(2) The New Moon (1) B-\n, (2) v-irh -irix, (3) J^in B'nn, (4) c'C'Tn '¥"«■;, vovfi-qvla, yeofi-qvla. — Closely asso- ciated with the Sabbath (see above). ' When under the influence of the Chaldee method of dividing time, the course of the moon with its four phases was adopted as the unit of time measurement, the new moon and the 7th day were naturally regarded as the chief divisions of time, and therefore as holy days' (Schultz, OT Theol. i. 204). From 2 K 4=3 it would appear that the prophets were in the habit of gathering the people around them, and perhaps of granting inquirers and sui>pliants an audience at new moons and on Sabbatlis. At every new moon the number of bumt-oflcrings was largely increased ; and in addition a kid of the goats was to be ofl'cred for a sin-ofiering (Ex 40^-'' (P), Nu lO'" (P) 28"-'» (P) 29" (P), IS 20»-"=», 1 Ch 23-'", 2Ch2*, 2Ch29", Ps 81»«, Is 1"», Hos 2", 1 Es 5M. ns. n. §8 916. ". n, 1 Mac 10«, Col 2").
(3) The Feast of Trumj^ets on the 1st day of the Sabb.atical month, nvin jW;i, iivqtioawon aa.\irlyyuv. — The 7th month — Tisn — was tlio sacred month. On the new moon of the 7th month — the Feast of Trumpets — additional burnt ■ ollorings were sac- rificed (Nu '29i-« (P), Lv 23-^- ^ (P)).
(4) Tlie Sabbatical Year, px^" J'lnje' n;B', ad^^ara drairawit TJ yi (Ex 2.3">- " (J), Lv Oo'"'-"-'" (II), Lv 26"-" (H), Dt 15'" 31»-").— The Sabbatical year represented a still further consecration of time to God. The land was to keep a Sabbath. The liclds were neither to be tilled nor reaped. ' Nature is to be set free, as it were, from the service which mankind exacts from her, and to be left entirely to herself. Only what she voluntarily oilers IS to be taken, and that not for any selfish purpo.se' (Schultz, OT Theol. i. 303). "Hebrew slaves were to be set free unless they wished to remain in ser-ice (Ex 21'-' (J)). A harvest was tc
860
FEASTS AJfD FASTS
FEASTS AND FASTS
be given qratii to the poor of the people (Ex 23"'- " (J)). Release from debt is prescribed (Dt 15'''). In Ex 23 (J) the arrangument is made for man ; it is a limitation for the common good of private rights of property in land, — in fact, for the oenetit of the landless, who in the 7th year are to have the usufruct of the soil ; in Lv25 (ll) the arrangement is for the sake of the land, — that it may rest, if not on tlie 7th day, at least on the 7th year ; and for the sake of the Sabbath, — tliat it may extend its supremacy over nature also (Wellhauaen, Prolegomena, 118). At the F. of Tabernacles at the commencement of the Sabbatical year, the whole law was read in the hearing of the people (Neh 8"'"). The 70 years' captivity and the land's desolation were regarded as making up for the unobserved Sabbaths of the land (Camb. Comp. to the Bible, p. 412) (2Ch 362», Jer34"--). After the return from exile Nehemiah bound the Jews by a covenant to keep them (Neh 10").
(5) The Year of Jubilee * nm, iipecris, SaV, 4viavrii i(f>4<T€u)s (TviMurla (Lv 25"-" 27"-").— Peculiar to P. As the Sabbatical year corresponded with the 7th day, so the year of Jubilee corresponded with the 50th, i.e. Pentecost. 'As the fiftieth day after the seven Sabbath days is celebrated as a closing festival of the forty - nine days' period, so is the fiftieth year after the seven Sabbatic years, as rounding off the larger interval ; the seven Sabbaths falling on harvest time, which are usually reckoned specially (Lk 6'), have, in the circumstance of their interrupting harvest work, a particular resemblance to the Sabbatic
5 ears which interrupt agriculture altogether. ubUee is thus an artificial institution super- imposed upon the years of fallow, regarded as har- vest Sabbaths after the analogy of Pentecost ' (Well- hausen, Prolegomena, 119). There were two main elements in the Jubilee — the emancipation of the Hebrew slave, and the return of mortgaged pro- perty to its hereditary owner. Cf. 2 Ch 36-', Jer 348. r*. i». n^ e^Ij 4gi7^ fa gl'- •" 63<, Lk 4's-". But in Jer the term nhi used in Lv 25'° is applied only to the 7th year. 'The year of Jubilee was proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet on the Day of Atone- ment (Lv 25').
IL Thb Great Historical Festivals, t— As the new moon and the Sabbath were lunar feasts, the Passover (with the Feast of Unleavened Bread), Pentecost, and Tabernacles were solar festivals, i.e. festivals which followed the seasons of the year. ' Three times in the year shalt thou hold pilgrimage unto me, three times in the year shall all thy men appear before J", the God of Israel' (Ex 23'«-" (J), 34» (JE), Dt 16'«).
(I) The Passover np;, irdcrxa. The Feast of Un- leavened Bread ri'ii-jri :n, ioor^ rSir a^viMv. — The Passover, though followed by the Feast of Un- leavened Bread (Mazzith), was distinct from it both in its origin and in its observance. In Ex 12 and 13 two narratives are combined. Ex 12'"" (P) refer to the Passover, 12"-" (P) refer to the seven days' F. of Mazz6th, 12^'-" (JE) refer to the Pass- over, 12"-» (P) refer to the Passover, 13»-"> (JE) refer to MazzCth (Driver, LOT, 25). Josephus distinguishes tlie Passover from the F. of MazzCth (Ant. 111. X. 5), 'The F. of Unleavened Bread succeeds tliat of the Passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days' (cf. Lv 23'- • (P), Nu 28" " (P)). But in