FFASTS
bond of unonbet\eei tl
^;SfJer^'hH"hn"^f
IS He q otes Philo M in thou'iand!, of peopk 1 l^rimagcs to tlie Temple
1 \ seT ind coming from
1 of Jews m Jerusalem at
manj as 3,700,000 (BJ VI.
every boy who could w ill i li( 1 Iiul itt i 1 1 and that it was onl-v U i iiitl al \ «1 1 1 at a distance weie ilh \ I t t till tl n t I
year before goin_) \tt ii I it th 1 l i i \
not confined to thee who li\cl%Mthin eisyreacli but Jews came as ^\ell from great distance'. although naturallj thej could not attend so often as three times a yeai
Schiirer WTites (op at p 'Wf ) There was nothirn' tl it contributed so much to cement the bond dispersion and the mother co mtr> which Jews from all i larttr f tl making to Jems 1 f
(tie Monarchia
at every festn il
the east and the
to Josephus* estim lU t ih nun I
the time of the I e ists is beiiifc bo
ix. 3).
In accordance with this it is definitely stated in the Gospels that four times during His Ministiy our Lord went up to Jerusalem to keep the Feasts, twice for Passover, once for Tabernacles, and once for an unnamed Feast. Possibly He went up quite regularly three times a year, for the notice that He was in Galilee .shortly before the second Passover (Jn Q^) does not preclude the possibility of His having gone up a little later. At the first 'Passover mention is made of His disciples being witli Him in Jerusalem (Jn 2"- -), evidently having journeyed from Galilee with the same purpose as Himself, to keep the Feast. Similarly at Tabernacles it is stated that His lirethren went up from Galilee to keep the Feast (.In 7'"). In all the Gospel references to Passover and Talicrnacles the impression is given of lar^e crowds of Jews in Jerusalem. At the Feast of Dedication also our Lord was in Jerusalem, but that was simply because His work at that time lay close by. He did not go up to Jerusalem on pur- pose for it, since no pilgrimages were made except at the three great Feasts ; but being close at hand He liked to mark the occasion by a visit to the Temple, and there found a considerable number ot Jews resident in the neighbourhood who had been attracted thither like Himself. See, further, the sep. artt. on DEDICATION, PAS.SOVER, etc.
As regards the nnnimpd F.'nst of .Tn r.'. it is impossthlc to
reach anv certaini\ ,i- i.. « h :i i'.- i-i i - rn. iri. .; \\ f ,■■ .■>.ri-r.-t reading were v; ;' - i . I ' I , i-, >,
Tabernacles, wbiili ■■ I ! " ' ' 'ii
on I.s30»); hut it in- mhi. I- i, ..- ■ -' - n
should be, the exprcs^iwu ;.-. liLiili; jnl. IIiull. .luI ini^i^l v i' v \" either Tabernacles or Passover or Pentecost, or to an,\- of the smaller Feasts.
In attempting to decide between these, guidance maj- first be sought from the general sequence of events, so far as it is indi- cated bv th ng no
(1) Pass 1 a h A Jn
(2) A re o ha
(3) This d F a Jn
(4) A se d P 0 Thus it b h
dent conn d h does not, h g
mean eith h
whether th d n h
April or n m d n
Dedication (D ) nd P (P b ) h n P
chronologica b a k n d n
happened at harvest, then the chronology would admit almost an.\' of the Feasts, cither Pentecost (.May), (ir Trumpets (Sept.), or Tabernacles (Sept.), or Dedication (Dec), or Purim (Feb.). Thus the setting of the incident is quite indeterminate. In the description of the incident itself there are two points that need
FFEDING THE MULTITUDES 5S5
1 t all the smaller
I t St John s use of
1 1 ree great Feast«
lecall the exact
II 1 1 in his imnd and
ad hap(-ei e t i oi e of the (
uch :
1 be noticed. The one is that the introductory as to suggest that the only reason for mentic all is to explain our Lord's "presence in Jerusal things there was a Feast of the Jews, and Jerusalem.' Since there were only ttiree Fea the strictest Jews went up to .Tcnisalnii. it
cost, or Taberiiar], - M i ]■,• ^n ii;. t 1. :i i i.
the Temple couii- ' : i n^
Accordingly, tlluu-[i i'l.lini nu;, - . u: .-l;iUU^!'-
quite fails to explain the one fiindaiuental fai
tl ere IS 1 ■) ee 1 to teel disappointment j I ation o II 1 1 1 f some part of the significance of the
dent I t tl 1 h i^noiance of its o casion for the
1 t I ]i 1 1 a\ e droi 1 ed out of St John sniemorv
a tl \ 1 I tl 111 een essential to the understandmg of on I Old s ui I 1 a t I See also art Mimstr^
C E &ARRAD
FEEDING THE MULTITUDES.-The Gospels ^'ive us two accounts of multitudes miraculously fell by our Lord. In the first instance (reported in Mt 14'=-=', Mk G^-», Lk 9'=-", Jn 6=->») the number is given as 5000, exchisive (so Mt.) of women and children. In the second instance (reported in Mt 15''=-™, Mk 8'-9) tlie number is given as 4000, Mt. again adding women and children.