brought out for cutting the corn, so about pentecost it was laid up again, the harvest being entirely finished.* And it is likewise the sentiment of Godwin. But it doth not seem to be justly founded; for at this feast the first-fruits of their wheat harvest were brought and offered to God; on which account it was called "the feast of harvest," as that name is explained: "the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labour, which thou hast sown in thy field." Now as the firstfruits of the barley harvest were offered at the very beginning of it, as we have shown in the last chapter, so it is reasonable to suppose, the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were likewise offered at the beginning of it, and not delayed till it was over, and all brought into the barns. Hence, 3dly. Another name of this feast is, "the day of the firstfruits," as it is called in the twenty-eighth chapter of the book of Numbers, ver. 26, because on that day they were to "offer a new wheat-offering unto the Lord of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven," as we are informed in Leviticus, chap. xxiii. 16, 17; and these were to be accompanied with animal sacrifices, namely, "seven lambs, without blemish, of the first year, and a bullock and two rams for a burnt-offering, a kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings;" ver. 18, 19. in It may to us seem very strange, that the wheat harvest should not begin in Judea till seven weeks after the barley harvest; whereas we are accustomed to see them both together. It was otherwise in the eastern countries; Egypt particularly, the barley, it is said, was smitten with the hail, for it was in the ear, whereas the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up; Exod. ix. 31; 32. It is inquired, why leaven was used in the bread offered at pentecost; whereas it was expressly forbidden at the passover? The rabbies say, because their bread at the passover was * Bochart. Hieroz. part i. lib. iii. cap. xiii. Oper. tom. ii. p. 857, edit. 1712. See also Fuller. Miscell. lib. iii. cap. xi.; apud Criticos Sacros, tom. ix. p. 2362, edit. Lond. + Vid. Bochart, ubi supra, p. 857, 858. in commemoration of their sudden departure out of Egypt, when they could not stay to have it leavened; but the loaves offered at pentecost were in behalf of the bread which they were ordinarily to eat.* 4thly. This feast is styled in the New Testament TEVTNKOOTY, that is, the fiftieth; because it was kept fifty days after the passover. Pasor in his Lexicon supposes the word nuɛpa to be understood, with which the feminine adjective TEVTηKOOTη agrees. This, however, would make a sad tautology of the expression in the Acts, την ήμεραν της πεντηκοστης, chap. ii. l. 5thly. The rabbies call this feast "the day of the giving of the law;" for it is the constant opinion of the Jews, that on this day the law was given on Mount Sinai, namely, on the fiftieth day from their departure out of Egypt. This is collected from the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, in the first verse of which it is said, that in the third month (or in the third new moon, as the Hebrew word wp chodhesh signifies), when the children of Israel were gone forth out of Egypt, the same day (that is, the day of the new moon) they came to Sinai. Adding, therefore, to this day twenty-nine for the last month, and fifteen days of the first month, it makes fortyfive from the time of their departure from Egypt to their arrival at Sinai. To which if we add the day when Moses went up to God in the mount, Exod. xix. 3, and the next day when he reported his message from God to the people, and returned their answer, ver. 7, 8; and the three days more which God gave them to prepare themselves for his coming down among them, ver. 11; there were just fifty days from the first passover to the giving the law at Mount Sinai ; to which, therefore, according to Maimonides, the institution of this feast had a special regard. * Abarbanel in Lev. iii., cited by Lightfoot in his Temple Service, chap. xiv. sect. iv. + Maimon. Moreh Nevoch. part iii. cap. xliii. p. 471, who makes the design of pentecost to be a memorial of the giving of the law. Abarbanel, who differs with him as to the design of the institution, admits, nevertheless, that it was celebrated in the same day on which the law was given. See Meyer, De Tempor. et Festis Hebræor. part ii. cap. xiii. sect. xvi. xvii. p. 293, 294. 6thly. The rabbies again call this feast y gnatsereth ;* the word which we render "solemn assembly," Lev. xxiii. 36; Deut. xvi. 8; which, though it is never applied to the pentecost in Scripture, yet they in a manner appropriate it to this feast, calling it ny gnatsereth, Kar' Eоxv. The reason of which might be, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, because this feast consisted of one solemn day only, whereas the feast of the passover and of tabernacles had more.