NOTES 0N THE
"F E A S T S 0 F T H E L 0 R D,"
PRESCRIBED TO THE JEWS.
AND THEIR REARING UPON THE FAITH AND HOPE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Preface:
The author of these "Notes on the Feasts of the Jews", prepared by him some years ago, offers them to his brethren in the form which they were then left, increasing sickness having prevented him from making anyadditions tot a subject upon which further meditation opens up ever-increasing depths of light and fresh lines of beauty and true.
He,therefore, prints them as they were, in the hope that they may awaken interest generally, and more especially that of the younger members of the flock of Christ, in the study of the types of the Law, and the marvellous history of God's ancient people, contained in the Old Testament Scriptures, in which are set forth the eternal realities of the Church and Kingdom of Christ.
CONTENTS:
No. 1: Introductory;
No. 2: The Sabbath;
No. 3: The Passover;
No. 4: First fruits en Harvest
No. 5: The Feast of Trumpets;
No. 6: The Day of Atonement;
No. 7: The Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee;
No. 8: The Feast of Tabernacles.
No 1.
INTRODUCTORY,
The fifth chapter of the Gospel according to John is clearly one of the key chapters of the Bible. It is most interesting and instructive to notice the connection of the truths and scenes presented in this and the preceding chapters of this Gospel.
In the first chapter we have the foundation of all revelation: the eternal Sonship of the Word,the true divinity and true humanity of Christ, the Word made flesh; the testimony of John, the forerunner of Jesus; and the account of the calling of some of the Apostles, who, while waiting for the Consolation of Israel, recognised in Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, the very Messias promised to the fathers.
In the second chapter we have detailed the first two of those mighty works, the manifestations of His glory, whereby Our Lord vindicated His mission, and established the hearts of His disciples, namely, the turning of water into wine, and the cleansing of the Temple.
In the third we have the discourse with Nicodemus, the half-convinced, but timid-spirited ruler, in which discourse Our Lord teaches that through regeneration alone-through being born again of water and of the Holy Spirit-can the kingdom of God be seen or entered; and a further and more detailed account of the testimony borne by John the Baptist to the Lord Jesus as the Sent of the Father, as the Bridegroom of the Church, as the Possessor of the fullness of the Spirit, and the Fountain-head of everlasting life.
In the fourth chapter we have the conversation of Our Lord with the woman of Samaria, regarding the Living Water and the acceptable worship of God in spirit and in truth, under the dispensation about to be introduced, and some notice of the beginnings of faith among the dwellers in Samaria and Galilee.
In the fifth chapter we find our Lord at Jerusalem, the chosen city of God, and in the Temple itself, the place of sacrifice, of worship, and of blessing; in the midst of the leaders of the people of God and of a crowd of the most pious of those who were assembled to keep one of the feasts of the Lord, and who had just seen an instance of the putting forth of that healing power by which the Father bore witness to the Son.
While unable to deny the reality of the miracle wrought upon the impotent man, the Pharisees eagerly laid hold of the circumstance that the miraculous healing had been done on the Sabbath day; and in their zeal for what they regarded as a clear and supreme commandment of God, they sought to compass the death of the Healer; and having thus prejudged the case, they are confirmed in their evil resolution, and exasperated in their feeling, by the first words of Our Lord's vindication of Himself: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work ".v.17.
Then the Lord addresses them in the sublime discourse which occupies the remainder of this chapter, wherein we have the fullest testimony that Scripture can furnish to the divinity of the person of Jesus; to the character of His work to the divine mission of His forerunner; and to the infallible truth of those Scriptures which are all given by inspiration of God, and which though committed to the safe keeping of, and indeed safely kept by His ancient people were so little believed or understood by them, that they rejected Him to whom these Scriptures bear witness on every page.
