“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.’ ”
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. You shall do no kind of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God. For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day shall be cut off from his people. Whoever does any kind of work in that same day, I will destroy that person from among his people. You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh. On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.
“ ‘These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day— in addition to the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and in addition to your gifts, and in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your free will offerings, which you give to Yahweh.
“ ‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. You shall take on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in temporary shelters for seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in temporary shelters, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in temporary shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’ ”
So Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of Yahweh.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 32, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43 Or, an holy day to the Lord.
Or, an holy day to the Lord.
That is, about the end of September.
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Which blowing was to put them in remembrance of the manifold feasts that were in that month, and of the Jubilee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 42, 43 Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,…
Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first [day] of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Ver. 24. Of blowing of trumpets.] This feast signified the spiritual joy and gladness of the saints that are redeemed by Christ, all their life long. {Isa 23:10}
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 29, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42 A memorial of blowing of trumpets, i.e. solemnized with…
A memorial of blowing of trumpets, i.e. solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests; not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, Num 10:10, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. This seems to have been instituted,
1. To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof as to civil matters, and particularly as to the jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God’s blessing in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs.
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2. To put a special honour upon this month. For as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year; so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, for the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well that of atonement and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God’s mercies.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v33 We have here, I. The institution of the feast…
We have here, I. The institution of the feast of tabernacles, which was one of the three great feasts at which all the males were bound to attend, and celebrated with more expressions of joy than any of them.
1. As to the directions for regulating this feast, observe, (1.) It was to be observed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:34), but five days after the day of atonement. We may suppose, though they were not all bound to attend on the day of atonement, as on the three great festivals, yet that many of the devout Jews came up so many days before the feast of tabernacles as to enjoy the opportunity of attending on the day of atonement. Now, [1.] The afflicting of their souls on the day of atonement prepared them for the joy of the feast of tabernacles. The more we are grieved and humbled for sin, the better qualified we are for the comforts of the Holy Ghost. [2.] The joy of this feast recompensed them for the sorrow of that fast; for those that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (2.) It was to continue eight days, the first and last of which were to be observed as sabbaths, days of holy rest and holy convocations, Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36, Lev 23:39. The sacrifices to be offered on these eight days we have a very large appointment of, Num 29:12, etc. (3.) During the first seven days of this feast all the people were to leave their houses, and the women and children in them, and to dwell in booths made of the boughs of thick trees, particularly palm trees, Lev 23:40, Lev 23:42. The Jews make the taking of the branches to be a distinct ceremony from the making of the booths. It is said, indeed (Neh 8:15), that they made their booths of the branches of trees, which they might do, and yet use that further expression of joy, the carrying of palm-branches in their hands, which appears to have been a token of triumph upon other occasions (Joh 12:13), and is alluded to, Rev 7:9. The eighth day some make a distinct feast of itself, but it is called (Joh 7:37) that great day of the feast; it was the day on which they returned from their booths, to settle again in their own houses. (4.) They were to rejoice before the Lord God during all the time of this feast, Lev 23:40. The tradition of the Jews is that they were to express their joy by dancing, and singing hymns of praise to God, with musical instruments: and not the common people only, but the wise men of Israel, and their elders, were to do it in the court of the sanctuary: for (say they) the joy with which a man rejoices in doing a commandment is really a great service.
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2. As to the design of this feast,
(1.) It was to be kept in remembrance of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness. Thus it is expounded here (Lev 23:43): That your generations may know, not only by the written history, but by this ocular tradition, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths. Thus it kept in perpetual remembrance, [1.] The meanness of their beginning, and the low and desolate state out of which God advanced that people. Note, Those that are comfortably fixed ought often to call to mind their former unsettled state, when they were but little in their own eyes. [2.] The mercy of God to them, that, when they dwelt in tabernacles, God not only set up a tabernacle for himself among them, but, with the utmost care and tenderness imaginable, hung a canopy over them, even the cloud that sheltered them from the heat of the sun. God's former mercies to us and our fathers ought to be kept in everlasting remembrance. The eighth day was the great day of this feast, because then they returned to their own houses again, and remembered how, after they had long dwelt in tents in the wilderness, at length they came to a happy settlement in the land of promise, where they dwelt in goodly houses. And they would the more sensibly value and be thankful for the comforts and conveniences of their houses when they had been seven days dwelling in booths. It is good for those that have ease and plenty sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness.
(2.) It was a feast of in-gathering, so it is called, Exo 23:16. When they had gathered in the fruit of their land (Lev 23:39), the vintage as well as the harvest, then they were to keep this feast in thankfulness to God for all the increase of the year; and some think that the eighth day of the feast had special reference to this ground of the institution. Note, The joy of harvest ought to be improved for the furtherance of our joy in God. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, and therefore whatever we have the comfort of he must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is perfected.
(3.) It was a typical feast. It is supposed by many that our blessed Saviour was born much about the time of this feast; then he left his mansions of light above to tabernacle among us (Joh 1:14), and he dwelt in booths. And the worship of God under the New Testament is prophesied of under the notion of keeping the feast of tabernacles, Zac 14:16. For, [1.] The gospel of Christ teaches us to dwell in tabernacles, to sit loose to this world, as those that have here no continuing city, but by faith, and hope and holy contempt of present things, to go out to Christ without the camp, Heb 13:13, Heb 13:14. [2.] It teaches us to rejoice before the Lord our God. Those are the circumcision, Israelites indeed, that always rejoice in Christ Jesus, Phi 3:3. And the more we are taken off from this world the less liable we are to the interruption of our joys.
II. The summary and conclusion of these institutions.
1. God appointed these feasts (Lev 23:37, Lev 23:38), besides the sabbaths and your free-will offerings. This teaches us, (1.) That calls to extraordinary services will not excuse us from our constant stated performances. Within the days of the feast of tabernacles there must fall at least one sabbath, which must be as strictly observed as any other. (2.) That God's institutions leave room for free-will offerings. Not that we may invent what he never instituted, but we may repeat what he has instituted, ordinarily, the oftener the better. God is well pleased with a willing people.
