One of the most profound and comprehensive chapters in the inspired
volume now lies before us, and claims our prayerful study. It contains
the record of the seven great feasts or periodical solemnities into
which Israel's year was divided. In other words, it furnishes us with
a perfect view of God's dealings with Israel during the entire period
of their most eventful history.
Looking at the feasts separately, we have the Sabbath, the Passover,
the feast of unleavened bread, the first-fruits, Pentecost, the feast
of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. This
would make eight, altogether; but it is very obvious that the Sabbath
occupies quite a unique and independent place. It is first presented,
and its proper characteristics and attendant circumstances fully set
forth; and then we read, "These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy
convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons." (Ver. 4.)
So that, strictly speaking, as the attentive reader will observe,
Israel's _first_ great feast was the Passover, and their _seventh_ was
the feast of tabernacles. That is to say, divesting them of their
typical dress, we have, first, redemption; and last of all, we have
the millennial glory. The paschal lamb typified the death of Christ (1
Cor. v. 7.); and the feast of tabernacles typified "the times of the
restitution of all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of
all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts iii. 21.)
Such was the opening and such the closing feast of the Jewish year.
Atonement is the foundation, glory the top-stone; while between these
two points we have the resurrection of Christ (ver. 10-14.), the
gathering of the Church (ver. 15-21.), the waking up of Israel to a
sense of their long-lost glory (ver. 24-25.), their repentance and
hearty reception of their Messiah (ver. 27-32.), and, that not one
feature might be lacking in this grand typical representation, we have
provision made for the Gentiles to come in at the close of the harvest
and glean in Israel's fields (ver. 22.). All this renders the picture
divinely perfect, and evokes from the heart of every lover of
Scripture the most intense admiration. What could be more complete?
The blood of the Lamb, and practical holiness founded thereon; the
resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His ascension into heaven;
the descent of the Holy Ghost, in pentecostal power, to form the
Church; the awakening of the remnant; their repentance and
restoration; the blessing of "the poor and the stranger;" the
manifestation of the glory; the rest and blessedness of the
kingdom,--such are the contents of this truly marvelous chapter, which
we shall now proceed to examine in detail. May God the Holy Ghost be
our Teacher.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye
shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Six
days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a
holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of
the Lord in all your dwellings.'" The place which the Sabbath here
gets is full of interest. The Lord is about to furnish a type of all
His dealings in grace with His people; and ere He does so, He sets
forth the Sabbath as the significant expression of that rest which
remaineth for the people of God. It was an actual solemnity to be
observed by Israel, but it was also a type of what is yet to be when
all that great and glorious work which this chapter foreshadows shall
have been accomplished. It is God's rest, into which all who believe
can enter now in spirit; but which, as to its full and actual
accomplishment, yet remains. (Heb. iv.) We work now: we shall rest by
and by. In one sense, the believer enters into rest; in another sense,
he labors to enter into it. He has found his rest in Christ; he labors
to enter into his rest in glory. He has found his full mental repose
in what Christ has wrought for him, and his eye rests on that
everlasting Sabbath upon which he shall enter when all his desert
toils and conflicts are over. He cannot rest in the midst of a scene
of sin and wretchedness; "he rests in Christ, the Son of God, who took
the servant's form;" and while thus resting, he is called to labor as
a worker together with God, in the full assurance that when all his
toil is over, he shall enjoy unbroken, eternal repose in those
mansions of unfading light and unalloyed blessedness where labor and
sorrow can never enter. Blessed prospect! May it brighten more and
more each hour in the vision of faith. May we labor all the more
earnestly and faithfully, as being sure of this most precious rest at
the end. True, there are foretastes of the eternal Sabbath; but these
foretastes only cause us to long more ardently for the blessed
reality--that Sabbath which shall never be broken--that "holy
convocation" which shall never be dissolved.
We have already remarked that the Sabbath occupies quite a unique and
independent place in this chapter. This is evident from the wording of
the fourth verse, where the Lord seems to begin afresh with the
expression, "These are the feasts of the Lord," as if to leave the
Sabbath quite distinct from the seven feasts which follow, though it
be, in reality, the type of that rest to which those feasts so
blessedly introduce the soul.
