The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 32

mind, they were "holy convocations," labour boing remitted that religion might be the more engrossing. The rem11ining fest11l times and seasons had an additional oharacterist.lo. Besldos 'being "holy convocations," when there might bo a general adoration of Jehovah, and a general remembrance of his goodness, and a general participation iD the Uesse<lncss which the truths he had graciously revealed were calculnted to Impart, there was in these other feasts and fasts a p11rticular remembrance of some epecial religious crisis in the national history, a particular celebration of some special act of Divine goodness, and a particular reception or some special Divine ble~siog. It was as though each year there was again a remembrance of the principal needs of the religious life, together with the special Divine methods for ministering to those needs. In fact, as the sabbatic cycle of festivals was fitted to keep alive in the soul the general relations of the Jew to his covenant God, so the remaining festivals were individually ·adapted to fan the flickering embers of some single spiritual sense only too liable to -expire. The several exceptional festivals were ordained to be at once holy convoca- tions, sacred memorials, and blessed sacraments, and both history and precept are inadequately estimated if either element is disregarded. Thus it is an insufficient interpretation of the Passover if it is spoken of simply as a remembrance of the first constitution or the released Hebrews. The Passover, as it was celebrated from year to year, was a re-enactment, a reiteration, a renewal of that -ancient rite which inaugurated the Divine adoption of Israel as" a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation,n as Jehovah himself described the liberated 'Egyptian slaves. Passover was a time of solemn convoca.tion and sa.cred reminiscence ; -it was also a repetition of that symbolic ritua.l by which the children of lsra.el were admitted into their peculiar relationship to the Deity, wherein they may fea.st as the nnsomed sons of God. Briefly, Pa.ssover was a holy convoca.tion, when the first Passover was recapitulated, and the na.tion a.gain entered upon the amenities of Divine forgiveness and adoption. Or, yet more briefly, Passover was the Fea.st of Justifica- •tion, "made year by year continually." The rlays succeeding the Passover constitute one long festal season, commencing with the days of Unleavened Bread, and ending with the Fea.st of Firstfruits. Again we have a.n addition to the general significance of a festival for a special end. The justified nation is now submitting itself to rules of abstinence and habits of self- sacrifice. A not unsuita.ble name for this season would be the Feast of Consecration; or, to modify our previous form of speech, the Fea.st of Weeks, by which name the Old Testament seems sometimes to designa.te the whole period from Passover to Pentecost, was marked by special days of holy convocation, in which the first joys of nationa.l obedience and deliverance were reiterated, a.nd the people admitted to the privileges -of the Divine adoption testified to its blessedness by willing consecration of self and i,ubstance to Divine purposes. More briefly, the Feast of Weeks was the Fea.st of Consecration, "made year by year continually." A similar line of remark is applicable to the grea.t Day of Atonemenl. This day of humiliation was by no means a repetition of the Passover, as some have thought. It -does not celebrate the entrance of the people upon covena.nt rights, nor the beneficia.l remembrance of that entrance; it is s fast a.nd a penitential season for those who have been already admitted to the Divine intimacy. What else, then, could the Day of Atone- ment signify than the atonement demanded by the sinfulness inseparable even from the reconciled? What else could the Day of Atonement suggest than the perma.nent need of atonement even by a nation of priests? And what else did that da.y proclaim than the meeJli divinely prearranged for meeting that evident need? The Day of Atonement  TIIE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES LITERALLY CONSIDERED. ui