2. Moses declared them to the children of Israel, Lev 23:44. He let them know what God appointed, and neither more nor less. Thus Paul delivered to the churches what he had received from the Lord. We have reason to be thankful that the feasts of the Lord, declared unto us, are not so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly, as theirs then were, but more spiritual and significant, and surer sweeter earnests of the everlasting feast, at the last in-gathering, which we hope to be celebrating to eternity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–44 Speak unto the children of Israel,.... For all the…
Speak unto the children of Israel,.... For all the people of Israel were concerned in the following precept, and obliged to observe it, even priests, Levites, Israelites, proselytes, and freed servants; though other servants, and women, and children, were not obliged to hear the sound of the trumpets (b), and which were blown not in Jerusalem only, but in all cities and towns where the sanhedrim was (c); and it was the hearing of them the people were bound unto, and not less than nine distinct soundings were they obliged to hear (d); to which perhaps respect is had in Psa 89:15,
in the seventh month; the month Tisri, as the Targum of Jonathan, which was the seventh from the month Nisan or Abib; which was appointed the first month of the year, on account of the Israelites coming out of Egypt in it; otherwise, before, this month Tisri was the first, and so it still continued, for the fixing the years, and settling the sabbatical and jubilee years, and for the planting of trees and herbs (e):
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in the first day of the month shall ye have a sabbath; not entirely as the weekly sabbath, in which no manner of work at all was to be done, but in which no servile work was to be done; and was observed in like manner as the first and seventh days of unleavened bread, and the day of pentecost, Lev 23:7,
a memorial of blowing of trumpets; which, according to the Jewish writers, was continued from sun rising to sun setting (f); but what this blowing of trumpets was a memorial of is not easy to say; some think it was in memory of the wars the people of Israel had with their enemies the Amalekites and Canaanites, and the victories they obtained over them, and particularly in remembrance of the walls of Jericho falling down at the sound of rams' horns; but then it must be by anticipation: it is more commonly received with the Jews (g) that it was on the account of the binding of Isaac on this day, being delivered through a ram being sacrificed in his stead; and on this account it is said, that the trumpets blown on this day were made of rams horns, and no other might be used (h); yea, that ram's head was used to be eaten on this day, in remembrance of the ram of Isaac, and also to intimate that the Jews would be the head and not the tail (i): the Jews also say, that this day, every year, was a sort of day of judgment, in which God sat and judged men, and also determined all events of the following year (k); and this was attended with blowing of trumpets, to strike a terror into them, and put them in mind of the judgment of God, and to induce them to repent of their sins (l): and it may be observed, that the resurrection of the dead, in order to the last general judgment, will be attended with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, Co1 15:52; whether this is so represented in reference to this notion, let it be considered: but as this was New Year's Day, as before observed, this ceremony seems to have been appointed to express joy for all the mercies and blessings of the last year; and the rather, at this time of the year all the fruits of the earth were gathered in, not only the barley and the wheat, but the oil and wine, and under such grateful acknowledgment, to expect the divine blessing to attend them the following year; and besides, at this time of the year, it was generally thought by the Jews (m), and by others, that the world was created, and this blowing of trumpets might be in memory of that, and as an emblem of the shoutings of the sons of God, the angels, the morning stars, who sang for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid, Job 38:6; to which it may be added, this seventh month was very memorable for holy solemnities, as the day of atonement on the tenth, and the feast of tabernacles, which began on the fifteenth, and therefore was ushered in with blowing of trumpets to make it the more significant, and particularly to put the people in mind to prepare for the day of atonement near at hand; and so Gersom observes, that as the sound of a trumpet strikes men with fear, the design of this precept was, to fill the mind with fear, and to excite to repentance and brokenness of heart, and humiliation for sin, and to search their works and actions, and correct what was amiss, and so be ready for the day of atonement: hence Ainsworth thinks, that this was a figure of the ministry of John the Baptist preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; but rather it seems to be an emblem of the Gospel, and the ministry of it, in the acceptable year of the Lord, or the Gospel dispensation, which is sometimes signified by the blowing of the great trumpet, and by the ministers of it lifting up their voice like a trumpet, Isa 27:13; by which sinners are roused and awakened to a sense of their sin and danger, and to hear a joyful sound of love, grace, mercy, peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation through Christ: the Jews say (n), this blowing of trumpets was to disturb Satan, when he came to accuse the Israelites; it is certain there is nothing gives him more disturbance than the pure and powerful preaching of the Gospel, which he endeavours to obstruct as much as possible, and there is nothing like what that brings to silence his accusations, see Co2 4:3,
an holy convocation; on which the people were called together to holy exercises; and so the Jews observe it to this day; for after they return home from attendance to the blowing of the trumpets in their synagogues, they sit down to meat, and spend the rest of the day in hearing sermons, and in other religious exercises (o).
(b) Maimon. Hilchot Shophar ve Succah, c. 2. sect. 1. (c) Ibid. sect. 8. (d) Ib. ch. 3. sect. 1. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. No. 590. sect. 1. (e) Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 1. sect. 1. (f) Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 588. sect. 1. Lebush, par. 2. c. 588. sect. 1. (g) R. Alphes, par. 1. fol. 346. 2. & Jarchi in loc. (h) Maimon. ut supra, (b)) c. 1. sect. 1. Schulchan Aruch, ib. c. 526. sect. 1. (i) Schulchan Aruch, ib. c. 583. sect. 2. Lebush, ib. 583. sect. 2. (k) Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 1. sect. 2. T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 16. 2. (l) Leo Modena's History of Rites of the present Jews, par. 3. c. 5. sect. 7. (m) T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 10. 2. (n) Targum Jon. in Numb. xxix. 1. R. Alphes, par. 1, fol. 346. 2. T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 16. 2. (o) Leo Modena, ut supra. (l))
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 28, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44 A sabbath - Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets…
A sabbath - Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests, not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. They began to blow at sun-rise, and continued blowing till sun-set. This seems to have been instituted,
1. To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof as to civil matters and particularly as to the Jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God's blessings in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs.
