134 LT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY ON BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY. 



carrying out of the septiform arrangement: this must have 

 added to the splendours of the feasts, and it must have had a 

 practical advantage in the avoidance of confusion* as we 

 remember that all the males were ordered to appear before the 

 Lord on these three occasions (Ex. xxiii, 17). It is observable 

 that there was no feast at Midsummer, when the great heathen 

 orgies of Tammuz, and sun worship generally, were celebrated 

 by the neighbouring heathen. 



The feast of the Passover was the foundation day of Hebrew 

 Deliverance (Ex. xii, 27), and Christ our Passover (i Cor. v, 7) 

 also died on the same day (Mark xv, 42). 



The feast of Weeks or first fruits was the day of the giving 

 of the lawf (Ex. xix, 1, 10, 11), and also of the descent of the 

 Holy Spirit (Acts ii, 1, 2). 



The great feature of the feast of Tabernacles was rejoicing 

 (Lev. xxiii, 40 ; Deut. xvi, 15 E.V. " altogether joyful ") at 

 ingathering. When the Hebrew nation had reached the 

 summit of its glory, Solomon's temple was dedicated on that 

 day (I Kings viii, 2), and the people were sent away "joyful and 

 glad of heart" (i Kings viii, 66). There is also to be a future 

 glorious keeping of this same feast at Jerusalem (Zech. xiv, 16), 

 and it is also typical of the future day of great joy in store for 

 the Christian (i Pet. iv, 13). 



Under some circumstances the Passover was allowed to be 

 kept on the corresponding days of the second month, instead of 

 the first (Num. ix, 10, 11 ; II Chr. xxx, 2) ; but Jeroboam was 

 severely blamed for setting up a rival feast on the eighth month 

 instead of the seventh, a date which " he had devised of his 

 own heart " (i Kings xii, 32, 33). 



In Ezekiel xlv, 21, 25, the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles 

 are alluded to, but not that of Weeks ; and generally there is 

 more frequent mention of the first and last feasts than of the 

 intermediate one. The prominence of two of the feasts over 

 the other is expressed astronomically by their occurrence at the 

 definite periods of the equinoctial full moons, while the other 

 feast was at a time of no special astronomical importance. As 

 the fronts of the tabernacle and of the temple faced to the 



* A volunteer friend tells me that another volunteer, who was in the 

 habit of attending Easter manoeuvres, and whose power of observation 

 exceeded his information, once said to him, " How remarkable it is I 

 always find a full moon for this outing ! the moonlight at night is very 

 convenient in camp life." 



t See p. 48, The Portable Commentary, Kev. K. Jamieson, D.D. 



