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Leviticus
Chapter Twenty-three
Leviticus 23
Chapter Contents
The feasts of the Lord, The Sabbath. (1-3) The Passover,
The offering of first-fruits. (4-14) The feast of Pentecost. (15-22) The feast
of Trumpets, The day of atonement. (23-32) The feast of Tabernacles. (33-44)
Commentary on Leviticus 23:1-3
In this chapter we have the institution of holy times;
many of which have been mentioned before. Though the yearly feasts were made
more remarkable by general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not be
observed more than the sabbath. On that day they must withdraw from all
business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying spiritual rest from
sin, and rest in God. God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every
private house, by every family apart, as well as by families together, in holy
assemblies. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty,
strength, and safety; it will sanctify, build up, and glorify them.
Commentary on Leviticus 23:4-14
The feast of the Passover was to continue seven days; not
idle days, spent in sport, as many that are called Christians spend their
holy-days. Offerings were made to the Lord at his altar; and the people were
taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation. The
sheaf of first-fruits was typical of the Lord Jesus, who is risen from the dead
as the First-fruits of them that slept. Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on
the very day that the first-fruits were offered. We are taught by this law to
honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our
increase, Proverbs 3:9. They were not to eat of their new
corn, till God's part was offered to him out of it; and we must always begin
with God: begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every
affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.
Commentary on Leviticus 23:15-22
The feast of Weeks was held in remembrance of the giving
of the law, fifty days after the departure from Egypt; and looked forward to
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, fifty days after Christ our Passover was
sacrificed for us. On that day the apostles presented the first-fruits of the
Christian church to God. To the institution of the feast of Pentecost, is added
a repetition of that law, by which they were required to leave the gleanings of
their fields. Those who are truly sensible of the mercy they received from God,
will show mercy to the poor without grudging.
Commentary on Leviticus 23:23-32
the blowing of trumpets represented the preaching of the
gospel, by which men are called to repent of sin, and to accept the salvation
of Christ, which was signified by the day of atonement. Also it invited to
rejoice in God, and become strangers and pilgrims on earth, which was denoted
by the feast of Tabernacles, observed in the same month. At the beginning of
the year, they were called by this sound of trumpet to shake off spiritual
drowsiness, to search and try their ways, and to amend them. The day of
atonement was the ninth day after this; thus they were awakened to prepare for
that day, by sincere and serious repentance, that it might indeed be to them a
day of atonement. The humbling of our souls for sin, and the making our peace
with God, is work that requires the whole man, and the closest application of
mind. On that day God spake peace to his people, and to his saints; therefore they
must lay aside all their wordly business, that they might the more clearly hear
that voice of joy and gladness.
Commentary on Leviticus 23:33-44
In the feast of Tabernacles there was a remembrance of
their dwelling in tents, or booths, in the wilderness, as well as their fathers
dwelling in tents in Canaan; to remind them of their origin and their
deliverance. Christ's tabernacling on earth in human nature, might also be
prefigured. And it represents the believer's life on earth: a stranger and
pilgrim here below, his home and heart are above with his Saviour. They would
the more value the comforts and conveniences of their own houses, when they had
been seven days dwelling in the booths. It is good for those who have ease and
plenty, sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness. The joy of harvest
ought to be improved for the furtherance of our joy in God. The earth is the
Lord's, and the fullness thereof; therefore whatever we have the comfort of, he
must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is perfected. God appointed
these feasts, "Beside the sabbaths and your free-will offerings."
Calls to extraordinary services will not excuse from constant and stated ones.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 23
Verse 2
[2]
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of
the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my
feasts.
Ye shall proclaim —
Cause to be proclaimed, by the priests.
Holy convocations —
Days for your assembling together to my worship in a special manner.
Verse 3
[3] Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest,
an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD
in all your dwellings.
Ye shall do no work therein — So it runs in the general for the sabbath day, and for the day of
expiation, Leviticus 23:28, excluding all works about
earthly employments whether of profit or of pleasure; but upon other feast days
he forbids only servile works, as Leviticus 23:7,21,36, for surely this manifest
difference in the expressions used by the wife God must needs imply a
difference in the things.
In all your dwellings — Other feasts, were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither
all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all
places, both in synagogues, and in their private houses.
Verse 4
[4]
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall
proclaim in their seasons.
These are the feasts of the Lord — Or rather, the solemnities: (for the day of atonement was a fast:) and
so the word is used, Isaiah 33:20, where Zion is called the city of
our solemnities.
Verse 10
[10]
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the
land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall
bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
An omer —
They did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf or handful, but, as
Josephus, 3. 10 affirms, and may be gathered from Leviticus 2:14,15,16, purged from the chaff, and
dryed, and beaten out.
Verse 11
[11] And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on
the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord — In the name of the whole congregation, which as it were sanctified to
them the whole harvest, and gave them a comfortable use of all the rest. For
then we may eat our bread with joy, when God hath accepted our works. And thus
should we always begin with God; begin our lives with him, begin every day with
him, begin every work and business with him: seek ye first the kingdom of God.
The morrow after the sabbath — After the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a
sabbath or day of rest, as appears from Leviticus 23:7, or upon the sixteenth day of the
month. And this was the first of those fifty days, in the close whereof was the
feast of pentecost.
Verse 13
[13] And
the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with
oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink
offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
Two tenth deals —
Or, parts, of an ephah, that is, two omers, whereas in other sacrifices of
lambs there was but one tenth deal prescribed. The reason of which
disproportion may be this, that one of the tenth deals was a necessary
attendant upon the lamb, and the other was peculiar to this feast, and was an
attendant upon that of the corn, and was offered with it in thanksgiving to God
for the fruits of the earth.
Verse 14
[14] And
ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the
selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a
statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Bread —
Made of new wheat.
Nor green ears —
Which were usual, not only for offerings to God, but also for man's food.
Verse 15
[15] And
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:
From the morrow —
From the sixteenth day of the month, and the second day of the feast of
unleavened bread inclusively.
Verse 16
[16] Even
unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye
shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
A new meal-offering — Of
new corn made into loaves.
Verse 18
[18] And
ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year,
and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto
the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering
made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
One bullock and two rams — In Numbers 28:11,19, it is two young bullocks and
one ram. Either therefore it was left to their liberty to chuse which they
would offer, or one of the bullocks there, and one of the rams here, were the
peculiar sacrifices of the feast day, and the other were attendants upon the
two loaves, which were the proper offering at this time. And the one may be
mentioned there, and the other here, to teach us, that the addition of a new
sacrifice did not destroy the former, but both were to be offered, as the
extraordinary sacrifices of every feast did not hinder the oblation of the
daily sacrifice.
Verse 19
[19] Then
ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of
the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
One kid — In
Leviticus 4:14, the sin-offering for the sin of
the people is a bullock, but here a kid; etc. the reason of the difference may
be this, because that was for some particular sin of the people, but this only
in general for all their sins.
Verse 20
[20] And
the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave
offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD
for the priest.
Wave them —
Some part of them in the name of the whole; and so for the two lambs, otherwise
they had been too big and too heavy, to be waved.
For the priests —
Who had to themselves not only the breast and shoulder as in others, which
belonged to the priest, but also the rest which belonged to the offerer;
because the whole congregation being the offerer here, it could neither be
distributed to them all, nor given to some without offence to the rest.
Verse 21
[21] And
ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto
you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all
your dwellings throughout your generations.
An holy convocation — A
sabbath or day of rest, called pentecost; which was instituted, partly in
remembrance of the consummation of their deliverance out of Egypt by bringing
them thence to the mount of God, or Sinai, as God had promised, and of that
admirable blessing of giving the law to them on the 50th day, and forming them
into a commonwealth under his own immediate government; and partly in gratitude
for the farther progress of their harvest, as in the passover they offered a
thank-offering to God for the beginning of their harvest. The perfection of
this feast, was the pouring out of the holy spirit upon the apostles on this
very day, in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our
passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves
received the first-fruits of the spirit, begat three thousand souls thro' the
word of truth, as the first-fruits of the Christian church.
Verse 22
[22] And
when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of
the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any
gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the
stranger: I am the LORD your God.
When ye reap, thou —
From the plural, ye, he comes to the singular, thou, because he would press
this duty upon every person who hath an harvest to reap, that none might plead
exemption from it. And it is observable, that though the present business is
only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat
a former law of providing for the poor, to shew that our devotion to God is
little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.
Verse 24
[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.
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. 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.
Verse 27
[27] Also
on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it
shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and
offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Afflict your souls —
With fasting, and bitter repentance for all, especially their national sins,
among which no doubt God would have them remember their sin of the golden calf.
For as God had threatened to remember it in after times to punish them for it,
so there was great reason why they should remember it to humble themselves for
it.
Verse 28
[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.
Whatsoever soul —
Either of the Jewish nation, or religion. Hereby God would signify the absolute
necessity which every man had of repentance and forgiveness of sin, and the
desperate condition of all impenitent persons.
Verse 32
[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.
From even to even —
The day of atonement began at the evening of the ninth day, and continued till
the evening of the tenth day.
Ye shall celebrate your sabbath — This particular sabbath is called your sabbath, possibly to note the
difference between this and other sabbaths: for the weekly sabbath is oft
called the sabbath of the Lord. The Jews are supposed to begin every day, and
consequently their sabbaths, at the evening, in remembrance of the creation, as
Christians generally begin their days and sabbaths with the morning in memory
of Christ's resurrection.
Verse 34
[34]
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh
month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
Of tabernacles — Of
tents or booths or arbours. This feast was appointed to remind them of that
time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, and to stir them up to
bless God, as well for the gracious protection then afforded them, as for the
more commodious habitations now given them; and to excite them to gratitude for
all the fruits of the year newly ended, which were now compleatly brought in.
Verse 36
[36]
Seven days ye shall 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.
Ye shall offer — A
several-offering each day.
The eighth day —
Which though it was not one of the days of this feast strictly taken. Yet in a
larger sense it belonged to this feast, and is called the great day of the
feast, John 7:37. And so indeed it was, as for other
reasons, so because, by their removal from the tabernacles into fixed
habitations, it represented that happy time wherein their 40 years tedious
march in the wilderness was ended with their settlement in the land of Canaan,
which it was most fit they should acknowledge with such a solemn day of
thanksgiving as this was.
Verse 37
[37]
These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy
convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering,
and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his
day:
A sacrifice — A
sin-offering, called by the general name, a sacrifice, because it was designed
for that which was the principal end of all sacrifices, the expiation of sin.
Verse 38
[38]
Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your
vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
Beside the sabbaths —
The offerings of the weekly sabbaths. God will not have any sabbath-sacrifice
diminished because of the addition of others, proper to any other feast. And it
is here to be noted, that though other festival days are sometimes called
sabbaths, yet these are here called the sabbaths of the Lord, in way of
contradistinction, to shew that this was more eminently such than other
feast-days.
Your gifts —
Which being here distinguished from the free-will-offerings made to the Lord,
may note what they freely gave to the priests over and above their first-fruits
and tithes or other things which they were enjoined to give.
Verse 39
[39] Also
in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit
of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day
shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
This is no addition of a new, but only a
repetition of the former injunction, with a more particular explication both of
the manner and reason of the feast.
The fruit —
Not the corn, which was gathered long before, but that of the trees, as vines,
olives, and other fruit-trees: which compleated the harvest, whence this is
called the feast of in-gathering.
Verse 40
[40] And
ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm
trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall
rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
Of goodly trees —
Namely, olive, myrtle and pine, mentioned, Nehemiah 8:15,16, which were most plentiful
there, and which would best preserve their greenness.
Thick trees —
Fit for shade and shelter.
And willows — To
mix with the other, and in some sort bind them together. And as they made their
booths of these materials, so they carried some of these boughs in their hands,
as is affirmed by Jewish and other ancient writers.
Verse 42
[42] Ye
shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in
booths:
In booths —
Which were erected in their cities or towns, either in their streets, or
gardens, or the tops of their houses. These were made flat, and therefore were
fit for the use.
Verse 44
[44] And
Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
The feasts of the Lord — We have reason to be thankful, that the feasts of the Lord, now are not
so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly; but more
spiritual and significant, and surer and sweeter earnests of the everlasting
feast, at the last in-gathering, which we hope to be celebrating to eternity.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
FEASTS
OF JEHOVAH.
There are seven
feasts mentioned in the twenty-third of Leviticus, all of which are typical,
and especially shadow forth, in a brief way, the events from the cross to the
glory.
Ⅰ. The Passover is typical
of Christ our Passover sacrificed for us (1. Cor.5:7).
Ⅱ. The Unleavened Bread of
the holy life of the believer (1. Cor.5:8).
Ⅲ. The Firstfruits , of the
resurrection of Christ (1.Cor. 15:23).
Ⅳ. Pentecost, of the coming
of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
Ⅴ. The Trumpets, of the
coming of Christ (1. Thess.4:16).
Ⅵ. The Day of Atonement, of
the time when the Jews shall see Christ as their Atonement ( Zech. 12:10).
Ⅶ. The Feast of Tabernacles,
of the rest and peace of the millennium ( Isaiah 11.).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
23 Chapter 23
Verses 2-44
These are My feasts.
The holy festivals
I. Commentators
generally on this part of Hebrew law have remarked upon the social, political,
and commercial benefits resulting to the Jewish people from these national
festivals and convocations. They served to unite the nation, cemented them
together as one people, and prevented the tendency to the formation of separate
cliques and conflicting clans or states. These convocations also had great
effect upon the internal commerce of the Hebrew people. They furnished
facilities for mutual exchanges, and opened the ways of trade and business
between the various sections.
II. There was also
A direct religious value and forethought in the appointment of these festivals.
They prescribed public consociation in worship. Man is a worshipping being. It
is not only his duty, but his nature and native instinct to worship. Mere
isolated worship, without association in common set services, soon dwindles,
flags, degenerates, and corrupts. Neither does it ever reach that majesty and
intense inspiration which comes from open congregation in the same great acts
of devotion. “As iron sharpeneth iron, so man sharpeneth the countenance of his
friend.” And just as the multitude of these mutual sharpeners is increased,
will their common devotion be deepened and augmented.
III. I propose to
speak more particularly of the typical relations of these holy feasts and
seasons. We have in them a system of types, chronologically arranged, to set
forth the true course of time--to prefigure the whole history of redemption in
its leading outlines from the commencement to the close.
1. The first was the Passover. It was a sort of perpetual
commemoration of their deliverance from the oppressor and from death--a
standing testimonial that their salvation was by the blood of the Lamb. It was
the keynote of the Christian system sounding in the dim depths of remote
antiquity. That bondage in Egypt referred to a still deeper and more degrading
slavery of the spirit. That redemption was the foreshadow of a far greater
deliverance. And that slain lamb and its sprinkled blood pointed to a meeker,
purer, and higher Victim, whose body was broken and blood shed for us and for
many for the remission of sins.