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2. To put a special honour upon this month. For as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year, so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, for the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well as that of atonement and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God's mercies.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv24, 28, 34, 40, 43 Verse 24. A memorial of blowing of trumpets] This…
Verse 24. A memorial of blowing of trumpets] This is generally called the feast of trumpets; and as it took place on the first day of the seventh month, Tisri, which answers to September, which month was the commencement of what was called the civil year, the feast probably had no other design than to celebrate the commencement of that year, if indeed such a distinction obtained among the ancient Jews. See Clarke on Ex 12:2. Some think creation began at this time.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 29, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44 Lev 23:24. A sabbath — Solemnized with the blowing…
Lev 23:24. A sabbath — Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests, not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. They began to blow at sunrise, and continued blowing till sunset. This seems to have been instituted, 1st, To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof, as to civil matters, and particularly as to the jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God’s blessings in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs. 2d, To put a special honour upon this month. For, as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year, so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, on account of the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this, more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well that of atonement, and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God’s mercies.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 44 A sabbath - Here and in Lev 23:39 a…
A sabbath - Here and in Lev 23:39 a word which should rather be rendered a sabbatical rest.
Blowing of trumpets - Here and in Num 29:1, literally “shouting”. There is no mention of trumpets in the Hebrew text of the Law in connection with the day. However, there is no reason to doubt the tradition that the day was distinguished by a general blowing of trumpets throughout the land, and that the kind of trumpet generally used for the purpose was the curved horn of an animal or a cornet of metal, such as was used at Sinai Exo 19:16, and on the Day of Jubilee Lev 25:9. It must have differed in this respect from the ordinary festival of the New moon when the long straight trumpet of the temple alone was blown (Num 10:2; Exo 25:23; see cut).
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Seventh month - Called by the Jews in later times it was called Tisri, but in the Old Testament Ethanim, 1Ki 8:2. According to the uniform voice of tradition “the first day” of this month was the first day of the Civil year in use before the Exodus, and was observed as the festival of the New year. Some have viewed it as a commemoration of the Creation of the world Job 38:7 : others, as the anniversary of the giving of the Law.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34, 36, 39, 40, 42, 44 Memorial, or a memorable sabbath. This third great festival…
Memorial, or a memorable sabbath. This third great festival sanctified the commencement of the civil year in Tisri, the sabbatical month, according to the ecclesiastical calculation. (Tirinus) See Numbers xxix. 3. --- The sound of trumpets, which ushered in the year with great solemnity, reminded the Jews of the approaching fast, ver. 27, (Maimonides) and of those terrible sounds which had been heard at Sinai. (Theodoret, q. 32.) The Rabbins say that a ram’s horn was used, because Abraham had sacrificed a ram instead of his son. (Genesis xxii. 11.; Zacharias ix. 14.) The Jews on this day sound the horn 30 times, feast, and wish one another a happy year. (Boxtorf., xyn. xix.) We know not on what account this festival was instituted. But it was probably ordained in order that the people might learn to thank God for the favours received during the past year, and might beg his blessing on that, upon which they were now entering. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 34 FEAST OF TRUMPETS. (Lev 23:23-25)
FEAST OF TRUMPETS. (Lev 23:23-25)
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath--That was the first day of the ancient civil year.
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a memorial of blowing of trumpets--Jewish writers say that the trumpets were sounded thirty successive times, and the reason for the institution was for the double purpose of announcing the commencement of the new year, which was (Lev 23:25) to be religiously observed (see Num 29:3), and of preparing the people for the approaching solemn feast.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 26, 29, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42 THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS, Lev_23:23-25.
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS, Lev_23:23-25.
24. Seventh month — The beginning of this month must be signalized in order to accord with that symbolism of number which distinguishes the seventh day and the seventh year. Hence we have a sabbatical month as well as a sabbatical year. The seventh month closed the cycle of the annual festivals. It also contained the most important day of the year — the day of atonement — in which all the sins and uncleanness of the people were typically wiped away in the access of the high priest to the mercyseat with the blood of atonement. This month also contained the feast of tabernacles, which commenced five days afterwards, affording an antepast of the blessedness of communion with Christ and his saints.
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The first day… a sabbath — This was a day of rest, a holy convocation, as also was the tenth. Neither was necessarily a decalogue sabbath, and one of them could not be, since they were ten days apart.
A memorial of blowing of trumpets — Literally, a memorial of shouts of joy. According to Num_10:10, the straight trumpet was to be sounded in the day of gladness; but tradition says that the shophar, cornet, or crooked trumpet, was also used. See wood-cut Jos_6:4. The latter produced a dull, far-reaching tone. There are various opinions respecting the significance of this trumpet-blast — as that it was designed to be an alarm-signal to call the people to prepare for the coming day of atonement, as we have intimation in Joe_2:15; or to emphasize the coming in of the sabbatical month; or to commemorate the giving of the law; or to re-echo the shout of the sons of God over the newborn world; or, as is the common opinion of Jews and Christians, to hail the beginning of the civil year, the feast of Tisri. In the year of jubilee it was the prelude to that glad sound which, on the day of atonement of the fiftieth year, announced the advent of “that great year of grace under the old covenant.” The rabbies fancied that on this new year’s day all men passed before God in judgment, as a flock of sheep pass, one by one, before their shepherd.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44 24. blowing of trumpets] See on Lev_23:2-3.
24. blowing of trumpets] See on Lev_23:2-3.
