TADEHNACLE. 



C37 



inal sacrifices a'so. In some cases, the offering of 

 au animal was of the nature of a tine ; " more usu- 

 ally, however, the life of an animal is accepted by 

 the god in place of a human life." 



This theory is supposed to find some support in 

 the Old Testament. It is asserted that " the slaugh- 

 ter of an animal . . . seems to have been always 

 s:icriticial in early Greece," and then, that "among 

 the Semites sacrifice and slaughter for food are still 

 more clearly identified ; the Hebrews use the same 

 word for both " This last statement has only a 

 meagre support from the Hebrew lexicons, and 

 really none at all from the usage of the Old Testa- 

 ment ; there is no instance where a word of the stem 

 Z-B-H occurs where it may not naturally be under- 

 stood to denote a sacrificial feast, either as a fact, 

 or, in a very few instances, figuratively, while the 

 words of the stem T-B-H are not currently used to 

 denote sacrifice. Again, the alleged connection 

 between totemism and the distinction of clean and 

 unclean animals cannot be traced in the Penta- 

 teuehal scheme ; the animals allowed for food are 

 different from those allowed for sacrifice, the food 

 animals including many species that are named, and 

 an immense number of others that fall under gen- 

 eral designations ; while those for sacrifice are three 

 species of animals and two of birds. Further, tho 

 theory just described requires us to regard " the 

 presentation of the gift" as " the central feature in 

 every ordinary act of worship." If the laying of 

 the hand on the head of the victim, in tho Hebrew 

 ritual, was a mere act of presentation, then this fact 

 fhs the theory ; but if it was rather an emblematic 

 confession of ill desert, and a prayer for pardon 

 (Lav. xvi. 21 ; v. 5 ; Num. v. 7), it does not at all 

 ttt the theory. 



On the basis of this theory it is sometimes argued, 

 that, in such cases as that of Jephthah, we have a 

 picture of the religion of Jehovah in tho stage when 

 it still recognized the propriety of human sacrifices ; 

 that the story of Abraham and Isaac indicates a 

 later stage, in which this religion outgrew the idea 

 of human sacrifice ; that its sacrificial system grad- 

 ually developed until, in post-exilio times, the full 

 pentatenclial ritual had come to be in existence. In 

 regard to all ideas of this kind, it is sufficient to say 

 that they contradict the only known ancient records 

 that bear testimony in the case, and that they have 

 no such intrinsic credibility as to justify our accept- 

 ing them in preference to the records. 



Concerning the priwithool of the tabernacle, and the 

 questions depending on it, see PRIEST, in this work, 



The sacred i'enr <>/ the Tabernacle. In Numbers 

 xxviii., xxix., and elsewhere in tho Pentateuch, we 

 find precepts for a class of acts of worship at certain 

 fixed times throughout the year the morning and 

 evening daily offerings, the special offerings and ser. 

 vices for the Sabbaths, the new moons, the Passover, 

 the Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, with its pre- 

 liminary ceremonials of the blowing of trumpets 

 and the day of Atonement. Both the Pentateuch 

 and the other historical books that mention these 

 attribute the institution of them to Moses, with the 

 modification that some of the elements involved 

 were incorporated into the Mosaic legislation from 

 older sources. 



In opposition to the statements of the records, the 

 author of the article on the SABBATH in the ENCY- 

 CLOPEDIA BRITANNICA cites the words of Jesus in the 

 New Testament to prove that the Sabbath of the 

 Tanaite scfilws (which he assumes to be the same 

 with that of the Priest-code) was different from that 

 which prevailed in Israel before the exile. He 

 makes a grave mistake when he assumes that the 

 Pentatenclial Sabbath is that of the scribes, and is 

 to be interpreted by their spirit, instead of by the 

 pirit of Old Testament prophecy and history. Not 



much is said concerning the Sabbath in tho pre- 

 exilic books outside the Pentateuch. But in the 

 few places where it is mentioned, we learn that the 

 Sabbath was a day of abstinence from labor, Amoa 

 viii. 5 ; a day of special religious services in tha 

 temple, 2 Ki. xi. 5, 7, 9, rf. 2 Chrou. xxiii. ; the dny 

 i of changing the shew bread, 1 Chron. ix. 32, cf. Mat. 

