LEVITICUS 23. THE SACRED CALENDAR (pp. 103- 105). The chapter, though reading as one whole, has been considerably expanded by a later priestly writer. The original sections apparently referred to the three great feasts: (passover and) unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:9 ff.), weeks (Leviticus 23:15 ff.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SABBATH, which is to be kept holy, _i.e._ unprofaned by any kind of work for individual profit, and marked by a religious gathering, apparently at a synagogue. The term set feast (RV) means an assembly. The same word is used in the name for the shrine, the tent of meeting. The older name for the... [ Continue Reading ]
LEVITICUS 23:4 (P). THE PASSOVER (pp. 102f.), which was regularly followed by a week when no leaven was to be eaten (_cf._ Deuteronomy 16:1; Exodus 12:1). The first month (see on Leviticus 16) is Nisan (March-April). The Passover commences, like all Jewish feasts, at evening, or, in the Heb. phrase,... [ Continue Reading ]
LEVITICUS 23:9 (H). THE FESTIVAL OF UNLEAVENED BREAD OR Mazzoth (see pp. 102f.). The wave sheaf is to be cut on the first day of the week, _apparently_ after the Sabbath of the passover week, _i.e._ on the 16th of the month (but no date is actually given). For the ⅕? th ephah (about 3½ quarts), _cf.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HARVEST FESTIVAL, OR WEEKS, _I.E._ OF the completion of the corn harvest (p. 103, Numbers 28:26). In a country so varied topographically as Palestine, there may be two months-' difference between the harvest in the valleys and in the high lands. The fixing of a definite date would follow the cen... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FESTIVAL OF TRUMPETS (p. 104), which appears here for the first time. The early Hebrew year (see on 16) began on what is now the seventh month; hence this is a New Year's festival, and it is useful also in marking the month in which fell both the Day of Atonement and Tents. It was on the 1st day... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (P). No details are here given: a knowledge of Leviticus 16 is implied. The humiliation of the day's services is alone mentioned. If the ritual of the Day is later than 444 B.C. (see on Leviticus 16) this section must be a still later addition.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FESTIVAL OF TENTS (pp. 1021). This the final harvest home (fruit and vintage). It would naturally be, as elsewhere, of a joyous character. The Hebrew countryside, indeed, had turned the vintage into an organised picnic and camped out for a week; the celebrations are referred to in Judges 21:19;... [ Continue Reading ]
LEVITICUS 23:39 is probably the earlier; no sacrifices are mentioned, but the character of a solemn commemoration of the wilderness years is given to the joyous week, as the Church connected pagan winter and spring festivals with the Incarnation and Resurrection. Leviticus 23:33 prescribe sacrifices... [ Continue Reading ]