It is to the closing part of this discourse of our Blessed Lord, that,namely wherein He speak of then writing of Moses,-the great prophet, whom all the nation of the Jews then professed, and still professes, to honour and acknowledge as the inspired author of the first five books of the Bible-that I now call your attention, as containing the warrant for the doctrine I am about to advance and maintain at this time.
Let us glance at the order of this portion of the argument. Our Lord takes occasion, in the circumstances already noticed, tot vindicate His mission, as the Promised and Expected One, the Son of the Father.
All the prophets previously sent of God at sundry times and in divers manners unto the fathers, had delivered their messages with the usual form of introduction: "Thus saith the Lord." But the simple word of majesty on the tongue of Jesus is: "Verily, verily, I say unto you".v. 19.
In speaking as He did of the work of the Father and of His own work, v,17; of the identity of these works (v,19); of the perfect communion between the Father and the Son, v,20; of the quickening of the dead as common to both, 21; of the Father's having committed all judgement to the Son, v, 22; and of the honouring of the Father, the Sender, in the Person of the Son, the Sent One, v,23, in so speaking to the Jews, Our Lord establishes the distinctness of Persons in the Godhead; while in the words that follow, also introduced by:: "Verily, verily," the sublime mystery of the Incarnation, and its purpose, are declared; the mystery of the Word made flesh; of the Son of God become Son of man; the Word, in Whom is life, and from Whom life everlasting flows to the hearer of His Words, and to the believer on Him that sent Him. v. 24.
Again, with the same sanction of "Verily, verily," our Lord declares that "the hour is coming, yea, now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live", v, 25, and that the same life that is in the Father is given to the Son, Who is thus constituted the Fountain of Life and the Judge of all, because He is the son of man. v.26.
Then follows an assurance, not only of the resurrection of all men, both good and evil, which is a proof of the common interest of all men in the work of Christ done in the flesh, but also of the doctrine more clearly taught in subsequent discourses, of the distinction between the first and the general resurrection. vv, 28, 29.
To this teaching our Lord subjoins a declaration of the subjection of the Son to the Father, and of the witness borne to the Father by the Son through His doing the will of the Father Who sent Him, v,30; and then, in confirmation of His high mission, Our Lord appeals to the testimony of approved witnesses (that He may not be charged with bearing witness of Himself, v,31, as evidence which the Jews could not refuse to admit, unless they utterly renounced the faith and hope of their fathers, and even the evidence of their own senses.
1. In the first place, He adduces the testimony of John the Baptist, who was recognised of all the nation as a "prophet of God" vv, 32-35,
2, In the second place, He pleads the testimony of God the Father, Whose Will He came to do, and Who, by the mighty works He did by Him, as well as by the audible voice from heaven heard Introductory, at His baptism--(not to speak of what was seen heard at His birth, and at His presentation in the Temple)--, gave demonstration of the fact that the Son, the Well-Beloved, the Anointed One, the Prophet like unto Moses, the Virgin's son the Man of whom all prophets had spoken, an all psalmists had sung, was now actually in the midst of His covenant people, but all unrecognised, unknown, unreceived, because the Word of the Father ,vas no longer abiding in them vv.36-38.
3. In the third place, Our Lord appeals to the general testimony of all Scripture, as bearing upon Himself the Living and Life-giving One, to Whom they should come for Life; for the Scriptures of themselves cannot give life, but they point to Him Who alone hat Life in Himself, and Who became man, that He might give everlasting life to all that believe in Him vv.39, 40.
4. In the fourth place, He shows how completely the covenant-people of God had fallen from their high standing, had abandoned the ground of revelation, the only sure ground on which they could rest or build, and were allowing themselves to be by popular opinion--the will of the majority; thus seeking and and finding honour from men, honour one of another; forfeiting thereby the honour that cometh from God only; proving that His love was no longer in their hearts, but that they were in the dangerous position of being ready to follow the first antichrist that should arise; and who, coming in his own name, and boasting of honour, dignity, liberty and independence, should promise freedom, but should, in reality, bind them with the most enduring chains, even the chains of darkness and of death. vv,4I-44.
