Feast

FEAST of Expiation, or Chippur or Pardon, was celebrated on the tenth day of Tizri, which was the first day of the civil Levit.xxii. 27, 28. Numb. xxix. 7.year. It was instituted for the Expiation of all the sins, irreverences, and pollutions of all the Israelites, from the High-Priest to the lowest of the people, committed by them throughout the whole year. Upon this day they fasted strictly, and offered several Sacrifices. See above, EXPIATION.

The FEAST of Tents, or Tabernacles, upon which all the Israelites were obliged to be at the Temple, and to dwell for eight days under Tents made of leaves, in memory of their fathers dwelling forty years in Tents, as travellers, in the wilderness. It was kept on the fifteenth of the month Tizri, which was the first of the civil year. The first and seventh day of this Feast were very solemn. But during the other days of the Octave, See Levit. xxiii. 34, 35, & Numb. xxix. 12, 13.they might work. At the beginning of the Feast, two vessels of silver were carried in a ceremonious manner to the Temple, one full of water, the other of wine, which were poured out at the foot of the Altar of burnt-offering upon the seventh Mischna, tit. Suca, & Bartenora in cap. 4. Mischnæ.day always of this Festival.

The Octave of the three great Feasts of the year, which are the Passover, Pentecost, and the Tabernacles, that is to say, the seventh day after these Feasts, was a day of rest as much as the Festival itself; and all the Males were obliged to be at the Temple Exod. xxiii. 14. Deut. xvi. 16. Deut. xvi. 7.upon these three Feasts. But the Law did not require them to continue there during the whole Octave. They were at liberty to return the day after the solemnity, excepting in the Feast of Tabernacles, for then they seem obliged to be present at it for the whole seven days.

Besides these Feasts mentioned by Moses, we find the Feast of Lots, or Purim¹, instituted upon the occasion of the Jews deliverance, when Haman, in the reign of AhasuerusEsth. ix. 29, 30., had contrived their destruction. See ESTHER, MORDECAI, AHASUERUS.

The Death of Holofernes, taken notice of in Judith. See JUDITH.

The FEAST of the Dedication of the Temple, or rather of the Restoration of the Temple, which had been profaned by Antiochus 1 Macc. iv. 52,54, 55, &c. John x. 22. Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c.11.Epiphanes, was celebrated in the winter; and this is believed to be the Feast named Encænia in the Gospel. See above,

DEDICATION. Josephus says, it was called the Feast of Lights. Our account of it in the book of Maccabees is as follows: Judas and his brethren having defeated the army of Gorgias, went directly to the Temple of Jerusalem, which they found forsaken and profaned, so that the Courts were full of thick bushes and brambles, the doors were burnt, the Altar profaned, and the buildings in ruins. After having shed abundance of tears on this occasion, they began to clean every thing, and employed the Priests in demolishing the Altar which had been polluted. The stones belonging to it they laid up in a proper place, waiting till a Prophet should come, who might inform them what to do with them. They erected another of rough Stone, refitted the Holy and the Sanctuary, and placed therein the Candlestick, the Table of Shew-bread, and the Altar of Perfumes. They kindled the Lamps, put the Loaves upon the sacred Table, set the Incense on fire, offered Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings, and performed the Dedication of the Temple in eight days time, with all the solemnity that circumstances would allow of. Josephus adds, that this Festival was called the Feast of Lights, probably because this happiness befell them when they least expected it, and they looked upon it as a new Light that had risen upon them.

Leo of Modena is more particular in relating the manner of celebrating this Feast. He says, the ancient Sages appointed the celebration of it in memory of the victory obtained by Judas Maccabæus over the Greeks. “ The first day they light up one lamp, two upon the second, and so continuing to the last, till eight are lighted. “ This is founded on the ensuing Story, “ namely, while the enemies were masters “ of the City and Temple, and were profaning the latter, Joshanan and his sons “ drove them thence, and defeated them; “ and, as at his return there was no pure “ oil to be found, in order to light up the “ lamps in the Candlestick with seven branches, they met with some in a little “ carved vessel, enough to burn one night, “ but miraculously this oil lasted eight “ nights; which obliged them, in memory “ of this event, to light as many lamps “ as we have mentioned. “ In this Festival is likewise celebrated “ Judith’s enterprize against Holofernes; “ though, as some say, it was not executed “ in the same season. “ During these eight days, people may “ work, and carry on their trades; for all “ that is extraordinary consists in the order “ of lighting these lamps, and in adding “ to the usual prayers a thanksgiving for “ this victory, and every morning the “ cxiiith and following Psalms, together “ with the xxxth. There was likewise some “ small difference as to eating. This Feast “ is called Hanucha, that is to say, Exercise, “ or “ or renewing, because they then began “ to restore those exercises which at that “ time were interrupted.”

On the twenty-first of September, the Jews keep a Feast, as they call it, of Branches, in memory of the taking of Jericho.

In the same month they have the Feast of the Collections, because upon that day they make a collection for the expence of the Sacrifices.

They have likewise a Festival for the death of Nicanor. 1 Macc. vii. 48, 49. 2 Macc. xv. 37.

The Feast for the discovery of the sacred fire in the time of Nehemiah. 2 Macc. i. 18, & seq.

Rev. i. 10.The Feast called Xylophoria, upon which wood in great quantity was carried to the Temple. Joseph. de Bello, l. 2. c. 17.

In the Christian Church we have no Festival that appears clearly to have been instituted by Jesus Christ or his Apostles. Nevertheless our Saviour having commanded us to eat his body and drink his blood, and to commemorate his Passion as often as we celebrate his mysteries, has hereby seemed to institute a Feast, and a perpetual memory of his Passion. Christians have always celebrated the memory of his Resurrection, and keep this Feast not once only in the year, but on every Sunday; and we see in the Revelations, that then, so early, this day was called commonly the Lord’s day. I was in spirit on the Lord’s Barnab. Epist. p. 56.day. St. Barnabas says, We celebrate the eighth day with joy, because it is the day upon which Jesus Christ rose from the dead. We see the same thing in St. Ignatius the Martyr², in St. Justin³, Irenæus⁴, Tertullian⁵, and Origen⁶.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages