"Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God" was the announcement made to Israel at Sinai. How far they entered into the spirit of these solemn feasts, how long they continued, without any intermission, to go up year by year to appear before the Lord, is not revealed. That there were breaks in the period between their entrance into the land under Joshua, and their leaving it as captives for Babylon, during which they neglected this command we must suppose. At times we have indications that these feasts were not forgotten. David appointed the Levites " to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even; and to offer (rather at the offering of) all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord, in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts" (1 Chron. 23:30, 3130And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even; 31And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the Lord: (1 Chronicles 23:30‑31)). Solomon wrote to Huram that he desired to build a house to the name of the Lord his God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord his God (2 Chron. 2:44Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. (2 Chronicles 2:4)). Hezekiah restored the worship of God, appointed the courses of the priests and of the Levites to minister, and appointed also "the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord." (2 Chron. 31:2,32And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord. 3He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 31:2‑3)). The returned remnant set up again the altar, on which they offered the burnt offerings on all the set feasts of the Lord (Ezra 3:55And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord. (Ezra 3:5)). At these epochs of their history, and doubtless at other periods also, they did observe the feasts in their regular order, though, from other Scriptures we learn, that the manner in which they kept them was not uniformly the same. Between the days of Solomon and Hezekiah there was no such Passover as the one mentioned in the reign of the latter. Between the days of Samuel and Josiah there was no such Passover as the one the king kept. Between the days of Joshua and Nehemiah the people had not kept the feast of Tabernacles aright by dwelling in booths. At times neglected, and again at times kept with different degrees of spirituality and gladness of heart, how is it, it may be asked, that we have mention made of the Passover and Tabernacles only at certain eventful epochs in their history?
Of the observance of the feast of Weeks we have no mention in the Bible, till the accomplishment of that which it foreshadowed commenced. Then it first comes before us as a feast which had been kept, but to the celebration of which, during all the period of Israel's history whilst owned of God as His earthly people, no allusion had been made. The reason of this is apparent. Though appointed to be kept in its order along with the other feasts of the year, because in common with them it looked forward to what God would accomplish on earth, it had respect to what was properly speaking outside Israel, regarded as the accepted earthly people. It looked on to that day when the Lord would begin a work outside them, yet not exclusive of any of them who would acknowledge it; but a work which, whilst carried on, would not treat them as a people favored beyond others, and to whom all must be gathered if they desired favor from God. This of course explains at once why, when the ecclesiastical years of Israel shall again run their course, no feast of Weeks is set down for observance. The barley and wheat harvests will be reaped as heretofore, but the first fruits of God's creatures (James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)) will before that time have been gathered into His barn. The seasons will come round as surely and as regularly as they did in the days of Solomon, but the great event, to which that feast of Weeks pointed, having taken place, its name is left out of the revised calendar.
With the feasts of the Passover and of Tabernacles it is different. They have special reference to the times when Israel are owned as God's earthly people, so in the calendar of Ezekiel (45:18-25) they appear. Every blessing for fallen man being based on redemption, the Passover, which speaks of this, concerns us equally with Israel; but the special portion of Israel being on the earth, whilst the feast of Weeks has a peculiar interest for us, Tabernacles has a peculiar interest for them; and so, as in the coming time of blessedness for them they will celebrate the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles in remembrance of redemption, and as enjoying final rest after all their toil, these are also the two feasts ordained of God, the observance of which is mentioned from time to time in their history. Our inquiry now is the special reason for the mention of these feasts at these times.