2. The next was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a sort of
continuation of the Passover on the next day. The one refers to what Christ
does and is to the believer, and the other refers to what the true believer
does in return. The one refers to our redemption by blood and our deliverance
from condemnation; the other to our repentance and consecration to a new life
of obedience, separated from the leaven of unrighteousness. It is therefore
plain why both were thus joined together as one. Redemption is nothing to us if
it does not lead us to a purification of ourselves from the filthy ways and
associations of the wicked, We can only effectually keep the gospel feast by
purging out the old leaven of malice and wickedness. Seven days was this Feast
of Unleavened Bread to be kept--a full period of time. We are to “serve God in
righteousness and holiness all the days of our life.” Our work is not done
until the week of our stay in this world ends. We must be faithful until death.
3. Joined with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the
additional service of presenting before God the first sheaf of the barley
harvest. “This,” says Cumming, “was a beautiful institution, to teach the
Israelites that it was not the soil, nor the raindrops, nor the sunbeams, nor
the dews, nor the skill of their agriculturists, that they had to thank for
their bounteous produce; but that they must rise above the sower and reaper,
and see God, the Giver of the golden harvest, and make His praise the keynote
to their harvest-home.” It was all this, but it had also a deeper and more
beautiful meaning. The broad field, sowed with good seed, with its golden ears
ripening for the harvest, is Christ’s own chosen figure of His kingdom upon
earth, and the congregation of His believing children maturing for the garners
of eternal life. In that field the chief sheaf is Jesus Christ Himself; for He
was in all respects “made like unto His brethren.” He is the “firstfruits.” He
was gathered first, and received into the treasure-house of heaven. It was the
Passover time when He came to perfect ripeness. It was during these solemnities
that He was “cut off.” And when the Spirit of God lifted Him from the
sepulchre, and the heavens opened to receive Him, then did the waving of the
sheaf of firstfruits have its truest and highest fulfilment. Until this sheaf
was thus offered along with the blood of atonement there could be no harvest
for us.
4. There was another harvest, and another festival service connected
with its opening, fifty days later than the barley harvest. This was the wheat
harvest, at which was celebrated the Feast of Weeks, otherwise called
Pentecost. The Passover shows us Christ crucified; the sheaf of firstfruits
shows us Christ raised from the dead and lifted up to heaven as our forerunner;
and the Pentecostal feast, with its two leavened loaves, shows us Christ in the
gracious influences of His Spirit wrought into the hearts and lives of those
who constitute His earthly Church. This spiritual kneading took its highest and
most active form on that memorable Pentecost when the disciples “were all with
one accord in one place,” and the Holy Spirit came down upon them with gifts of
mighty power. Three thousand souls were that day added to the Church, It was a
glad and glorious day for Christianity. It was the firstfruits of wheat harvest
brought with joyous thanksgiving unto God. But it was only the firstfruits--the
earnest of a vast and plenteous harvest of the same kind ripening on the same
fields. Thenceforward the world was to be filled with glad reapers gathering in
the sheaves, and with labourers kneading the contents of those sheaves into
loaves for God. Leaven there needs is in those loaves; but, presented along
with the blood of the chief of the flock and herd, they still become acceptable
to Him who ordained the service. There was a peculiar requirement connected
with these laws for the wheat, harvest well worthy of special attention. The
corners of the fields and the gleanings were to be left. This was a beautiful
feature in these arrangements. It presents a good lesson, of which we ought
never to lose sight. But it was also a type. Of what, I have not seen
satisfactorily explained, though the application seems easy. If the wheat
harvest refers to the gathering of men from sin to Christianity, and from
subjects of Satan to subjects of grace, then the plain indication of this provision
is that the entire world, under this present dispensation, shall not be
completely converted to God. I believe that the time will come, and that it is
largely and fully predicted in the Scriptures, when “all shall know the Lord
from the least unto the greatest”--when there will not be a single sinner left
upon the earth. But that time will not come until a new dispensation with new
instrumentalities shall have been introduced.
5. The next was the Feast of Trumpets. This was held on the first day
of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, which was the same as the
first month of the civil year. It was therefore a new-year festival, and at the
same time the feast of introduction to the Sabbatic month. Its chief
peculiarity was the continual sounding of trumpets from morning till evening.
It was the grand type of the preaching of the gospel. The Feast of Trumpets
was, to a great extent, a preliminary of the great Day of Atonement. We have
already considered the peculiarities of this solemn day. Its leading thought is
contained in its name--at-one-ment--that is, agreement, reconciliation,
harmony, and peace with God. The Feast of Trumpets was a call to this
at-one-ment. The gospel is an appeal to men to be reconciled to God.
6. Immediately succeeding the great solemnity on the fifteenth day of
the month began another remarkable festival called tile Feast of Tabernacles.
It was to commemorate the forty years of tent life which their fathers led in
the wilderness, and pointed, the same as that which it commemorated, to that
period of the Christian’s career which lies between his deliverance from
bondage and his entrance into rest--that is, between his reconciliation to God
and his final inheritance of the promises. It celebrates the state of the believer
while he yet remains in this present life. This world is not our
dwelling-place. We are pilgrims and strangers here, tarrying for a little
season in tents and booths which we must soon vacate and leave to decay. “The
earthly house of this tabernacle” must “be dissolved.” The places that know us
now shall soon know us no more. “Seven days”--a full period--were the people of
Israel to remain in these temporary tabernacles. And thus shall we be at the
inconvenience of a tent life for the full period of our earthly stay. But it
was only once in a year that Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, when
we once leave the flesh, we shall never return to it again. Our future bodies
shall be glorified, celestial, spiritual bodies. It is also a precious thought
connected with this subject that when the Jews left their tents at the
conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles it was the Sabbath morning. This frail
tent life is after all to be rounded off with the calm quiet of a consecrated
day that has no night, and to merge into a rest that is never more to end. (J.
A. Seiss, D. D.)
Feasts of the Lord
I. Sacred life is
itself a festival.
1. Divine in its origin.
2. Blissful in its quality.
3. Enriched with frequent delights.
II. The Christian
year has its festivities.
1. Time is interrupted by sacred seasons.
2. Human life is refreshed by the blessings of religion.
3. A witness to what is God’s will for man.
III. Gracious
seasons are appointed for the church.
1. Days of rest and gladness.
2. Special times of revival.
3. Foretaste of Heaven’s joy. (W. H. Jellie.)
The great feasts
I. Political
effects. Annual gatherings of the people exhibited the numerical strength of
the nation. As they went “from strength to strength,” i.e., from
company to company (Psalms 84:7 marg.), on their way to
Jerusalem, and saw the vast crowds flocking from all parts of the kingdom to
the capital, their patriotic ardour would be fired. The unity of the nation,
too, would be ensured by this fusion of the tribes. Otherwise they would be
likely to constitute separate tribal states. They would carry back to the
provinces glowing accounts of the wealth, power, and resources of the country.
II. Sanitary
effects. They would greatly influence the health of the people. The Sabbath,
necessitating weekly cleansings, and rest from work, and laws and ceremonies
concerning disease (as leprosy) and purifications, deserve to be looked at in
this light also. The annual purifying of the houses at Feast of Unleavened
Bread; the dwelling at certain times in tents--leaving the houses to the free
circulation of light and air; and the repeated journey on foot to Jerusalem,
must have had a great sanitary influence. As man was the great object of creation, so his welfare--in
many respects besides religion--was plainly aimed at in these regulations.
III. Social effects.
Promoted friendly intercourse between travelling companions. Distributed
information through the country at a time when the transmission of news was
slow and imperfect. Imported into remote provincial districts a practical
knowledge of all improvements in arts and sciences. Enlarged the general stock
of knowledge by bringing many minds and great variety of taste together. Spread
before the eyes of the nation the wonders collected in Jerusalem by the wealth
and foreign alliances of Jewish kings.
IV. Moral effects.
The young looking forward to, the aged looking back upon, and all talking about
past or future pilgrimages to the city of the great King. Education, thus, of
memory and hope and desire. Influence of this on the habits of the people.
Thrift promoted to provide against expenses of the journey. The promise of
bearing company held out as reward to well-conducted youth. Enlargement of knowledge,
improvement of taste, advantage to health, fixing habits, etc., would all react
morally on the character of the people.
V. Religious
effects. These the most important. Preserved the religious faith of the nation,
and religious unity among the people. Constantly reminded the people of the
Divinely wrought deliverances of the past. Promoted gratitude and trust.
Testified the reverence of the people for the Temple and its sacred contents.
Influence of well-conducted Temple services upon the synagogues through the
land. Led the mind of the nation to adore the one true and only God. (J. C.
Gray.)
Seven feasts mentioned in this chapter
There were seven feasts which God commanded His people to observe
every year. All these feasts are mentioned in this chapter, and should be
studied together so that their relation may be seen. The first, the Sabbath,
commemorated God’s rest from the work of creation, and typified the rest of
God’s people in the eternal Sabbath-keeping. The second, the Passover,
commemorated Israel’s redemption through the blood of the paschal lamb, prior
to their exodus from bondage, and typified our redemption through Christ’s
blood, previous to our exodus from the bondage of sin to the liberty wherewith
Christ makes us free (Galatians 5:1). The third, the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, typified the holiness of life for which they were redeemed
through blood (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The fourth,
the Firstfruits, was a grateful assurance of the coming harvest, and typical of
the resurrection unto life of all believers, because Christ as their
firstfruits has risen from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Corinthians 15:23). The fifth, the
Pentecost, has become universally known by being the day on which the Holy Spirit
was given to the twelve in the upper room in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4), and as in the Feast of
Firstfruits (type of Christ’s resurrection), the sheaf of the firstfruits of
the barley harvest was waved before the Lord, so on the Day of Pentecost, the
sheaf of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, typical of the gift of the Holy
Spirit and prophetic of the harvest of souls gathered to Christ through the
power of the Holy Spirit. The fifth, Feast of Trumpets, typical of Israel’s
ingathering for their millennial privileges, and of the call to all the world
to come to the gospel feast. The sixth, the Day of Atonement, typical of
Christ’s atonement. The seventh, the Feast of Tabernacles. (D. C. Hughes, M.
A.)
God’s holy days
Here we have a general account of the holy times which God
appointed (Leviticus 23:2); and it is only His
appointment that can make time holy. For He is the Lord of time; and as soon as
ever He had set its wheels agoing, it was He that first sanctified and blessed
one day above the rest (Genesis 2:3). Man may by His appointment
make a good day (Esther 9:19), but it is God’s prerogative
to make a holy day; nor is anything sanctified but by the stamp of His
institution. As all inherent holiness comes from His special grace, so all
adherent holiness from His special appointment. Now concerning the holy times
here ordained, observe--
1. They are called feasts. The Day of Atonement, which was one of
them, was a fast; yet, because most of them were appointed for joy and rejoicing,
they are in general called feasts. Some read it, “These are My assemblies,’ but
that is coincident with convocations. I would rather read it, “These are My
solemnities”; so the Word here used is translated (Isaiah 33:20), where Zion is called “the
city of our solemnities.” And reading it so here the Day of Atonement was as
great a solemnity as any of them.
2. They are the feasts of the Lord: “My feasts.” Observed to the honour
of His name, and in obedience to His command.
3. They were proclaimed; for they were not to be observed by the
priests only that attended the sanctuary, but by all the people. And this
proclamation was the joyful sound which they were blessed that were within
hearing of (Psalms 89:15).
4. They were to be sanctified and solemnised with holy convocations
that the services of these feasts might appear the more honourable and august,
and the people more unanimous in the performance of them. It was for the honour of God
and His institutions, which sought not corners, and the purity of which would be best
preserved by the public administration of them; it was also for the edification of the people in
love that the feasts were to be observed as holy convocations. (Matthew
Henry, D. D.)
God’s festivals
The solemnities appointed were--
1. Many, and returned frequently; which was intended to preserve in
them a deep sense of God and religion, and to prevent their inclining to the
superstitions of the heathen. God kept them fully employed in His service that
they might not have time to hearken to the temptations of the idolatrous
neighbourhood they lived in.
2. They were most of them times of joy and rejoicing. The weekly
Sabbath is so, and all their yearly solemnities except the Day of Atonement.
God would thus teach them that wisdom’s ways are pleasantness; and oblige them
to His service by obliging them to be cheerful in it and to sing at their work.
Seven days were days of strict rest and holy convocations: The first day, and
the seventh, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; the Day of Pentecost; the day of
the Feast of Trumpets; the first day, and the eighth, of the Feast of
Tabernacles; and the Day of Atonement: here were six for holy joy, and one for
holy mourning. We are commanded to rejoice evermore, but not to be evermore
weeping. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Verse 5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s
passover.
The Passover
The typical character of the Old Testament is a subject full of
instruction, and one which opens a very extensive field of investigation before
the mind of the Christian student. It presents itself to our view not only in
the ordinances of the Jewish people, their sacrifices and priesthood, and
religious rites in general, but also in the historical parts of these lively
oracles. Many of the events recorded in these sacred pages have not only an
historical, but also a typical, or in other words a prophetic interest. They
were, in fact, living prophecies, having each his manifest counterpart or
antitype somewhere in the gospel scheme. But this observation particularly applies
to the ordinances of the Ceremonial Law. These rites had, no doubt, a duty to
accomplish on behalf of those who celebrated them, and subserved some moral
purpose towards them who did the service. But they had also a higher object;
they had all a Christian aspect, or, as the apostle to the Hebrews says, they
were “the shadows of good things to come.” In the former bearing they have long
since passed away, but in the latter they are still abiding. And what an
important addition have we here to the prophetic evidence of Christi-unity! For
these rites and ceremonies must, every one of them, be regarded as predictions
of those things they typified. Every well-established type is an instance of
fulfilled prophecy; and when we view them all combined we have a congeries of
prophecies manifestly fulfilled, and affording an amount of accumulated
evidence which must be convincing to any candid mind. In all the necessary
elements of prophetic evidence the argument derived from these types is
remarkably certain and facile. Their antiquity, or priority in point of time to
their antitypes, is undoubted, it
is admitted on all hands. They were celebrated by successive
generations for centuries before those things which answered to them appeared
to human observation, or could be known in any other way than by Divine
revelation. Their fulfilment, also, is equally certain; we compare the
antitypes with the types, and find them answer the one to the other in an
immense variety of particulars. It is utterly impossible that this agreement
should be the result of accident; it is so minute, and carried out into such
numerous ramifications, that it exceeds even the credulity of infidelity itself
to ascribe it to anything but design. Here, as in a kind of panorama, that
gospel passes before us, so that we, as it were, behold with our eyes those
very truths which are the source of our present and eternal peace. And this,
perhaps, is one reason why these ordinances are so minutely enjoined; why we
find so many, and sometimes such trifling particulars commanded. The sceptic
smiles at this minuteness, and refuses to believe that God could condescend to
be the author of such unimportant injunctions. The reply to this is at once
suggested from the book of nature, where the Deist professes to become
acquainted with his God. We bid him to consult that book which is open before
his eyes, and behold the minuteness of detail which characterises all the works
that meet him there. See the particularity of design and of execution which
pervades its every part. Has not the same hand which restrains the billows of
the mighty ocean in their proper
bounds painted the tiny shells which are buried in its deep abyss? But to the
believer, who recognises the gospel in these ordinances, this very minuteness with
which they are prescribed constitutes their perfection. He sees in this a
representation of that condescending love which has ordained every particular
of that covenant
of grace--“the covenant ordered in all things, and sure.” And not only so, but
everything to him becomes significant; he could not part with one of them; and
all together make up a perfect whole on which his faith is founded. We are to
consider the feast of the Passover, instituted, as its name implies, in
commemoration of that night in which the Lord passed over the houses of the
Israelites when He smote the first-born in the land of Egypt. In order, then,
to understand aright the typical or prophetic bearing of this ordinance, we
must recall to mind the transactions of that memorable night, and--
I. The land of
Egypt exhibits a type of this present evil world--the world, i mean, as
distinct from the church and people of God. Egypt was ripened for judgment, and
was devoted to destruction. She had despised her opportunities and hardened herself
against the warnings of Jehovah, and was now arrayed in hostility against God
and His people. And such is the world in which we live, it is destined to
destruction; and why? Because it has rejected alike the mercies and the
warnings of the Lord; it has despised His counsel and will have none of His
reproof. And there is one point of analogy between the case of Egypt and that
of this present world which is especially deserving of attention; I mean the
fact that the climax in either case is preceded by a succession of judgments. I
feel persuaded, my dear brethren, that we ought to be prepared for an
outpouring of Divine judgments upon the earth, the effect of which shall be, as
in the case of Egypt, the hardening of “the men of the earth” against the Lord
and against His anointed (Revelation 9:20-21; Luke 21:35-36).
