Chapter 52—The Annual Feasts
This chapter is based on
Leviticus 23
.
There were three annual assemblies of all Israel for worship at the
sanctuary.
Exodus 23:14-16
. Shiloh was for a time the place of these
gatherings; but Jerusalem afterward became the center of the nation’s
worship, and here the tribes convened for the solemn feasts.
The people were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, that were
eager to seize upon their lands; yet three times every year all the
able-bodied men and 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 upon those unprotected households, to lay them waste with fire
and sword? What was to prevent an invasion of the land, that would
bring Israel into captivity to some foreign foe? God had promised to be
the protector of His people. “The angel of Jehovah encampeth round
about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.”
Psalm 34:7
[A.R.V.].
While the Israelites went up to worship, divine power would place a
restraint upon their enemies. God’s promise was, “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
.
The first of these festivals, the Passover, the feast of unleavened
bread, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corre-
sponding 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 the springtime. The grass was green on the
hills and valleys, and wild flowers everywhere brightened the fields.
The moon, now approaching the full, made the evenings delightful. It
was the season so beautifully pictured by the sacred singer:
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