and these include the offering made by fire, Mflx, and the whole burnt-offering, ni?, and the bread-offering, iv, and any bloody-sacrifice, nat, drink-offerings, and every day’s provision, and Sabbaths, with all the occasional gifts, vows, and free-will offerings.” Immediately after this the pen of the ready writer returns to the feast of tabernacles. “jSwre/y,” says he (using TjX a word, used in stating strong convictions, or things that have good reason in their favor, as Ps. lxxiii. 1), “Surely ye shall keep the feast of tabernacles” (ver. 39). He seems to hasten back to that scene of joy and glory, and, now that all other things are despatched, to dwell leisurely upon this alone.

Vers. 39, 40, 41, 42, 43. “Also (surely) in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year: it shall be a statute forever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days: all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

As it was said of the day of atonement that “A man had never seen sorrow who never saw the sorrow of that day;”* so, on the contrary, it was said of the feast of tabernacles, and especially of its last day, that “He who never saw the rejoicing of drawing water, never saw rejoicing in all his life.” It fell at the time of vintage, and when all kinds of increase were gathered in. It was, however, apt to be a rainy month; it was not in itself the best suited for dwelling in booths. Hence, the Jews say that this season of the year was fixed upon as being

* ‘* Rightly to feci sin is the torture of tortures.” — Ldthes.

on this very account the better fitted to show that they acted from regard to a divine command.* Had it been in spring-time, it might have been thought the suggestion of natural feeling.

One object of it was to keep in memory Israel’s dwelling in tents in the desert, while their God dwelt among them in the pillar-cloud. They were to realize these past times in their imagination, and have a vivid view of the scene, viz., their God over the tents of Israel while as yet Israel wandered from place to place (2 Sam. vii. 6), journeying with them. In this manner it was a most fitting type o( the yet better dwelling among men of the same God, in the latter days, when “his tabernacle shall be with men” (Rev. xxi. 3), and the Lamb shall lead them to living fountains of water.

During the seven days they dwelt in booths. They made booths out of the various trees wherewith their land abounded; they did not only carry the boughs in their hands, they also formed them into tents or booths. For so Nehemiah viii. 15, 16, states very plainly, adding, “to make booths as it is written” that is, according to the original intention of the command. From Nehemiah viii. 15, 16, we infer that “the courts of the Lord’s house” were the heart of the scene.

Imagine the scene thus presented to the view. It is an image of paradise restored — the New Earth in its luxuriance during the reign of righteousness, and peace, and joy. “Every goodly ^ree”t furnishes its boughs for the

* See Patrick, ad loc.

f The JewB limit this to the citron; but this is a mere tradition of men. The words mean any tree whatsoever that was attractive ad goodly. Jaha says, “Any noble tree, such as the palm or the mal:;^ F^iiJcum.”

occasion. The palm — so especially used in after-days to be a token of triumph, and a symbol of Judah’s land — the palm is first mentioned. Besides, it is the tree that had oftenest sheltered them in the wilderness, as at Elim, being one of those that grow even in the sandy deserts. Then; the “branches of thick trees,” or, “of bushy thick-twisted trees,” such as the myrtle — thus plucking some boughs from the lower thickets, as well as from the lofty palms. In Nehem. viii. 15, the myrtle is noticed by name. Next; the “willow’’^ from the river side, hanging its boughs over the brooks of water, as if to shade them for Israel’s sake from the scorching heat. There were also” the olive and the pine’’’’ (Nehem. viii. 15), the former representing the species that served for Israel’s domestic uses, and the latter those that supplied public necessities; the one yielding its berries, the other its massy beams. All these, and any other such,* were used on this joyful occasion. The booths so formed exhibited the scene of a world clad in rich, luxuriant verdure; men dwelling in peace and sending up songs of praise amid every token of fresh and lively joy. Some have fancied that they can discern more still, as they gaze on these booths of every bough: they think they see the love of the God of Jeshurun pictured forth as being noble and lofty in its bearing, like the pine or cedar; fragrant and sweet as the myrtle; triumphant over all obstacles, like the palm; full of ricjiness, like the olive; and like the willow of the brook, it bends over the children of men, and over his own Israel above all, in lowly condescension. But, at all events, this is implied in the scene taken as a whole. For here is

* “Any of the fine trees then m bloom,” says Rosenmuller.

Edea restored, a fit abode for Him who shall dwell among them.

