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the Septuagint renders it τη επαύριον της πρώτης, “ the morrow ་་ after the first." The Targum of Onkelos renders it, "after the feast day ;" and Josephus says expressly, "rn devrɛpa twv alvμwv nμepa," &c., on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth of Nisan, they take of the fruits of the harvest which they have not touched before; and esteeming it their duty, first to pay due honour to God, from whom they have received their liberal supply, they offer him the first fruits of the barley.*

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The rabbies inform us, that this sheaf was gathered and prepared for the offering with a great deal of ceremony, which, as we have no account of it in Scripture, we pass over in silence.†

The moral signification of this title, the offering of the firstfruits, was undoubtedly to be an acknowledgment of his goodness" who gives rain, both the former and the latter rain, in its season, and reserves to men the appointed weeks of harvest," Jer. v. 24; and also of his right to, and propriety in, those bounties of his providence, in consequence of which he may bestow, or take them away, as he pleases, Hos. ii. 8, 9; and likewise, to teach them to look up to God for his blessing to render their earthly enjoyments and possessions profitable and delightful; 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.

There might also be a typical signification of this rite, as referring to the resurrection of Christ, whose sacrifice and death had been just before represented by that of the paschal lamb, and which is compared by our Lord himself to corn falling into the ground and dying, after which it springs up and brings forth fruit; John xii. 24. Accordingly, the apostle saith, 1 Cor. xv. 20, as it should seem in reference to this type, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and is become the first-fruits of them that slept."‡

Joseph. Antiq. lib. iii. cap. x. sect. v. p. 177, 178, edit. Haverc.; see also Lightfoot. Hora Hebraic. Act. vii. 1.

+ See Ainsworth on Levit. xxiii. 10; Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. xiv. sect. ii.; Outram de Sacrificiis, lib. i. cap. viii. sect. vi. p. 87, London, 1677; Mishn. tit. Sotab, cap. vii. sect. iii. not.; Wagenseil. tom. iii. p. 259, 260, edit. Surenhus. ; et tit. Menachoth, cap. x. cum not. Bartenor.; et Maimon. tom. v.

On the sheaf of the first-fruits, see also Reland. Antiq. part iv. cap. iii. sect. viii. p. 464-466; Hottingeri Annot. in Godwin. lib. iii. cap. v. sect. iii. not. iii. Francof. 1716. On the feast of unleavened bread, see the authors before referred to on the passover.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.

THE pentecost was the second of the three grand festivals in the ecclesiastical year, at which all the males were to appear before the Lord at the national altar.

It is called by several names in the Old Testament; as the feast of weeks, the feast of harvest, and the day of the firstfruits. In the New Testament it is styled pentecost; and the rabbies have other names for it, calling it "the day of giving the law," and ny gnatsereth, the word which we render "a solemn assembly."

1st. It is called "the feast of weeks," Exod. xxxiv. 22, because it was celebrated seven weeks, or a week of weeks, after the passover; or rather, after the first day of the feast of unleavened bread; for the computation of the seven weeks began with the second day of that feast, and the next day after the seven weeks were completed was the feast of pentecost. Thus it is said in Leviticus, "Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete, even to the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days;" clap. xxiii. 15, 16. By the seven sabbaths here mentioned, we are to understand seven weeks; and so it is rendered in the Targum and in the Septuagint; in which sense we find the word saßßarov used in the New Testament: the Pharisee in the parable saith, vnOTEUW DIC TOV GaßBarov, "I fast twice a-week;" that is, on the second and fifth days, on which fasting was recommended by the tradition of the elders; and which were accordingly kept every week as fasts by the devout Jews. And in the first verse of the twenty

eighth chapter of Matthew, av oaßßarwv evidently signifies the "first day of the week."

The rabbies lay great stress upon the precept to count the seven sabbaths, or weeks. And Maimonides remarks, that it was to the honour of this festival that they were obliged to count the days of its approach from the preceding passover, as a man, expecting his best and most faithful friend at an appointed time, is accustomed to number the days and hours till his arrival.* Accordingly, the modern Jews make an act of devotion of counting the days from the passover to the pentecost, beginning the computation with a solemn prayer or benediction, in this form: "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the Lord of the world, who hast sanctified us with thy precepts, and commanded us to number the days of the harvest; and this is the first day." Thus they go on with their prayer, or benediction, till the seventh day; then they add, "Now there is one week ;" and so they proceed with the same act of devotion every day to the evening of the pentecost.†

This counting is, in some places, performed publicly in the synagogue. But whether it be thus performed or not, every master of a family is obliged to do it every evening at home.‡

Now since there were seven weeks complete between the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and the day of pentecost, it is made matter of inquiry, on what day of the week that remarkable pentecost fell, when the Holy Ghost was shed forth on the apostles; which is said to have been εv тw σνμπληρούσθαι την ήμεραν της πεντηκοστης, the meaning of which is ambiguous, as it may either signify, when the day of pentecost was fulfilled and over; or, as it is rendered in our English version, "when it was fully come;" Acts ii. 1. The former sense is most agreeable to the common meaning of the word Tλnpow, and the text is accordingly rendered in the Italian version, "when the day of pentecost was fully gone." This sense Dr. Lightfoot prefers, and not without reason: § for

* Maimon. Moreh Nevoch. part iii. cap. xliii. p. 471.
+ Hottinger. in Godwin. lib. iii. cap. v. sect. v. p. 575, 576.