As the Lord's redeemed people, having first kept the Passover in Egypt, and learned the value of the blood, they went up out of it, passed through the Red. Sea, traversed the wilderness, and encamped at Sinai till the 20th day of the second month of the second year after they came up out of that land. On that day, for the first time since the erection of the tabernacle, the cloud was taken up from off it. Brought to Horeb, where Moses had previously been, they had now to traverse a country to which from his request to Hobab (Num. 10:3131And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. (Numbers 10:31)), was evidently a stranger. But, just before they started on this journey, all kept the Passover. On the 14th day of the first month the congregation kept it according to God's institution. But there were some ceremonially unclean, defiled by the dead body of a man, who could not then keep it. For them and for others who might hereafter be lawfully hindered, the 14th day of the second month was appointed by God. Till all had kept the Passover, and commemorated redemption out of Egypt, the cloud abode on the tabernacle. After that it was taken up, and they journeyed forth afresh with the remembrance alive in their hearts that they were the redeemed of the Lord. How suitable was this. What could have so strengthened their hearts for a journey through an unknown country, and that a desert? What encampments, suited for their herds and flocks, they might come to none of them could know. What difficulties, what enemies, what trials they might have to encounter, of these they were ignorant. There were people in the desert, but people they had not before seen. There were tracks in parts of it, but none among them had ever traced them out. The road, to their leader and to themselves, was new. But they were the redeemed of the Lord. He had charged Himself specially with all their necessities. This should have quieted every apprehension, and checked each rising murmur. We know it did not; but we must agree that the best preparation for that journey was to celebrate the Passover.
Thirty-nine years pass ere we again hear of the Passover. All have died of the congregation who kept it in the wilderness of the age of 20 and upwards, except Caleb and Joshua. The territories of Sihon and Og have been actually portioned out between the two tribes and a half, Jordan has been crossed, and Canaan entered. All the males hitherto uncircumcised having submitted to that rite, the feast of Passover is kept just before they go forth to war with the nations of the land. Could they not have entered the land at a different season of the year? No season was more difficult, for Jordan overflowed its banks all the time of harvest; but no other season would have been so suited, considering what they had to engage in. To fight; to be bold against the Anakims, the Amorites, and the Canaanites; to stand up against the chariots of iron; to defeat and subdue the seven nations greater and mightier than themselves, what could have so well nerved them for the task, what could have so effectually braced up their energies as the remembrance of redemption fresh in their mind. They kept the Passover, and then went forward against Jericho.
Changes take place in Israel; the priesthood no longer holds the first place in the nation; the people, once united, have been for centuries divided; the glory of the kingdom fades away, and the captivity of the ten tribes draws near, ere we read again of the Passover. The pious Hezekiah succeeded his idolatrous father Ahaz, the Temple doors were re-opened, the sanctuary cleansed, the lamps re-lighted, and the worship of God restored. Then he summoned all Israel to keep the Passover. Divers out of Asher, Zebulun, and Manasseh humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem at his invitation. Many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, presented themselves at the feast, though they were not ceremonially sanctified (2 Chron. 30:1111Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 30:11), l8). On the fourteenth day of the second month the king and all those assembled together kept that festival. Much had Hezekiah done previous to this in the work of cleansing the land from idols, but much remained to be done; so we read that, after the Passover had been kept, they proceeded forth on their work. All Israel that were present at the Passover went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, till they had destroyed them all. How suited was this action of theirs in connection with the Passover. If the Lord Jehovah was their Redeemer, what had they to do with false gods? If the one true God was the God they owned, what business had they with idols and shrines? His altar was at Jerusalem, His house was on Mount Moriah. He owned no other altar; He had sanctified no other house by His presence. Owning themselves to be His people, the descendants of those redeemed out of Egypt, they finish the work in Judah and Benjamin which Hezekiah had commenced in Jerusalem; but it is after they have been reminded of redemption, and as a direct consequence of it.