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–44 (24) A memorial of blowing of trumpets.—Literally, remembrance blowing,…
(24) A memorial of blowing of trumpets.—Literally, remembrance blowing, for which see Num_29:1, the only place in the Old Testament where this festival is named as “the day of blessing,” i.e., the trumpets. As the first of Ethanim, as the month is called in the Bible (1Ki_8:2), or Tishri, as the Jews call it, in which this festival occurs, is the commencement of the civil new year, this festival was called “the Festival of New Year” ever since the time of the second Temple, and has been regarded as preparatory to the great day of Atonement, which is ten days later. The blowing of trumpets, therefore, which was the distinguishing feature of this festival, was designed to summon the Israelites to enter upon the work of sanctification, which will be accounted to them as a merit in the sight of God, and for which they are promised to be especially remembered before the Lord (Num_10:9-10). Hence its name, Remembrance blowing—the blowing of trumpets, which will make them to be remembered before the Lord. The synagogue, however, takes the name more in the sense of “reminding” God of the merits of the patriarchs and his covenant with them, and for this reason has appointed Gen_21:1-34; Gen_22:1-24, recording the birth and sacrifice of Isaac, as the lesson for this festival.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv26, 33, 37, 39, 40 Vers. 26-32. The ceremonies to be observed on the…
Vers. 26-32. The ceremonies to be observed on the day of atonement have been already described in chapter 16, where it found its place as the great purification of the people and of the sanctuary. Here it is reintroduced as one of the holy days. It is the one Jewish fast; to be observed as a day of holy convocation, a day in which to afflict your souls and to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, and in which no manner of work was to be done; inasmuch as, like the weekly sabbath, it was a sabbath of rest from the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even. The time of year at which it was appointed shows that one purpose of its institution was to make solemn preparation for the joyous festival of Tabernacles, which was to follow in five days" time, when the people ought to be in a state of reconciliation with God.
vers. 26-32The annual repentance the Day of Atonement.
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cf. Le 16; Heb_9:12. Into the ritual of the Day of Atonement we need not here enter, after what has been said on the subject under Le 16. But the reference here is to the spirit of repentance which was to characterize the people on that day. It was, in fact, a call to the whole congregation to repent and be reconciled to God. As the Day of Atonement is in all respects the climax of the sacrificial worship, it may be useful here to notice the spirit which belonged to that worship and the corresponding spirit in man which it demanded.
I THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM IS THAT OF EXCLUSION FROM THE DIVINE PRESENCE. Ever since man"s fall until the vail was rent at the death of Jesus, man was deservedly kept at a distance from God. Sin is a separating power; as long as it is harboured it prevents near access to him. And even when, in the Exodus, God delivered a chosen people to bring them to himself, (Exo_19:4) they were only permitted to come up to certain barriers round about the holy mount. When, moreover, the Lord transferred his dwelling-place from the top of Sinai to the tent or tabernacle provided by his pilgrim people, he insisted on having a private apartment, railed off from vulgar gaze, and only allowed one representative man, the high priest, to draw nigh unto him once a year. He certainly sent this honoured individual forth with his blessing, to encourage the people waiting without. But the whole arrangement of the Day of Atonement was on the principle of excluding the people until such times as they might profitably have closer access. "God sent his people," says an able writer, "his blessing, to show them that he had not forgotten them. But he would not see them. Even the high priest saw but a very little of him at this annual solemn time. The cloud of fragrant incense filled the most holy place, and barred the view.
II THERE IS NOTHING SO HUMILIATING AS THIS DENIAL OF ACCESS. On the Day of Atonement the people came to the tabernacle, and saw their select representative enjoy the privilege of drawing nigh to God all alone. Not a man of them dare venture beyond the vail. Nadab and Abihu, who seem to have done so, intoxicated by their elevation to the priesthood and perhaps also by wine, perished before the Lord. The Israelites felt at the tabernacle that they were an excluded people. This would lead to self-examination, and to repentance for the sin which excluded them. Doubtless the ritual of the great Day of Atonement would have a soothing effect upon their spirits. The blessing would fall upon their souls like balm. At the same time, they could not but feel that access to God was for them through a mediator, and that they were kept at a very humiliating distance.
III OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST HAS GIVEN US THE REALITY OF ACCESS IN THAT HE HAS BECOME OUR FORERUNNER. This is the beautiful idea suggested by the apostle in the Hebrews. (Heb_6:20) Christ has not entered the holiest to enjoy a privilege in solitude. He has entered it as our Forerunner, to announce our approach. This applies, not only to the everlasting felicity of heaven, but also to present devotional access to God. Through him we are permitted to draw nigh. The vail is rent; therefore we draw near with holy boldness. We are no longer an excluded people, but in the enjoyment of close communion. When the vail was rent at the death of Jesus, the ordinary priests were thereby raised to the privilege of the high priest. All had alike access to God. Hence we are to live up to our privilege as believers; for we are priests unto God, and access is our right through the rending of the vail of our Redeemer"s flesh.
Thus do we see the secret of penitence on the Day of Atonement, and how it is the preliminary arranged by the All-wise to communion with himself close and eternal. R.M.E.
Vers. 26-32. The Feast of Expiation.
This great occasion, the ceremonies of which are more particularly described in chapter 16, was to be
I A HOLY CONVOCATION, IN WHICH THE PEOPLE WERE TO AFFLICT THEIR SOULS. Learn hence:
1. That sin must be mourned.
(1) It should be mourned in secret. There are matters which it may be proper to confess to God alone. The confession of these to others would serve no useful purpose. It might even be productive of harm.
(2) It should be publicly mourned. Where there are national sins they should be openly confessed. Sins against society should be publicly owned. The general public confession of sin is useful in calling individual sin to remembrance.
(3) Contrition for sin is indispensable. To neglect it is to incur excision (verse 29).
2. The mourning must be thorough.
(1) No secular work must be done on this day in which men were to afflict their souls. Not only were they on this day to rest from "servile work," as on the other annual feasts; the rest must be as strict as upon the weekly sabbaths. If we would have salvation, we must be in earnest. We must not suffer the claims of the world to divert us from this great business.
