Directory_and_Chronicle_1879 — Page 44

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JEWISH FESTIVALS, FASTS, AND OBSERVANCES.

The monthly festival is held on the day of the new moon, or the first day of every month, which is proclaimed by sound of trumpet; the law, however, did not oblige the people to rest on these days, though it appointed particular sacrifices.

The Feast of the Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, were the three principal festivals observed under the law, and they were times of real joy and festivity. As all the male inhabitants throughout the country were required on these occasions to go up to Jerusalem, and the females also permitted to accompany them if they chose, the concourse was generally very great. These religious assemblies, besides commemorating important events in their history, also subserved other important purposes. They kept them steadfast to their religion, by the views of ceremonies and the majesty of the divine service; they afforded the means of religious instruction, for the law of God was then read and explained; and they served, moreover, to renew the acquaintance and friendship of tribes and families, who from all parts of the country thus met three times in the year in the holy city.

The PASSOVER is instituted to commemorate the departure out of Egypt, because on the night preceding that departure the destroying angel who slew the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the Hebrews, they being marked with the blood of the lamb, which for this reason was called the Paschal Lamb. It was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month of the ecclesiastical year. It falls on the 8th of April and finishes on the 16th of April, and lasts seven days. A lamb, or, a kid, without blemish, was killed, roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The first Pas-over was eaten with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their hands, that they might be in readiness for their journey, circumstances which were not observed in its celebration after the Exodus.

The Feast of Pentecost, or WEEKS, is celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Passover, and is a feast of thanksgiving to the Lord, wherein they acknowledge his dominion over their country and their labours, by offering to him two loaves as the first fruits of all their harvest. It also commemorates the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, their departure from Egypt. The Hebrews counted seven weeks from the Passover, beginning on the second day of that sol mnity, and hence calle i it the Feast of Weeks; but by the Christians it is called Pentecost, a name which signifies the Fiftieth Day. It was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was pured out from the ascended Saviour upon his Apostles, qualifying them with miraculous gifts for establishing the New Testament kingdom.

The Feast of Tabernacles was instituted as a memorial of their fathers having dwelt in tents for forty years, during the passage through the wilderne s.

It is kept in the first month of the civil year, falls on the 2ni of October and finishes on the 11th of October, and lasts eight days, the first and eighth being the most solemn. In former times during its continuance they lived in booths, tents, or arbours, constructed of the branches and leaves of trees.

These were the three Great Festivals at which all the males were required to go up to Jerusalem to worship. "Taree times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles."-Deat. xvi., 16; Ex. xxx1v., 23.

The Feast of TRUMPETS is celebrated on the first day of their civil year (Oct.), its commencement being proclaimed by sound of trumpet, and the day is kept soleinn, all business being forbidden and certain sacrifices appointed to be offered.

There are also two other feasts, though not appointed by law, which require notice, as they are often men ion d in Jewish history. The feast of D.DICATION was appointed to celebrate the re-establishment of Divine worship in Jerusalem, after Antiochus Epiphans ha i ben vanquished and the temple purified. It is observed for eight days, from the 25th of the third month (Decembe), and is also called the Feast of Lights, from the illumina'ions which the Jews mak during these days in their houses. Poorim falls on the 14th and 15th of the sixth month (Mach), and commemo- rates the defeat of Hamas. On these days they give alms to the poor and presenta to their friends on account of the lives of all the Jews having been saved by Esther,