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The Beginning of the End
On the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, the Passover was
celebrated. Its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorated de-
liverance from slavery in Egypt and pointed forward to the sacrifice
that would deliver from the slavery of sin. When the Savior gave
His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ended, and the
service of the Lord’s Supper was begun as a memorial of the same
event that the Passover had symbolized in advance.
Meaning of the Festivals
The Passover was followed by the seven days’ Feast of Unleav-
ened Bread. On the second day of the feast, the firstfruits of the
year’s harvest were presented before God. The priest waved a sheaf
of grain before the altar of God to acknowledge that everything was
His. The harvest was not to be gathered until this ceremony had
been performed.
Pentecost, the feast of harvest, came fifty days after the offering
of firstfruits. As an expression of gratitude for grain, two loaves
baked with yeast were presented before God. Pentecost was just one
day, which was devoted to religious service.
The Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering, came in the seventh
month. This feast acknowledged God’s rich blessings in the produce
from the 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.
This feast was a time of rejoicing. It took place just after the
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great Day of Atonement, when the people had received assurance
that their sins would no longer be remembered. At peace with God,
with the work of the harvest ended and the work of the new year
not yet begun, the people could give themselves fully to the sacred,
joyous experiences of the hour. As far as possible, all the household
were to attend the feasts, and the servants, the Levites, the stranger,
and the poor were made welcome to their hospitality.
Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated past
events. 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 beautiful trees, branches of palm trees,