"These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye
shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first
month at even is the Lord's passover." (Ver. 4, 5.) Here, then, we
have the first of the seven periodical solemnities--the offering of
that paschal lamb whose blood it was that screened the Israel of God
from the sword of the destroying angel on that terrible night when
Egypt's first-born were laid low. This is the acknowledged type of the
death of Christ, and hence its place in this chapter is divinely
appropriate. It forms the foundation of all. We can know nothing of
rest, nothing of holiness, nothing of fellowship, save on the ground
of the death of Christ. It is peculiarly striking, significant, and
beautiful to observe that, directly God's rest is spoken of, the next
thing introduced is the blood of the paschal lamb. As much as to say,
There is the _rest_, but here is your _title_. No doubt labor will
_capacitate_ us, but it is the blood that _entitles_ us, to enjoy the
rest.
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened
bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the
first day ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile
work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
Lord seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation: ye shall do
no servile work therein." (Ver. 6-8.) The people are here assembled
around Jehovah in that practical holiness which is founded upon
accomplished redemption; and while thus assembled, the fragrant odor
of the sacrifice ascends from the altar of Israel to the throne of
Israel's God. This gives us a fine view of that holiness which God
looks for in the life of His redeemed. It is based upon the sacrifice,
and it ascends in immediate connection with the acceptable fragrance
of the Person of Christ. "Ye shall do no _servile work_ therein; but
ye shall offer _an offering made by fire_." What a contrast!--the
servile work of man's hands, and the sweet savor of Christ's
sacrifice! The practical holiness of God's people is not servile
labor; it is the living unfolding of Christ through them, by the power
of the Holy Ghost. "To me to live is Christ." This is the true idea.
Christ is our life; and every exhibition of that life is, in the
divine judgment, redolent with all the fragrance of Christ. It may be
a very trifling matter in man's judgment, but, in so far as it is the
outflow of Christ our life, it is unspeakably precious to God. It
ascends to Him and can never be forgotten. "The fruits of
righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" are produced in the life of
the believer, and no power of earth or hell can prevent their
fragrance ascending to the throne of God.
It is needful to ponder deeply the contrast between "servile work" and
the outflow of the life of Christ. The type is very vivid. There was a
total cessation of manual labor throughout the whole assembly; but the
sweet savor of the burnt-offering ascended to God. These were to be
the two grand characteristics of the feast of unleavened bread. Man's
labor ceased, and the odor of the sacrifice ascended; and this was the
type of a believer's life of practical holiness. What a triumphant
answer is here to the legalist on the one side, and the antinomian on
the other! The former is silenced by the words, "no servile work;" and
the latter is confounded by the words, "Ye shall offer an offering
made by fire." The most elaborate works of man's hands are "servile;"
but the smallest cluster of "the fruits of righteousness" is to the
glory and praise of God. Throughout the entire period of the
believer's life there must be no servile work--nothing of the hateful
and degrading element of legality. There should be only the continual
presentation of the life of Christ, wrought out and exhibited by the
power of the Holy Ghost. Throughout the "seven days" of Israel's
second great periodical solemnity there was to be "no leaven;" but
instead thereof, the sweet savor of "an offering made by fire" was to
be presented to the Lord. May we fully enter into the practical
teaching of this most striking and instructive type.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give
unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a
sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and ye
shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the
morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer
that day when ye wave the sheaf, a he lamb without blemish of the
first year, for a burnt-offering unto the Lord. And the meat-offering
thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an
offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor: and the
drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And
ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until
the self-same day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it
shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your
dwellings." (Ver. 9-14.)
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the _first-fruits_
of them that slept." (1 Cor. xv. 20.) The beautiful ordinance of the
presentation of the sheaf of first-fruits typified the resurrection of
Christ, who, "at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward
the first day of the week," rose triumphant from the tomb, having
accomplished the glorious work of redemption. His was a "resurrection
_from among_ the dead;" and in it we have at once the earnest and the
type of the resurrection of His people. "Christ the first-fruits;
afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming." When Christ comes,
His people will be raised "from among the dead [εκ νεκρων]," that is,
those of them that sleep in Jesus; "but the rest of the dead lived not
again until the thousand years were finished." (Rev. xx. 5.) When,
immediately after the transfiguration, our blessed Lord spoke of His
rising "_from among the dead_," the disciples questioned among
themselves what that could mean. (See Mark ix.) Every orthodox Jew
believed in the doctrine of the "resurrection of the dead [αναστασις
νεκρων]," but the idea of a "resurrection from among the dead
[αναστασις εκ νεκρων]" was what the disciples were unable to
grasp; and no doubt many disciples since then have felt considerable
difficulty with respect to a mystery so profound.
