Edersheim identifies the F. of Purim with the unnamed feast in Jn 5', 'for no other feast could have intervened between December (Jn 4") and the Pfuisover (Jn 0^), except that of the " Dedica- tion of the Tem])le," and that is specially desig- nated as such (.In lO'-'^) and not simply as a Feast of the Jews' (y'Ac Temple, etc., p. 2!il). On the eveninj; of the 13th of Adar the whole Book {Megilfah or Roll) of Esther was read at the syna- gogue service, to keep the memory of the great deliverance by Esther alive, ' the chihlren raising their loudest and angriest cries at every mention of the name of Hainan, the congregation stamping on the floor, with Eiustern demonstraiivene.ss, and imprecating from every voice the curse, " Let his name be blotted out, the name of the wicked shall
862
FEASTS AND FASTS
FEASTS AND FASTS
rot." Year by year in the Nazareth synagogue Jesus must have seen and heard all this, and how the reader tried to read in one breath the verses in which Haman and Iiis sons are jointly mentioned, to show that they were hanged together' (Geikie, The Life and Words of Christ, i. 226). Edersheim (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, i. 229) speaks of the ' good cheer and boisterous enjoyments' of the Feast of Purim, some of its customs ■ almost reminding ua of our fifth of November.'
(2) The Feast of the Dedication oftlie Temple (nsin, n-;n njjq, iy^alvia, 1 Mac 4«-»9, 2 Mac lO"*-; <t>(oTa, Jos. Ant. XII. vii. 7). — It was instituted by Judas Maccabseus in B.C. 164, when the temple which had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes was once more purified and re - dedicated to the service of J". It commenced on the 25th of Chislev (the ninth month), and lasted for eight days. ' All through the land the people assembled in their synagogues, carrying branches of palm and other trees in their hands, and held jubilant services. No fast or mourning could commence during the feast, and a blaze of lamps, lanterns, and torches illuminated every house, within and without, each evening. In Jerusalem the temple itself was thus lighted up. The youn" of every household heard the stirring deeds of tue Maccabees, to rouse them to noble emulation, and with these were linked the story of the heroic Judith and the Assyrian Holofemes ' (Geikie, The Life and Words o" Christ, vol. i. p. 225). It will be noticed that in four particulars the Feast of the Dedication resembled the Feast of Tabernacles, (l)in its duration of eight days ; (2) in the chanting of the Hallel (Pss 113-118) ; (3) in the practice of carrying palm branches ; (4) in the illumination of the temple. Edersheim, in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, ii. 227 f., thinks that the first three particulars were derived from the Feast of the Taoemacles, and that the last (the temple illumination) passed from the Feast of the Dedication into the observances of the Feast of Tabernacles. The date of the Feast of the Dedication, the 25th of Chislev, some hold to have been adopted by the ancient Church as that of the birth of our blessed Lord — Christmas— the dedication of the true temple, which was the body of Jesus (Jn 2") (Edersheim, The Temple, etc., p. 293, and ' Christmas a Festival of Jewish Origin ' in The Leisure Hour for Dec. 1873). The F. of the Dedication is mentioned in Jn 10~.
(3) The Feast oj Wood Offering or of the Wood- carriers, (vXoipoplw (Jos. BJ, II. xvii. 6), on the 15th of Abib — being the last of the nine occasions on which offerings of wood were brought for the use of the temple (cf. Neh lO** \3").
The Feast of the Reading of the Law (1 Es 9", Neh 8*) ; Tlie Feast of Nicnnor on the 13th of Adar ( 1 Mac 7*') ; The Feast of the Captured Fortress on the 23rd of lyyar (the second month) (1 Mae 13»"-»-) ; and The Feast of Baskets, evidently ' never attained to any real religious significance ' (see Schultz, OT Theol. i. 431, and Edersheim, The Temple, etc., 295 f., on the Feast of Wood Ottering).
IV. Fasts. — (1) The Day of Atonement. — oV C'lssn, iiiUpa i^iKaanov, lit. Day of the Coverings or Atonements (Lv 16 (P) and 23='-'= (H), Ex 301" (P), Nu 29'"" (P)). It was the onlv fast day prescribed by the law (Lv 23-'' (H)). In the Talmud it is called ' The Day ' (n-v) ; in the NT it is called ' the fast,' Ti yri<rreia (Ac 27"). The sacrifices were three- fold: (1) the ordinary daily sacrifices; (2) the special expiatory sacrifices of the day ; (3) the festive sacrifices (Nu 29'-"). The characteristic feature of the day was the otTering of the sin-olfer- ing of atonement by the high priest alone (Lv 16^) — not in his gorgeous otticial dress, but in the
simple white linen robes of purity and consecration (Lv 16^- 2»-*' 23-"- '■>-, Nu 29').
The order of proceedings is given in Lv 16. In w.*-'" we have the general outline, in vv."-** the details, which were as follows: (1) The killing of the bullock by the high priest as a sin-ofl'ering for himself and his house ; (2) the burning of incense in the Holy of Holies by the high priest ; (3) the sprinkling of the mercy -seat (IXajT-f/pto)' iirlde/uL) with the blood of the priest's sin-ofl'ering ; (4) the casting lots upon the goats of the people's sin-ofl'ering, one goat for J", one for Azazel (^!«!;?, Philo, 'The one goat is given to " the fugitive creature," and the lot which it received is named in the prophecy " sent away " [referring to dTroTro/nTraroi' by which the LXX tr.SiNi^], because it ispersecuted, expelled, anddriven faraway by wisdom.' Willis,' Azazel, the name of a personal being, in opposition to J", the personal name of God.' Schultz, 'Some powerful being to whom the animal is assigned, and to whom it is sent with the now forgiven guilt of the reconciled people. . . . This being must be conceived of as strange and unholy. . . . An Aramaic name for an unclean and ungodlike power, which has its abode in the wilderness, in tne accursed land out- side the sacred bounds of the camp.' Watson in Camb. Com,p. to the Bible, ' Azazel, the completely separate one, the evil spirit regarded as dwelling in the desert'). See Azazel. (5) The killing of the goat of the people's sin-offering by the high priest; (6) the sprinkling of the mercy-seat with the blood of the people's sin-offering ; (7) the sprinkling of the blood of each sin-ofl'ering on the golden altar of incense and before it seven times ; (8) atonement for the court and altar of bumt- otfering ; (9) confession of sin over the live goat, and his dismissal into the wilderness to Azazel ; (10) resumption by the high priest of the gorgeous robes of his office; (11) the offering of burnt- ofl'erings and burning the fat of the sm-offerings ; (12) the burning of the sin-offerings without the camp (He 13'°''^). The chief purpose of the Day of Atonement was to preserve the holiness of the sanctuary as a fit place of meeting between God and man. There were five subjects of atonement :