II. But God had a
people in Egypt. They were in Egypt, but they were not of it; differing in
their origin, their customs, their laws, their worship, and their God. They
were the people of Jehovah; His by covenant arrangement; His chosen ones, His
own. And why were they chosen? Was it because of their own goodness? because
they were better than the other nations? No; for they were a stiff-necked
people. Why, then, were they chosen? Simply because He loved them, and took
them to Himself out of all the nations of the earth. And so it is at the present
time. The Lord has a people in the world, but yet not of the world. “Ye are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world.” But if He has loved His people,
He has “made them to differ” from Egypt. As they are His by sovereign grace, so
also are they His by manifest consecration to Him and separation from the
world. Their origin is from above. They are “born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
III. But what was
the means by which the Israelites were saved from the judgment of Egypt? It was
the sprinkled blood (Exodus 12:12-13). And so if we escape the
righteous judgment of God it can only be by the sprinkling of the blood of the
Lamb--“the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot” (1 Peter 1:19). Outside of Christ is
wrath, in Him is perfect peace and safety. Not that this sprinkled blood is the
exciting cause of God’s love unto His people. No; He needed not this
inducement. God did not love the children of Israel because the blood was
sprinkled on their houses; no, the blood was sprinkled there because He loved
them. They misunderstand the doctrine of the atonement who represent it as
appeasing a God of vengeance and stimulating Him to mercy. “God is love.”
IV. The israelites
were commanded to feast upon the lamb. The lamb was to be the food of them for whom
his blood was sprinkled. And what is the spiritual food supplied to the Church
of God? It is the Lamb that was slain (John 6:57). If we would have spiritual
strength to do the work of God we can derive it only by feeding on, that is, by
habitually contemplating and confiding in the work of Jesus. A living faith in
Him will appropriate Him. And when the Passover is called a feast we are
reminded that those who feed on Jesus have in Him not only necessaries, but abundance;
not only salvation, but peace and happiness and joy--“fat things full of
marrow, wines on the lees well refined” (Isaiah 25:6). You see we are supposed to
be ever feasting. And if our souls are not abundantly satisfied, as with marrow
and fatness, the fault is entirely our own. The provision is made; all things
are ready; everything that the hospitality of eternal love, aided by the
counsels of infinite wisdom and the resources of infinite power could procure
to make glad the shiner’s heart. Why do we go so heavily on our way? Why have
we so little peace and joy? It is because we do not feed, as we should, upon
the Lamb. We do not make Him our daily bread, and incorporate Him, by a living
faith, with our souls. And mark, the whole of the paschal lamb was eaten; not
one particle of it was to be left. ‘Tis thus the Saviour gives Himself
altogether to be His people’s food; it is not a part, but the whole of a
precious Christ that is provided for us. All the holiness of His life, all the
devotedness of His death, all the
efficacy of His blood, all the power of His resurrection--the dignity of His
ascension--the influence of His intercession, and the glory of His coming
again; everything He does--He has--He is; the whole is given unto us to feast
upon; and we need it all. I must have Him all to meet the exigency of my case,
the necessities of my soul.
V. But let us
remark the adjuncts of this feast. They were to eat it with unleavened bread
and with bitter herbs; with staves in their hands and shoes on their feet. Each
particular is significant. Are they to eat it with unleavened bread? If we
would have communion with Jesus it must be “in the Spirit.” The carnal mind
cannot find enjoyment in Him; and if we are walking after the flesh we cannot
feed on Him. We must “put it out of our houses,” so as not to follow or be led
by it. Again, too, “the bitter herbs.” Oh! how significant is this! The paschal
feast is not a feast of self-indulgence; it is not to gratify the carnal mind.
They that feed on Jesus must deny themselves, and take up the cross and follow
Him. The path He leads in is not that of self-gratification and carnal ease. If
these be the objects we pursue we are not--we cannot be feeding on the Lamb (Galatians 2:20). It is impossible for the
true believer to escape the taste of the “bitter herbs.” The very principles
which actuate him, the motives of which he is conscious, the tastes implanted
in his mind are such as to render his life in this world a scene of constant
trial. There are trials peculiar to the Christian which others have not, and
cannot even understand. Beloved, let us search our hearts diligently; let us
examine our motives. Are we indeed sincere before God? Are we really humbled
before the Cross, and has every other shadow of dependence been put away? And
are we dressed, too, in the garb of pilgrims? Or rather have we the pilgrim’s
heart? Or are our thoughts and affections given to the things of earth--the
flesh-pots of Egypt? (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)
Verses 9-15
When ye be come into the land.
The conditions of the spiritual land-tenure
I. Man’s true
relation to the land of promise.
1. In his original estate man realised his dependence upon God, and
his responsibility before God for the true and righteous use of all God’s
gifts. As long as man used God’s glorious gifts in obedience to God’s supreme
law of love, his life was blessed with the fulness of weal: “Of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat.” But in the day when the sense of
responsibility to God was lost, and the commandment which embraced in itself
the significance of all the other commandments was broken, the disorders and
the miseries of human society arose. The spirit of individual selfishness is
the power which disorganises society, which brings a blight upon the garden of
God, and drives human souls out from the glory and wealth into the thorny,
desolate wilderness. There is no power that can enable man to dress the garden
and to keep it, but the sense of responsibility to the one supreme Lord of
Life, whose name is Love. This principle is the Divinely ordained power that
suffices to check the deadly evils that arise from exaggerated notions of the
rights of human property. In human society gifts are unequally distributed. The
gifts of genius and the external gifts of property are alike unequal. In the
ownership of the riches of mind we see men endowed with vast territories of
knowledge and intellectual power. It is God’s order. Gifts are not equally
divided. So the land is not, and never can be, possessed in absolutely equal
portions by the citizens of state. There must be the large landowners and the
multitude of the poor who have but little. Where is the check that is to
restrain the abuses of property? In the perpetual remembrance of the truth that
the proudest landowner is but a tenant who holds from God, upon God’s
conditions, in order that the land may be dressed and kept so as to promote the
greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number.
2. Another truth closely related to our absolute dependence upon
God’s love, and the realisation of which is equally necessary to our spiritual
health, is declared in this passage, viz., that the occupiers of the land of
promise can only enjoy the fruits which God gives upon God’s conditions. The
king upon the throne who has not a kingly heart and soul occupies a land of
promise, but does not eat of its fruits. In all the professions of human
activity, from the highest to the humblest, the enjoyment of the noblest fruits
of the position can only be realised by those who know how to perform the
duties which belong to it.. The conditions of enjoyment are imposed upon the
occupiers of every land of promise. The blessed land of rest, towards which
human souls are travelling through the wilderness of earthly struggles, can
only produce its harvest, and pour forth its stores of milk and honey to those
who shall have been made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light.”
II. The conditions
upon which the fruits of Canaan can be eaten.
1. The elevated use of the gifts of life. The man who uses God’s
gifts to pamper
his lusts, by feeding the low life of debased animalism, lowers the corn of the
field below its original level by devoting it to the “table of devils,” as the
food taken to create blood for the heart in which the basest, foulest feelings
have their homes, and for the brain, out of which the thoughts that are set on
fire of hell wing their flight. The drunkard, the glutton, and the unclean,
degrade the fruits of the land by using them to feed the life of the tenants who
dwell in the moral abyss. On the other hand, in the man who strives to live a
life of high purpose, pure feeling, and noble thought, the corn is taken into
the manhood and shares its elevation. It is that lofty use alone that gives man
fulness of enjoyment. There is an unearthly delight in the enjoyment of God’s
gifts when they are thus exalted. It is still true that God satisfies His
people “with the bread of heaven. “It is still true that for those who are
redeemed to the high life in Christ the Holy Spirit gives them” of the corn of
heaven. Man did eat angels’ food.” Do we seek elevation in Christ Jesus? Are we
pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus? Are we sanctifying the fields of our life by subjecting all our energies to the influence of
noble aspirations and high purposes in Christ Jesus?
2. The second condition which regulates the enjoyment of the fruits
of the land of promise is embodied in this command, “Ye shall offer an he-lamb
without, blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto the Lord.” What
are the moral and spiritual truths embodied in the form of this ordinance? It
gives expression to that eternal truth that man cannot enjoy the fruits of
God’s promised land without innocency of life, and entire surrender of self to
God. The highest joys and richest pleasures of existence cannot be experienced
by the man whose heart is full of malice and wickedness. Material prosperity,
houses, and lands, and gold he may have. But the joy, peace, and satisfaction
which feed the inner life of an enriched, ennobled soul are forbidden to all
but those who have found truth and innocency of character. The mode of the
offering is also expressive of another condition. The lamb was to be offered as
a burnt-offering. This form of sacrifice expresses the principle of unreserved dedication of the
life to God. The life of self-sacrifice is the happy life. The heart which has
given itself unreservedly to the truth and love of God, is the heart that
experiences the joys of the promised land.
3. The third condition imposed upon the Israelite was expressed in
the command, “The: meat-offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals of fine flour
mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour;
and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an bin.”
What eternal principle is embodied in the form of this rite? It teaches us that
we cannot enjoy the fruits of the promised land until we have learnt to seek
the sustenance and gladness of the soul in communion with God. The flour of the
meat-offering represents that spiritual bread of the soul which “strengtheneth
man’s heart.” The wine of the drink-offering represents the spiritual flow of
joys that “maketh glad the heart of man.” The oil is the type of the influence
of the Divine Spirit by the virtue of which life-giving efficacy comes to the
forms of human service.
III. How are we to
fulfil the conditions imposed upon souls in this passage? How can we
practically qualify ourselves to eat the products of the spiritual harvest that
grows in the land that, God has given to us? The three great principles here
set before us are acknowledged in the life of the sincere, worthy communicants
in the Church of Christ, “the meet partakers of those holy mysteries.” Whenever
you approach the Lord’s table as the Church commands, you wave the energies of
life on high before the Lord, and acknowledge the principle of Divine elevation
by answering in obedience to her command, “Lift up your hearts,”--“We lift them
up unto the Lord.” You acknowledge the eternal obligation of the Divine
principle of self-devotion when, after confessing your sins and asking the
absolution of Christ, you offer with fervent resolve the service of a life
delivered from its blemishes by the redeeming power of the unblemished Lamb,
who is the propitiation for our sins, and say, “Here we offer and present unto
Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and
lively sacrifice unto Thee.” You acknowledge the need of Divine sustenance, the
principle of the eternal meat-offering, when you hearken to the voice of the
Church saying unto you, “Feed on Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
If we would be qualified to enjoy all the glorious wealth of Canaan we must
live the hidden sacramental life in Christ. (H. T. Edwards, M. A.)
Verse 10-11
Wave the sheaf.
The first-fruits
The design of these festivals was two-fold: they were eucharistic
or commemorative, and they were also typical or prophetic. This ordinance is
not a distinct festival, but a ceremony observed during the feast of unleavened bread,
as the Paschal Feast is sometimes called, from the fact that during the seven
days through which it lasted the children of Israel were commanded to put away
leaven out of their houses. It was observed annually with great solemnity.
Certain persons were deputed by the Sanhedrin to go out into the fields and
procure a sheaf of the newly-ripened corn, which was then carried into the
temple preceded by oxen crowned with garlands, and other tokens of national
rejoicing. There can be no doubt that this observance had a moral bearing on
the people of the time. It was a solemn recognition, on the part of the whole
nation, of Him who was “the Lord of the harvest,” and an appropriate ascription
of praise to Him for His goodness in giving the fruits of the earth in their
due season. But we are now to inquire into its typical or Christian import;
and--
I. Here we have at
once a clue in the day on which this ceremony was observed. It was to be waved
“on the morrow after the Sabbath,” that is, of course, the Jewish Sabbath; or,
in other words, it was to be presented on the first day of the week, the Lord’s
day--the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, and became, as St. Paul says,
in evident allusion to the ordinance, “the first-fruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). To this
fundamental event, then, the offering of the wave-sheaf refers; it is a type of
the resurrection of the Saviour. But there is a farther and more intimate
agreement of the day. It was not only the first day of the week, but it was the
first day of the same week of the Jewish ecclesiastical year as that on which
the Saviour rose. When we refer to the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of this
chapter we read an account of the pentecostal feast, and we find that the
period of fifty days, from which it derives its name, is reckoned from this
very day.