However, if my reader will prayerfully study and compare 1 Cor. xv.
with 1 Thess. iv. 13-18, he will get much precious instruction upon
this most interesting and practical truth. He can also look at Romans
viii. 11 in connection.--"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up
Jesus from the dead [εκ νεκρων] dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelleth in you." From all these passages it will be seen that the
resurrection of the Church will be upon precisely the same principle
as the resurrection of Christ. Both the Head and the body are shown
to be raised "from among the dead." The first sheaf and all the
sheaves that follow after are morally connected.
It must be evident to any one who carefully ponders the subject in the
light of Scripture, that there is a very material difference between
the resurrection of the believer and the resurrection of the
unbeliever. Both shall be raised; but Revelation xx. 5 proves that
there will be a thousand years between the two, so that they differ
both as to the principle and as to the time. Some have found
difficulty in reference to this subject, from the fact that in John v.
28 our Lord speaks of "the _hour_ in the which _all_ that are in the
graves shall hear His voice." How, it may be asked, can there be a
thousand years between the two resurrections, when both are spoken of
as occurring in an "hour"? The answer is very simple. In verse 28, the
quickening of dead souls is spoken of as occurring in an "hour;" and
this work has been going on for over eighteen hundred years. Now, if a
period of nearly _two_ thousand years can be represented by the word
"hour," what objection can there be to the idea of _one_ thousand
years being represented in the same way? Surely, none whatever,
especially when it is expressly stated that "the rest of the dead
lived not again until the thousand years were finished."
But furthermore, when we find mention made of "a _first_
resurrection," is it not evident that all are not to be raised
together? Why speak of a "first" if there is but the one? It may be
said that "the first resurrection" refers to the soul; but where is
the Scripture warrant for such a statement? The solemn fact is this:
when the "shout of the archangel and the trump of God" shall be heard,
the redeemed who sleep in Jesus will be raised to meet Him in the
glory; the wicked dead, whoever they be, from the days of Cain down,
will remain in their graves during the thousand years of millennial
blessedness, and at the close of that bright and blissful period, they
shall come forth and stand before "the great white throne," there to
be "judged every man according to his works," and to pass from the
throne of judgment into the lake of fire. Appalling thought!
Oh, reader, how is it in reference to your precious soul? Have you
seen, by the eye of faith, the blood of the paschal Lamb shed to
screen you from this terrible hour? Have you seen the precious Sheaf
of first-fruits reaped and gathered into the heavenly garner, as the
earnest of your being gathered in due time? These are solemn
questions--deeply solemn. Do not put them aside. See that you are
_now_ under the cover of the blood of Jesus. Remember, you cannot
glean so much as a single ear in the fields of redemption until you
have seen the true Sheaf waved before the Lord. "Ye shall eat neither
bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until _the self-same day_
that ye have brought an offering unto your God." The harvest could not
be touched until the sheaf of first-fruits had been presented, and,
with the sheaf, a burnt-offering and a meat-offering.
"And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from
the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths
shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath
shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat-offering
unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves
of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken
with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord." (Ver. 15-17.)
This is the feast of Pentecost--the type of God's people, gathered by
the Holy Ghost, and presented before Him, in connection with all the
preciousness of Christ. In the passover we have the death of Christ,
in the sheaf of first-fruits we have the resurrection of Christ, and
in the feast of Pentecost we have the descent of the Holy Ghost to
form the Church. All this is divinely perfect. The death and
resurrection of Christ had to be accomplished ere the Church could be
formed. The sheaf was offered and then the loaves were baked.
And, observe, "they shall be baken _with leaven_." Why was this?
Because they were intended to foreshadow those who, though filled with
the Holy Ghost, and adorned with His gifts and graces, had,
nevertheless, _evil_ dwelling in them. The assembly, on the day of
Pentecost, stood in the full value of the blood of Christ, was crowned
with the gifts of the Holy Ghost; but there was leaven there also. No
power of the Spirit could do away with the fact that there was evil
dwelling in the people of God. It might be suppressed and kept out of
view, but it was there. This fact is foreshadowed in the type by the
leaven in the two loaves, and it is set forth in the actual history of
the Church; for albeit God the Holy Ghost was present in the assembly,
the flesh was there likewise to lie unto Him. Flesh is flesh, nor can
it ever be made aught else than flesh. The Holy Ghost did not come
down on the day of Pentecost to improve nature or do away with the
fact of its incurable evil, but to baptize believers into one body,
and connect them with their living Head in heaven.
