and to the gratitude for the ever-recurring mercies of God was added the tale of the redemption from Egyptian bondage and other trials.

The first of these festivals was the feast of Passover, solemnized for seven days from the fifteenth day in the month of Nisan, the first month in the year, when the land of Palestine is bright with the ripening corn. was to be kept for seven days in commemoration of the release from Egypt. The Israelites were, during that period, to eat unleavened bread only, as their forefathers had been compelled to do when they accomplished their hasty flight. It was the anniversary of their nation's birth, of the last faint clank of their chains, of their first note of freedom. And in order to impress the importance of this festival, it was decreed that, if any member of the chosen nation were debarred, whether on account of a journey, or sickness or mourning, from celebrating it at the appointed time, he was to keep it on the fifteenth day of the following or second month, and this was termed 'the second Passover.' It marked the commencement of the summer crops. Ripened by the hot eastern sun, the corn, in the month of April, is ready to be cut; therefore the first sheaf of ripe barley was presented by the priest on the second day of Passover as a firstfruitoffering. The paschal lamb and other ceremonials connected with the festival have been mentioned before (p. 136).

Seven full weeks after the feast of Passover, the second great festival was celebrated, the feast of Pentecost, which was in truth the festival of the harvest. It fell in the loveliest season of the year, when, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the heights of Judea and northward to the fertile plains of Samaria and Galilee, the land of Palestine smiles fair in summer beauty; when a deepblue and cloudless sky arches over the purple vineyards and

the dark olive-groves. Then the husbandman, who had gathered in his harvest of wheat, repaired to the Temple of God to praise and glorify Him for His bounty. It was a great and solemn rejoicing, shared by the entire nation, the servant, the stranger, the bondman; it was the season for feasting, for joyful assemblies, for public games and dances.

Tradition, without depriving this holiday of its beautiful and intimate connection with nature, adds to it a spiritual significance, and considers it as a commemoration of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai; and at present, when offerings at the Temple are impossible, and the Jews are scattered through all climes, the latter meaning is almost exclusively associated with the days of Pentecost.

The feast of Tabernacles was appointed for seven days from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, later called Tishri. It marked the end of the autumn, when the rainy season, which corresponds with our winter, is about to commence. It was the harvest of the vine and the olive, the ingathering of the fruit so needful and delicious. It was indeed a fitting moment for another, perhaps the greatest, festival of gratitude to the Lord. But like the two other chief festivals, it had a twofold meaning; besides its agricultural character, it was intended to keep alive the memory of the Divine protection so mercifully bestowed upon the Israelites during their forty years' wanderings in the desert. And in order to bring that remembrance constantly and vividly before the people, they were commanded during the seven days of the festival to live in Tabernacles, as their fathers had done in the wilderness. They were to build for themselves booths, and to adorn them with branches of the palm-tree, twigs of the myrtle, willows of the brook, and the fragrant citron, thus filling their temporary habitations with the types of the varied productions of the soil. There, in the still eastern night,

they might catch, through the slight, leaf-covered roof, a glimpse of the starlit sky; and there, surrounded by the obvious proofs of God's bounty, they were reminded of that unchanging goodness which had guided their fathers through the desert, and had given to them that beautiful land upon which His eye watches from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.'

On

Besides these three festivals, two others of a purely spiritual character were instituted. As those just described were eminently feasts of rejoicing, so were the others festivals of serious contemplation and of self-affliction. the first day of the seventh month, a day of memorial, or 'a day of blowing the trumpet' was commanded to be kept. Its character is not described in the Bible beyond being designated as a day on which no work was to be done, and solemn sacrifices were to be offered to God. But Jewish tradition, working out every allusion of Scripture, considers it as the commencement of the religious year, and moreover, as the beginning of a season of penitence, which culminates in the Day of Atonement' solemnized on the tenth of the same month. On this, the most sacred day of the year, a complete fast is to be kept from even till even: body and soul are alike to be afflicted for the sins and transgressions of the past; forgiveness is to be prayed for in all humbleness; the soul is to be restored to purity, and the heart to repose and peace. In this sense the Day of Atonement is still observed by the Jewish people, who justly regard it as the most spiritual, the sublimest of their festivals.

At the three great agricultural festivals, every Israelite was commanded to worship in the common Temple of Jerusalem, and to present his offering to the Lord. Thus three times in the year, caravans and multitudes of Israelites from every part of the land might be seen journeying towards Jerusalem. Many, if not called away by urgent

duties, would remain in the holy city during the weeks that intervened between Passover and Pentecost. As the precincts of Jerusalem could not contain this mighty host of pilgrims, tents were pitched all round the town, forming one great camp, and there a scene of indescribable animation and eager interest presented itself. The flocks and herds grazed round the tents, and the camels that had come laden with provisions, dotted the adjoining fields and plains.

The code of laws concludes with an earnest exhortation to the children of Israel, to listen to and obey the voice of God's servant Moses: Behold, I send a messenger before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in him.'

When Moses proclaimed the words of the Lord to the people, they all promised obedience with one voice. This covenant between God and Israel was ratified in a peculiar manner. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent the young men of the children of Israel, and they offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed thank-offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read before the ear of the people and they said, All that the Lord has said shall we do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you on the condition of all these words.'

After the sacrifice, Moses and Aaron, accompanied by Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

went up to Mount Sinai, where the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet like a work of pellucid sapphire, and like heaven itself in its clearness.' But Moses alone ascended to the top of the mountain, which was enveloped by a thick cloud. On the seventh day, God called Moses, who then passed within the cloud and remained there, withdrawn from the sight of the people, for forty days and forty nights.

41. THE TABERNACLE.

[EXOD. XXV.-XXVII. XXX.]

When the chief moral and civil laws had been given to the Israelites, and had been accepted by them with cheerful readiness, it was important that the observance of their faith should be secured and strengthened by outward symbols and a regular form of worship. It was above all deemed desirable to establish some visible sign of God's presence among the people. The idea that the spirit of the Almighty dwelt among them, and led them in their wanderings, was soul-stirring and encouraging; it intensified religious belief; it cheered the desponding, and roused the indolent. To keep this thought before their minds with the utmost vividness, a permanent dwelling-place for the glory of the Lord, or a Tabernacle,' was to be constructed. Hallowed by the sanction of God, it was to be like a banner around which they should rally when menaced by outward enemies; it was to be an unfailing safeguard against their own fatal weakness, when tempted to lean towards idolatry.

During the forty days and nights which Moses spent on Mount Sinai, he was instructed by the Lord in all the details of the Tabernacle and its service; and when he