(2) The soul must be afflicted with fasting. The animal soul is here referred to. (see Lev_16:31 Num_29:7 Isa_58:5, Isa_58:6) The spirit of a religious fast is abstinence from all kinds of sin.
3. The soul is to be afflicted because of the atonement.
(1) They were to bring an "offering by fire unto the Lord" on this day. The sin and trespass offering had respect to particular sins, but the burnt offering was for sin in the abstract. The sacrifices of this day were of the greatest importance, and eminently typified the Great Atonement of the gospel.
(2) Penitence is never perfect till we get a view of Calvary. Because he is merciful we fear God with a gracious fear. With such a fear is holiness perfected. (2Co_7:1)
II THIS HOLY CONVOCATION WAS ON THE TENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH.
1. This was to suggest the riches of redemption.
(1) For the mystery of the number ten is wealth. So the Hebrew word for ten (r is also the word for riches.
(2) Hence because of his riches of merit and wealth of blessings, viz. as the Depository of all the promises, Christ is called a Tenth. (see Isa_6:13)
(3) When Isaiah calls Christ the Tenth, he describes the Tenth as of the nature of bread. Bread is the "staff of life," and Christ is the "Tree of life the Bread of immortality. Hence all the holy bread, as prefiguring Christ, was composed of tenth-deals of flour. So the meat, or bread, offering; so the firstfruits; so the shewbread; even the manna was gathered in omers, or tenths. (see Exo_16:36; see also Mal_3:10)
2. The association of the tenth day with the seventh month also is suggestive.
(1) it suggests the perfection of riches to be associated with the mysteries of the day. This we find only in connection with the great atonement of Christ. Other wealth is poverty compared with the "riches of Christ.
(2) Note elsewhere the association of seven and ten in weeks of decades. Thus the term of human life is a week of decades, at the close of which the rich rewards of a faithful life are reaped. (Psa_90:10) But "the wicked do not live out half their days." They come short of the "durable riches." The week of decades was the term of the Babylonish captivity. (Jer_24:1 Jer_29:10) And towards the close of that period the week of weeks of decades was revealed to Daniel as destined to mark the crisis of the great atonement. (see Dan_9:24)
(3) Dr. Lightfoot computes that the Feast of Expiation was the anniversary of that on which Moses came the last time down kern the mount, bringing with him the unbroken tables and the assurance of God"s reconciliation to Israel, the very glory of the gospel beaming in his face. Moses in this was a similar type to the high priest on the Day of Atonement. (see 2Co_3:12-18)
(4) It is stilt more remarkable that Jesus, on the anniversary of these events, actually entered the cloud of the Shechinah, and passed within the vail into the heaven of heavens (see reasoning to this conclusion in the appendix of Guinness"s "Approaching End of the Age"). These coincidences are not accidental. They are "the Lord"s doing, and marvelous in our eyes." Such things as these, and in such the Holy Scriptures abound, prove them to be from God, and should encourage our faith and obedience. J.A.M.
Vers. 26-32. The great Day of Atonement
(see on Lev_16:29-34) R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv26, 34 For it is a day of atonement.
Lev_23:26-32
For it is a day of atonement.
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The Day of Atonement
The seventh month was one peculiarly distinguished in the Jewish year, no less than three of the annual festivals being assigned to it. On the first day was the Feast of Trumpets, on the fifteenth the Feast of Tabernacles, and on the tenth was the Day of Atonement. We propose to consider it under two heads: first, in its application to the Jews, and second, in its application to ourselves.
I. This ordinance differs from the rest in this respect--that it does not appear to have had any commemorative, or eucharistic import; it was, indeed, a fast rather than a festival or feast; it was a solemn day of humiliation before God, national humiliation, on which the people were called to an acknowledgment of their sins, and by the sprinkling of the blood of the slain sacrifice, were reminded at once of the judgment which their sins demanded, and of the only remedy which was provided for them. It was calculated to teach a most important lesson, and leave a deep moral impression upon the national mind. But I cannot but think that this ordinance had also a prophetic bearing upon the Jewish people; that, in common with the two other festivals of the seventh month, it was designed to shadow forth the future dealings of the Lord with them, and that it will have its accomplishment in that day when they shall, as a nation, be brought to repentance for their sins, and faith in the blood of the Lamb.
II. When we come to examine more minutely into the ceremonies observed on this day, we shall find that they were typical of the gospel scheme; and indeed, they present us with one of the most remarkable types contained in the Scriptures. These ceremonies are not mentioned in the chapter before us, but in the sixteenth chapter of this book they are detailed at length. Abstracting what was personal to the high priest himself, let us consider that part which concerned the people at large; and--
1. The offerings are to be considered, and in the first instance the sin-offering. This consisted of two goats, for although only one of them was to be slain, they are evidently to be considered as one offering, and indeed are spoken of as such--two kids of the goats for a sin-offering. These two combined, then, represent the Saviour in death and life. Both were necessary; Jesus saves us by His life as well as by His death. A similar type to this we have in the ceremony of the cleansing of the leper, where two birds were provided, one of which was to be slain over running water, and the other, after being dipped into the water and blood, and used to sprinkle the leper, was afterwards let loose into the open field (Lev_14:1-32). We do not sufficiently dwell upon the life of Jesus, and yet it is this life which saves us (Rom_5:10). But that which was peculiarly characteristic of this day was--
2. The entrance of the high priest within the veil. And what a beautiful illustration have we here of the office which our Redeemer now sustains--the part which He now acts for us. Beloved, we have a great High Priest, who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. And for what purpose is He there? On whose behalf does He officiate? Let the reply be given in the language of the Holy Ghost--now to appear in the presence of God for us. Oh! let the words be treasured in our hearts for us. Unto them belonged the sons of Aaron; unto us belongs the Son of God. If Jesus has passed into the most Holy Place, He has entered there in a public character, as the representative of His people, and every part of the ministry which He sustains in all for them. When the high priest went within the veil he had a defined work to do; he undertook no vague, uncertain commission; the object for which he went, and the results of his meditation were clearly laid down and defined. It was for the chosen people that he ministered, for them he was ordained in things pertaining unto God--to make reconciliation for the sins of the people was the task assigned him. And accordingly he carried the names of the twelve tribes upon his shoulders, and upon his breast. And so with our great High Priest; there is no uncertainty in his work, it is all explicitly defined, ordered, and settled by covenant arrangement. But He bears them also in His breast; it; is not merely a matter of compact, of official duty, it is a matter of affection and friendship. He careth for us!