Allusion has already been made, in the chapter on the peace-offering,
to the fact that leaven was permitted in connection therewith. It was
the divine recognition of the evil in the worshiper. Thus is it also
in the ordinance of the "two wave-loaves;" they were to be "baken with
_leaven_," because of the _evil_ in the antitype.
But, blessed be God, the evil which was divinely recognized was
divinely provided for. This gives great rest and comfort to the heart.
It is a comfort to be assured that God knows the worst of us; and,
moreover, that He has made provision according to _His_ knowledge, and
not merely according to _ours_. "And ye shall offer _with the bread_
seven lambs _without blemish_ of the first year, and one young
bullock, and two rams; they shall be for a burnt-offering unto the
Lord, with their meat-offering and their drink-offerings, even an
offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord." (Ver. 18.) Here,
then, we have, in immediate connection with the leavened loaves, the
presentation of an unblemished sacrifice, typifying the great and
all-important truth that it is Christ's perfectness, and not our
sinfulness, that is ever before the view of God. Observe particularly
the words, "ye shall offer _with the bread_ seven lambs _without
blemish_." Precious truth!--deeply precious, though clothed in typic
dress! May the reader be enabled to enter into it, to make his own of
it, to stay his conscience upon it, to feed and refresh his heart with
it, to delight his whole soul in it. Not I, but Christ.
It may, however, be objected that the fact of Christ's being a
spotless Lamb is not sufficient to roll the burden of guilt from a
sin-stained conscience--a sweet-savor offering would not, of itself,
avail for a guilty sinner. This objection might be urged, but our type
fully meets and entirely removes it. It is quite true that a
burnt-offering would not have been sufficient where "leaven" was in
question; and hence we read, "Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the
goats for a _sin-offering_, and two lambs of the first year for a
sacrifice of peace-offerings." (Ver. 19.) The "sin-offering" was the
answer to the "leaven" in the loaves: "peace" was established, so that
communion could be enjoyed, and all went up in immediate connection
with the "sweet savor" of the "burnt-offering" unto the Lord.
Thus, on the day of Pentecost, the Church was presented in all the
value and excellency of Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Though having in itself the leaven of the old nature, that leaven was
not reckoned, because the divine Sin-offering had perfectly answered
for it. The power of the Holy Ghost did not remove the leaven, but the
blood of the Lamb had atoned for it. This is a most interesting and
important distinction. The work of the Spirit in the believer does not
remove indwelling evil. It enables him to detect, judge, and subdue
the evil; but no amount of spiritual power can do away with the fact
that the evil is there--though, blessed be God, the conscience is at
perfect ease, inasmuch as the blood of our Sin-offering has eternally
settled the whole question; and therefore, instead of our evil being
under the eye of God, it has been put out of sight forever, and we are
accepted in all the acceptableness of Christ, who offered Himself to
God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, that He might perfectly glorify Him
in all things, and be the food of His people forever.
Thus much as to Pentecost--after which a long period is suffered to
roll on ere we have any movement amongst the people. There is,
however, the notice of "the poor and stranger" in that beautiful
ordinance which has already been referred to in its moral aspect. Here
we may look at it in a dispensational point of view. "And when ye reap
the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any
gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to
the stranger: I am the Lord your God." (Ver. 22.) Provision is here
made for the stranger to glean in Israel's fields. The Gentile is to
be brought in to participate in the overflowing goodness of God. When
Israel's storehouse and wine-press have been fully furnished, there
will be precious sheaves and rich clusters for the Gentile to gather.
We are not, however, to suppose that the spiritual blessings with
which the Church is endowed in the heavenlies with Christ are set
forth under the figure of a stranger gleaning in Israel's fields.