Eighty years or more roll by, and this feast is again kept in Jerusalem, this time under the presidency of Josiah. Like his great grandfather Hezekiah, he has been engaged in the work of reformation, but he does it alone. It is his work, more than that of the people. In Jerusalem, in Judah, in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon and even to Naphtali, he acts with vigor. The altars and the groves are broken down, the graven images are beaten to powder, and all the idols throughout all the land of Israel cut down (2 Chron. 34:6, 76And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. 7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 34:6‑7)), after which he returns to Jerusalem. His heart thus manifested to be right with God, the word of the Lord is recovered. He hears it, and causes all to hear it. He makes a covenant himself before the Lord, to walk after Him, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, and makes all present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. His work of restoration already accomplished, God's mind about himself made known, his desire for the people's welfare plainly shown, if anything could persuade the people to be faithful to their God, it would surely be the remembrance of His faithfulness to their forefathers in Egypt; so he summoned all to keep the Passover with him at Jerusalem.
On one other occasion only in the Old Testament do we read of this feast being kept. After the people had returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel, when the house of God had at last been finished and dedicated, God having in the meantime shown them how, if troubles arose from their refusing the assistance of the mingled people in the land in building that house, He could turn the heart of the king, and incline him to favor the work, they keep "the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel" (Ezra 6:2222And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. (Ezra 6:22)). He was their God, and had proved it; they were His redeemed people, and they owned it. They kept the Passover. Was not this a fine testimony to all around them? Weak, outwardly, as a people, as they surely were, dependent on the favor of a Gentile sovereign for the completion of the Temple, they here stand forth, and publicly own that they are God's people. What a proof they have had of the rightness of their position in keeping aloof from an alliance with the mingled people. If redeemed by God as a nation He would surely help them. Jehovah of hosts had taken their forefathers to be His people, He avouched Himself to be their God, and now had afresh shown that He would care for those whom He regarded as His own. But though the house was finished, all was not done of which Daniel had prophesied. The wall had to be rebuilt. Besides this, a real separation from those among them who favored the Samaritans had to be effected. In this, as for everything, the secret of their strength lay in complete separation to God, because they were God's. Full of joy, then, because of what had been done, they must have been conscious of much that was still undone. And, knowing wherein their great strength lay, the Passover would remind them of that separation from evil, as God's people, which was absolutely essential to future success. Looking backward, they had just proved the reality of redemption; looking forward, success could attend them on no other ground. They remember the deliverance from Egypt, and rejoice in the celebration of it.
When anything fresh had to be undertaken, the unknown wilderness to be traversed, conflict in Canaan to be commenced, a reformation to be completed, or the hearts of God's professing people to be stirred up, redemption in God's appointed way was first commemorated. Of redemption by blood, saints are reminded in the New Testament. Is it the wilderness, in which we are to be but sojourners, that is before the mind? Peter reminds us that we should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, because we know we have been redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from the fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Are the Corinthians exhorted to keep themselves pure from the vices of the heathen? The reason is given, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body " (1 Cor. 6). Were the Galatians slipping away from the right ground, to be justified by works of law? The apostle tells them he is crucified with Christ, and the life he now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave Himself for him. And, to show believers in Crete what they ought to be, he writes to Titus of Him "who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
After the Passover mentioned in Ezra, we hear no more of the feast in the Old Testament, except the intimation in Ezekiel of its re-observance when there shall be a prince again in Israel, and the people be gathered to their own land in peace. Then, throughout the millennium it will be annually kept; for the remembrance of redemption accomplished can never be out of place on earth, as it will not, we know, be in heaven (Rev. 5).