II. Let us, then,
proceed to examine the suitability of this type and its application to this
important subject; and--
1. The first-fruits hallowed the harvest from whence it was taken. It
removed the impediment which stood opposed to its being gathered; the
ceremonial impurity, if I may so say, which was attached to it previous to the
waving of the sheaf before the Lord, until which time it was unlawful to make
use of it. The prohibition on this head was express (Leviticus 23:14). There was, then, you
perceive, an imputed uncleanness attached to the harvest before the offering of
the first-fruits, but which, when the sheaf was presented, was done away; and
thus it is written, “he (the priest) shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to
be accepted for you” (Leviticus 23:11). Now this significantly
exhibits the bearing of the Saviour’s resurrection upon the justification of
His people. The relation that the first-fruits sustained to the harvest the
same does Jesus sustain to those that believe in Him--they are the harvest in
respect to Him. His resurrection was necessary in order to our justification
before God. It is on this the argument of the fifteenth chapter of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians depends. And thus also he writes in another place,
He “was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Our justification depends
on the resurrection of Jesus. You will easily understand this when you call to
mind the character in which He died. He was crucified as a sinner, under the
imputation of His people’s sins; God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us,” “He laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” It were utterly impossible that
He should be set free while any portion of the debt He undertook to pay remained
undischarged. We know the issue of the trial; His work was amply sufficient to
discharge the debt He had taken on Him. In the power of His own essential
righteousness He burst asunder the bands of death. The law had no further claim
to urge or penalty to exact; and therefore the Saviour had power and right to
take His life again. And rising in the character of the accepted offering He
became “the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.” He is
“waved before the Lord to be accepted for us.”
2. The first-fruits was the earnest of the coming harvest. It was a
pledge that the harvest would be gathered; that it had escaped all the
vicissitudes of the climate and was now ripe for the sickle. And such was the
resurrection of the Saviour to His people. He is “the first-fruits of them that
slept.” The fact that He has risen from the dead secures to us the hope that He
shall rise. The resurrection of the Saviour is the guarantee which God has
given us of the resurrection of his people. Does any one feel a doubt upon this
subject? Does it seem “a thing impossible that God should raise the dead?” We
appeal to the fact--the historical fact, established upon evidence which no
other fact can boast of, that Jesus is raised from the dead. The faith which realises
this fact gives to the soul the blessed persuasion that “He who has raised up
the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus.” Jesus stands to us in the
relation of our covenant Head. As by virtue of our connection with the first
Adam we are subject to death, so by virtue of our connection with the second
Adam we are made partakers
of His life and immortality which we derive from Him.
III. The sheaf of
first-fruits was a sample of the harvest. When the children of Israel looked
upon it they beheld a specimen of the crop from whence it was taken and of
which it was itself a part. And this reminds us of another light in which we
may contemplate the resurrection of our Redeemer, as affording us a sample or
specimen of our own. What was resurrection unto Jesus? It was the resuscitation
of His (lead body, the same body which was laid in the grave. But in what power
did He rise? Was it in the power of animal life, such as that with which our
mortal bodies are animated--the life of nature--of the flesh? Oh, no, the body
of Jesus when it left the grave left it not, as did that of Lazarus, still the
subject of weakness and mortality. It arose in the power of immortality, in the
energy of the very life of God. It arose the same, and yet another; another,
because animated with another life--His own eternal, incorruptible, spiritual
life. “He was put to death in the flesh and quickened by the Spirit.” Such was
the resurrection unto Jesus, and such shall it be also to His people--“For we
know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.” It had been but a pitiful
prospect, that of resurrection, were it merely restoration to such bodies as
those which we have now. But, blessed be God, such is not the hope He has set
before us--it is one which is “full,” not of mortality, but “of immortality” (2 Corinthians 5:2). If humanity, in
the person of the Saviour, is quickened with the life of God, it is in order
that the same life may be imparted to His people. It is even now imparted to
the soul. Whenever a sinner believes in Jesus, and by faith is converted to
God, there is a resurrection. This faith is the result of the operation of the
Spirit of the living God, working in the same manner as when, by His mighty
energy, He raised the lifeless body of the Saviour from the dead (Ephesians 2:18-22). And this life shall
be hereafter imparted to the body. The same Spirit which has operated on the
believer’s soul and raised him from the death of sin unto the life of
righteousness shalt, in the resurrection morning, descend upon the cold remains
of his lifeless corpse, and shall animate it with new, with spiritual,
everlasting life (Romans 8:9-11). Such, then, will be the
resurrection of the dead--such is the blessed prospect which is set before the Church of Christ. That
which is sown in corruption, in dishonour, in weakness, shall be raised in
incorruption, in glory, in power--no longer an impediment to the soul, but the
vehicle through which its immortal energies shall be consecrated to the praise
and service of the Lord.
IV. When the
first-fruits were offered the harvest was at hand; and not only at hand, but
also expected and wished for; all thoughts in Israel were now directed to it;
the wave-sheaf was the certain indication of its approach. And this reminds us
of the position which we should take in regard ¢o the coming of the Lord and
the resurrection morning: we should be in the attitude of expectation, of
joyous expectation, of “that day.” There is something erroneous and
unscriptural in our habit of thought upon this subject. We are accustomed to
admit the truth of the resurrection, but we do not realise its practical
importance, we do not embrace it as a motive for action; it does not exercise a
practical and habitual influence upon us. And why? Because we put it at a
distance from us; when we think of the subject at all we regard it as something
that is to take place at some very remote period of time, before which all that
is important to our eternal
condition will be necessarily fixed for ever. Hence the little influence which
this blessed prospect exercises on our lives. How different the manner in which
it is spoken of in the Scriptures! The effect of apostolic preaching was to
lead men to “look for” and “hasten unto” the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 3:12). In fact, an important
feature of Christian character, as described in the New Testament, is the
expectation of the coming of the Lord to reap the harvest of the world. (J.
B. Lowe, B. A.)
The wave-sheaf typical of Christ
I. WE shall
endeavour to show that this sheaf of the first-fruits was a type of christ, as
to the matter of it, both in respect to quality and quantity. With respect to
quality it was a sheaf of barley, as to its quantity it was a single sheaf, or,
however, such a quantity as only one omer of barley was taken from it and waved
before the Lord by the priest. Now this being of barley, which is a mean sort
of grain, may denote the mean estate of our Lord Jesus Christ in His
humiliation. But this sort of grain, though mean, was used for food; so Christ,
in His mean estate of humiliation, is suitable food for faith. He is held forth
in the everlasting gospel as food for the faith of His people under the
character of Christ crucified. So much for the quality of this sheaf of the
firstfruits: it was of barley. Next, its quantity. It was but one--one sheaf
that was waved--one omer, which was the tenth part of an ephah. It was as much
as a man could eat in one day. Christ in many respects is but one. One with His
Divine Father in nature and essence. Christ is one in His person, though He has
two natures--human and Divine. This is the great mystery of godliness, God
manifest in the flesh. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Christ is
but one in His office as Mediator, the one Mediator between God and man, the
Man Christ Jesus, who has interposed between God and man, and made up the
breach between them, who is our Peace, and by whom the way is opened for us to
God. He is the one Lord, as the apostle says, “One Lord, one faith, one
baptism.” He is the only Head of the Church whom the Father has given to be
head over all things unto it--a Head of eminence to rule over and guide and
protect it. A Head of influence, as the natural head is to the body from which
it receives its nourishment and increases. And He is the only Husband of the
Church--“Thy Maker is thine Husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name.” Thus in
many respects Christ is but one, as this sheaf was. Bat then, though this sheaf
was but one, it had many stalks, many ears of corn, and many grains in it. And
so Christ, though He is but one
in various respects, as we have seen, yet in Him there is a
complication of blessings of grace. Jehovah has presented Him from all eternity
in the council and covenant of grace and peace with all the blessings of grace and goodness for
His people; He has put them all into His hands, and blessed them with all
spiritual blessings in Him. Moreover, He has not only a complication of all
blessings in Him; but as this sheaf of the firstfruits represented the whole
harvest, and was a pledge and earnest of it, so Christ the Sheaf of the
firstfruits represents all His people. They are all gathered together under one
head in Him, and when He was crucified they were with Him; when He was buried
they were with Him; when He rose again from the dead they rose again with Him;
and are now sat down
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And besides, as the sheaf of the
firstfruits had a connection with all the rest, so He with all the people of
God. It was for their sakes He suffered, died, and rose from the dead.
II. It was so with
respect to what was done unto it and done with it. First it was reaped. And
this was done in a very solemn and pompous manner according to the account the
Jews give of it, which is this: The messengers of the Sanhedrin went out (from
Jerusalem over the brook Kidron to the fields near it) on the evening of the
feast, and bound the standing corn in bundles that so it might be more easily
reaped, and the inhabitants of all the neighbouring villages gathered together
there that it might be reaped in great pomp, and when it was dark, one said to
them, “Is it sunset?” They said, “Yes.” “With this sickle shall I reap it?”
They said, “Yes.” “In this basket shall I put it?” They said, “Yes.” If on a
Sabbath-day he said to them, “On this Sabbath-day shall I do it?” They said,
“Yes.” These questions were put and answered three times; then they reaped it,
and put it into the basket, and brought it to the court. Now this reaping of
the sheaf of first-fruits was an emblem of the apprehending of our Lord Jesus
Christ by the Jews, or by officers which they sent to take Him. They attempted
it once and again before they accomplished it. We are told in the seventh
chapter of John that, “at the Feast of Tabernacles they sought to lay hold of
Him; but His time was not yet come.” The very officers were dispirited, and
when they were called to an account by the chief priests and Pharisees for not
bringing Him they said, “Never man spake like this Man.” They could not take
Him. But when the set time was come He was easily apprehended by them. And as
we are told they bound the ears of corn, that they might be the more easily
reaped, so they bound Christ, and brought Him to the high priest. This was done at night when
it was dark. And as the sheaf was
reaped by a deputation of men sent by the grand Sanhedrin at
Jerusalem, so our Lord was apprehended by officers sent by chief priests and
Pharisees, who were assembled together in council as the great Sanhedrin of the
nation. Likewise the circumstance of the sheaf of firstfruits being reaped near
the brook Kidron exactly agrees with the apprehending of Christ near that
brook. When this sheaf was reaped, then it was brought to the court; so Christ,
when He was first apprehended, was brought to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to
the court, where, after His arraignment and trial, He was condemned to death.
This sheaf being brought to court was threshed, winnowed, dried, and parched by
the fire, and ground in a mill, all which set forth in a lively manner the
dolorous sufferings of our Lord.
The sheaf being threshed was expressive of His being smitten by men, of His
being buffeted and scourged by the order of the Roman governor by the soldiers,
all in perfect agreement with the prophecy that “they should smite the Judge of
Israel with a rod upon the cheek”; “that He should give His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them which plucked off
the hair.” This sheaf of the firstfruits as it was beaten out so it was dried and parched by the fire,
which may be considered as expressive of the wrath of God which Christ endured,
which is compared to fire, and by which (as it is expressed in the Psalms
concerning Him) “His strength was dried up like a potsherd.” It was ground also
in a mill (as was the manna, another type of Christ), which was another
circumstance that pointed out the sufferings of the Redeemer, who was wounded
for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. Upon the omer of flour
that was taken oil and frankincense were poured, which may denote the
acceptableness of Christ in His sufferings, death, and sacrifice to His Divine
Father. He gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a
sweet-smelling savour. And then the waving of this by the priest before the
Lord seems to denote His resurrection from the dead. It is also expressive of
His connection with His people whom He represented, and whose resurrection is
the pledge, earnest, and security of theirs. For as the firstfruits sanctified
the rest of their harvest, represented the whole, gave a right to the
ingathering of it, and insured it, so our Lord’s resurrection from the dead
sanctified and secured the resurrection of His people. Because He lives they
shall live also, or as sure as His dead body arouse, so sure shall theirs rise
also.
III. What were the
concomitants of it? What accompanied the waving the firstfruits were a
burnt-offering and a meat-offering. The first of these was an eminent type of
Christ, as all the burnt-offerings were. It was a lamb--a figure of Christ the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A lamb without blemish--a type
of the immaculate Lamb of God. This was a burnt-offering, so a fit emblem of
the dolorous sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then there was a
meat-offering which always went along with this, which was also typical of
Christ. From hence we see the great advantages we receive from Christ. He is
the firstfruits, and all our fruit is from Him. And therefore many are the
obligations we lay under to give thanks unto His name and not forget His
benefits. We ought, through the constraints of His love, to live to Him who
died for us. (John Gill, D. D.)
Lessons of the harvest
It is easy to see the
significance of this rite to the Israelites. God was to be associated with
everything. No phase of duty or of enjoyment; no enterprise--social,
commercial, or aggressive; no festivities to celebrate triumphs over enemies,
to mark national progress or prestige, or to rejoice over the reward of
industry, but God was to be acknowledged, honoured, and worshipped, His
blessing sought, His goodness remembered, His theocratic rule over them
extolled. We have had to unlearn much that the Jew taught his posterity, and
the world through them; we have outgrown much that was as sacred to the
Israelitish nation as the presence of God Himself; the world has had to recast
and remould its creeds of the relation of the Divine Father to His human
children; but we have not outgrown either the propriety or the necessity of associating
God with the government of the world and with the supply of humanity’s needs.
I. The bountiful
kindness of god in supplying the wants of his creatures, Smatterings of science
have a tendency to divorce God from the providential supply of the world’s
wants. We too commonly think of our daily supplies as the results of physical
laws. We say the earth yieldeth her increase; Nature supplieth those things
that are necessary for man’s sustenance; light and heat, warmth and moisture
are the great factors in the world’s bounty. Let us grant all that, but who is
behind it? To me the supply of the world’s daily bread is a standing proof--not
only of a self-existent and ever active Deity, but of a Divine Fatherhood--ever
thinking, ever acting, ever providing for the wants of all His children.
II. The necessary
connection between the divine benevolence and human effort. Whatever the Divine
rule, whatever the Divine love that broods over this poor earth, making it to
yield its fruits in abundance, the world without man would be a vast howling
wilderness. It is God plus man that enriches the earth and makes it to bring
forth abundantly. And thus it is that toil becomes dignified, that the sweat of
labour is God’s crown of approval upon the human brow. Every man who is putting
God’s gifts into such conditions that they become greater gifts; every man who
is preparing the soil for the seed and the seed for the soil; every man who by
any kind of industry is helping God to fulfil His purposes in making the earth
provide for the wants of man, is a servant of God, however low and however
humble the man may be. To be idle is to be outside the purpose and economy of
God; to be lazy is to be out of harmony with the laws of the universe
III. The inevitable
relation between the seed-time and the harvest. The man who wanted a harvest of
wheat knew that to effect such a result he must sow wheat. It is God’s law that
it should be so. Every harvest is the evolution of some past seed time. Human
life and human destiny are evolved, not by chance, not by miracle, not by the
Divine caprice, but by the law of cause and effect, of precedent and
consequent. Your present is the outcome of some past; all the good that you
enjoy is the harvest of your own or other’s sowing; your future will be the
consequent of this present. Human conduct is the factor of human destiny; the
sowing of time determines the harvest of eternity. (W. J. Hocking.)
Verses 15-17
And ye shall Count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath.