These blessings are as new to the seed of Abraham as they are to the
Gentile. They are not the gleanings of Canaan, but the glories of
heaven--the glories of Christ. The Church is not merely blessed _by_
Christ, but _with_ and _in_ Christ. The bride of Christ will not be
sent forth to gather up, as a stranger, the sheaves and clusters in
the corners of Israel's fields and from the branches of Israel's
vines. No; she tastes of higher blessings, richer joys, nobler
dignities, than aught that Israel ever knew. She is not to glean as a
stranger on earth, but to enjoy her own wealthy and happy home in
heaven, to which she belongs. This is the "better thing" which God
hath, in His manifold wisdom and grace, "reserved" for her. No doubt
it will be a gracious privilege for "the stranger" to be permitted to
glean after Israel's harvest is reaped; but the Church's portion is
incomparably higher, even to be the bride of Israel's King, the
partner of His throne, the sharer of His joys, His dignities, and His
glories; to be like Him and with Him forever. The eternal mansions of
the Father's house on high, and not the ungleaned corners of Israel's
fields below, are to be the Church's portion. May we ever bear this in
mind, and live, in some small degree, worthy of such a holy and
elevated destination.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy
convocation. Ye shall do no servile work; but ye shall offer an
offering made by fire unto the Lord.'" (Ver. 23-25.) A new subject is
introduced here by the words, "the Lord spake unto Moses," which, let
me remark in passing, affords an interesting help in classifying the
subjects of the entire chapter. Thus, the Sabbath, the passover, and
the feast of unleavened bread are given under the first communication;
the wave-sheaf, the wave-loaves, and the ungleaned corners are given
under the second; after which we have a long unnoticed interval; and
then comes the soul-stirring feast of trumpets, on the first day of
the seventh month. This ordinance leads us on to the time, now fast
approaching, when the remnant of Israel shall "blow the trumpet" for a
memorial, calling to remembrance their long-lost glory, and stirring
up themselves to seek the Lord.
The feast of trumpets is intimately connected with another great
solemnity, namely, "the day of atonement." "_Also_ on the tenth day of
this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be a
holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer
an offering make by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in
that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for
you before the Lord your God.... It shall be unto you a Sabbath of
rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month
at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." (Ver.
27-32.) Thus, after the blowing of the trumpets, an interval of eight
days elapses, and then we have the day of atonement, with which these
things are connected, namely, affliction of soul, atonement for sin,
and rest from labor. All these things will find their due place in the
experience of the Jewish remnant by and by. "The harvest is past, the
summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jer. viii. 20.) Such will be
the pathetic lament of the remnant when the Spirit of God shall have
begun to touch their heart and conscience. "And they shall look upon
Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one
that is in bitterness for her first-born. In that day shall there be a
great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the
valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart,"
etc. (Zech. xii. 10-14.)
What deep mourning, what intense affliction, what genuine penitence,
there will be, when, under the mighty action of the Holy Ghost, the
conscience of the remnant shall recall the sins of the past--the
neglect of the Sabbath, the breach of the law, the stoning of the
prophets, the piercing of the Son, the resistance of the Spirit! All
these things will come in array on the tablets of an enlightened and
exercised conscience, and produce keen affliction of soul.
But the blood of atonement will meet all. "In that day there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. xiii. 1.) They will be
made to feel their guilt and be afflicted, and they will also be led
to see the efficacy of the blood, and find perfect peace--a Sabbath of
rest unto their souls.
Now, when such results shall have been reached in the experience of
Israel in the latter day, for what should we look? Surely, THE GLORY.
When the "blindness" is removed and "the vail" taken away, when the
heart of the remnant is turned to Jehovah, then shall the bright beams
of the "Sun of righteousness" fall, in healing, restoring, and saving
power, upon a truly penitent, afflicted, and poor people. To enter
elaborately upon this subject would demand a volume in itself. The
exercises, the experiences, the conflicts, the trials, the
difficulties, and the ultimate blessings of the Jewish remnant are
fully detailed throughout the psalms and prophets. The existence of
such a body must be clearly seen ere the psalms and prophets can be
studied with intelligence and satisfaction. Not but that we may learn
much from those portions of inspiration, for "all Scripture is
profitable;" but the surest way to make a right use of any portion of
the Word of God, is to understand its primary application. If, then,
we apply scriptures to the Church, or heavenly body, which belong,
strictly speaking, to the Jewish remnant, or earthly body, we must be
involved in serious error as to both the one and the other. In point
of fact, it happens in many cases that the existence of such a body as
the remnant is completely ignored, and the true position and hope of
the Church are entirely lost sight of. These are grave errors, which
my reader should sedulously seek to avoid. Let him not suppose for a
moment that they are mere speculations, fitted only to engage the
attention of the curious, and possessing no practical power whatever.