Coming to New Testament times we meet with the feast again, but now styled "a feast of the Jews," a term as has been pointed out of deep significance, and, what adds force to the deductions drawn from this change of term, that what was originally called by divine authority "a feast of the Lord," is now, by the same authority, called "a feast of the Jews," is this, that the only feast of confessedly human appointment mentioned in the New Testament-the feast of dedication (John 10) has no such appellation given it. Here, where we might have expected it to mark its human origin, we do not find it. But it is applied to those originally instituted by God, to mark how completely the Jews had shut Him out whose feasts they had originally been. The Jews kept the Passover, they gloried in keeping this and other feasts most scrupulously. The courts of God's house at these seasons were thronged with the multitudes who came up. The Pharisees and chief priests thought highly of the Passover, and would not enter the judgment hall of Pilate, but made him come out to them, lest from being thereby defiled they should be prevented keeping the feast. Nevertheless the Evangelist, who wrote from the height of God's thoughts about everything, calls it a feast of the Jews, and well he might, for the one of all others who at such times was a stranger there, and unwelcomed, was the Arm of the Lord Himself. He was there, but unknown. He was in their midst as they outwardly commemorated redemption, but they did not discern who He was. His words at the first Passover they heard with incredulity, and misunderstood. Afterward His life was not safe in Jewry, for the Jews sought to kill Him; and, finally, at another Passover, they crucified the very One who had interposed on behalf of their fathers, and brought them out of Egypt with a high hand. In the Old Testament these special seasons were suited to reanimate God's people; in the New Testament they afforded opportunities for showing, how far a people could go in an outward Profession of piety without one spark of spiritual life, how far they could be occupied with observances, and yet reject Him, when He came, whose intervention of old was the cause of their institution. In the Old Testament they were seasons for stirring up the hearts of the children of Israel. In the New Testament they were the occasions for showing up the hearts of the Jews.
Pentecost, or feast of Weeks, being wholly passed over, as was observed, in the Old Testament, we come next to the feast of Tabernacles, the last in order of the three great festivals, during which all the males were to appear before the Lord. It took place at the end of the harvest, when the corn and the wine had been gathered in, the fruits of the earth garnered, the toil of the year ended. Connected with the harvest, like Pentecost, it could not be observed while in the desert. There the Passover was in place, but these feasts were to be kept only after they had entered the land (Lev. 23:1010Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: (Leviticus 23:10)). Throughout Joshua and Judges we find no mention of Tabernacles. Samuel and David pass away before we read of its observance, not surely that they had never observed it, but that during all those years it did not find a place in history. The ark of God must no longer dwell in curtains, the tabernacle must be superseded by a fixed abode, the temple must be reared up before this feast comes before us. When that is accomplished, when the glory of the kingdom is displayed under Solomon, and the house that was to be very magnifical has been dedicated, then, typical of the millennial rest that will yet dawn on this earth, we have mention for the first time of the keeping of this feast. Was it a mere accident, or was it designed by God, that the feast of dedication should take place in the seventh month, so close to the feast of Tabernacles? "They kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days" (2 Chron. 7:99And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. (2 Chronicles 7:9)). Would this have been in keeping with the character of David's reign? Who does not at once see that this arrangement was in perfect keeping with what this feast prefigures? Yet it was only an earnest of the future, for the feast passed away; the people returned to their homes, but the rest had not commenced. Hezekiah and Josiah each keep the Passover, Daniel goes into captivity, and the remnant under Zerubbabel return to Jerusalem before again we read of the feast of Tabernacles. In Ezra 3 it comes in just where we might expect to find it. Prospective in its character, looking forward to a rest that remaineth, it comes in when the feeble few first re-enter their land, an earnest of that full and final restoration which we know will surely come. Under Joshua they had entered the land in the month Abib, under Zerubbabel they re-entered it just before the month Tisri. Could this be called a mere accident, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, which none can account for? It was surely designed that, when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel should be in their cities (Ezra 3). Their first work was to set up the altar, and restore the daily sacrifice. On the first day of the seventh month the day of the blowing of trumpets, they effected this; and afterward, on the fifteenth day of the same month, " they kept the feast of Tabernacles, as it is written." God's word about their restoration by Jeremiah (29:10) had been fulfilled. God's word about the rest and glory of the millennium cannot fail. They kept that feast which points onward to all that, while the city was still laid low, and the house unbuilt, for the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the historian is careful to add, was not yet laid. Sad was the view as they looked around at the desolation that encircled them; bright surely must the prospect have been, as by faith any among them penetrated the vista of ages.