The Feast of Pentecost
We are now to consider that which was properly the second annual
festival of the Jewish nation--the Feast of Pentecost. The distinctive ceremony
observed upon this clay was the presentation of a new meat-offering, in the
form of two wave-loaves unto the Lord. These loaves were the first-fruits of
wheat harvest, and in allusion to them the feast is sometimes called “the Feast
of Harvest” (Exodus 23:16), and also “the day of
first-fruits” (Numbers 18:26). The moral bearing of this
ordinance upon the people was therefore similar to that of the last which we
have had presented to our notice; it was a renewed acknowledgment on their part
of the mercies of Jehovah, who had brought them into “that good land,” and
given them the kindly fruits of the earth in their season. And accordingly we
find a beautiful form of thanksgiving prescribed for this occasion, in which
these mercies were briefly but eloquently celebrated (Deuteronomy 26:1-11). But we are now to
examine this festival with the view of discovering its typical and prophetic
import; and this also we must look for in that ordinance which characterised
it, and from which, as we have seen, it derived its name, the offering of these
two wave-loaves. They were designed to set forth the Church of Christ. Just as
the Saviour Himself in resurrection from the dead is typified by the
wave-sheaf, the first-fruits of barley harvest (“the first of the first-fruits”
(Exodus 34:26), as it is called); so also
the Church as partaking of His resurrection life--quickened by the Spirit in
which He rose from the dead, is represented by the ordinance of the two
wave-loaves. As He is “the first-fruits” with respect to His people, so they
also are by union with Him constituted the first-fruits in reference to that
future harvest. Let us, then, enter into detail.
I. There was
something significant in the day on which this offering was to be presented. It was on
the fiftieth day from that on which the wave-sheaf was offered, or as it is
called in the New Testament the day of Pentecost. Now what is the importance of
the day of Pentecost to us as Christians? I answer, it was the commencement of
the present dispensation. This is the distinguishing characteristic of the
Christian Church--of that Church not merely as distinguished from the world,
but also from the Church previous to the day of Pentecost--that she is united
to, yea identified with Christ in resurrection (Colossians 3:1-25; Colossians 1:2). In this new character
the Holy Ghost was not given until that Jesus was glorified. As the Spirit of
light and life He had been operating on the hearts of all His faithful people
from the beginning of the world. But now He operates in increased power, and
bestows a higher privilege; He unites the Church unto Him who is “waved” in the
character of “the first-fruits,” that we in Him may also partake of the same
character, and become “the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb (Revelation 14:4). And thus it is written,
in allusion, I believe, to this very ordinance, “Of His own will begat He us
with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His
creatures” (James 1:23). And this brings me to
consider--
II. The analogy
between the ordinance before us, and the church of which it is the type. This
will appear in several interesting particulars, and--
1. Is there not something significant in the bipartite character of
the type? It was to consist of two loaves. And surely it is natural to suppose
that it was designed to set forth something. Why should the lump be divided
into two parts, and not be presented whole? In order, I would venture to
suggest, to set forth the two component parts of the Christian Church--the Jews
and Gentiles, both made one in Christ. This is one marked peculiarity of the
present dispensation. It was the mystery hidden from ages and generations, but
which is now made manifest that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the
same body (Ephesians 3:6). There is, then, you see,
a unity, and yet a diversity in the Christian Church; a unity because it is one
Church; a diversity because it consists of two component parts, the Jew and the
Gentile (Ephesians 2:14-18).
2. Another point of analogy, and a farther confirmation of this
application of the type, will be suggested if we shall find that the Church of
the present dispensation is presented in Scripture to be the first-fruits, or
earnest, of future and more enlarged mercies which are yet to come. Whether we
consider the converts to the gospel from among the Jews, or those from among
the Gentiles, which are made during the present dispensation, we axe taught to
regard them each and both together, but as “a kind of first-fruits of His
creatures” (Ephesians 1:10). And first, with regard
to the Jews, I would refer you to the testimony which is borne to this effect
in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 11:1-5). And what is this result?
Is it the conversion of the whole nation? No, as a nation, Israel is for the
present rejected; but we are to expect that there will be an election from
among them, “a remnant according to the election of grace”; and no more than
this. But is Israel as a nation to be for ever cast away? Do God’s purposes of
mercy reach no farther than the gathering of this remnant? Far otherwise the
view that the apostle gives us in this chapter (Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15). Here we are expressly
taught to look for a period when the mercies of God will no longer be confined
to “a remnant” from among them as now, but when they shall all, in their
fulness, be received again into the favour of God. So far, then, as regards the
Jews; let us now see how far the same holds good as respects the Gentiles. And
here I shall again confine myself to one passage. In the fifteenth chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles, when St. James, who presided at the council, is
recorded to have spoken as follows:--“Simeon hath declared how God at the first
did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” Here you
see is the idea entertained by the apostles of the purposes of God towards the
Gentiles in the present dispensation.
3. The first-fruits were considered to be the property of
God--peculiarly His, claimed by Him, and set apart for His own. And is not this
also true in regard to His Church? Has He not chosen it to Himself, and made it
His own in a peculiar sense above all other things? The universe belongs to
Him, the beasts of the forest are His; but the Lord’s portion are His people,
Judah is the lot of His inheritance, “a chosen generation, and holy nation, a
peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). As far as God has
revealed His mind towards His creatures, we know of nothing in the whole
universe so precious to Him as His Church. Angels in this respect cannot
compare with us. Humanity is in Christ united to the Godhead, and therefore
stands of a pinnacle far above all other created things (Ephesians 5:30). My brethren, it is not a
mere salvation which we have in Jesus. Oh! no, it is much more than salvation,
than deliverance, than restoration; it is identification with the Son of His
love, who has come down to us to take us up to Him, that we may be “blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:3). But if this speaks to us
of privileges it speaks also of duty. My brethren, consider what it is to be
the property of God. Just as the first-fruits were by His own command set apart
unto Himself, and given into the hands of His appointed priest to be waved
before Him, so it is with the Church. We are His by covenant arrangement, we
are given by Him unto the great High Priest--“Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them Me” (John 17:6). And why are we thus given
unto Him? in order that He may save us? deliver us from wrath? Oh! yes, but
that we may by Him be consecrated unto the service and glory of our God, that
we may be His, in time and in eternity. And this brings me to observe--
4. The peculiar character of this offering. It was a wave-offering.
And there is something significant in this, the wave sheaf, you remember, set
forth the Saviour Himself in resurrection; and so when the Church is
represented in the wave-loaves, there can be no doubt that it is intended to
exhibit her in this character, as “risen together” with Him. As then the
characteristic last referred to set forth the dedication of the Church to God,
her consecration to His service; so this which I now speak of(is designed to
remind us of the power in which we are to be thus consecrated--the power of
resurrection-life. The apostle supposes the objection brought against the
gospel of the grace of God which so often meet with in the present day, that it
tends to antinomianism. “What, then, shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound?” (Romans 6:1), and how does he reply? “God
forbid; how shall we who are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Here you
see the Christian is described as one that is dead to sin; and how is that?
“Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into His death? wherefore we are buried with Him by baptism unto
death? that like as Christ is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Such, then, you perceive, is
practical Christianity. If you want a sample of the life in which we ought to
walk, you are to contemplate the risen Saviour: this is the standard which the
Scriptures put before us.
5. The next particular to which I would refer is the injunction in
the sixteenth verse, “They shall be baken with leaven.” There is a beautiful
significance in this; the leaven, we know, is a type of the flesh--of
nature--of the old man, and when it is directed that it should be mingled with this
offering, it appears, at first sight, extraordinary. Why should that which is
thus dedicated to God be thus defiled? There is something significant in this:
there was no leaven mingled with the sheaf of corn which was waved on the
second day of unleavened bread, because it was a type of Him in whom was no
sin; but it is otherwise inregard to that which is designed to represent His
people; they would not be perfectly exhibited if there was not this memorial.
It is true that they are raised from the death of sin; but it is also true that
“the old man” does still remain in them, and, by the taint and infection of the
flesh, pollutes their every service, and brings them in still as miserable
sinners before God. Here, then, we have an accurate view of the present
character of the Church of Christ; animated, indeed, with new, with spiritual
life, yet still encompassed with the infirmity, and impeded by the opposition
of the flesh. And, accordingly, it is important to observe there is a
sin-offering expressly enjoined to be offered with the two wave loaves (verse
19). This is a remarkable instance of that minuteness with which these types
are regulated, and more particularly when it is observed that there was no
sin-offering to be made when the sheaf of firstfruits was presented. Oh!
beloved, do you feel the virus of the flesh? Are you conscious of its perpetual
pressure? Behold, here is the provision He has made to meet your anguish (Hebrews 10:22).
6. But lastly, let us always bear in mind the view which this
ordinance gives us of the Church as the firstfruits of God’s mercies towards
the world at large. The infidel taunts us with the little that the gospel has
accomplished, and maintains that Christianity has proved a failure; and truly
if, as is supposed by some, the Scriptures held out the expectation that the
gospel was to go on gradually extending, until the world was evangelised, there
were some appearance of reason in the imputation. Let us ever bear in mind we
have an earnest of a glorious harvest which is yet to come. As surely as the
firstfruits are now waved in His presence, so surely shall the harvest be
gathered into His garner. (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)
Verse 22
Not make clean riddance.
Gleaning
The benevolent provision made in our text for the poor and
stranger proclaims its author: even God, whose tender mercies are over all His
works, who is the Friend of the friendless, and has enjoined that even
fragments are to be gathered, that nothing may be lost.
I. Let such as
have fields to glean pay attention to the letter and the spirit of this
injunction, together with the motive on which obedience is enforced.
1. The letter of this benevolent precept establishes the propriety of
permitting persons to glean in your lands; but it does not prohibit clearing
your fields of all the sheaves, and carrying them not only to a place of
safety, but out of the way of temptation to the gleaners. Is not this evidently
implied in the following explanatory directions of the law (Deuteronomy 24:19), where not taking away
the entire crop is imputed to inadvertence, rather than intention. Neither does
it forbid the judicious exercise of this permission as to the persons who may
glean, as is clear from the history of Ruth. It rested with the proprietor or
occupier of the land to grant or deny the privilege to certain individuals. Yet
the command strictly enjoins the duty of leaving what is not thus carried for
the poor and strangers, and frowns on the inhuman and selfish practice of
turning cattle of any description into the fields until some reasonable time
for the gleaning has been allowed to elapse. In some foreign countries the law
specifies twenty-four hours after the crop has been carted, but circumstances
and conscience must decide for each farmer.
2. We have, however, less to do with the letter than the spirit of
this precept. Does it not breathe kindness to the poor, pity to the needy, and
cherish the disposition to let fall purposely a few ears of corn rather than
collect all with extreme exactitude? Right too rigid, hardens into wrong. The sentiment
of this direction should transfuse itself into every part of our conduct, and
pervade all our transactions with the poor.
3. The motive subjoined for your obedience: “I am the Lord your
God”--God, who raiseth up one and putteth down another, who maketh the rich and
the poor, who has borne with your ingratitude and rebellion, and who has,
notwithstanding, given you another and an abundant crop--yes, He is your God
whom you profess to obey, and whose authority you wish to regard.
4. Recollect that to obedience is the reward annexed (Deuteronomy 24:19).
II. Advice to such
as are gleaners. Remember that God,
who has ordained this permission, and guarded it by His command, must be honoured
by you in the enjoyment.
1. Unless you are poor, you neither might nor would glean: let me
then guard you against those snares which always attend poverty. It is a
temptation, when afar from human notice, to defraud: “lest I be poor and
steal.” Forget not the old
proverb, “He that will steal a pin, will steal a greater thing.” When
opportunity and importunity press, the hand that loosed the band of a sheaf
will not forbear to break through the barn and steal.
2. You go into the fields to glean: then do not idle away your time,
or what was intended for your good will be an injury to you.
3. Persons generally glean in numbers; then pray avoid bad company
and they will soon avoid you. Like always associates with its like--lions with
lions, sheep with sheep--a man may be known by the company he keeps. Choose
society in your work who will do you good rather than harm; better conversation
will cheer you under the heat of the sun and the toil of out-door work, to
which you may perhaps not be accustomed.
4. Let me caution you also against what is too common on these
occasions--immodest behaviour. Indecent language and coarse manners are
disgraceful and dangerous. Use your authority to prevent your children seeing
or hearing what is so wrong and easily learnt and but seldom forgotten.
5. It is mentioned to the praise of a most excellent daughter and
industrious but poor female that she came home early from gleaning. Be not the
last to leave the fields; late hours in every station of life are injurious;
works of darkness are always suspicious, often criminal. “Many love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds are evil.”
6. I wish you to notice that the Scriptures say that the stranger may
glean. In some places the poor will not permit this. Are they right? Does not
the same verse which permits you allow them? Moreover, perhaps your children,
or remoter descendants, may be cast where they are not known, and have no
settlement; and often God retributes in this life; as we have done to others He
allows or disposes others to deal with us.
Lessons:
1. From the whole of this subject, primarily, let us learn our
obligation to God for His invaluable Word--a standard of unerring rectitude,
and wherein is contained every thing necessary for life and godliness.
2. We may infer that if God has condescended to regulate smaller
concerns, He will not overlook greater matters. Has He thus cared for your
bodies and temporal interests, and will He be less provident about your
immortal spirits?
3. Let us remember that the evening of our life draweth on; when, as
she who gleaned in the fields of Boaz returned to her inquiring parent and
reported her success, we shall return to the dust from whence we sprang; and
must say to corruption, Thou art my mother. It shall then be asked of us, Were
have ye gleaned to-day? where wroughtest thou? What reply shall we make? (W.
Clayton.)
Verses 23-25
A memorial of blowing of trumpets.
The Feast of Trumpets
The ordinance of the trumpets occupied a conspicuous part in the
Jewish ceremonial; and when we consider the various particulars which were
prescribed regarding them, and the purposes to which they were applied, we
cannot but feel that they were intended to convey some instructive lesson. We
have an account of their first appointment in the tenth chapter of the Book of
Numbers, verses 1-10. Here the following particulars deserve to be noted:
1. That these trumpets were made at the express command of God, who
also enjoined--
2. The manner in which they were to be formed--“of one piece”; and
3. The purposes to which they were to be applied, viz.
In addition to the occasions here enumerated, there was also to be
celebrated an anniversary of the blowing of trumpets, on the first day of the
seventh month, which on this account was called the Feast of Trumpets--the
third of these solemn annual festivals, which we are endeavouring to
illustrate. In considering, then, this ordinance, we shall divide our observations
into three heads; under the first, we shall examine its commemorative bearing;
under the second, its application to the present dispensation; and under the
third, its prospective or prophetic reference to things which are to come.