5, And, in the fifth place, Our Lord points to the testimony of Moses, in whose name they boasted, and by whose writings they professed to abide, as the rule of faith and warrant of hope for their nation, as the directory of their worship and of their conduct in all the varied relations of public, domestic, and private life. Of this very Moses, in whom they trusted, Our Lord says, he is their accuser before God, as his writings are all concerning Christ, the Promised, the Anointed, the Expected One; and so the true reason of their unbelief in the words of Jesus is their practical unbelief in the writings of Moses, those oracles of God committed to their keeping; read, but not believed; searched and commented upon, but not believed; disputed about with much bitterness, but, as Our Lord plainly declares, not believed by them. vv,45-47.
It is to this most pointed declaration of Our Saviour: "Moses wrote of Me", that I intend, in this introductory lecture to call your attention. What does Moses write of Christ.?
This broad question might lead to an examination of all the chapters of the five books of Moses; to an inquiry into the promises that are found there; to an exposition of the types, typical persons, and typical events presented to us in that record of God's dealings with man for upwards of 2500 years; to a consideration of the history of Israel, and of the biographies of the patriarchs, as also of the wondrous constitution given to the chosen people; to an examination in detail of the House of God, erected by His command, both for His worship, and as the place whence the ordinances of His government, the laws of His kingdom, and the words of His mouth, the words of light and of judgement, should proceed.
All this, and more than we can here even briefly indicate, might be fairly treated within the compass of the question: "What does Moses write of Christ".
Our present purpose, however, is to limit your attention to one branch of the great revelation of the Person and Work of Our Lord Jesus, which is contained in a single chapter of one of the five books of Moses, namely, the twenty-third chapter of the book of Leviticus.
We find there an enumeration of "the Feats of the Lord", the observance of which was enjoined on the children of Israel, as a part of that revelation, by shadow and type, wherein the good things to come were wrapped up and preserved, until the fullness of time should come, and by which Israel ought to have been prepared to receive and recognise the Messiah when He appeared in their midst.
In considering this interesting and most instructive portion of Holy Scripture, we are not left to conjecture how far the testimony of Moses, as therein contained, may or many not apply to the Person and Word of Our Lord; for in this inquiry we have the unspeakable advantage of the light of the holy Gospels, and the expositions of the inspired Apostles, in their Epistles to the Churches, as well as in numerous illusions to the Feasts of the Lord in the closing books of the Bible.
From many clear words of the New Testament Scriptures we learn, that Israel after the flesh is a type of the spiritual Israel, and a standing lesson of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction for the Church of Christ; that the land of Canaan promised, and given to them, is a type of the inheritance reserved for the Church, the rest that remaineth for the people of God; and that the constitution of Israel as God's kingdom is a figure of the heavenly kingdom to be given to the saints when the Lord Jesus shall return in glory.
From these words we are unabled to see clearly how much of these typicaI institutions have already received their accomplishment in the sacrifice of Christ--that is, in His humiliation and suffering; how much is even now being fulfilled in His ministry, as our High Priest in the heavens; and how much still remains to be fulfilled in the kingdom of glory, when Our Lord shall come in visible majesty and power to execute the judgement written, to cleanse His inheritance, and to take full possession of the earth, which is His by the right of redemption as welt as of creation.
For we may not suppose that, in the broad and clear assertion of 0ur Lord- "Moses wrote of Me", are contained only some shadows of His suffering or state of humiliation; for the words of the Lord, John V., in the context to which we have referred.
To the belief of which the Jews would have been led, had they really believed Moses, contain nothing at all of suffering, but, on the contrary, relate to His power of healing, and of working even on the Sabbat day, of the raising of the dead, and the executing of judgement; and, in all this, tell of His doing nothing of Himself, but as the Sent of the Father as the Son ans Servant of the Father, the Doer of His Will, the Speaker of His Words, the Wielder of His power.