3. But when the high priest passed within the veil, he entered not without blood. He was commanded to carry with him the blood of the sin-offering, and to dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it before the mercy-seat (Lev_16:14-16). Just so, our great High Priest, not by the blood of bulls and of goats, but by His own blood, He has entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb_9:12). The blood of the sin-offering was commanded to be sprinkled seven times before the mercy-seat, denoting the perfection and completeness of that atonement which it typified. Beloved, we are here reminded of a most important truth, the inherent efficacy of the blood of Jesus to atone for sin.
4. But there is something more which the high priest was commanded to do within the veil, which we must not forget to notice. He was to take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and he was to fill his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and to bring it within the veil. And then, when there, he was to sprinkle the incense upon the coals of fire before the Lord, that the smoke of the incense might ascend and cover the mercy-seat (Lev_16:12-13). What a beautiful type have we here of the intercession of our glorious High Priest, ascending as sweet incense perpetually before God! The fire, too, with which this incense was kindled must not be common fire, it must be taken from off the altar of burnt-offering, reminding us of the ground of the Saviours intercession--His consecration of Himself to do His Fathers will; His self-sacrifice upon the Cross to be consumed by the fire of Jehovahs justice as the sinners Substitute. Oh! beloved, if we have not fellowship with our God in Christ, if we have not peace of mind and conscience, it is not that He has not opened unto us the bosom of His love; but it is because of our hardness of heart, and want of confidence in His mercy. We are not straitened in Him, but in ourselves.
5. But the whole of the duties of the high priest upon this solemn day were not conducted within the veil; he must come forth again to accomplish the service which awaited him outside. And the people, in the meantime, were expecting his return; they were waiting for him to reappear and complete the work allotted to the day. And here again we are reminded of the position which the Church of Christ should occupy in the present dispensation--waiting for the reappearing of her Lord--looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. For as the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement were not completed inside the veil, so is it with the work of our great High Priest; His ministry in heaven will not accomplish all--there is a work outside the veil which He must come forth to do; and those who are interested in the one are interested also in the other (Heb_9:27-28). When the high priest came forth from the sanctuary, and appeared again unto the people, he first dispatched the scapegoat bearing all their iniquities into the wilderness, and then united with them in offering the burnt-offering unto the Lord. And such shall be the results of the second advent of our Saviour. Then shall sin be completely put away, and every trace of it removed for ever. And then, too, shall Jesus and His people unite to offer the burnt-offering unto God. Then in the midst of His redeemed He shall sum up all their pure and holy service; and, blessed and consecrated by the presence of incarnate Godhead, the untiring energies of redeemed humanity shall be for ever consuming, yet unconsumed, upon the altar of eternal love. (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv26, 33 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Howbeit on…
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
Lev_23:26-32
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"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Howbeit on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no manner of work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even shall ye keep your sabbath."
After this festival of annunciation, followed, on the tenth day of the month, the great annual day of atonement. This has already come before us (chapter 13) in its relation to the sacrificial system, of which the sin offering of this day was the culmination. But this chapter brings it before us in another aspect, namely, in its relation to the annual septenary series of sacred seasons, the final festival of which it preceded and introduced.
Its significance, as thus coming in this final seventh and sabbatic month of the ecclesiastical year. lay not merely in the strictness of the rest which was commanded (Lev_23:28-30) from every manner of work, but, still more, in that it expressed in a far higher degree than any other festival the other sabbatic idea of complete restoration brought in through expiation for sin. This was indeed the central thought of the whole ceremonial of the day, -the complete removal of all those sins of the nation which stood between them and God, and hindered complete restoration to Gods favour. And while this restoration was symbolised by the sacrifice of the sin offering, and its presentation and acceptance before Jehovah in the Holy of Holies; yet, that none might hence argue from the fact of atonement to license to sin, it was ordained (Lev_23:27) that the people should "afflict their souls," namely, by fasting, in token of their penitence for the sins for which atonement was made; and the absolute necessity of this condition of repentance in order to any benefit from the high priestly sacrifice and intercession was further emphasised by the solemn threat (Lev_23:29): "Whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people."
These then were the lessons-lessons of transcendent moment for all people and all ages-which were set forth in the great atonement of the sabbatic month, -the complete removal of sin by an expiatory offering, conditioned on the part of the worshipper by the obedience of faith and sincere repentance for the sin, and issuing in rest and full establishment in Gods loving favour.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v33 Lev 23:33 - Lev 23:44.
Leviticus
THE CONSECRATION OF JOY
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Lev 23:33 - Lev 23:44.
These directions for the observance of the great festival at the close of harvest are singularly arranged. Lev 23:33 - Lev 23:36 give part of the instructions for the Feast, Lev 23:37 - Lev 23:38 interrupt these with a summary of the contents of the chapter, and Lev 23:39 - Lev 23:44 pick up the broken thread, and finish the regulations for the feast. Naturally, this apparent afterthought has been pointed out as clear evidence of diversity of authorship. But a reasonable explanation may be given on the hypothesis of the unity of the section, by observing that Lev 23:33 - Lev 23:36 deal only with the sacrificial side of the feast, as worship proper, and thus come into line with the previous part of the chapter, which is occupied with an enumeration of the annual ‘feasts of the Lord’ {Lev 23:4}. It was natural, therefore, that, when the list had been completed by the sacrificial prescriptions for the last of the series, the close of the catalogue should be marked, in Lev 23:37 - Lev 23:38, and that then the other parts of the observances connected with this feast, which are not sacrificial, nor, properly speaking, worship, should be added. There is no need to invoke the supposition of two authors, and a subsequent stitching together, in order to explain the arrangement. The unity is all the more probable because, otherwise, the first half would give the name of the feast as that of ‘tabernacles,’ and would not contain a word to account for the name.