↑ See Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. cap. xx. p. 441, 3d edit.

§ Horæ Hebr. in loc.

since Christ ate his last passover on the same day with the rest of the Jews, as we have already proved, namely, on the fourteenth of Nisan, which was Thursday; the next day, on which he was crucified, must be the first day of the feast of unleavened bread; therefore, the sixteenth day, the Saturday, was the first day of the seven weeks between that and the pentecost; consequently the fiftieth day, or the morrow after the seventh sabbath or week, which was the day of pentecost, must fall on the Saturday, or the Jewish sabbath.

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The Doctor apprehends no reason can be assigned for "the disciples being all with one accord in one place," on the day when the Holy Ghost descended upon them, more reasonable and probable, than that they were assembled for the celebration of the Lord's day; which must be, therefore, the next day after the pentecost. Upon which he farther observes, that our Lord, in fulfilling several types by which he was represented, did not confine himself to the day of the type, but deferred the accomplishment to the day following. It was not upon the very day of the passover, but on the ensuing day, that Christ our passover was sacrificed for us;" 1 Cor. v. 7. It was not on the day that the sheaf of the first-fruits was offered, but the next day, that Christ became the "first-fruits of them that slept;" 1 Cor. xv. 20. In like manner he supposes the descent of the Holy Ghost was not on the day of pentecost, but when it was gone, or the next day after. Nevertheless, our English version, "when the day of pentecost was fully come," is supported by the use of the word Anpow in several places of the Septuagint, as Dr. Hammond hath fully shown.* Thus in the evangelist Luke, óte etλnoInσav nμεpaι OKTW, which we render, "when eight days were accomplished for circumcising the child," Luke ii. 21, must signify, not when the eighth day was over, but when it was come, for on that day, according to the law, circumcision was to be performed; Levit. xii. 2, 3. Supposing, then, it was the very day of pentecost when the disciples were thus assembled, and the Holy Ghost came upon them, it might nevertheless be the first day of the week, or the Lord's day; for as the Jews reckoned all their sacred and festival days

* See Hammond in loc.

from the evening, so we have the testimony both of Rabbi Solomon and Maimonides,* that they began the computation of the seven weeks from the evening of the sixteenth of Nisan.+ Insomuch, that the Saturday, on which our Saviour lay in the sepulchre, was not one of the forty-nine days which made seven weeks complete; but that evening and the first day of the week, on which Christ rose from the dead, made the first day of the first week; and, consequently, Friday evening and Saturday were the forty-ninth, and the Lord's day was the fiftieth, or the day of pentecost. Thus it appears, that according to the manner in which the Scribes computed the seven weeks, the day of pentecost that year, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, was the first day of the week.

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According to the computation of the Baithusians and Karraites, the day of pentecost always fell on the first day of the week; for by the sabbath on the morrow after which the sheaf was offered," and the computation of the seven weeks began, they understand the weekly sabbath (or the sabbath of the creation, as the Scribes call it), which fell in the paschal week. So that, according to them, the first day of the week was always the first day of the forty-nine days or seven weeks; and, consequently, the fiftieth day, or pentecost; was always the first day of the week.‡

2dly. It was called "the feast of harvest," Exod. xxiii. 16, on the following account, according to the learned Mr. Joseph Mede, because, as the harvest began at the passover, so it ended at pentecost.§ Bochart is of the same opinion, who saith, that as about the time of the passover the sickle was

R. Solom. cited by Meyer in not. ad Megillath Taanith, cap. i. p. 7, ad calcem Tractat. de Tempor. et Festis Hebræorum; Maimon. de Sacrificiis Jugibus, cap. vii. sect. xxii. p. 477, Crenii Fascic. Sexti.

+ See also Megillath Taanith, ubi supra, p. 4-6.

R. Obad. de Bartenora in Mishn. tit. Chagigah, cap. ii. sect. iv. p. 419; Megillath Taanith, ubi supra. See the dispute concerning this computation in Meyer, de Tempor. et Festis Hebræor. part ii. cap. xiii. sect. xxi.—xxiv. p. 295–297; Reland. Antiq. part iv. cap. iv. sect. iii. iv. p. 474—476, 3d edit.; Liber Cozri, part iii. sect. xli. p. 217, cum not.; Buxtorf. in loc. p. 218, 219; Lightfoot, Hora Hebr. Act. ii. 1; Selden, de Anno Civili Judæorum, cap. vii.

§ Mede's Diatrib. disc. xlviii. p. 269 of his Works.

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