It is in support of His claim to be received as the Messiah, clothes with these high attributes, that He appeals to the testimony of John, and to that of the Father, and of the Scriptures in general, and of the writing of Moses in particular; therefore we may fairly insist on the application of these last to all the words which He had up to that time addressed to His unbelieving brethren.
We might even take higher ground than this, and argue that, from the fact of His appealing to the writings of Moses, and to the testimony of John the Baptist, Our Lord brings up the whole, of the "goodly fellowship of the prophets", as testifying of Himself, from the first great prophet-(Moses)--, by whom God spake to all Israel, down to the last and greatest of the prophets, whose testimony was the final pleading of God with His people, through the ministry of the prophetic word.
For, in the testimony of John, as given in the Gospel before us, we have not only presented to us the humbled, suffering Messias, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, but also the One to be preferred to the forerunner, as having been before Him, the Bringer of grace and truth, the Declarer or Revealer of the Invisible Father, John 1:15-18 the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, the son of God, v, 33, 34, the Bridegroom of His Church, the Witness from above; even He which came down from heaven; the Speaker of the Words of God; the Container of the Fullness of the Spirit; the Beloved of the Father, into Whose hand all things are committed; the source of everlasting Life; the Executor of the righteous judgement of God in the great day of the Lord. John iii, 27-36.
What more than this do we find in Isaiah or Jeremiah, in Ezekiel or Daniel, or any other of the prophets ?.
The conclusion, therefore, which we are entitled to draw from the words of our Lord regarding the writings of Moses is, we repeat, that in these writings we are to expect a testimony to Jesus exalted and glorified, as well as humbled and rejected.
Thus we find St. Paul teaching the Romans that Moses describes both the righteousness which is of the law, and the righteousness which is a fait, Rom.10:5,8; and foretelling the casting off, though not for ever, of the seed of Israel, and the calling of the Gentiles into covenant with God. v.19.
We find the same Apostle further teaching the Corinthians from the history of Israel in the desert, the leading features of the successive forms of apostasy which have desolated the Church of Christ, the last of which, even infidelity, is now rapidly preparing the way for consuming judgements. 1 Cor. 10:1-12.
Again, we find him teaching the Galatians the mystery of the two Covenants, in the history given by Moses of the wives and sons of Abraham. Gal.4:22-31-
And further, teaching the Ephesians the mystery of Christ and the Church from the writings of Moses regarding Adam and Eve. Eph.5:31,32.
And, finally, on this head, we learn from the fact of Moses having put a veil upon his face, what is the surpassing glory of the New Dispensation. 2 Cor.3:7, 12-18.
Let this suffice at present. From these limits we are emboldened to say that the words: "Moses wrote of Me", do contain the warrant for our searching for the seeds or germs of all prophecy regarding Jesus in the writing of Moses; all the subsequent prophecies being but the unfoldings or development of these seeds, because they are the words of the faithful servant, who uttered what the Lord spoke to him for the blessing of all Israel; and has written for our learning what we find in the pages of the Pentateuch.
The words of the psalmist recur here to our minds: "Lo,I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God". Ps, xl. 7, 8; words which are quoted by the Apostle in, Heb, x, 9, IO, as expressing the completeness and the perfecting power of the sacrifice or offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. v.10.
And we point to the summary of our Lord's teaching to His Apostles after His Resurrection, in which He reminds them of what He had before said to them: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me." Luke 24:44.
These words of our Risen Lord must have recalled to them the days of their first interviews with Him, of their recognition of Him as the Promised One, for which they had been prepared by believing Moses, and also by believing John the Baptist; they recall to us, further the words of Philip to Nathaniel: "We have found Him of Whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write: "Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph". John 1:45.