I. For its commemorative
bearing, I would refer to the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Exodus, where
we have an account of the manner in which the Lord summoned the children of
Israel to meet Him on Mount Sinai. Here we find the first mention of the
trumpet; when God Himself appoints it as a sign by which the people should know
when to approach the mount. “When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up
to the mount” (Exodus 19:13). And so we read (Exodus 19:16). And again (Exodus 19:19). This may be regarded as the source from whence
the ordinance of trumpets originated. This was the voice of God calling them
into covenant with Himself. Thus, then, whenever the people heard the sacred
trumpets, they recognised, as it were, the voice of God. At His voice they marched or halted; at His voice they mustered to oppose their
enemies; at His voice they assembled on their festal days. And we have here,
doubtless, the commemorative or retrospective bearing of the feast before us.
The time when it was celebrated, the new moon symbolising the commencement of
the Jewish Church in the wilderness; the trumpet summoning them to “an holy
convocation,” recalling the assemblage gathered around Mount Sinai; the
command, “Thou shalt do no servile work therein,” commemorating their
deliverance from Egyptian bondage; and finally, the injunction, “Ye shall offer
an offering made by fire unto the Lord,” reminding them that the purpose for
which God had made them His people, was in order that (what in Egypt they were
not allowed to
do) they might sacrifice unto the Lord their God. Such, I venture to suggest,
is the retrospective import of this feast--such was its national application;
and I am confirmed in the impression by the reference made to it in the
eighty-first Psalm, where we find it mentioned in connection with the deliverance
from the land of Egypt--“Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time
appointed, on our solemn feast-day” (Psalms 81:3-10).
II. We proceed,
then, to examine its application to the present dispensation, which can be
traced in several particulars.
1. The trumpet was, as we have seen, the voice of a covenant God,
calling His people to assemble round the sacrifices; a lively emblem is this of
the gospel of Jesus--the voice of “Him that speaks from heaven” (Hebrews 12:18-24). Jesus has ascended up
on high, and sits upon the mount of God; and thence by the gospel-trump He
sends forth His invitation, the call of His grace, to bring His people nigh. It
is His voice, His call, summoning us into covenant with God. This dispensation
is emphatically “the day of the blowing of trumpets--the day of holy
convocation.” This is the mystery of the silver trumpets, they represent the
gospel of Jesus. The command to make them, the manner in which they were to be
made, and the material of which they were to be constructed, were all of God,
all ordained by Him. And so with the gospel; it is all of God from beginning to
end. His love suggested, and His wisdom has contrived it; and woe be to him
that dares to add to, or to take from it. We must take it as He has given it;
if we presume to alter, we mar and spoil it. God alone is competent to know
what note will strike with effect upon the sinner’s ear, and vibrate upon the
sinner’s soul. He has constructed the trumpet so as to give that sound which
the heart of man requires; and that sound is grace--“the gospel of the grace of
God.” But there are several other circumstances connected with this ordinance
which have much significance in their application. Thus we remember--
2. That the trumpets were ordered to be sounded over the sacrifices:
the victims were first slain, and then the trumpets sounded over them. And thus
with the gospel trumpet; it proclaims a finished work. It re-echoes the dying
cry of the Redeemer, announcing that the work is done, the price is paid, the
ransom is accepted. It Aids not the sinner attempt some great thing for
himself.
3. On the Feast of Trumpets no servile work was to be done, but they
were to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord (verse 25). This reminded
the children of Israel of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and
separation unto the service of the Lord. Does not the gospel deliver us from
servile work, and consecrate us to the service of the Lord? From captivity the
gospel has delivered us, for it has come with power to our hearts. But while
the children of Israel were on this day to do no servile work, they were not to
be without employment--they were “to offer a sacrifice made by fire unto the
Lord.” And thus the same gospel which makes us “free from sin,” makes us also
“servants of God”; we have no more to say with servile work, we are consecrated
henceforth a “royal priesthood,” to offer sacrifices unto the Lord our God.
III. But this
festival also looks forward to things that are yet to come. The trumpets were
to be blown on the first day of every month, and this was the seventh month,
the seventh time of the sounding of the trumpets on which the feast was to be
celebrated. The number seven, as we know, implying the consummation, brings us
on unto “the dispensation of the fulness of times”--“the times of the
restitution of all things, spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets
since the world began.” And accordingly, perhaps in reference to this very
ordinance, we find in the Book of Revelation, that the destinies of the age are
comprised in a book sealed with seven seals, and the events of this seventh seal
are ushered in, successively, by the sound of seven trumpets (Revelation 10:1-7; Revelation 11:15-19). Such are the events
which take place at the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The whole may be
confined under three heads: The restoration of Israel--The destruction of the
apostate nations, and--The glorification of His people. Then, too, shall be the
day of perfect service, of perpetual service; when the promise shall be
fulfilled, “His servants shall serve Him.” Oh! what an offering will then be
offered--“an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” “Blessed are the people that
know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy
countenance.” (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)
Verses 26-32
For it is a day of atonement.
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 (Leviticus 14:1-32). We do not
sufficiently dwell upon the life of Jesus, and yet it is this life which saves
us (Romans 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 (Leviticus 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” (Hebrews 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 (Leviticus 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 Saviour’s intercession--His
consecration of Himself to do His Father’s will; His self-sacrifice upon the
Cross to be consumed by the fire of Jehovah’s justice as the sinner’s
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 (Hebrews 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.)
Verses 34-42
The Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles
I. It was a
protracted religious meeting.
II. It was a
thanksgiving for God’s bounty in a completed harvest.
III. It was a
commemoration of mercies attempering hardships and dangers.
IV. It was an
expression of the joyful side of religion,
V. It was a type
of a greater feast now preparing for all god’s true people. (H. M. Grout, D.
D.)
The Feast of Tabernacles
The three distinguishing features of this feast were the dwelling
in booths, the offerings, the festivities. The first served to vividly recall
their forty years of pilgrimage; the second--a sacrifice of bullocks, rams, and
lambs, with the accompanying flour and drink-offerings--was, as usual, a
recognition of God’s demands and a plain, willing answer on their part to whom
He had given everything; but the third--the universal hilarity and religious
cheer-fulness--was its chief characteristic. Very naturally, in the time of
Christ this latter purpose had been more than fulfilled. Many additions had
been made by the Rabbis. Ceremonials most august then, and which gave occasion
to two of His most blessed utterances--the pouring of the water from Siloam and
the brilliant illumination of the Temple--were not in the Mosaic instructions.
Prescriptions as to the style and workmanship of the booths; as to the kind,
bearing, and disposition of the boughs; as to the order of procession and
chanting of psalms, had made the feast quite a different affair from its
original form. Each and all, however, were devised to impress upon both actor
and beholder the happy condition and fortune of the Lord’s people.
I. The true
servant is glad in reviewing God’s dealings with him. Happiness is always
involved in the simple doing of the will of God, now no less than in Eden. It
is awakened, too, by occasional and sober review of His guidance and care. No
life has much symmetry which neglects this. Way-marks, inscribed “Remember”
were set up all along the course of Israel’s journey. Their law-givers and
leaders were often enjoining it. The backward look was quite as profitable as
the forward to encourage and arouse. Faith would increase that no ill could
betide them in the future. And the leafy bowers under which they now camped
must vividly reproduce the days when such hasty coverings were all they had,
and yet were ample for shelter. The fair roofs of the town were no more
sufficient protection in the pilgrimage they were making upon the earth.
Whether in the desert or behind lofty and massive walls of the defenced city,
they should alike be heard exulting: “The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand: the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” So, as
we turn aside into the frail retreat built on any housetop, in any chamber, and
there calmly retrace the course along which the Lord has led us, there is the
well-remembered hour when He broke the chains which held us to the world’s
claims, ideas, and rewards, and bade us set forth with all we had toward the
better land. What revelations of His power and compassion were given then! How
did He bring us into straits, and open, as we advanced, a way from peril of
which no hint had been given, and how did we vow never to doubt His wisdom
more! With what strange but wholesome truths, fresh every morning, did He feed
and sustain us!
II. The true
servant is glad in seeing God’s present care for him. The Jew must not then
fail to show his delight, whatever his station or purse. At the meal which
followed the free-will offerings, the poor, the stranger, the Levite, were
welcome guests. Equality of supply and fortune had for the time its graceful
illustration then, as among those wearing the wedding garment, in the parable
of the Christ. So
may we all alike think of ourselves as having one precious inheritance and
provision. Rightly it has been said: “It is a sin not to be happy,” for gloominess
is a reflection upon the Christ. Our Christianity cannot hope to dominate the
world till it shall have shown itself possessed of the secret of happiness.
Laments and groans never won a sinner to a service which would chiefly voice
itself in them. Through all the scale, from the poverty of the God-fearing
Waldensian peasant to the popular, artistic life of the great composer Haydn,
there have always been some whose hearts respond to his words, as the string of
the piano to its kindred tone: “When I think upon God, my heart is so full of
joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen; and since God has
given me a cheerful heart, why should I not praise Him with a cheerful spirit?”
III. The true
servant is glad in beholding God’s future provisions for him. The temporary
resting beneath green boughs of palm and willow and myrtle; the holiday scene
in which life lost something of its pressure and sternness, did but symbolise
the days when even such protection would not be needed in the country beyond
the Jordan. That way lay Canaan, of which this earthly land flowing with milk
and honey was but a faint type. This side the river, too, every devout soul
filled with the hope of Israel found, in victories and progress already gained,
the pledge of a surpassing joy and glory in the near future. Messiah might
appear any hour, and with Him all that could satisfy a longing heart or nation.
The unattained, if believed to be attainable, has vast power of inspiration.
None can tell what great occasions may come any moment to the ready, watchful
servant of God. He may be given to speak the word which shall determine whether
the philosophy of the age shall be atheistic or not. Some mighty reform may be
waiting his voice or deed, some striking answer to prayer, some raising of a
sanctuary whence shall proceed influences to regenerate remotest peoples. The
precious abiding word, the present Saviour, the enduring Church, the unfolding
kingdom, are His inalienably. They grow richer, plainer, more certain. Yet,
compared to the freedom and splendour of the future life, this, with all its
joy and liberty, is but as a jungle, through whose tangle and heavy marsh and
sudden dangers one struggles on, seeing in the distance the open spaces and
lofty arches of the wood, and beyond, the fair greensward where the sunlight
falls and flowers bloom and noble mansions stand--his own henceforth. So bright
and dazzling was the temple of Diana, that the door-keeper always cried to them
that entered: “Take heed to your eyes.” A full disclosure of all God has
provided for them that love Him would quench mortal sense. Celestial organs
only are fitted
for celestial scenes. (De Witt S. Clark.)
The Feast of Tabernacles
I. The time and
manner of its observance.
1. The time (Leviticus 23:34). Five days after the Day of Atonement.
2. The manner (Leviticus 23:35-36; Leviticus 23:40-43).
II. Its typical
meaning.
1. The reality of deliverance from sin.
2. The joy of deliverance from sin.
3. The assurance of God’s care over all whom He delivers from sin.
Lessons:
1. The value of memorial days,
2. The duty of gratitude.
3. The eternal blessedness of the feast of tabernacles awaiting God’s
children in the land of final deliverance. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The Feast of Tabernacle
s:--This festival derived its name from the fact that during the
first seven days for which it lasted, the children of Israel went out of their
habitations, and dwelt in booths or tabernacles, until the eighth day, when
they returned unto their houses. It was also called the Feast of Ingathering,
because it was celebrated after all the fruits of the land were gathered in, as
we ;learn in the thirty-ninth verse of the chapter before us. This festival,
like the rest, was partly commemorative, and partly prophetical or typical;
like them we shall find that
it exhibits things past, present, and to come.
I. It had a
commemorative or eucharistic
meaning; it was designed to celebrate the mercy of the lord in bringing the
nation safely through the wilderness, and giving them possession of the
promised land. The journey through the wilderness was celebrated when they went
out of their habitations, and the whole nation, leaving their settled
dwelling-places, dwelt in tents or tabernacles throughout the land. And the
happy termination of their wanderings was also celebrated in this festival, for
on the eighth
day, when they returned to their habitations, they were to have “an holy
convocation,” “they were to do no servile work therein,” but they were to keep
“a Sabbath unto the Lord” (Leviticus 23:36; Leviticus 23:39). It was a season of
national rejoicing, as the ordinance that preceded it had been one of
humiliation and mourning. Such was the eucharistic bearing of this ordinance,
upon which we need not farther dwell; I will only observe, that in this view of
its import we can see a propriety in the season at which it was
celebrated--after they had gathered in all the fruits of the earth; a suitable
occasion this on which to commemorate the goodness of the Lord.
II. But I believe
the Jewish application of this feast is not only retrospective, but prospective
also--that it was designed to exhibit in typical representation that which we
so often read of in oral predictions, their final settlement in the promised
land, and complete conversion unto God. We are led to expect such a reference
from the analogy of the two preceding festivals of this month--the Feast of
Trumpets and the Day of Atonement-both of which refer to God’s purposes of
future mercy to the Jewish nation. The Feast of Trumpets referred more
particularly to their gathering together from all the countries in which they
are scattered, and their restoration to the land of Israel. The Day of Atonement
exhibited their conversion unto God after their restoration, when He shall
“take away the stony heart, and give them hearts of flesh,” and “they shall
look upon Him whom they bare pierced and mourn for Him.” And now we have the
Feast of Tabernacles which crowns the whole, and represents, as I believe,
their final settlement in the peaceful and happy enjoyment of the land of
promise. It would appear that the Jews themselves had some idea that this
festival was designed to set forth the future mercies which the nation were to
receive at the hands of the promised Messiah. It was customary at the
celebration of it to make the compass of the sacrifices, bearing the branches
of palm-trees and ether goodly trees in their hands; and as they thus went on
in joyful procession, they sang the twenty-fifth verse of the hundred and
eighteenth Psalm, “Save now [Hosanna], I beseech Thee, O Lord: O Lord, I
beseech Thee, send now prosperity”; and on the seventh day they compassed the
altar seven times, singing in like manner, and this was called the Great
Hosanna.
III. But the typical
import of this festival belongs not merely to the Jews; it also, in common with
the rest, applies unto the church of this dispensation, both in its present
character and future glory. The eighth day, which, as we have seen, shadows
forth the time of Judah’s salvation, and of consequent earthly blessedness,
refers also to heavenly and eternal things. It is the first day of a new week,
and therefore reminds us of resurrection; and coming at the end of the complete
period of seven days, it brings us to the day when “time shall be no
longer”--the eternal day of resurrection glory. And to the Church this day
shall commence when the kingdom of God is established in the world. Let us
endeavour, then, to trace the type in the several particulars of its application;
and--
1. On the first day there was a holy convocation, and the children of
Israel went forth from their houses, and made them tents to dwell in. Just realise the scene; all the
families of Israel leaving their houses, giving up their employments, and
devoting themselves to the service of the Lord. So it is with the Church of Christ,
the heir of promised glory. Beloved, the gospel calls us out from this evil
world, and makes us strangers and pilgrims here. The gospel finds our
intellects clogged with the filth of earthliness, our mind and thought
concentrated upon the pursuits and occupations of this life--“the cares of this
world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things”; and it
disentangles us from the meshes of worldliness; it fills them with the glorious
realities of eternity. It assembles us, as it were, in holy convocation, to
offer sacrifices unto the Lord. Just as the children of Israel dwelt in tabernacles
during seven days, looking forward to the eighth day when they were to enter
into rest, so it is with the Israel of God; the Church is a stranger here,
looking forward to the day of coming rest.