We need not, then, include the separating wedge, in Lev 23:37, in our present consideration. The ritual of the feast is broadly divided by it, and we may consider the two portions separately. The first half prescribes the duration of the feast as seven days {the perfect number}, with an eighth, which is named, like the first, ‘an holy convocation,’ on which no work was to be done, but is also called ‘a solemn assembly,’ or rather, as the Revised Version reads, in margin, ‘a closing festival,’ inasmuch as it closed, not only that particular feast, but the whole series for the year. The observances enjoined, then, are the public assembly on the first and eighth days, with cessation from labour, and a daily offering. We learn more about the offering from Num 29:12 et seq., which appoints a very peculiar arrangement. On each day there was to be, as on other feast days, one goat for a sin offering; but the number of rams and lambs for the burnt offering was doubled, and, during the seven days of the feast, seventy bullocks were offered, arranged in a singular diminishing scale,-thirteen on the first day, and falling off by one a day till the seventh day, when seven were sacrificed. The eighth day was marked as no part of the feast proper, by the number of sacrifices offered on it, dropping to one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs. No satisfactory account of this regulation has been suggested. It may possibly have meant no more than to mark the first day as the chief, and to let the worshippers down gradually from the extraordinary to the ordinary.
The other half of the regulations deals with the more domestic aspect of the festival. Observe, as significant of the different point of view taken in it, that the first and eighth days are there described, not as ‘holy convocations,’ but as ‘sabbaths,’ or, as the Revised Version gives it better, ‘a solemn rest.’ Observe, also, that these verses connect the feast with the ingathering of the harvest, as does Exo 23:16. It is quite possible that Moses grafted the more commemorative aspect of the feast on an older ‘harvest home’; but that is purely conjectural, however confidently affirmed as certain. To tumble down cartloads of quotations about all sorts of nations that ran up booths and feasted in them at vintage-time does not help us much. The ‘joy of harvest’ was unquestionably blended with the joy of remembered national deliverance, but that the latter idea was superadded to the former at a later time is, to say the least, not proven. Would it matter very much if it were? Three kinds of trees are specified from which ‘the fruit,’ that is branches with fruit on them, if the tree bore fruit, were to be taken: palms, ‘thick trees,’ that is thick foliaged, which could give leafy shade, and willows of the brook, which the Rabbis say were used for binding the others together. Lev 23:40 does not tell what is to be done with these branches, but the later usage was to carry some of them in the hand as well as to use them for booths. The keynote of the whole feast is struck in Lev 23:40: ‘Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God.’ The leafy spoils come into view here as tokens of jubilation, which certainly suggests their being borne in the hand; but they were also meant to be used in building the booths in which the whole nation was to live during the seven days, in commemoration of God’s having made them ‘dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.’ This is all that is enjoined by Moses. Later additions to the ceremonial do not concern us here, however interesting some of these are. The true intention of the feast is best learned from the original simple form. What, then, was its intention? It was the commemoration of the wilderness life as the ground of rejoicing ‘before the Lord.’ But we must not forget that, according to Leviticus, it was appointed while the wilderness life was still present, and so was not to be observed then. Was it, then, a dead letter, or had the appointment a message of joy even to the weary wanderers who lived in the veritable booths, which after generations were to make a feast of mimicking? How firm the confidence of entering the land must have been, which promulgated such a law! It would tend to hearten the fainting courage of the pilgrims. A divinely guaranteed future is as certain as the past, and the wanderers whom He guides may be sure of coming to the settled home. All words which He speaks beforehand concerning that rest and the joyful worship there are pledges that it shall one day be theirs. The present use of the prospective law was to feed faith and hearten hope; and, when Canaan was reached, its use was to feed memory and brighten godly gladness.
The feast of tabernacles was the consecration of joy. Other religions have had their festivals, in which wild tumult and foul orgies have debased the worshippers to the level of their gods. How different the pure gladness of this feast ‘before the Lord’ ! No coarse and sensuous delights of passion could live before the ‘pure eyes and perfect witness’ of God. In His ‘presence’ must be purity as well as ‘fullness of joy.’ If this festival teaches us, on the one hand, that they wofully misapprehend the spirit of godliness who do not find it full of gladsomeness, it teaches us no less, on the other, that they wofully misapprehend the spirit of joy, who look for it anywhere but ‘before the Lord.’ The ritual of the feast commanded gladness. Joy is a duty to God’s children. There were mourners in Israel each year, as the feast came round, who would rather have shrunk into a corner, and let the bright stream of merriment flow past them; but they, too, had to open their heavy hearts, and to feel that, in spite of their private sorrows, they had a share in the national blessings. No grief should unfit us for feeling thankful joy for the great common gift of ‘a common salvation.’ The sources of religious joy, open to all Christians, are deeper than the fountains of individual sorrow, deep as life though these sometimes seem.
The wilderness life came into view in the feast as a wandering life of privation and change. The booths reminded of frail and shifting dwellings, and so made the contrast with present settled homes the sweeter. They were built, not of such miserable scrub as grew in the desert, and could scarcely throw shade enough to screen a lizard, but of the well-foliaged branches of trees grown by the rivers of water, and so indicated present abundance. The remembrance of privations and trials past, of which the meaning is understood, and the happy results in some degree possessed, is joy. Prosperous men like to talk of their early struggles and poverty. This feast teaches that such remembrance ought always to trace the better present to God, and that memory of conquered sorrows and trials is wholesome only when it is devout, and that the joy of present ease is bracing, not when it is self-sufficient, but when it is thankful. The past, rightly looked at, will yield for us all materials for a feast of tabernacles; and it is rightly looked at only when it is all seen as God’s work, and as tending to settled peace and abundance. Therefore the regulations end with that emphatic seal of all His commands, to impress which on our hearts is the purpose of all His dealings with us as with Israel, ‘I am the Lord your God.’