And we learn from all this that, however partial an erroneous the hopes of the Apostles in those days were regarding the nature and order of the work which Jesus came to do; they had, nevertheless, started from the right point to follow Him, and were quided into the right way; and although their faith did not, in the hour of supreme trial, stand the test-(for "they all")-("forsook Him and fled")--, yet this teaching of the Lord after His Resurrection must have cleared away from their hearts every trace of those tradition by which the law of Moses had been rendered obscure to them; for we read: "Then opened He their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures." Luk.24:45; of which Scriptures we all know that the writings of Moses occupy the first and the principal place.
The portion of these writings of Moses which we have selected as a subject, Lev. 23:, contains in wondrousIy minute detaiI the record of the institution of holy days of observance, of sacred feasts, of solemn assemblies of the people, on which occasions the mighty doings of the Lord towards their fathers were commemorated by special acts of worship, and services of peculiar significance.
By means of these the old men were reminded of, and the rising generation instructed regarding, these mighty works of God on behalf of their nation, whereby they were at first constituted a peculiar people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
Some of these Feasts are connected with successive seasons of the year, and that blessing of God which was manifested in the giving them of the fruits of the land for their enjoyment.
On this part of our subject it may be useful for some of our hearers, and especially the young, to be reminded that the God of Israel appointed the seasons of summer and winter, of seed-time and harvest, to indicate spiritual truths; that a vast variety of instruction is conveyed by the outward things of creation, for the God of Creation is the God of Providence ; and that all that is brought before us in these solemn feasts of the Lord regarding the land as welt as the people, and the history of good and evil affecting both, are but parts of one glorious revelation of God; and may be turned, without impropriety, the history of God, who thus wrote His name, His perfection's or attributes, upon the history of the ever shifting, and ever unworthy and rebellious people of the former Covenant, in order that these records might serve as lessons, warnings, and encouragement's for us, who are the equally unworthy people of the New or Christian Covenant.
From this definition of the general character of the Feasts of the Lord, prescribed to Israel under the hand of Moses, it follows as a necessary con- sequence, that these were of infinite importance to the Jews; instructive, conservative, helpful in every way to them, whether they meditated upon the past, the present, or the future.
In considering the past, these Feasts not only recalled the facts and stimulated the people to continual gratitude towards the Lord their God, but also taught them as history or experience alone can teach, to profit by the example of their fathers, either to trust in the Lord and banish all fear, or to avoid those things which, in the case of their Fathers, He had visited with rebuke and chastisement.
In looking around upon the then actually present condition of his nation, a pious Jew, keeping the Feasts of the Lord, had his attention fixed, his devotion kindled, all his associations of obedience and blessing and of disobedience and curse strengthened, his faith thus quickened, and his worship directed towards Him whose way is in the sanctuary, Psalm lxxvii.13, or, in looking to the future, such a one must have had all his hope strengthened and elevated-for these Feasts are pledges of good things to come--and his whole soul cheered and purified in musing upon the glorious consummation of blessedness which shall result from the complete fulfilment of the promises to Adam, to Abram, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to all Israel, as the chosen and peculiar treasure of the Lord.
It is this aspect of the Feasts of the Lord which gives them, for us Christians, a very special and practical character, as a means of instruction and of blessing; for they not only point to the Person of our Divine Redeemer and to His work in all its fullness, and consequently to the source and centre of all our faith, and love, and hope ; but they enable us also to distinguish clearly the past, the present, and the future in the constitution and development of the Christian Church, and thus cast steady light on her calling, organisation, worship, and sacraments, and on her destiny in the grand purpose of God towards mankind and the earth in the ages to come.
Before proceeding to consider the details of these most interesting Feasts, it cannot but be useful to those who are not as yet acquainted with the vast value to the Christian Church of these stores of holy doctrine contained in the writings of Moses, to note some of the practical lessons they present.
1: As God is unchangeable, so must every word that proceeds from Him possess a permanent value, as being a revelation of His will to man.