 I xii. 2 sq. ; a day regarded as especially suitable for 

 i consulting a prophet, 2 Ki. iv. 23 ; a day associated 

 ] in thongLt wiih the new moons and festivals, and 

 j their assemblies, Isa. i.13 ; Hos. ii 13 [11] ; 1 Chron. 

 j xxiii. 31 ; 2 Chrou. ii. 3 [4] ; viii. 13 ; in fine, as a 

 : day which, in many ways, was regarded as set apart 

 . to Jehovah, and no longer belonging to a man him- 

 self. In tine, counting one or two severe laws of 

 j the Priest-code as police regulations, designed for 

 ; Israel in camp rather than for permanent enfoice- 

 j inent, the Sabbath of the Priest-code is, so far as 

 appears from the particulars given, the same with 

 the Sabbath of the other Prntateuchal codes, and 

 the same with the Sabbath that appears in the his- 

 tory; and each differs, in principle, from the Sab- 

 bath of tho scribes, in precisely tho points in which 

 that Sabbath-doctrine contradicts the teachings of 

 Jesus. 



The mention of tho great sacred feasts that are 

 said to have centred in the tabernacle, in the ac- 

 counts of the pre-cxilic times, is as full as could bo 

 expected. Aside from the passages that specify 

 particular feasts, wo have an allusion to Jehovah's 

 yearly feast in Shiloh, Jud. xxi. 19 ; Elkauuh and 

 his contemporaries made annual pilgrimages to Shi- 

 loh, 1 Sam. i. and ii.; the appointed time of 1 Sam. 

 xiii. 8, 11, may have been cue of the festivals ; tho 

 Chronicler represents that one principal object of 

 David and Solomon in building the temple was to 

 make provision for the feasts, 1 Chron. xxiii. 31 ; 2 

 Chron. ii. 4 ; the feasts are well known at the time 

 of Solomon's death, 1 Ki. xii. 32, 33 ; they are prom- 

 inent in the writings of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and 



served tho throe feasts mentioned in tho Pentateuch, 

 1 Ki. ix. 25 ; 2 Chron. viii. 13, both passages men- 

 tioning tho "three times in the year," though the 

 names are given in Chronicles only. 



Besides the instances in which it is alluded to in 

 connection with the other festivals, the Feast of 

 Tabernacles is several times mentioned by itself. 

 In Josh. viii. 35, tho phraseology used is that of tho 

 law for tho Feast of Tabernacles, Dent. xxxi. 10-12, 

 and tho suggestion is that the solemnities recorded 

 in the previous verses took place at tho time of tho 

 feast. In 2 Sam. xi. 11, Uriah says that the ark and 

 i Israel and Judah, but not the army, are dwelling in 

 j booths ; on tho face of it this looks like a celebra- 

 tion of tho feast of booths. The feast of Jud. xxi. 

 19 had a vintage dance connected with it, and may 

 well have been tho Feast of Tabernacles, though if 

 it was, tho dance was a mere incident of it. Samuel 

 was bom "at the revolutions of the days," 1 Sam. i. 

 20, and the account connects an annual feast wilh 

 his birth ; the word translated "revolution" is used 

 only here and 2 Chron. xxiv. 23 ; Ps. six. 7 [6] ; 

 and Ex. xxxiv. 22, where " the revolution of tho 

 year" is the time for tho feast of ingathering. The 

 dedication of Solomon's temple was at the time of 

 the Feast of Tabernacles, 1 Ki. viii. 2, 65-66; 2 

 Chron. v. 3 ; vii. 8, 9. This feast is very prominent- 

 ly mentioned in Zech. xiv. 16, 18, 19. 



The writer on the TABERNACLE in the ENCYCLO- 

 PEDIA BRITANNICA, however, holds that this feast, 

 though in existence from early times, did not become 

 what is called the Feast of Tabernacles that is, more 

 properly, the feast of booths, as described in the 

 \ priestly legislation till the times of Nehemiah. Ha 



