The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 192

thus lo rxpn-~s il~<'II. Thr<'c great. fca.ots made out of the whoat l'nBt gathered in, and "'<'rt• app,,inlt'd.. of "·hirh the m08t. remark- called the fint-frnitB o the harvest. The nhl<' f<>•tu.rrs wer!'-1. That t.hoy were at. once festival llllltod only a Bingle day • hut it WRB ~rultural and hist<>rieal~onnoot.ed with one of a peculiarly eocial and j~..lul character (Dent. xvi. 9-11). Jewish ir:idition connects thr ~larly recurr('n\ COW'!!e of the &eRBOns, the feast further with the giving of the law, and ~onnected a.I.Bo 'll'ith ~eat event& in the which must certainly have taken place about life of the nation : 2. That they could be the time (see eh. xix. 1-16). Tha lm- kept only at one spot, that. namely where the fraita. Rather, "Of the fim-fruitB." Tho tabeme.cle was at the time located ; 8. That word is in apposition with "harvest," not with " feast." Whioh thou hut ■own. The they were to be attended by the whole male 80tDII harvest WBB gathered in by Pentecost; population. The three festivals are here what remained to collect afterwards wBB tho cslled-1. The Femt of Unlea-.ed Bread prodnce cf piantations. (ver. 15). the early spring festival, at the The feut of inptherlnB. Called else- beginning of barley harvest in the month where, and more commonly, "the feast of Ahih (NillBll), commemorative of the going tabernacles" (Lev. xxiii. 84; Deut. xvi. 18; xxxi. 10; John vii. 2), from the circnmstance forth from Egypt ; 2. T1.e F«ut of Ha.nJMt that the people were comm&11ded to make ( elsewhere called " of weeks ") at the begin- themselves booths, and dwell in them during ning of summer, when the wheat crop had the time of the feast. The festival bego.n been reaped, commemorative of the giving of on the 15th of Tisri, or in the early part of the law ; &11d 8. The Feat of Ingatl,,eri,ig onr October, when the olives had been gathered in &11d the vintage wBB completed. It lasted (ver 16) in Tisri, at the cloee of the vintage, seven, or (according to some) eight days, and when all the crops of every kind had been comprised two holy convocations. In one gathered in, commemorative of the sojonrn in point of view it WBB a festival of thanksgiving the wilderness. The first of the three, the for the final getting in of the crops; in another, (east of unleavened bread, had been already a commemoration of the safe _passage through the desert from Egypt to Palestine. The instituted (eh. x.iii. 3--10); the two others feast seems to have been neglected dnring are now for the first time sketched out, their the captivity, but WBB celebrated with much details being kept back to he filled in snb- glee in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. viii. 17). sequently (Lev. xxiii. 1~21, and 84-86). b. the end of the 7ear-i.e., the end of the Here the legislator is eont.ent to lay it down agricultural year-when the harvest was over - explained in the following clause. that the great feasts will be three, and that Ver. 17.-Tbree timu in the year all thy all the males are to attend them. mal61 ahaJl appear before the Lord God. This Ver. 15.-Tlle feut of unleavened bread. seems to modems a very burthensome enact- This commenced with the P8S80ver, and con- ment. But we mnst remember that Pales- tinued for the seven days following, with a tine is not bigger than Wales, and that great " holy con vocation " on the first of the seven gatherings had great attractions for many in and on the last (Lev. xxiii. 5--8). Un- the ancient world, when they were the only leavened bread was eaten in comm.em.oration means by which information was spread, and of the hasty exodus from Egypt (eh. xii. 34). almost the only occasions on which friends A sheaf of new barley-the first-fruit.s of the and relations who lived far apart could expect harvest-was offered as a wave-offering before to see each other. The European Greeks had, the Lord (Lev. xxiii. 10-14). Every male in their Olympian and other games, similar Israelite of full age was bound to attend, and great gatherings, which occurred once or to bring with him a free-will offering. In twice in each year, and, though under no the time appointed al the DIOllth--i.e., on obligation to do so, attended them in enormous the fourteenth day (eh. xii 18). ll'on.e ahaJl numbers. It may be doubted if the religioUB appear before me emptJ. This rnle applies, Hebrews felt the obligation of attendance to not to the Passover only, but to all the be a burthen. It was assuredly a matter of ie..sts. great importance, as tending to unity, and to Ver. 16.-The feut of han81t. Fifty day& the qnickening of the national life, that they were to be nnmbered from the day of offering should be drawn so continually to one centre, the barley sheaf, and on the fijti,Bt,h the feast and be so freqnently united in one common of Larvest, thence called" Pentecost," was to worship. Most student.s of antiqnity regard i,e celebrated. Different Jewish sects make the Greek games as having exerted a sirong d1ff,m,nt calcnLltions; but the majority cele- unifying influence over the scattered mem- l,rate l'~nlecost on the sixth of Sivan (May bers of the Grecian family. The Hebrew 2.~!- The main ceremony was the offering to festivals, occurring so much more frequently, God of two lea\'c11cd 1011.vcs of the finest flolll lllld required to Le attended hy all, mwst have l:11, XXlll, 1-0.] TllE BOOK OJt' EXODUS.