The eighth day was reckoned the great day of the feast, as is said in John vii. 37. It was the day when the ing-alhering’ of the vintage, and all other fruits (Exod. xxiii. 16), was completed. It thus combined ia it the “joy of harvest” and the “shouting of them that tread the wine-press,” with the gladness peculiar to tho feast itself. But the Jews, not satisfied with all this, added the ceremony of drawing water from the pool of Siloam, to represent the water out of the smitten rock in the desert; and in pouring out this pitcher of water on the temple, so great used to be the joy, that it became a proverb, “He who never saw the rejoicing of drawing water, never saw rejoicing in all his life.” But this addition to tho feast betrays, I think, a sad truth concerning Israel. They rested in the type and shadow, and sought their full joy from the mere feast and its gladsome ceremonies, instead of looking through these rites to the future. Hence, they were disappointed; they were not fully satiated with joy; they felt an emptiness left, even after all the ceremonies of this day of joy. Attempting, therefore, to make the shadow more substantial, they invented the drawing of water, to see if thus they might get more to complete their longing. Poor Israel! This feast is but a type, it is not thy heaven. The true Feast of Tabernacles is kept when the Son of the Ble.ssed, who dwelt in the pillar cloud, shall dwell as Immanuel among us. And Jesus intimated this when, at the very moment in which the water was poured forth, and Israel were vainly trying to expel all sadness from their spirit, he lifted up his voice, and said, “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.” (John vii. 37.)

So natural to a Jew was the connection between joy and this feast, that Peter, on the hill of transfiguration, no sooner felt the strange, surpassing joy of the scene, than he seems to fancy, “This is the day of the Feast of Tabernacles.” He fancies himself and his two brethren to be already dwelling under booths or tabernacles, when, lo! their joy is increased by the presence of three strangers who have come up among them — the Master, and Moses, and Elijah. He proposes to detain these, by twining booths for them also (Mark ix. 5), and so retain the exquisite joy which their presence caused; for his cup was running over. In all this we see, probably, a dim hint of the truth, viz., that the coming of Jesus shall indeed be the true time of the Feast of Tabernacles, and his presence the true soryce of that day’s overwhelming bliss. Peter spoke confusedly; but his confused words are recorded, because in his very confusion he was led to utter more than he really knew or meant. It is when the Lord shall come in his glory, and his kingdom has been set up by him in power (Mark viii. 38; ix. 1), that the antitype of the Feast of Tabernacles shall arrive. Then is earth to be clothed with its new-created loveliness (Isa. xxxv. 1, 2), the very “trees of the wood rejoicing before the Lord” (Ps. xcvi. 12). Then shall Jesus give the thirsty all their desire, and they shall sorrow no more at all. “He that sees not the rejoicing of that day shall never see joy at all.”

And the many sacrifices offered during these seven days (see Num. xxix. 12), all pointing to the Lamb of God, may intimate that Jesus shall be the chief object of delight in all that feast. It shall still be “Master, it is good to be here.” Outward glory shall be like the case of a telescope, all intended to direct and fix the eye on the Master himself. “Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him.” The decrease of the sacrifices (one a day), as the week went on (Num. xxix.), may indicate that there will be always less and less need to point the redeemed to Jesus as the sum and centre of all; they will be so entirely satisfied of his being so — so completely bent over to entire oneness of feeling with him. It will become their only nature — the only thing natural to them — to find Jesus their all in all. Oh, what are men who are “without Christ in the world!”

The close of this season is called, in ver. 36, a “solemn assembly.” This is t*he eighth day, already mentioned above; but -^e notice it here again. The word is peculiar, n’^.s?!, “day of restraint,” or rather, a day of closing and shutting up. It is applied to the close of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. xvi. 8), and perhaps ought always to be thus understood, viz., as denoting a solemn close.* On the eighth day, Israel returned to their houses, and rejoiced there. And some suppose the final state, after the daps of Christ’s kingdom, may be hinted at here — “the ages to come” — the undescribed, unknown, but unutterably blessed eternity after the Thousand Years.

THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SUBJECT.

Ver. 44. “And Moaea declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.”

The liord thus testifies that Moses was faithful, to the letter, in all he was commanded to do; and leaves us with an example before our eyes of true adherence to the

* Joel L 14, signifies, “Hold the most solemn assembly you can, like the closing day in any of your feasts.” Josephus uses” .i loCi “a word formed from this, to denote the close of the Feast of Peotecoet revealed will of our God. If we would at length enter into these happy scenes, let us be as Moses was in his generation. Let us follow the Lord fully. “0 that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments; then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”