Israelites were largely a farming people,
and their religious festivals, or feasts,
were built into the agricultural cycle.
There were three main annual festivals:
Passover-Unleavened Bread and
Pentecost-Harvest at the beginning of the
year, and Tabernacles-Ingathering's in the
middle of the year. On these three occasions
all adult males had to go to the central
place of worship, which was originally the
tabernacle and later the temple (Exod. 23:14-17).
Passover and Unleavened Bread: God
decreed that the month during which the
Israelites escaped from bondage in Egypt
should be the first month of their religious
year (Exod. 12:2). (This Jewish month fits
somewhere into the period of March-April on
our calendar.) In the middle of the month
the people kept the Passover, followed by
the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:5-8; Mark 14:1). The Passover recalled
God’s ‘passing over’ the houses of the
Israelites when he killed the firstborn
throughout Egypt (Exod. 12:27). The
accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread
recalled the people’s hasty departure from
Egypt when they had to make their bread
without leaven (yeast), cooking as they
travelled in order to save time (Exod. 12:8;
Exod. 12:34; Exod. 12:39). Once the Israelites had
settled in Canaan, the festival became an
occasion to acknowledge God’s care in giving
them their grain harvest. At Passover time
the barley was ready for harvest, but before
the people could reap it and use it for
themselves, they had to acknowledge God as
the giver. Therefore, on the third day of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they
presented the first sheaf of reaped barley
to God. They accompanied this with animal
sacrifices that expressed confession,
gratitude and dedication (Lev. 23:10-14;
Num. 28:16-25).
Feast of Harvest: (Pentecost)
After the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, the people
returned home and for the next six weeks
were busy harvesting, first the barley and
then the wheat. At the end of the wheat
harvest they showed their thanks to God for
their food by presenting to him two loaves
of bread such as they would eat in their
normal meals. Again there were additional
sacrifices (Lev. 23:15-21; Num. 28:26-31).
Since this festival fell on the fiftieth day
after Passover, it later became known as the
Feast of Pentecost (‘pentecost’ meaning
‘fifty’). It was also known as the Feast of
Weeks, being a week of weeks after the
offering of the first barley sheaf (Deut. 16:9-10). More commonly it was called the
Feast of Harvest or Feast of Firstfruits.
Between the two festival seasons: After
the cereal harvest there was much activity
as the people threshed, winnowed and stored
the grain. The hottest part of the year had
now arrived, and over the next few months
the figs, grapes, olives and dates ripened
and were harvested. By the middle of the
year, summer had almost gone, most farming
activity was finished, and people began
preparing for the mid-year festival season.
On the first day of the seventh month
(within the period of September-October on
our calendar) the ceremonial blowing of
trumpets called the people together for a
special day of rest and worship (Lev. 23:24-25). This was to prepare them for the
solemn cleansing from sin that followed ten
days later on the Day of Atonement.
The
Day of Atonement: Only one person, the
Israelite high priest, could enter the Most
Holy Place of the tabernacle, and he could
do so only once a year, on the Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16:2; Heb. 9:7). This was a
day that the Israelites observed as a
national day of cleansing from sin. It fell
on the tenth day of the seventh month, a few
days before the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 16:29-34;
Lev. 23:27-34)
Feast of Tabernacles: (or Shelters) Five
days after the Day of Atonement was the
Feast of Tabernacles. The name ‘tabernacle’
in this case does not refer to the Israelite
place of worship, but to small shelters, or
booths, made of tree branches and palm
leaves. During the festival people lived in
these shelters in remembrance of Israel’s
years in the wilderness (Lev. 23:34; Lev. 23:39-43). The festival was also known as
the Feast of Ingathering's, because it marked
the end of the agricultural year, when all
the produce of the land had been gathered in
and the people rejoiced in thanksgiving
before God (Lev. 23:39; Deut. 16:13-15). The
number of sacrifices at this feast was
greater than at any other, though the number
decreased a little each day (Lev. 23:36;
Num. 29:12-38). There are records of Israel’s
celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles
after Solomon’s completion of the temple and
after the Jews’ return from captivity in
Babylon (2 Chron. 8:12-13; Ezra 3:4). They
still celebrated it in the time of Jesus
(John 7:2), and had introduced into it a
water-pouring ceremony. Jesus referred to
this ceremony when he addressed the people
on the final day of the feast, offering to
satisfy the spiritual needs of all who came
to him for help (John 7:37-39).
Feast of Purim: The Feast of Purim was
not one of the feasts appointed by God
through Moses. It was established in Persia
in the 5th Century B.C. by Mordecai, a
leader of the large community of Jews that
had grown up in Persia after the Babylonian
captivity. Haman, Persia’s chief minister,
had gained the king’s approval for a plan to
destroy the Jewish people. He determined the
date to carry out his plan by casting lots,
or purim (purim being the Hebrew plural of
the Persian-Assyrian word pur, meaning
‘lot’) (Esther 3:7). In the end, however, Haman
was executed and Mordecai made chief
minister in his place. When Haman’s ‘lucky
day’ arrived, the Jews, instead of being
slaughtered, took revenge on their enemies (Esther 9:1). Mordecai then ordered that Jews
celebrate the great occasion with feasting,
exchanging gifts and giving to the poor.
Jews have celebrated the festival to the
present day.
Feast of Dedication:
During the 2nd Century B.C., the Greek ruler of the Syrian
sector of the Empire, Antiochus IV Epiphanes,
used his military power to try to destroy
the Jewish religion. In a brutal attack he
invaded Jerusalem and slaughtered the Jews.
He then defiled the Jewish temple by setting
up an altar in honor of the pagan gods and
sacrificing animals that the Jews considered
unclean. A group of zealous Jews, the
Maccabees, began a resistance movement
against Antiochus, and after three years of
untiring fighting won back their religious
freedom (165 B.C.). They promptly cleansed and
rededicated the temple, in celebration of
which the Jews established the annual Feast
of Dedication. It was the Jews’ only winter
festival (John 10:22-23). (From: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary:
See also: Hebrew Calendar)
Fellowship in the New
Testament (Greek: koinonia)
Fellowship according to its basic biblical
meaning, fellowship is concerned not with
people enjoying each other's company, but
with people participating together in
something. Fellowship is communion having a
share in something.
Fellowship 'with'
means sharing 'in' An example of the
biblical meaning of fellowship is the Lord's
Supper, or Holy Communion. The believer's
act of eating bread and drinking wine in the
Lord's Supper is an act of fellowship with
Christ, for it is a spiritual sharing in his
body and blood. It is a participation in
Christ and all that his sacrificial death
means to the believer (1 Cor. 10:16; see
Lord's Supper). By being united with Christ,
the believer shares in him, has fellowship
with him (1 Cor. 1:9; Heb. 3:14). Likewise the
believer has fellowship with the Father (1 Jn. 1:3) and with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14;
Phil. 1:21; Heb. 6:4), for through faith in
Christ he has become a sharer in the divine
nature (2 Pet. 1:4). [The AMG Concise Bible
Dictionary].
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