A Class-Book of Old Testament History

by G. F. Maclear

II. The Day of Atonement.

III. The Great Historical Festivals; (a) The Passover, (b) The Feast of Pentecost or Weeks, (c) The Feast of Tabernacles.

I. Those connected with the seventh Day of Rest.

(a) The observance of the weekly Sabbath, or day of Rest, is not improbably thought to have been known to the Israelites before the giving of the Law (Ex. xvi. 22, 23), as, indeed, the words of the Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,” seem to imply (Ex. xx. 8–11, comp. Gen. ii. 1–3). Theobservance of this day was appointed for a perpetual covenant, as a sign between God and the children of Israel for ever (Ex. xxxi. 16, 17). It was to be shared by the whole people with the stranger; and, to complete the picture of tranquillity, with the animals. Bodily labour was strictly prohibited: it was unlawful to kindle a fire for cooking food (Ex. xxxv. 3; Num. xv. 32), or to go out of the camp to gather manna (Ex. xvi. 22–30). Wilful desecration of the day was punished by stoning (Ex. xxxi. 14; Num. xv. 35).

In the Tabernacle-service the daily burnt-offering was doubled (Num. xxviii. 9), the shew-bread was renewed (Lev. xxiv. 8), and the priestly course for the week commenced their duties.

The Sabbath was not regarded as a fast, but a day for rest from worldly occupation and holy joy; it was ordained by God for man and the furtherance of his truest and highest interests (Mk. ii. 27, 28). “The thought of Him, who is raised above all change, and who after the completion of the works of Creation rejoiced that everything was very good; this coupled with the cessation from work was to lead man up to the contemplation of his own origin from God. As the bodily refreshment restored his physical energies, so should the consciousness of union with the Almighty and the Eternal restore the true life to the soul[93].”

(b) The Month-Sabbath, or New Moon Festival, was ushered in by blowing with the silver trumpets, and by the sacrifice of eleven victims in addition to the dailyoffering (Num. x. 10; xxviii. 11, &c.). Business and trade were in later times suspended (Amos viii. 5), sacrificial feasts were held (1 Sam. xx. 5–24), and the people resorted to the prophets for religious instruction (2 Kings iv. 23).

The New Moon of the seventh month (Tisri, October), being the commencement of the civil year, was observed with still greater solemnity. It was one of the seven[94] days of Holy Convocation. Not merely were the trumpets blown at the time of offering the sacrifices, but it was a day for the blowing of trumpets (Num. xxix. 1–6), whence its name the Feast of Trumpets. In addition to the daily sacrifices, and the eleven victims offered on the first day of each month, nine other victims were offered as burnt-offerings with a kid for a sin-offering[95].

(c) During the Seventh or Sabbatical year the land was to lie fallow, and enjoy her Sabbaths (Ex. xxiii. 10, 11; Lev. xxv. 2–7; Deut. xv.). No tillage or cultivation of any sort was to be practised, and the spontaneous produce of the fields, instead of being reaped, was to be freely gleaned by the poor, the stranger, and even the cattle. By this rest the land, like man, was to dohomage to its Lord and Creator, and the poorest were to share without stint in those spontaneous blessings which by His will it brings forth, and the Israelite, who every seventh day acknowledged God’s claim on his time, thus acknowledged also His claim upon his land. In Deut. xv. we find that the seventh year was also to be one of release for debtors. In spite of the threatenings in Lev. xxvi. the Sabbatical year, as appears from 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20, 21, was greatly neglected; after the return from the Captivity its observance revived (see 1 Macc. vi. 49)[96].

(d) The Year of Jubilee. At the end of seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine entire years, the fiftieth was observed as the year of Jubilee, a word of uncertain meaning. It was proclaimed by the sound of trumpets on the tenth day of the seventh month, Tisri, the Day of Atonement. During this year the soil was to lie fallow, as in the Sabbatical year, but in addition to this, all land that had been alienated was to return to those to whom it had been allotted at the original distribution, and all bondmen of Hebrew blood were to be liberated (Lev. xxv. 8–16, 23–35; xxvii. 16–25). “As the weekly Sabbath and the Sabbatical year was intended to restore thorough rest to man and to theland, so the year of Jubilee was designed to raise the whole people, in respect to their rights and possessions, from the changeableness of outward circumstances to the unchangeableness of the Divine appointment; to prevent the inordinate accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few; to relieve those whom misfortune or fault had reduced to poverty; to restore that equality in outward circumstances which was instituted on the first settlement of the land by Joshua; and to vindicate the right of each Israelite to his part in the Covenant, which God had made with his fathers respecting the Land of Promise[97].”