_A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490._ Directions concerning the sabbath, Leviticus 23:1. The passover, Leviticus 23:4. The first-fruits, Leviticus 23:9. The feast of pentecost, Leviticus 23:15. Of trumpets, Leviticus 23:23. Of atonement, Leviticus 23:26. Of tabernacles, Leviticus 23:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
In this chapter Moses, by divine appointment, gives more particular directions about the observation of those solemnities which were before instituted. These, in our translation, are termed _feasts;_ but the word מועדי, _mognadee_, here used, rather means _solemn seasons_, or _meetings_, and as the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The seventh day_ is first named as a _holy convocation_ A day to be kept holy by every Israelite, in all places wheresoever they dwelt, as well as while they lived in the wilderness; and as a day of _rest_, in which they were to _do no work_ A similar prohibition is declared Leviticus 23:28, concer... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the feasts of the Lord The solemnities_, as the same word is rendered, Isaiah 33:20, where Zion is called _the city of our solemnities._... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the fourteenth day_ See Exodus 12:18. _At even_ For all the Jewish festivals were kept from evening to evening, their day beginning in the evening. _Is the Lord's passover Exodus 12:11_. Though Moses had often before mentioned this, and several other of their solemnities, he here sets them down... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall offer unto the Lord seven days_ Every day of the seven was to have a sacrifice offered upon it, about which there are particular directions, Numbers 28:10; and the first and last days of the week's festival were to be days of universal assembly for religious duties at the place of public w... [ Continue Reading ]
_When ye come into the land_, &c. In the wilderness they sowed no corn, and therefore could not be obliged by this precept till they came into Canaan. _And shall reap the harvest_ Begin to reap, as the sense shows, and is explained Deuteronomy 16:9. _Then ye shall bring a sheaf_ Or _handful_, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall wave the sheaf_ Or _omer_, rather. In the name of the whole congregation, it was lifted up toward heaven, as an acknowledgment to God for his goodness, and with prayer for his blessing upon all their ensuing harvest, which it, as it were, sanctified to them, and of which it gave them a com... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two tenth-deals_ Or _parts_, of an ephah; that is, two omers; whereas in other sacrifices of lambs there was but one tenth-deal prescribed. The reason of which disproportion may be this; that one of the tenth-deals was a necessary attendant upon the lamb, and the other was peculiar to this feast, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall eat neither bread nor corn_ Of this year's growth. This was a most reasonable testimony of their respect for God, to give him the first place, and pay their tribute of gratitude to the donor before they used his gifts. They who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, or temple, were allow... [ Continue Reading ]
_From the morrow_ From the sixteenth day of the month, and the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, inclusively; _seven sabbaths shall be complete_ Namely, forty-nine days; _unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath_ Which made just fifty days; whence this feast, from a Greek word, πεντηκοστ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two wave loaves of two tenth-deals_ There was one tenth-deal in each loaf. They were called _wave-loaves_, because they were presented to God by _waving_ them toward heaven. _Baken with leaven_ Contrary to the established law in other bread or flower offerings, Leviticus 2:11. The reason may be, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_One bullock and two rams_ In Numbers 28:11; Numbers 28:19, it is _two young bullocks and one ram._ Either therefore it was left to their liberty to choose which they would offer, or one of the bullocks there, and one of the rams here, were the peculiar sacrifices of the feast-day, and the others we... [ Continue Reading ]
_One kid_ In Leviticus 4:14, the sin-offering for the sin of the people is a bullock, but here _a kid_, &c.; the reason of the difference may be this: because that was for some particular sin of the people, but this only in general for all their sins.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wave them_ Some part of them, in the name of the whole; and so for the two lambs otherwise they had been too large and too heavy to be waved. _For the priests_ Who had to themselves not only the breast and shoulder, as in other sacrifices which belonged to the priest, but also the rest which belong... [ Continue Reading ]
_A holy convocation_ A sabbath, or day of rest, called pentecost; which was instituted, partly in remembrance of the consummation of their deliverance out of Egypt, by bringing them thence to the mount of God, or Sinai, as God had promised; and of that admirable blessing of giving the law to them on... [ Continue Reading ]
_When ye reap, thou_ From the plural, _ye_, he comes to the singular, _thou_, because he would press this duty upon every person who had a harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that, though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he m... [ Continue Reading ]
_A sabbath_ Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests, not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. They began to blow at sunrise, and continued blowing till sunset. This seems to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Afflict your souls_ With fasting and bitter repentance for all, and especially their national sins, among which, no doubt, God would have them remember their sin of the golden calf. For as God had threatened to remember it in after-times to punish them for it, so there was great reason why they sho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whatsoever soul_ Either of the Jewish nation or religion. Hereby God would signify the absolute necessity which every man had of repentance and forgiveness of sins, and the desperate condition of all impenitent persons. Reader! hast thou considered this?... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of tabernacles_ Of tents, or booths, or arbours. This feast was appointed to remind them of that time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, and to stir them up to bless God, as well for the gracious protection then afforded them, as for the more commodious habitations now given them;... [ Continue Reading ]
_From even to even_ The day of atonement began at the evening of the ninth day and continued till the evening of the tenth day. _Ye shall celebrate your sabbath_ This particular sabbath is called _your sabbath_, possibly to denote the difference between this and other sabbaths; for the weekly sabbat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall offer_ A several offering each day. _The eighth day_ Which, though it was not one of the days of this feast, strictly taken, yet, in a larger sense, it belonged to this feast, and is called the _great day of the feast, John 7:37_. And so indeed it was, as for other reasons, so because, by... [ Continue Reading ]
_A sacrifice_ A sin-offering, called by the general name, _a sacrifice_, because it was designed for that which was the principal end of all sacrifices, the expiation of sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Besides the sabbaths_ The offerings of the weekly sabbaths. God will not have any sabbath-sacrifice diminished because of the addition of others, proper to any other feast. And it is here to be noted, that though other festival days are sometimes called sabbaths, yet these are here called the _sabb... [ Continue Reading ]
This is no addition of a new, but only a repetition of the former injunction, with a more particular explication both of the manner and reason of the feast. _The fruit_ Not the corn, which was gathered long before, but that of the trees, as vines, olives, and other fruit-trees; which completed the h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of goodly trees_ Namely, olive, myrtle, and pine, mentioned Nehemiah 8:15, which were most plentiful there, and which would best preserve their greenness. _Thick trees_ Fit for shade and shelter. _And willows_ To mix with the other, and in some sort bind them together. And as they made their booths... [ Continue Reading ]
_In booths_ Which were erected in their cities or towns, either in their streets, or gardens, or the tops of their houses. These were made flat, and therefore were fit for this use.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The feasts of the Lord_ We have reason to be thankful that the feasts of the Lord now are not so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly; but more spiritual and significant, and surer and sweeter earnests of the everlasting feast, at the last ingathering, which we hope to be c... [ Continue Reading ]