2: Worship is the right expression of the relationship of all intelligent and obedient creatures to their Creator. It is the blessedness of the redeemed to worship the Lord their Redeemer. The form and mode of worship may change, and has changed; but the reality, the worship in spirit and in truth, is and must be eternal.
3: All the institutions or ordinances of God under the law touching His Worship, contain the eternal principles of the relationship subsisting between God and His Covenant-people; and when opened by the all-revealing Spirits are found to foreshadow the entire compass of the work of the Lord for our salvation, and of our duties, privileges, and responsibilities as members of the Body of Christ.
4: Without some apprehension of the meaning of the terms employed in speaking of the worship of God under the 01d Testament, we must remain ignorant of those truths which, under the New Testament dispensation are ex- pressed in the very same terms; such as, house of God, altar, sacrifice, shedding and sprinkling of blood, atonement, priest, priesthood, candlestick, table of the Lord, mercy-seat, propitiation, service of God, and the like.
5: The same remark holds good in regard to those Feasts commanded of God to Israel, at which more than usual solemnity was enjoined, and a greater amount of sacrifice and service prescribed, and in the observance of which, consequently, a greater proportion of the typical and symbolical element was present; such as the Sabbath, the Feasts of the Passover, the New Moons, the Unleavened Bread, First-fruits, Harvest, Day of Atonement, Jubilee, and Tabernacles. No one ignorant of these can have a complete or even correct idea of the work of Christ for our salvation; His work past, His work now, and l His work still future, and indispensable for the introduction of His kingdom on the earth.
6: "The Lord made known His ways unto Moses, and His acts unto the children of Israel", Ps. ciii, 7.These ways and acts contained the revelation of His Name, or attributes, or character, and prepared the way for the Incarnation, or manifestation of God in flesh. What the Jews looked forward to with eager hope, Christians look back to with adoring faith. The one grand object of all is thus, as we have said, common to both, namely, the Person and Work of our Redeemer. The law is the shadow of good things to come aye, of many good things still to come; and we continually sing, in praising God, " "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord; and who meditates day and night in His law". Ps, i. 2.
7: A correct apprehension of the revelation of God's Name and purpose contained in the 01d Testament is indispensable to show the guilt of the Jewish people in their frequent revolts against God, and in their final rejection of their long-expected Messiah, and of the Gospel proclaimed by Him and His Apostles, and also to show the warrant of hope for the future restoration and conversion of Israel, and for the blessedness that shall flow through the literal seed of Abraham to all the families of the earth.
8: In conclusion, we glance at a twofold source of light upon our subject. First in meditating upon the truths declared in the New Testament to have been foreshadowed by the Jewish Feasts, we have the light of the Spirit on those which have been fulfilled, and are become subjects of faith, and no longer of hope, for us; and, secondly, we have the light of the prophetic word through Ezekiel, in regard to the still future order of worship, and annual cycle of feasts, which shall be observed by the Jews when restored to their own land; in this word we see the precise place in the vast purpose of God assigned to and occupied by the Christian Church: her beginning at Pentecost, her progress during the rejection of Israel after the flesh, and her consummation in the day of the Second Coming of the Lord from heaven to take possession, as Second Adam, of that inheritance from which no power shall ever prevail to exclude Him throughout eternity.
In this still future order of the worship, which we read in the forty-third and following chapters of Ezekiel, everything special and peculiar to our present dispensation is omitted: the Paschal Lamp is omitted, though the feast of unleavened bread is observed fur seven days; the reason of this is obvious, for the Lamb of God the true Paschal Lamp dieth no more: the Day of Atonement is omitted, the day of grace being then closed, and a dispensation of judgement begun: the Feast of Pentecost is omitted, the special dispensation of the Spirit in perfecting the Body of Christ being ended: the Feast of Trumpets is omitted, which typified the heralding of the Gospel: the evening daily sacrifice is omitted, but the morning sacrifice retained; the night being now past, and the day of glory having dawned.
Let these lessons suffice for the present, others will arise at every step of our progress.