On each of these occasions eA'ery male Israelite was commanded "to appear before the Lord," that is, to attend in the court of the tabernacle or the Temple, and to make his offering Avith a joyful heart (Deut. xxvii, 7; Neh. viii, 9-12; comp. Josephus, ^w?. xi, 5, 5). The attendance of women was A'oluntary, but the zealous often Avent up to the PassoAcr. Thus Mary attended it (Luke ii, 41), and Hannah (1 Sam. i, 7 ; ii, 19). As might be supposed, there Avas a stricter obli- gation regarding the Pasfover than the other feasts, and hence there was an express provision to ena- ble those who, hy imavoidable circumstances or legal impuritA', had been prevented from attending at the proper time, to obserAC the feast on tlie same day of the succeeding month (Numb, ix, 10-11). None Avcre to come empty-handed, but CA'eiy one Avas to giA'e ac- cording as JehoA'ah had blessed him ; and there lefore Jehovah was every one to rejoice Avith his family, the Lcvite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the AvidoAV (Exod. xxxiii, 14-17; xxxiv, 22-24; Deut. xvi, IG, 17). On all the daA"s of Holv Convocation there Avas to be an entire suspension of ordinarj' labor of all kinds (Exod. xii, 16; LeA^ xvi, 29; xxiii, 21, 24, 25, 35). But on the intervening days of tlie longer festivals Avork might be carried on. The laAv alwajs speaks of the days of H0I3' CouA-ocation as Sabbaths. But the Mishna makes a distinction, and states in detail what acts ma}' be performed on the former, which are un- laAvful on the Sabbath, in the treatise Yovi Tab; Avhile in Moul Katan it lays down strange and burdensome conditions in reference to the intermediate daj'S. See CoxvocATiox, Holy.
Brown has spoken (Antiquities of the Jews, i, 52i') of the defenceless state in which the country lay when all the males Avero gathered together at Jerusalem. AVhat Avas to preA-ent an enemy from deA-astating the land, and slaying Avomcn and children? He refers the protection of the country to the express interposi- tion of God, citing "the promise," as found in Exod. xxxIa', 23, 24. He adds, "During the Avhole jieriod between Moses and Christ Ave neA-cr read of an enemy iuA-ading tlie land at the time of the three festiA-als. The first instance on record Avas thirty-three j'ears aft- er they had Avithdrawn from themselves the divine protection by imbruing their hands in tlie Saviour's iilood, Avhen Cestius, the I.'oman general, slew fifty of the people of Lydda, Avliile all the rest had gone up to the Feast of Tabernacles, A.D. GO" fJosephus, ]Var, ii, 19). The objection, hoAvever, Avhich this writer thus meets is founded on the assumption that the law was strictly, uniformly, and lastingly obeyed. But the re-
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quirement that all males should appear three times a j'ear before Jehovah is not without some practical dif- iicultv. During the sojourn in the wilderness its ob- servance would not onl^- be easy, but highly useful in preventing the dispersion of individuals or numbers from the main bod3- — an influence the more needful, because man}' persons would doubtless stray from time to time in search of pasture'. In subsequent and more settled times it must have been a serious incon- venience f(ir all the males of the nation to leave their families unprotected and their business neglected for so many days everj' year as ^ould be necessary in going to and from Jerusalem. It is true that the sea- sons of the festivals were well fixed and distributed for the convenience of an agricultural people. Yet to have ta visit Jerusalem thrice in seven months was a serious tiling, especially in Liter times, when Israel- ites w'ere scattered far abroad. Even if the expense was, as many think [see Assessment], a small con- sideration, yet the interruption to domestic life and the pursuits of business must have been very great ; nor would it be an exaggeration to say that the observance was an impDssibilitj' to the Jews, for instance, who Were in Babylon, Egypt, Italy, Macedonia, Asia Mi- nor, etc. How far the law was rigorously' enforced or strictlj' oljcyed at any time after the settlement in Palestine, it would not be easy to saj-. Palfrey (Lfc- tures on /ff Jewish Scrip, i, 199) supposes that "a man might well be said to have virtually executed this dutj' who appeared before the Lord (not in person, but) with his offering, sent by the hand of a friend, as a suitor is said in our common sp?ech to appear in a court of jus- tice when he is represented there by his attorney;" a conjecture which, to our mind, savors too much of modern ideas and usages. That some relaxation took place, at least in "the latter days," appears from John vii, 8, in which more or less of what is voluntary is obviously connected in the mind and practice of our Lord with " the feast," though it must be allowed that the passage is an evidence of the general observance, not to say the universal obligation, in his daj-s, of at least the fjast of Tabernacles. If, however, there was in practice some abatement from the strict require- ments of tlie law, yet obviously time enough was saved from labor liy the strong hand of religion to secure to the laborer a degree of most desirable and enviable rest. Not, indeed, that all the daj's set apart were emancipated from labor. At the feast of Tabernacles, for instance, labor is interdicted only on the first and the last day. So, on other occasions, business and pleasure were pursued in connection with religious ob- servances. But if all males appeared before Jehovali even only once a year, they must, in going and return- ing, as well as in being present at the festival, have spent no small portion of time in abstinence from their ordinary pursuits, and could not have failed to derive singular advantages alike to their bodies and their minds. The rest and recreation would be the more pleasant, salutary, and beneficial, because of the joyous nature of the religious services in which the}' were, for the greater part, engaged. These solemn festivals were not only commemorations of great national events, but they were occasions for the reunion of friends, for the enjoyment of hospitality, and for the interchange of kindness. The feasts which accom- panied the sacrifices opened the heart of the entire family to joy, and gave a welcome which bore a relig- ious sanction even to the stranger, the fathe:lcss, and the widow (Michaelis, Mos. RechI, art. 199). On these sol(!mn occasions food came jiartly from hospitality (a splendid instance of which may be fouiul in 2 Chron. XXXV, 7-9), partly from the feasts which accompanied the sacrifices in the Temple, and partly also from pro- vision expressly made by tlie travellers Jthemselves. It appears that the pilgrims to Mecca carry with them every kind of food that they need except flesh, which they procure in the city itself. Lodging, too, was af-