2. But this was a feast of joy; when the children of Israel
throughout the land were to “rejoice before the Lord” they cut down the
branches of palm-trees, and of other goodly trees, and carried them throughout
all their coasts, in token of triumphant joy. And so with those whom God has
called “out of their habitations,” they are called to rejoice before the Lord.
If the gospel has called us out from this world, it is that it may open to us
springs of never-failing joy of which the world knows nothing, which it can
never give, and can never take away. They do greatly err who imagine that
religion cuts off all our present happiness. But mark, if we would taste the
joy we must come “out of our habitations”: if we would wave the palm of triumph
in the land, we must dwell as strangers there. This joy is not “as the world
gives,” nor is it founded upon earthly things, and therefore if we keep the
feast, it must be the Feast of Tabernacles; if we would rejoice before the
Lord, it must be in the position of those who are looking forward to their
rest. Observe, too, these palms are the emblems of victory--the symbols of
triumphant joy. The rejoicing Christian will ever be in the attitude of the
conqueror, always conflicting indeed, but not overcome in the conflict against
“the devil, the world and the flesh.” The character of the Christian, as
described in Scripture, is that of the victor--of one who is evermore
victorious, overcoming “by the blood of the Lamb.”
3. But the great day of the feast was the eighth day, the type of
rest in resurrection glory. On this day the children of Israel struck their
tents, and rested again in their habitations; on this day they drew the water
from Siloam, and watered therewith the sacrifices, with songs of joy; on this
day the priests made the compass of the altar seven times, bearing with them
the branches of palm-trees, and of other goodly trees, and singing as they
went, “Hosanna in the highest.” So shall it be with the Church of Christ in
that great day--the sun whereof shall never set in darkness--the everlasting
day. Then “the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will dwell with
them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be
their God.” Then the mystery of the water which was poured upon the sacrifices
shall be fulfilled., when He who is the Alpha and the Omega, shall proclaim,
“It is done. I will give to him that is athirst to drink of the water of life
freely.” Then He who at the Feast of Tabernacles invited sinners to come to Him
and drink, shall lead His redeemed people by living fountains of waters, and
make them drink of the river of His pleasures. Then, too, the symbol of the
palm branches shall be accomplished in the final victory of the redeemed over
Death and Hades; and they shall realise the blessed fulfilment of the promise,
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things.” (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)
The Feast of Tabernacles
(a New Year’s sermon
):--
I. Let us observe
this season as a feast of thanksgiving. Review the mercies of the past year--of
all your past life.
1. There are the common blessings, enjoyed by all, of continued life
and unceasing bodily sustenance. Then we have had houses and raiment. Most have
been favoured with good health, and with all the happiness of good credit and
friendly intercourse. As Englishmen, we have cause for thankfulness in our
civil rights and political privileges, and our present exemption from war. As
Christians, we have enjoyed every advantage that could be devised for our
spiritual edification and Scriptural instruction.
2. Then there are special benefits, which individuals have received
in particular experiences or exigencies. One man has been singularly prospered
in his business or profession, another rejoices in the advancing respectability
of his children. Perhaps an additional arrow has been given to the quiver, or
the feeble child has been made strong, the dissolute one has been reclaimed, or
the absent one restored.
3. Then there are spiritual mercies, such as the joy of conversion,
succour in temptation and trouble, triumph and progress in labours of philanthropy
and love. All of these demand thanksgiving and praise.
II. Commemoration.
At this season we should reflect on the short and uncertain term of our
existence upon the earth. Our life below is a journey through a wilderness
where we dwell not in enduring habitations, but in temporary tents. We shall
one day die, and ought not to rejoice in growing older, unless we are conscious
of an increasing preparation for a better world. Heaven is nearer than it was,
and it behoves us to address ourselves with greater ardour and zeal to the
prosecution of our pilgrimage thither.
III. The last
constituent of our spiritual feast is A renewed consecration of ourselves to
the service of God. This implies a deep study of God’s law. Our growth in
holiness demands this effort and attention on our part, and we must not rely on
the spontaneous and uncultured growth of our souls in religion. The
commencement of a new year is a fitting time for reviewing our progress in
Divine knowledge and adopting fresh plans for the future. (Anon.)
The Feast of Tabernacles
1. This feast was to be kept in remembrance of their dwelling in
tents in the wilderness. Thus it is expounded here (Leviticus 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
2. It was a feast of “ingathering,” so it is called (Exodus 23:16). When they had gathered in
the “fruit of their land” (Leviticus 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 lie 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” (John 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” (Zechariah 14:16). For--
The Feast of Tabernacles
The use was--
1. To remember them of their estate when they had no houses, but
lived in tents, or tabernacles, or booths, made with boughs; no fields, no
lands, but lived in the wilderness; and so to stir up a thankfulness for their
happy change.
2. To remember them of the Lord’s great works in driving out the
Canaanites and giving that fruitful land unto them. Then they were a prey to
all men, but now a terror to all men, wheresoever the fame of them came.
3. It served to preach unto them the doctrine afterward delivered by
the apostle, to wit, that here we have no biding city, but should reckon of our
houses as but of tabernacles for the time, our true hope being for houses and dwellings,
and everlasting tabernacles not made with hands in heaven, &c. And may not
we consider on our feast days all these things, although we have not now the
same ceremonies? May not we remember our state past under superstition,
cruelty, and bondage? May not we remember burnings and killings, and most
hateful handlings of persecutors? May not we remember great wars and dissensions
in this our native country, the fall of our friends, and the change of many
houses? May not we remember great impositions and payments, and, in one word, very
many miseries and calamities? Laying them to the present times, wherein we
enjoy truth and liberty of conscience without either death or danger, or so
much as any fear, what a change is this to a man or woman that knoweth and
feeleth the blessing! Oh, that we may send up to God most thankful thoughts for
it while we live! Now, again, we enjoy peace, such as no nation hath bad the
like. We are not eaten up with heavy and continual payments, but we live as in
heaven by comparison to former times. The Lord hath driven away the Canaanites
that would have invaded and conquered had not He resisted for us and overthrown
them. He hath made us a terror to our foes and a refuge or sanctuary for our
friends, when erst foreign nations were lords over us. And, for the last point,
we bare no more certainty of abode here than they had, but look for the same end
of faith, an enduring house in heaven. (Bp. Babington.)
Keep a feast unto the
Lord.
A festival kept to the Lord
From the earliest ages of which any records remain mankind have
been accustomed to commemorate joyful events, and to express the joy and gratitude
which such events excited, by the observance of anniversary festivals. As the
all-wise God well knew how difficult it would be to wean men from the
observance of such festivals, and as they were capable of being rendered
subservient to His own gracious designs, He saw fit under the ancient
dispensation to give them a religious character, by directing His people to
observe them in commemoration of the favours which they had received from His
hand, and as an expression of their gratitude for those favours. Of these
Divinely appointed festivals, several are mentioned in the Levitical law, but
our only concern at present is with that which is prescribed in our text--“When
ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the
Lord.” What, then, we may and ought to inquire--what is it to observe this day
in a right and acceptable manner? The best answer which I can give to this
question is furnished by our text. It is to keep or observe it as a festival
unto the Lord. To keep a festival unto God is to observe it with a view, not to
please ourselves, but to please and honour Him; to regard it as a day sacred to His
special service, and to spend it in contemplating and praising His perfections,
recollecting and thanking Him for His favours, rejoicing before Him in His
existence, His character, His govermnent, and His works, and thus giving Him
the glory which is due to His name. We shall attempt--
I. To give you a view of the
manner in which this festival should be observed by us, considered simply as
God’s intelligent creatures; and--
II. Of the manner
in which we should observe it, considered as sinful, guilty creatures, to whom
his grace and mercy are. Offered through a redeemer.
I. That the first
of these proposed views may be placed before you in the clearest and most
interesting light, let me request you to suppose that our first parents,
instead of falling as they did from their holy state, had continued in it, until they were surrounded
by a numerous family like themselves, and that in these circumstances they had
set apart a day to be observed as a festival to their Creator and Benefactor.
It is evident that if we can conceive of the manner in which they would have
observed such a day we shall learn in what manner this day ought to be observed
by us, considered simply as God’s intelligent creatures. Let us suppose the
morning of their appointed festival to have just dawned. No sooner do they wake
to a returning consciousness of existence than a recollection of the Author,
Preserver, and Sustainer of that existence, and of their numberless obligations
to His goodness, rushes upon and fully possesses their minds. No sooner do
their eyes open than they are raised to heaven with a look expressive, in the
highest degree, of every holy, affectionate emotion. Each one perceives, with
clear intuitive certainty, that he is indebted to God for everything--that God
is his life, his happiness, his all. These views fill his heart with adoring
gratitude--gratitude, not like ours, a comparatively cold and half-selfish
emotion, but a gratitude pure, fervent and operative, which carries out the
whole soul in a rapturous burst of thankfulness and renewed self-dedication to
God. Though invisible to their bodily eyes, He is not so to the eye of their
minds; they perceive, they feel His presence; they feel that His all-pervading,
all-enfolding Spirit pervades and embraces their souls, breathing into them
love, and joy, and peace unutterable, and wrapping them up, as it were, in
Himself. Thus each individual apart commences the observance of their festal
day, and enjoys intimate and sweet and ennobling communion with the Father of
spirits in solitary devotion. But man is a social being, and the social
principle which God has implanted in his nature prompts him to wish for
associates in his religious pleasures and pursuits. It is proper that he should
wish for them, and if possible obtain them; for when a festival is to be kept
unto the Lord, when thanksgiving and praise are to be offered, two are better
than one. United flames rise higher towards heaven, impart more heat, and shine
with brighter lustre than while they remained separated. If private, solitary
devotion be the melody of religion, united devotions constitute its harmony,
and without harmony the music is not perfect and complete. Mark the feelings
with which they approach and meet. Every eye sparkles with delight, every
countenance beams with affection; there is but one heart and one soul among
them all, and that heart and that soul is filled with holy gratitude and love,
tempered by adoring admiration, reverence, and awe. Fresh excitements to the
increase of these emotions are furnished by their meeting. Each one sees in his
rational, immortal fellow-creatures, a nobler work of God, a brighter
exhibition of his moral perfections, than the whole inanimate creation could
afford. And while each one contemplates this image of God in his
fellow-creatures, he is ready to exclaim, If these miniature images of God are
so lovely, how infinitely worthy of love must the great original be? If there
is so much to admire in the streams, what admiration does the fountain deserve?
Nor is this all. In the various relations and ties which bind them together
they see new proofs of all-wise benevolence, new reasons why they should love
and thank Him who established these relations and formed these ties. Under the
influence of these affections the yet stammering child is taught the name of
its Creator and Benefactor, while to the attentive ear of those who are a
little farther advanced in life the history of the creation and of all that God
has done for His creatures is recounted; His commands, and their obligations to
obey them, are stated; the nature and design of the festival which they are
observing are explained; and they are taught to perform their humble part in
its appropriate services. In these services all now join; and oh, with what
perfect union of heart, with what self-annihilating humility, with what
seraphic purity and fervency of affection, do they present their combined
offering of thanksgiving and praise! Suffice it to say that the ear of
Omniscience itself can discern no shade of difference between the language of
their lips and that of their hearts unless it be this--that their hearts feel
more than their lips can express. These sacred and delightful services being
ended, they prepare to feast before their Benefactor; but this preparation is
made, and the feast itself is participated with the same feelings which
animated their devotions; for whether they eat, or drink, or whatever they do,
they do all to the glory of God. On such an occasion they may, perhaps, place
upon their board a greater variety than usual of the fruits of Paradise; but if
so, it is not so much with a view to gratify their appetites as to exhibit more
fully the various and ample provision which God has made for them, and thus,
through the medium of their senses, to affect their hearts; for man has not yet
begun to consume the bounty of Heaven upon his lusts. No; the blessing of God
is implored and His presence desired as the crowning joy of their feast,
without which even the fruits of Paradise would be insipid and the society of
Paradise uninteresting. Thus while they feast upon the fruits of His bounty
their souls feast upon the perfections which those fruits display. Thus God is
seen and enjoyed in everything, and everything leads up their thoughts and
affections to Him, while He sits unseen in the midst of them, shedding abroad
His love through all their hearts and rejoicing with benevolent delight in the
happiness which He at once imparts and witnesses. Meanwhile their conversation
is such as the attending angels, who hover around, would not be ashamed to
utter--nay, such as God Himself is well pleased to hear. The law of kindness is
on all their lips, for the law of love is in all their hearts. If such is the
manner in which innocent creatures would keep a feast unto the Lord, then such
is the manner in which we should aim to keep this annual festival. We should
desire and aim to exercise the same feelings, to worship God with the same
sincerity, fervency, and unity of affection, and to converse and partake of His
bounty in the same manner. Having shown how we ought to keep this festival,
considered simply as God’s intelligent creatures, we shall now, as was
proposed--
II. Attempt to show
how we should keep it, considered as sinful creatures, under a dispensation of
mercy. In attempting this we shall pursue the same course which has been
pursued in the former part of the discourse. We will suppose that the holy and
happy community, whose festival we have been contemplating, fall from their
original state and become sinners like ourselves. Now suppose that these
creatures, in this sinful, guilty, wretched, despairing state, are placed under a dispensation,
in which the grace and mercy of God are offered them through a Redeemer, and
that just such a revelation is made to them as has been made to us in the New
Testament. Suppose farther, that after they are placed under the new
dispensation they resolve to observe a religious festival. What would be
necessary, what would be implied in their keeping it as a feast unto the Lord?