There could not be a more erroneous supposition. What! is it of no
practical value to us to know whether we belong to earth or heaven? is
it of no real moment to us to know whether we shall be at rest in the
mansions above or passing through the apocalyptic judgments down here?
Who could admit aught so unreasonable? The truth is, it would be
difficult to fix on any line of truth more practical than that which
unfolds the distinctive destinies of the earthly remnant and the
heavenly Church. I shall not pursue the subject further here; but the
reader will find it well worthy of his calm and prayerful study. We
shall close this section with a view of the feast of tabernacles--the
last solemnity of the Jewish year.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the
feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.... Also in the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit
of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the
first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth shall be a Sabbath.
And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees,
branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the
brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. And
ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year: it
shall be a statute forever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it
in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days: all that
are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; that your generations may
know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I
brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.'" (Ver.
33-43.)
This feast points us forward to the time of Israel's glory in the
latter day, and therefore it forms a most lovely and appropriate close
to the whole series of feasts. The harvest was gathered in, all was
done, the storehouses were amply furnished, and Jehovah would have His
people to give expression to their festive joy. But, alas! they seem
to have had but little heart to enter into the divine thought in
reference to this most delightful ordinance. They lost sight of the
fact that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and hence their long
neglect of this feast. From the days of Joshua down to the time of
Nehemiah, the feast of tabernacles had never once been celebrated. It
was reserved for the feeble remnant that returned from the Babylonish
captivity to do what had not been done even in the bright days of
Solomon. "And all the congregation of them that were come again out of
the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the
days of Joshua the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of
Israel done so. And there was very great gladness." (Neh. viii. 17.)
How refreshing it must have been to those who had hung their harps on
the willows of Babylon, to find themselves beneath the shade of the
willows of Canaan! It was a sweet foretaste of that time of which the
feast of tabernacles was the type, when Israel's restored tribes shall
repose within those millennial bowers which the faithful hand of
Jehovah will erect for them in the land which He sware to give unto
Abraham and to his seed forever. Thrice-happy moment when the heavenly
and the earthly shall meet as intimated in "the first day" and "the
eighth day" of the feast of tabernacles! "The heavens shall hear the
earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil, and
they shall hear Jezreel."
There is a fine passage in the last chapter of Zechariah which goes to
prove very distinctly that the true celebration of the feast of
tabernacles belongs to the glory of the latter day.--"And it shall
come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came
against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the
King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Chap.
xiv. 16.) What a scene! Who would seek to rob it of its characteristic
beauty by a vague system of interpretation falsely called
spiritualizing? Surely, Jerusalem means Jerusalem, nations mean
nations, and the feast of tabernacles means the feast of tabernacles.
Is there any thing incredible in this? Surely, nothing, save to man's
reason, which rejects all that lies beyond its narrow range. The feast
of tabernacles shall yet be celebrated in the land of Canaan, and the
nations of the saved shall go up thither to participate in its
glorious and hallowed festivities. Jerusalem's warfare shall then be
accomplished; the roar of battle shall cease; the sword and the spear
shall be transformed into the implements of peaceful agriculture;
Israel shall repose beneath the refreshing shade of their vines and
fig-trees; and all the earth shall rejoice in the government of "the
Prince of Peace." Such is the prospect presented in the unerring pages
of inspiration. The types foreshadow it, the prophets prophesy of it,
faith believes it, and hope anticipates it.
* * * * *
NOTE.--At the close of our chapter we read, "And Moses declared unto
the children of Israel _the feasts of the Lord_." This was their true
character, their original title; but in the gospel of John they are
called "_feasts of the Jews_." They had long ceased to be Jehovah's
feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him; and hence, in John
vii, when Jesus was asked to go up to "_the Jews' feast of
tabernacles_," He answered, "My time is not yet come;" and when He did
go up, it was "privately," to take His place outside of the whole
thing, and to call upon every thirsty soul to come unto Him and drink.
There is a solemn lesson in this. Divine institutions are speedily
marred in the hands of man; but, oh! how deeply blessed to know that
the thirsty soul that feels the barrenness and drought connected with
a scene of empty religious formality, has only to flee to Jesus and
drink freely of His exhaustless springs, and so become a channel of
blessing to others.