Directory_and_Chronicle_1880 — Page 47

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34

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 w re 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 view 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 friends ip of tri es 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, t ey 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 evening of the 26th of March and finishes on the evening of the 3rd April, and last seven days. A lamb, or a kid, without blemish, was killed, roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitt r herbs. The first Passover was eaten with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their bands, 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 bis dominion over their country and their labours, by offering to him two loaves as the first fruits of all their harvest. It also comm morates 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 solemnity, and hence called 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 poured 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 wilderness. It is kept in the first month of the civil year, falls on the evening of the 19th September, and finishes on the evening of the 28th September, 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. "Three 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."-Deut. xvI., 16; Ex. xxxiv., 23.

The Feast of TRUMPETS is celebrated on the first day of their civil year (6th Sept.), its commencement being proclaimed by sound of trumpet, and the day is kept solemn, 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 mentioned in Jewish history. The feast of DEDICATION was appointed to celebrate the re-establishment of Divine worship in Jerusalem, after Antiochus Epiphanes had been vanquished and the temple purified. It is observed for eight days, from the 25th of the third month (commences on the evening of the 28th November), and is also called the Feast of Lights, from the illuminations which the Jews make during these days in their houses.

Poorim falls on the 14th and 15th of the sixth month (commences on the evening of the 25th February), and commemorates the defeat of Haman. On these days they

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