'^THE MOSAIC CALENDAR." 



137 



"congregation/' but here, and in Leviticus xxiii, 4 — " these are 

 feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall 

 proclaim in their seasons" — the "seasons" are the "times 

 appointed " for the assembHng of the people in acts of worship. 



The purposes, therefore, for which the lights of heaven were 

 ordained, were not only to give Hght upon the earth, to divide 

 the day from the night, and to be measurers of time for all the 

 nations under heaven — that is to say, " to be for days and years " 

 — -they were to be " for signs and for appointed assembhes ; " 

 signals when men should gather together to worship God. 



This general principle, therefore, is laid down in the first 

 chapter of the Book of Genesis. The Book of Exodus exhibits 

 the principle put into practice. It records how the children of 

 Israel were delivered from their bondage in Egypt, and how 

 Jehovah called them to enter into Covenant relation with Him 

 as His Chosen People. This new relationship began at that 

 strange supper, eaten standing and in haste, before they were 

 called to start on their moonUght march toward the wilderness. 

 Then came the passage of the Red Sea, by which the chains of 

 their slavery were struck from off them, and a few weeks later, 

 an enfranchised people, they entered into solemn Covenant with 

 Jehovah at Mount Sinai. Then ^vith all possible speed the 

 means for seemly pubUc worship were provided : the tabernacle 

 with its furniture was constructed ; the priesthood appointed 

 and the altar consecrated. This done there follows, without 

 a moment's pause, the record of the appointment of the "continual 

 burnt offering " : — 



" Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar ; 

 two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The 

 one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning: and the other 

 lamb thou shalt offer at even : . . . This shall be a continual 

 burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of 

 the tabernacle of the congregation (appointed assemblies) 

 before the Lord : where I will meet you, to speak there 

 unto thee . . . and I will dwell among the children of 

 Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I 

 am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the 

 land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them : I am the 

 Lord their God." (Exodus xxix, 38-46.) 



We find the same observance commanded in the Book of 

 Numbers, chapter xxviii, 1-4 : — 



