At the Feast of Tabernacles
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ration of their tent life, the Israelites during the feast dwelt in booths
or tabernacles of green boughs. These were erected in the streets, in
the courts of the temple, or on the housetops. The hills and valleys
surrounding Jerusalem were also dotted with these leafy dwellings,
and seemed to be alive with people.
With sacred song and thanksgiving the worshipers celebrated this
occasion. A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement, when,
after confession of their sins, the people were declared to be at peace
with Heaven. Thus the way was prepared for the rejoicing of the feast.
“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth
forever” (
Psalm 106:1
) rose triumphantly, while all kinds of music,
mingled with shouts of hosanna, accompanied the united singing. The
temple was the center of the universal joy. Here was the pomp of the
sacrificial ceremonies. Here, ranged on either side of the white marble
steps of the sacred building, the choir of Levites led the service of
song. The multitude of worshipers, waving their branches of palm
and myrtle, took up the strain, and echoed the chorus; and again the
melody was caught up by voices near and afar off, till the encircling
hills were vocal with praise.
At night the temple and its court blazed with artificial light. The
music, the waving of palm branches, the glad hosannas, the great
concourse of people, over whom the light streamed from the hanging
lamps, the array of the priests, and the majesty of the ceremonies,
combined to make a scene that deeply impressed the beholders. But
the most impressive ceremony of the feast, one that called forth greatest
rejoicing, was one commemorating an event in the wilderness sojourn.
At the first dawn of day, the priests sounded a long, shrill blast
upon their silver trumpets, and the answering trumpets, and the glad
shouts of the people from their booths, echoing over hill and valley,
welcomed the festal day. Then the priest dipped from the flowing
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waters of the Kedron a flagon of water, and, lifting it on high, while
the trumpets were sounding, he ascended the broad steps of the temple,
keeping time with the music with slow and measured tread, chanting
meanwhile, “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.”
Psalm
122:2
.
He bore the flagon to the altar, which occupied a central position
in the court of the priests. Here were two silver basins, with a priest
standing at each one. The flagon of water was poured into one, and