[This chapter is based on Leviticus 23.]
There were three annual assemblies of all Israel for worship at the
sanctuary. Exodus 23:14-16. Shiloh was for a time the place of these gatherings;
but Jerusalem afterward became the center of the nation's worship, and here the
tribes convened for the solemn feasts.
The people were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, that were eager to
seize upon their lands; yet three times every year all the able-bodied men and
all the people who could make the journey were directed to leave their homes and
repair to the place of assembly, near the center of the land. What was to hinder
their enemies from sweeping down upon those unprotected households, to lay them
waste with fire and sword? What was to prevent an invasion of the land, that
would bring Israel into captivity to some foreign foe? God had promised to be
the protector of His people. "The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about
them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Psalm 34:7. While the Israelites
went up to worship, divine power would place a restraint upon their enemies.
God's promise was, "I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge
thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to
appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." Exodus 34:24.
The first of these festivals, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread,
occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding to the last
of March and the beginning of April. The cold of winter was past, the latter
rain had ended, and all nature rejoiced in the freshness and beauty of the
springtime. The grass was green on the hills and valleys, and wild flowers
everywhere brightened the fields. The moon, now approaching the full, made the
evenings delightful. It was the season so beautifully pictured by the sacred
singer:
"The winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance." Song of Solomon 2:11-13, R.V.
Throughout the land bands of pilgrims were making their way toward
Jerusalem. The shepherds from their flocks, the herdsmen from the mountains,
fishers from the Sea of Galilee, the husbandmen from their fields, and sons of
the prophets from the sacred schools--all turned their steps toward the place
where God's presence was revealed. They journeyed by short stages, for many went
on foot. The caravans were constantly receiving accessions, and often became
very large before reaching the Holy City.
Nature's gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel and gratitude to the
Giver of all good. The grand Hebrew psalms were chanted, exalting the glory and
majesty of Jehovah. At the sound of the signal trumpet, with the music of
cymbals, the chorus of thanksgiving arose, swelled by hundreds of voices:
"I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
Our feet are standing
Within thy gates, O Jerusalem. . . .
Whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, . . .
To give thanks unto the name of Jehovah. . . .
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
They shall prosper that love thee." Psalm 122:1-6, R.V.
As they saw around them the hills where the heathen had been wont to kindle
their altar fires, the children of Israel sang:
"Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?
Whence should my help come?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Which made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1, 2 (margin).
"They that trust in the Lord
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
So the Lord is round about His people,
From this time forth and forevermore." Psalm 125:1, 2, R.V.
Surmounting the hills in view of the Holy City, they looked with reverent
awe upon the throngs of worshipers wending their way to the temple. They saw the
smoke of the incense ascending, and as they heard the trumpets of the Levites
heralding the sacred service, they caught the inspiration of the hour, and sang:
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King."
Psalm 48:1, 2.
"Peace be within thy walls,
And prosperity within thy palaces."
"Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord."
"I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem,
Praise ye the Lord."
Psalm 122:7; 118:19; 116:18, 19.
All the houses in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms were
furnished free; but this was not sufficient for the vast assembly, and tents
were pitched in every available space in the city and upon the surrounding
hills.
On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated,
its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating the deliverance from bondage in
Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice that should deliver from the
bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the
significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was
instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a
type.
The Passover was followed by the seven day's feast of unleavened bread. The
first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no servile work
was to be performed. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the
year's harvest were presented before God. Barley was the earliest grain in
Palestine, and at the opening of the feast it was beginning to ripen. A sheaf of
this grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, as an acknowledgment
that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to
be gathered.
Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost, called
also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks. As an expression of gratitude
for the grain prepared as food, two loaves baked with leaven were presented
before God. The Pentecost occupied but one day, which was devoted to religious
service.
In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. This
feast acknowledged God's bounty in the products of the orchard, the olive grove,
and the vineyard. It was the crowning festal gathering of the year. The land had
yielded its increase, the harvests had been gathered into the granaries, the
fruits, the oil, and the wine had been stored, the first fruits had been
reserved, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God,
who had thus richly blessed them.
This feast was to be pre-eminently an occasion of rejoicing. It occurred
just after the great Day of Atonement,when the assurance had been given that
their iniquity should be remembered no more. At peace with God, they now came
before Him to acknowledge His goodness and to praise Him for His mercy. The
labors of the harvest being ended, and the toils of the new year not yet begun,
the people were free from care, and could give themselves up to the sacred,
joyous influences of the hour. Though only the fathers and sons were commanded
to appear at the feasts, yet, so far as possible, all the household were to
attend them, and to their hospitality the servants, the Levites, the stranger,
and the poor were made welcome.
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory of
their pilgrim life in the wilderness the people were now to leave their houses
and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green branches "of goodly
trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the
brook." Leviticus 23:40, 42, 43.
The first day was a holy convocation, and to the seven days of the feast an
eighth day was added, which was observed in like manner.
At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young would be encouraged
in the service of God, while the association of the people from the different
quarters of the land would strengthen the ties that bound them to God and to one
another. Well would it be for the people of God at the present time to have a
Feast of
Tabernacles--a joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to them. As the
children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God had wrought for their
fathers, and His miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from
Egypt, so should we gratefully call to mind the various ways He has devised for
bringing us out from the world, and from the darkness of error, into the
precious light of His grace and truth.
With those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, more than a month of
every year must have been occupied in attendance upon the annual feasts. This
example of devotion to God should emphasize the importance of religious worship
and the necessity of subordinating our selfish, worldly interests to those that
are spiritual and eternal. We sustain a loss when we neglect the privilege of
associating together to strengthen and encourage one another in the service of
God. The truths of His word lose their vividness and importance in our minds.
Our hearts cease to be enlightened and aroused by the sanctifying influence, and
we decline in spirituality. In our intercourse as Christians we lose much by
lack of sympathy with one another. He who shuts himself up to himself is not
filling the position that God designed he should. We are all children of one
Father, dependent upon one another for happiness. The claims of God and of
humanity are upon us. It is the proper cultivation of the social elements of our
nature that brings us into sympathy with our brethren and affords us happiness
in our efforts to bless others.
The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical. It not only
pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but, as the feast of harvest, it
celebrated the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and pointed forward to
the great day of final ingathering, when the Lord of the harvest shall send
forth His reapers to gather the tares together in bundles for the fire, and to
gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will all be destroyed.
They will become "as though they had not been." Obadiah 16. And every
voice in the whole universe will unite in joyful praise to God. Says the
revelator, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13.
The people of Israel praised God at the Feast of Tabernacles, as they called
to mind His mercy in their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt and His tender
care for them during their pilgrim life in the wilderness. They rejoiced also in
the consciousness of pardon and acceptance, through the service of the day of
atonement, just ended. But when the ransomed of the Lord shall have been safely
gathered into the heavenly Canaan, forever delivered from the bondage of the
curse, under which "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now" (Romans 8:22), they will rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. Christ's great work of atonement for men will then have been
completed, and their sins will have been forever blotted out.
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;
And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and
singing:
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
The excellency of Carmel and Sharon;
They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our
God.
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
And the tongue of the dumb sing:
"For in the wilderness shall waters break out,
And streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water: . . .
"And an highway shall be there, and a way,
And it shall be called The way of holiness;
The unclean shall not pass over it;
But it shall be for those:
The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
"No lion shall be there,
Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon,
It shall not be found there;
But the redeemed shall walk there:
"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads:
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Isaiah 35:1, 2, 5-10.