〉 Chapter 52—Annual Feasts of Rejoicing
Chapter 52—Annual Feasts of Rejoicing
This chapter is based on Leviticus 23. (EP 386)
The people of Israel were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, eager to seize upon their lands; yet three times every year 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 on those unprotected households to lay them waste with fire and sword? What was to prevent an invasion that would bring Israel into captivity? (EP 386.1)
God had promised to be the protector of His people. “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. (EP 386.2)
The first of these festivals, the Passover, 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 springtime. The grass was green on the hills and valleys, and wild flowers everywhere brightened the fields. The moon, now approaching full, made the evening delightful. (EP 386.3)
Throughout the land, bands of pilgrims were making their way toward Jerusalem. The shepherds, the herdsmen, fishers from the Sea of Galilee, 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. Many went on foot. The caravans often became very large before reaching the Holy City. (EP 386.4)
Nature’s gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel. 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: (EP 387.1)
I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
Psalm 122:1
(EP 387.2)
As they saw around them hills where the heathen had been wont to kindle their altar fires, the children of Israel sang: (EP 387.3)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
From whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1, 2
(EP 387.4)
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. As they heard the trumpets of the Levites heralding the sacred service, they caught the inspiration of the hour, and sang: (EP 387.5)
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
(EP 387.6)
Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.
Psalm 118:19
(EP 387.7)
All the houses in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms were furnished free. But this was not sufficient, and tents were pitched in every available space in the city and upon the surrounding hills. (EP 388.1)
On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating 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. (EP 388.2)
The Passover was followed by the seven days’ Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the second day of the feast, the firstfruits of the year’s harvest were presented before God. A sheaf of grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered. (EP 388.3)
Fifty days from the offering of firstfruits came Pentecost, the feast of harvest. As an expression of gratitude for grain, two loaves baked with leaven were presented before God. Pentecost occupied but one day. (EP 388.4)
In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering. This feast acknowledged God’s bounty in the products of orchard, olive grove, and vineyard. It was the crowning festival gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, oil, and wine had been stored, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God. (EP 388.5)
This feast was an occasion of rejoicing. It occured just after the great Day of Atonement, when assurance had been given that their iniquity should be remembered no more. At peace with God, the labors of the harvest ended and the toils of the new year not yet begun, the people could give themselves up to the sacred, joyous influences of the hour. So far as possible, all the household were to attend the feasts, and to their hospitality the servants, the Levites, the stranger, and the poor were made welcome. (EP 388.6)
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness, the people were to leave their homes 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 willow of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40. (EP 389.1)
At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young would be encouraged in the service of God. Association of the people from different quarters of the land would strengthen the ties that bound them to God and to one another. As Israel celebrated the deliverance 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 ways He has devised for bringing us out from darkness into the precious light of His grace and truth. (EP 389.2)
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 should emphasize the importance of religious worship, the necessity of subordinating our selfish, worldly interests to those that are spiritual and eternal. We sustain a loss when we neglect associating together to encourage one another in the service of God. We are all children of one Father, dependent upon one another for happiness. It is the proper cultivation of the social elements of our nature that brings us into sympathy with our brethren and affords us happiness. (EP 389.3)
The Feast of Tabernacles not only pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but forward to the great day of final ingathering. The Lord shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares in bundles for the fire and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will 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. (EP 389.4)
When the ransomed of the Lord shall have been safely gathered into the heavenly Canaan, forever delivered from the bondage of the curse, they will “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8. Christ’s great work of atonement will then have been completed and their sins forever blotted out. (EP 390.1)
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads: ...
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 35:10
(EP 390.2)