III. We may note our Lord’s allusions to the feast. There are probably two, both referring to later additions to the ceremonies. One is in Joh 7:37. We learn from the Talmud that on each of the seven days {and according to one Rabbi on the eighth also} a priest went down to Siloam and drew water in a golden pitcher, which he brought back amid the blare of trumpets to the altar, and poured into a silver basin while the joyous worshippers chanted the ‘Great Hallel’ {Psa 113:1 - Psa 118:29}, and thrice waved their palm branches as they sang. We may venture to suppose that this had been done for the last time; that the shout of song had scarcely died away when a stir in the crowd was seen, and a Galilean peasant stood forth, and there, before the priests with their empty vessels, and the hushed multitude, lifted up His voice, so as to be heard by all, and cried, saying: ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’ What increased force is given to the extraordinary self-assertion of such words, if we picture this as the occasion of their utterance! Leviticus gives no preeminence to any one day, but John’s expression, ‘that great day of the feast,’ may well have been warranted by later developments.
The other allusion is less certain, though it is probable. It is found in the saying at Joh 8:12: ‘I am the Light of the world,’ etc. The Talmud gives a detailed account of the illuminations accompanying the feast. Four great golden lamps were set up in the court, each tended by four young priests. ‘There was not a court in Jerusalem that was not lit up by the lights of the water-drawing.’ Bands of grave men with flashing torches danced before the people, while Levites ‘accompanied them with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and numberless musical instruments,’ and another band of Levites standing on the fifteen steps which led to the women’s court, chanted the fifteen so-called ‘songs of degrees,’ and yet others marched through the courts blowing their trumpets as they went. It must have been a wild scene, dangerously approximating to the excitement of heathen nocturnal festivals, and our Lord may well have sought to divert the spectators to higher thoughts. But the existence of the allusion is doubtful.
We have one more allusion to the feast, considered as a prophecy of the true rest and joy in the true Canaan. The same John, who has preserved Christ’s references, gives one of his own in Rev 7:9, when he shows us the great multitude out of every nation ‘with palms in their hands.’ These are not the Gentile emblems of victory, as they are often taken to be. There are no heathen emblems in the Apocalypse, but all moved within the circle of Jewish types and figures. So we are to think of that crowd of ‘happy palmers’ as joyously celebrating the true feast of tabernacles in the settled home above, and remembering, with eyes made clear by heaven, the struggles and fleeting sorrows of the wilderness. The emblem sets forth heaven as a festal assembly, as the ingathering of the results of the toils of earth, as settled life after weary pilgrimage, as glad retrospect of the meaning and triumphant possession of the issues of God’s patient guidance and wise discipline. Here we dwell in ‘the earthly house of this tabernacle’; there, in a ‘building of God . . .eternal.’ Here we are agitated by change, and wearied by the long road; there, changeless but increasing joy will be ours, and the backward look of thankful wonder will enhance the sweetness of the blessed present, and confirm the calm and sure hope of an ever-growing glory stretching shoreless and bright before us.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv24, 27, 42 The feast of Trumpets, Lev 23:23-25. This feast is…
trumpets
The feast of Trumpets, Lev 23:23-25. This feast is a prophetical type and refers to the future regathering of long-dispersed Israel. A long interval elapses between Pentecost and Trumpets, answering to the long period occupied in the pentecostal work of the Holy Spirit in the present dispensation. Study carefully; Isa 18:3; Isa 27:13 (with contexts); Isa 58:1-14 (entire chapter), and; Joe 2:1 to Joe 3:21; in connection with the "trumpets," and it will be seen that these trumpets, always symbols of testimony, are connected with the regathering and repentance of Israel after the church, or pentecostal period is ended. This feast is immediately followed by the day of atonement.
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seventh month
i.e. October; also Lev 23:27; Lev 23:34; Lev 23:39; Lev 23:41.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv26, 33 The Day of Atonement
The Day of Atonement
v. 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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v. 27. Also on the tenth day of this seventh month, the seventh month of the church-year, known as Tishri, there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, show the grief and mourning which you feel on account of your sins by a complete fast, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Cf Leviticus 16. The offerings are specified in detail Num 29:8-11.
v. 28. And ye shall do no work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord, your God, the annual restoration of the relation between the covenant God and His people by the sprinkling of blood in the Most Holy Place.
v. 29. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, not join the rest of the people in the fasting which showed the intensity of their mourning, he shall be cut off from among his people.
v. 30. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people, for the strictest form of Sabbath rest was here demanded.
v. 31. Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
v. 32. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. In the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. The exact length of the fast is specified, and the great rigor is to be noted with which the penalty of death was held forth for every transgression against the rest of the Sabbath and against the fast. The children of Israel mere to be made conscious, at least to some extent, of the heinousness and of the guilt of sin, that they might enter upon the celebration of the Day of Atonement with hearts full of genuine repentance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26, 28, 30, 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42 tenth day of this seventh month
tenth day of this seventh month
This is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. The tenth day is near the end of September on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)
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the Day of Atonement
On this day each year the high priest made a sacrifice to Yahweh so that Yahweh would forgive all the sins of the people of Israel. AT: "the Day of Sacrifice for Forgiveness" (See: Translate Unknowns)
translationWords
Yahweh
Moses
day
atonement
assembly
holy
sacrifice
burnt offering
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24, 27, 29, 34, 39, 43 23:24 On the first day of the appointed month…
23:24 On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn: The Israelite calendar was divided into two half-years. The first half-year began with the first month, Nisan (Babylonian name) or Abib (the more ancient agricultural name). The second half-year began with the seventh month (Tishri in the modern Jewish calendar). The celebration of this holiday marked the beginning of the second half-year.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.