† The more immediate design of this institution seems to have been, that they might thankfully acknowledge the goodness of God in giving them the fruits of the earth, and beg his blessing on the bounties of his providence, by their offering the first-fruits of their harvest to him; and it doubtless had a typical reference to the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, and of converts to Christ, after the erection of the gospel kingdom, by means of Peter's preaching on the day of pentecost.‡ * See the Chaldee Paraphrase on Numb. xxviii. 26; Mishn. tit. Gnerachin, cap. ii. sect. iii. tom. v. p. 196. See also Reland. Antiq. part iv. cap. iv. sect. iii. p. 472-474; and Lightfoot's Temple Service, chap. xiv. sect. iv. + Hora Hebr. Act. ii. 1. See on the pentecost, Meyer, De Temporibus et Festis Hebræorum, part ii. cap. xiii.; Reland. Antiq. part iv. cap. iv.; Lightfoot, Hora Hebr. Act. ii. 1, and Temple Service, chap. xiv.; Leydekker de Republ. Hebræor. lib. ix. cap. v. CHAPTER VI. OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. THE feast of tabernacles was the third grand festival, at which all the male Israelites were to attend at the national altar, Deut. xvi. 16. It derived its name from their dwelling in tabernacles,* or booths, during its celebration; Lev. xxiii. 42. It is likewise called the "feast of ingathering in the end of the year," Exod. xxiii. 16, because at this season the whole harvest, not only of the corn, but also of the vintage and other fruits, for which they were to express their thankfulness to God, at this feast, was completed; Lev. xxiii. 39. It began on the fifteenth day of the month Tisri, the first of the civil and the seventh of the ecclesiastical year, and was to be celebrated seven days: "The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days;" Lev. xxiii. 34. To which there was also added an eighth day, which was to be observed with peculiar solemnity: "Seven days shall ye offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; it is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein;" ver. 36. But as the feast of tabernacles is expressly limited to seven days, "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord," ver. 34; during which only they are commanded to dwell in tabernacles or booths, ver. 42; this eighth day was not so properly a part of the feast of tabernacles, as another distinct feast which followed immediately upon it; agreeably to the account which is given in the book of Nehemiah, "They kept. the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn as * The rabbies say a great deal concerning the form of these tabernacles; see Mishn. tit. Succah, and Surenhusii Tabulæ rarissimorum Tabernaculorum, prefixed to tom. v. sembly according unto the manner;" chap. viii. 18. The seven days are expressly said in Leviticus to have been kept in commemoration of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness for forty years, chap. xxiii. 42, 43; the eighth day, therefore, was properly the feast of ingathering, on which they were to give thanks for their whole harvest," after," as it is expressed in the book of Deuteronomy, "they had gathered in their corn and their wine," chap. xvi. 13-16. Indeed, there is no mention, in this last passage, of this eighth day, but only of the festival of seven days. Nevertheless, these being observed on a separate account, namely, to commemorate their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, we may conclude, that the rejoicing and thanksgiving, enjoined at this festival on account of the harvest, were chiefly if not wholly appropriated to the eighth day. And it is observable, that they were commanded to dwell in booths no longer than the seven days; a circumstance which shows, that the eighth day was not observed on the same account as the seven preceding. Nevertheless, as the names of the feast of the passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, which immediately followed it, are frequently confounded, so the feast of tabernacles and of ingathering, though properly distinct, yet, following close upon one another, are sometimes spoken of as one feast, and the name of either indifferently applied to both. It was probably the eighth day, which is ordered to be kept with the solemnity of a sabbath, and not the seventh, concerning which there is no such appointment in the law, that is styled by the evangelist John "the last and great day of the feast," chap. vii. 37; that is, of the feast of tabernacles; ver. 2. The first day of this feast was to be kept as a sabbath, Lev. xxiii. 39, and during that and the six following days they were to dwell in tents, or booths, made of branches of several sorts of trees, which are particularly mentioned, ver. 40. The name of the first sort is y gnets hadhar, which we render, "goodly trees." The Jews will have it to mean the citron. The next is called on thamar, or the palm. The third is nay y gnets gnabhoth, which signifies any thick or See before, chap. iv. p. 478. + Reland. Antiq. part iv. cap. v. sect. ix.; Hottinger. in Godwin. lib. in. cap. vi. sect. iii. not. iv. p. 581–584. |