Directory_and_Chronicle_1882 — Page 49

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JEWISH FESTIVALS, Fasts, and oBSERVANCES.

occasions to go up to Jerusalen, 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 im- portant purposes. They kept them steadfast to their religion, by the view of the cere- monies 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, more- over, 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 bouses of the Hebrews, they being marked with the blood of the lamb, which for this reason was called the Paschal Lamb. It was cele- brated on the fourteenth day of the first month of the ecclesiastical year.

It com- mences on the evening of the 3rd 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 Passover 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, two years and fifty days after 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, endowing 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 the 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 27th September, and finishes on the evening of the 6th 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. "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear be- fore 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 [14th 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 mouth [commences on the evening of the 5th December], and is also called the Feast of Lights, from the illuminations which the Jews make during these days in their houses,

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Poorim falls on the 14th and 15th of the sixth month [commences on the even- ing of the 4th March], and commemorates the defeat of Haman. On these days they give aims to the poor and presents to their friends ou account of the lives of all the Jews having been saved by Esther, (it is therefore called "Feast of Esther") which happened on the 13th of the 6th month (civil year)-March.

The 10th of the first month of the civil year is the day of ATONEMENT, on which they observe a fast from 6 P.M. of the 9th to 7 P.M. of the 10th, and ask forgiveness for their sins. Other fasts were also instituted in later times, connected with the