I answer, the first thing necessary would evidently be a cordial reconciliation
to God. Until such a reconciliation took place they could neither observe a
religious festival nor perform any other religious duty in a right and
acceptable manner. Indeed, they would have no disposition to do it, nor any of
the feelings which it implies and demands. But reconciliation to God necessarily
involves hatred of sin and self-condemnation, sorrow and shame on account of
it. The exercise of faith in the Redeemer, through whom grace and mercy are
offered, is also indispensably necessary to the right observance of a feast
unto the Lord. And now let us suppose the community, which we have already
twice contemplated, first as perfectly holy, and then as sinful, guilty, and
undone, to be a third time placed before us, reconciled to God, exercising
repentance and faith in Christ, and engaged in keeping a religious festival
like that which we this day observe. They still feel, though in an imperfect
degree, the same affection which we saw them exercise toward God in their
original state; but these affections are, in a considerable degree at least, excited
by different objects and variously modified by the change which has taken place
in their situation. They still feel grateful to God for their existence, for
their faculties, and for the various temporal blessings which surround them;
but they now view all these things as blessings which they had forfeited and
lost, and which had been repurchased for them by their Redeemer, and freely
bestowed upon them as the gifts of His dying love. Hence they seem, as it were,
to see His name on every blessing, and every blessing reminds them of Him. They
still, as formerly, see and admire God’s perfections as displayed in the works
of creation; but their admiration and their praises are now principally excited
by the far brighter, the eclipsing display which He has made of His moral
perfections, in the Cross of Christ, in the wonders of redemption. Loud above
all their other praises and thanksgivings may be heard the cry, Thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift! Thanks be unto God and the Lamb for redeeming
level Even while observing a joyful festival, tears, the fountain of which is
supplied by godly sorrow for sin, and gratitude to the Redeemer; tears, which
it is delightful to shed, are seen on the same countenances which glow with
love and hope, and beam with holy, humble joy in God. And when they sit down to
the table of Providence, to feast upon His bounty, the exercise of these
emotions is not suspended. They feel there as pardoned sinners ought to feel,
and as they would wish to feel at the table of Christ, for the table of
Providence is become to them His table; they remember Him there; they remember
that whenever their daily food was forfeited by sin, and the curse of Heaven
rested upon their basket and store, He redeemed the forfeiture, and turned the
curse into a blessing. Hence they feast upon His bounty with feelings
resembling those which we may suppose to have filled the bosoms of Joseph’s
brethren when they ate and rejoiced before him. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Harvest thanksgiving
A wise man was once asked a difficult question. He had been gazing
at some ancient structure which had long since fallen into ruins. And as he
stood by those ruined walls overgrown with ivy, he was asked the question:
“What is it which soonest grows old?” What is it which is most quickly
forgotten, and is the soonest out of date? The answer was summed up in one
simple word--it was gratitude. That which soonest grows old is thankfulness.
Now there is a great deal of truth in that answer, for we are all of us so
ready to forget the giver as soon as we have received the gift. And this spirit
of unthank-fulness for every-day mercies is no recent thing. It has always been
so. It was just the same when our Lord was upon earth. You will all remember
the story of the ten lepers: only one returned to give thanks. Or look again,
at the example of the Israelites in the wilderness. See God’s constant care for
them. On every page of their history we read, not of thankfulness--but of
murmuring and discontent. It was to these same Israelites that the words of the
text were spoken. We have just gathered in the fruits of the land, and to-day
we are keeping--in a bright and hearty Thanksgiving Service--a feast unto the
Lord. Let us now look a little more closely into this subject of Thanksgiving.
As we keep our feast to-day, let us look at some of the things for which we
ought to be grateful, and then see how we can show our thankfulness in our
daily life. In our general thanksgiving prayer, we thank God at every service
for our creation. That is the first thing to be thankful f-or. God created us
in His own image, and sent us into this world to live for His glory. Every one
of us--even in the quiet round of every-day duties--can do something, if we
try, to leave the world better than we found it. From first to last--in all its
varied employments and in all its Christian duties--life is a work for God.
What a charm of sacredness is thus thrown over the most menial duty or the most
trifling occupation! Let us remember “whose we are and whom we serve” in our every-day
life. Your lot may be very humble--the circle in which you move may be very
small--the work that you may be able to do very trifling, but still it is God’s
work. Let your lot be ever so humble, still it can be a noble one, if you are
only true to yourself and your God. A noble life needs no adornment of wealth
or position. Look, for example, at that life which closed amid loneliness and
desertion within the embattled citadel of Khartoum. One little sentence written
by that simple-hearted soldier--whose allegiance to his Queen was only equalled
by his devotion to Christ--gives the key-note of his life. Speaking of Egypt,
he said, “It is God’s work and not mine--if I fail, it is His will--if I
succeed, it is His work.” And then there are other reasons for thankfulness in
our preservation and all the blessings of this life, but above all, for the
gift of Jesus Christ. This is the highest cause for thanksgiving, for what
would earth have been without a Saviour? And as we thank God to-day for the
late harvest, which is to provide us with our daily bread, let us also thank
Him for the gift of His dear Son--the Bread of Life, which has come down from
heaven--for the salvation and strength of our immortal souls. When we care very
much for any one, how anxious we are to show our love by doing what we know
will please them! And it should be just the same in our love for God. We should
always be anxious to do what will please Him. But now, let us see how we may
best show our gratitude for all that God sends us. The Prayer-Book tells us of
two ways in which our thankfulness may be shown, “not only with our lips, but
in our lives.” The first way, then, to acknowledge God as the Giver of all good
things, is by giving actual thanks. By words of gratitude in our prayers and by
songs of praise and thanksgiving, such as we have joined in to-day. We have
seen others called aside and laid upon a sick-bed, and God in His mercy has
given us health and strength. But we are to render thanks, not only with our
lips but in our lives. Thankfulness can be shown by a proper enjoyment of God’s
gifts. We are not to lay them by in a miserly manner. If God blesses us with
the good things of this life, we are not to be selfish and think only of
ourselves. In taking a proper enjoyment of things, we can also try to do good
to others. But the highest of all gratitude is for us to realise that we are
God’s stewards. Let us give of our substance to any who are worse off than
ourselves, ministering especially to those who, through sickness or adversity,
are in need of our help. “To do good and to distribute, forget not, for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Philip Neale.)
Ye shall dwell in booths
seven days.--
Sojourning in booths
It was commemorative (see Leviticus 23:43). It was significant of--
I. Christ
tabernacling in the flesh. Three facts are suggestive here of Christ’s
incarnation being foreshadowed in this feast.
1. John’s use of the idea, “The Word dwelt (tabernacled) among us,
full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
2. The people’s gathering of palm branches when persuaded of His
Messiahship (Matthew 21:8-9).
3. Christ chose “the great day of the feast,” of this very Feast of
Tabernacles, to identify Himself with one of its incidents. While the waters of
Siloam were being, on that eighth day, poured on the altar steps, “Jesus stood
and cried, If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink” (John 7:37-38).
4. Yet His tabernacle life was not permanent. Booths are for
pilgrims, not residents. And Jesus was here but for a season. “Yet a little
while I am with you.”
II. Man’s insecure
tenure on the Earth.
1. A booth of boughs and palms would quickly wither; so does our
frail tabernacle. What are these bodies but tents of drooping flesh?
2. It was, moreover, occupied but a few days; and we are resident in
this body only a brief season. Think not to stay long here.
3. The materials of the booths were of the earth and returned to the
earth: mere growths from the soil, soon to decay and go back to the soil. Even
so, “dust thou art,” &c., “of the earth earthy.”
III. A Christian’s
pilgrim career. Israel dwelt in booths through their journey from Egypt to
Canaan (see verse 43).
1. Christ’s redeemed are pressing through a wilderness. It is not
their goal.
2. Rest and content are not to be sought here. A temporary
accommodation is enough.
3. Earth’s discomfort gives zest to desire for the “city of
habitation.” And as Israel, weary with their booth life, craved the sure abodes
of Canaan, so we “earnestly desire to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven; for in this we groan, being burdened.”
4. God’s ordinance of a booth life was a pledge of the certainty of
Canaan. It assured them that He desired them to journey forward to the goodly
land. And He would have us “set our face Zion-ward.” (W. H. Jellie.)
Dwelling in booths
I. The text
reminds us of conditions of life very like this dwelling in booths.
1. A feeble body, answering its purpose many years, is like dwelling
in booths. Every birthday from the first anniversary has seemed as though it
must be the last; but they will be gathered to their graves fall of years, as a
shock of corn fully ripe. The cedar has fallen, but the fir-tree stands; the
flower of the grass has withered, but some of the most tender blades survive.
Verily, looking at the frailty of the body, God makes some of us to dwell in
booths.
2. Providing by slender means all that is really needful for a large
family is like dwelling in booths.
3. A morbidly sensitive spirit kept sound is like dwelling in booths.
To the border-line of madness many come who are not permitted to cross.
4. A nature prone to gross evil and kept from the power of temptation
is like dwelling in booths.
5. A church preserved in peace and unity, with the elements of evil
within it and evil influences around it, is another example of God making to
dwell in booths. While human nature is what it is, you cannot have association
of any kind without the elements of mischief and the seeds of dissolution.
Where there is continuance and unity and peace in a religious community, we
have another illustration of God making to dwell in booths.
6. To have lived in a day of small things, and gradually to have come
into a day of great things, is to have been made to dwell in booths. The once
contracted business now extensive, the once limited profession now a wide and
broad practice, and the once tiny house now a large establishment, are
illustrations.
II. The text
exhibits god as sufficient for us in the most necessitous and dangerous
circumstances.
1. God hath in Himself all that is necessary for the working out of
His will. He is not a cistern which may be broken, but He is an everlasting
fountain. Whatever life, knowledge, wisdom, or power are needful or desirable,
are in Himself.
2. God uses agents and instruments, but is not dependent upon any of
the agents and instruments which He employs. His connection with all such does
not bind or embarrass Him. It is nothing with Him to help, whether with many or
with few, or with them that have no power.
3. God is conscious of His sufficiency. He thinks of Himself as
sufficient, and feels to be sufficient. God had no more care of Israel when
they dwelt in booths than when they abode in fenced cities. He had no misgiving
about bringing the children of Israel through.
4. There is but one thing which prevents our fully experiencing the
sufficiency of God, and that is sin--wilful and persistent sin. This shortcuts
the arm of God, and this closes His ear.
III. The text points
out a duty of remembrance which we are all liable to neglect. This direction
has chief reference not to the generation which actually dwelt in the booths,
but to successive generations, and to these after they had become tenants of
the cities of the Holy Land. Now if we are to keep in remembrance God’s
goodness to our ancestors, how much more should we keep in mind God’s mercy to
ourselves! There is a point here, however, which we may not overlook. God’s
mercy to a family in previous generations places the present members of that
family under obligation. The same remark will apply to a nation and to a
church--to any community or association. (S. Martin, D. D.)
Moses declared . . . the
feasts of the Lord.--
Pleasant ministries
“And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the
Lord.” What a change in his great ministry! Never was man charged with the
delivering of so many disciplinary and legal words. It is time that he had
something to say with easier music in it, conveying a pleasanter appeal to the
imagination and the whole attention of Israel. It was a new mission. The lips
of Moses must have grown hard in the delivery of hard speeches. It was his
business always to deliver law, to recall to duty, to suppress revolution, to
command and overawe the people whose fortunes he humanly led. What wonder if
the people dreaded his appearance? That appearance might have been equal to a
new Sinai, a new Decalogue--a harder speech of law and duty and servitude. It
was a pleasant thing for Moses, too, this change in the tone of his ministry;
he is now speaking of feasts, of festivals--times of solemn rejoicing--yea,
some of the very feasts which were instituted were designated by names the
roots of which signified to dance and be glad with great joy. An awful fate for
any man to be merely the legal prophet of his age! A most burdensome mission
always to be called upon to rebuke and chastise, to suppress, and to put men
down to their proper level, and call them up to their proper obedience I Thus
the Lord varies the ministry of His servants. He says, There will be no
utterance of new law to-day, but this very day shall be a day of feasting and
music and dancing; He will have a home in the wilderness--a glad, warm, happy
home: all troublesome memories shall be dismissed and one overmastering joy
shall rule this festal day. That is the speech He has been longing to make; but
we would not let Him. He never wanted to make any other speech; we ourselves
forced the hard terms from His reluctant lips. A complete ministry is terrible
and gracious. It is terrible by the necessities of the case. Consider the
nature with which the ministry of heaven has to deal: “there is none righteous,
no not one”; we have turned aside from the right way, and are far from the
centres of light and rest and peace; sometimes nothing will reach us but fear,
terror, awful denunciation of anger, and judgment. But the ministry is also
gentle: there is no gentleness like it. The true ministry of Christ is marked
by surpassing and ineffable grace: its eyes are full of tears; its great
trumpet-tones are broken down by greater sobs; it pities the weak; it speaks a
word of hope to the fallen; it tells the farthest off that there is time for
him to get home before the nightfall, or if he be overtaken with the darkness
the light will be in the house he has abandoned; it pleads with men; it
beseeches men to be reconciled to God; it writes its promises in syllables of
stars; it punctuates its speech with fragrant flowers; it breaks down into the
omnipotence of weakness by clinging to the sinner when all men have abandoned
Him in despair. We must establish a whole ministry. The mountain must have two
sides: the side where the darkness lingers; the side where the light plays and
dances in many a symbolism. This is human life. The two sides must go together.
When the ministry thunders its law, it must be upheld; when it breaks down in
tears over the Jerusalem that has rejected it, it must be regarded as the very
heart of God. Notice the time when the feasts were spoken of. Let us regard the
very position of the text as instructive. We have now read up to it; beginning
with the bondage in Egypt, dwelling tearfully and sympathetically upon that
pagan servitude, watching the children of Israel led forth by a mighty hand, we
have noted the discipline which afflicted them educationally; by this time we
have become familiar with their hardships, now it is a welcome relief to the
reader to come upon festival, dancing, joy, delight--one touch of heaven in a
very wilderness of desolation. This is the day we have longed for. There was a
hope hidden in our hearts that, by and by, golden gates would swing back upon
happy places and offer us the liberty of heaven. We have come to that Sabbatic
time; now we are in times of jubilee and Sabbath, release, pardon, rapture,
praising God all the time, having found a temple without a roof, a sanctuary
without a wall, an infinite liberty vast as the Being which it adores. Notice
whose feasts they were, and how joy is ennobled by solemnity. “And Moses declared
unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” They were not fools’
revels; they were not inventions even of Moses and Aaron; they were as
certainly Divine creations as were the stars that glittered above. Is “feasts”
not a word too frivolous to associate with the name of the Lord? No. If we are
to judge by analogy, No. The God of flowers may be the God of feasts. We know
the flowers are His; we know that no Solomon has ever arrayed himself in equal
beauty; He who made those flowers must have made a feast somewhere--a feast of
reason, a feast for the soul, a luxury for the inner taste, an appeal to the
larger appetency. He who made the birds may surely be the God of the soul’s
music. The birds sing so blithely, without one touch of vanity; so purely, so
independently, without pedantry, without sign or hint of human education; the
God who set their little throats in tune may surely be the God of all pure
music--the mother’s broad laugh over her little one, the father’s tender voice
in the presence of distress and need; and He who made the birds’ throat may
have put it into the mind of man to make the trumpet, and the cornet, and the
flute, and the harp, and the sacbut, and the psaltery; they may be His judging
by the happy analogies of nature. He who made summer, may have made heaven!
There is but a step between them.
(J. Parker. D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》