Again, but under brighter auspices, we have mention of this feast. The wall of Jerusalem had been finished on the 25th of the month Elul which immediately precedes Tisri. The gates and bars set up, they could dwell in some degree of security. Nehemiah's great work had been accomplished, and God's word by Daniel fulfilled (9:25), the street had been "built again, and the wall, even in troublous times"; and all Israel, we again read, were in their cities in the seventh month. Of the temple beautified, and finished, we have word in Ezra. Now Jerusalem is again encircled with a wall to the discomfiture of their enemies (Neh. 6:1515So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. (Nehemiah 6:15)), and the first of the three feasts, which they have to keep after this, is the feast of Tabernacles. They kept it with great gladness, dwelling in booths. There too, we can see the guiding hand of God. The wall was finished not in Adar but in Elul. Their enemies saw in the finishing of it a proof that God was with them. Had the wall been finished at any time they might have thought this. But for the remnant there was something peculiar in the, season of its completion, for they kept the feast in security, an earnest of that day when in greater security they shall be in perfect rest, for the Lord shall be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem and the glory in the midst of her (Zech. 2:55For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. (Zechariah 2:5).)
It is when speaking of this time that the feast is next mentioned in the Old Testament. When the Lord shall come again, sit on His own throne, Israel be restored, and the whole earth be quiet, not as in Zech. 1 2, sitting still and unconcerned about the ruin and degradation of Jerusalem, but quiet, in peace, because the Prince of Peace has come, then Jerusalem being the center to which the nations converge, they shall keep the feast of Tabernacles yearly within her walls. Israel will keep both the Passover and Tabernacles. Of those left of the nations who came up against Jerusalem, it is said, all shall observe the feast of Tabernacles, and worship the king, the Lord of Hosts, in Jerusalem. Failing to do this, judgment will fall on them. Israel will celebrate redemption. These nations are not said to do this, but to own by their presence yearly at Jerusalem, the characteristic of the' dispensation. The king is there, so peace reigns. Such are the occasions on which this feast is brought before us in the Old Testament. Perfect is the order of all God's works. It is nevertheless instructive to trace that order out. The Passover took back their thoughts to the past to nerve them for the work they had to do; the feast of Ingathering carried forward their thoughts far into the future, to tell them of the hope they should cherish, and to encourage them under circumstances calculated to depress.
Once only in the New Testament do we meet with the feast of Tabernacles. Then we read (John 7) of the Jews keeping it without Jesus, and of His brethren being satisfied to go up to it knowing He was still in Galilee. They think they can do without Him. But in the midst of the feast He is found in the temple teaching, in words such as never man spake. Ready to do without Him at first, unable to understand Him when he taught, they seek for reasons to satisfy their consciences in rejecting Him. He knew what man wanted, and stood forth before them all on the last day of the feast to offer it. All the joy of that great feast was nearly over, the morn would see all returning to their place, to await the month of Abib or Nisan, which would again assemble them together. The joys of earth they had, the blessings of a rich harvest they might know; and the rejoicing attending that feast they might have fully entered into. But were they satisfied? To all who were unsatisfied He addressed Himself. " If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink." Nor was this all. Not only would He refresh the soul, which came to Him, with a portion it could find nowhere else; but He added, " He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Satisfied himself, he should be a channel whereby others should be satisfied too. The epoch to which this feast refers had not, nor has it yet, arrived. Creation still groans, and will groan till the manifestation of the children of God. Millennial rest cannot be entered upon till the kingdom is established in power. Creation, bowed down as it is under the consequences of man's sin, knows no rest as yet; but any one, every one, who comes to Him and drinks may get refreshed now. We enter now by faith into the results of redemption, which creation cannot yet do: we can enjoy now in some degree what the feast of Tabernacles will bring to it; for in the kingdom now through grace, and joined to the risen Head, blessings connected with the kingdom are ours already before the king has appeared, and before the earth has welcomed the commencement of His reign.