remember that the Priestly Code is based upon ancient and traditional ordinances. Indeed the ceremonial system of the Hebrews was doubtless closely akin to that of other Semitic nations; it contained elements probably borrowed from the Canaanites. This point is amply illustrated in such a book as W. Robertson Smith's Religion of the Semites. The peculiar feature of the Hebrew system in its developed form is that it gives concrete expression to certain spiritual ideas. There lies behind it the prophetic conception of a holy people sanctified by the indwelling presence of the God of holiness (cp. Ezek. xlviii. 35).

The general effect of this elaborate and formal code was twofold. On the one hand it played a real part in the religious education of Israel. It tended to develope and deepen the sense of sin, and it awakened in devout souls religious affections: trust, devotion, selfsurrender, thankful love, the longing for divine grace. But the dangers that might beset the observance of so detailed a code are obvious enough; the spirit of formalism, the confusion of technical holiness with moral purity, the readiness to acquiesce in a merely external standard of religion.

We should remember however that the very book which included the priestly legislation also contained the deeper spiritual teaching of Deuteronomy. "The prophets moreover remained the eloquent and moving exponents of spiritual religion, and of the paramount claims of the moral law above all ritual observances. The correction for the ceremonialism of P was thus close at hand in writings acknowledged by the Jews themselves as authoritative. . . . The ceremonial legislation never had a separate existence of its own; and the Jewish 'law,' if it is to be judged properly, must be judged as a whole, and not with exclusive reference to one of its parts' (Driver in Hastings' DB. s.v. 'Law (in O. T.)': vol. iii. p. 72). We may indicate in conclusion certain lines of thought and study in regard to the law:

(1) Its religious and moral symbolism. See esp. Willis, Worship of the Old Covenant. (Parker & Co., 1880.)

(2) The effect of the Law in the post-exilic age as a safeguard against the disintegrating influences of Hellenism. See esp. Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, lectt. vii.-ix.

(3) The place of the Law in the N. T. and in post-biblical Judaism.

APPENDIX III.

SACRED SEASONS OF THE JEWISH YEAR.

I. Connected with the Sabbath.

(1). The weekly Sabbath.

(2) The New Moon (Num. x. 10, xxviii. 11–15).

(3) The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month (Tisri). This day marking the commencement of the civil year was observed with special solemnity. Additional sacrifices were offered, and the silver trumpets used on the occasion of each New Moon were blown more frequently. See Num. xxix. 1-6; Lev. xxiii. 24 fol.

(4) The Sabbatical Year: during which the land was to rest and lie still (Exod. xxiii. 11), debts were to be remitted, and Hebrew slaves set free (Deut. xv. 1-3, 12-15).

(5) The Year of Jubilee (mentioned only in P) closed a cycle of 7 × 7 years. In the fiftieth year, which was proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet on the Day of Atonement, alienated property was to revert to its original owners. This ideal arrangement was intended to assert the principle that all the land occupied by Israel belonged to God. Another feature of the Jubilee was the liberation of all bondmen of Hebrew race (Lev. xxv. 8-16, 23-35, xxvii. 16-25).

II. The three great national festivals (Heb. Chaggim, i.e. occasions of pilgrimage' [Arab. haj] to Jehovah's sanctuary): the Passover, Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles.

These three feasts were annual occasions of rejoicing connected

with different stages of the harvest. The Hebrews however assigned to them a certain historical significance as well. They were associated with memories and incidents of the Exodus and the period of the wanderings.

1. The Passover (NDD, πáoɣa) was closely followed by the Feast of Mazzoth or 'unleavened bread' (εopTǹ tŵv åľúμwv). As a matter of fact the origin of the two feasts seems to have been distinct but in Exod. xii., xiii. they are closely combined, and in the N.T. they are practically identified. The Passover falling on Nisan 14 served as a preparation for the Feast of Mazzoth (Nisan 15-21 (just as the great Day of Atonement (Tisri 10) heralded the Feast of Tabernacles (Tisri 15). The two feasts together (Passover and Mazzoth) marked the beginning of harvest. On Nisan 16 the first ripe sheaf of barley was to be brought into the Sanctuary and waved before Jehovah. Before this ceremony took place no produce of the new harvest might be eaten (Lev. xxiii. 9–14).

The Passover was a memorial of the nation's redemption from Egypt. Its distinctive feature, in virtue of which it is spoken of as Jehovah's 'sacrifice' (Exod. xii. 27, xxxiv. 25), was the slaughter of a lamb. The victim was selected on the 10th day and slain on the 14th. It was then roasted whole with fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs by the assembled household. Anything left was consumed with fire. Later ceremonies, e.g. the introduction of four cups of wine, the first of which was solemnly blessed by the head of the company, the singing of the Hallel, etc., are implied in the N.T. See St. Luke xxii. 17 foll. (Cp. Hastings' DB, art. 'Passover'; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. ii. pp. 496 foll.)

Throughout the Feast of Mazzoth special sacrifices were offered daily. The first and last days, Nisan 15 and 21, were days of 'holy convocation.' See Num. xxviii. 19 foll.; Lev. xxiii. 7.

2. The Feast of Pentecost or Weeks (nan, koprǹ ¿ßdoμádwv) took place at the close of seven weeks from Nisan 16. Other titles imply its connection with the operations of harvest, 'The Feast of Harvest' (Exod. xxiii. 16), 'The day of Firstfruits' (Num. xxviii. 26). The feast marked the completion of the corn-harvest. Its most characteristic feature was the waving before Jehovah of two loaves of wheaten flour (Lev. xxiii. 15-17). Special sacrifices were also

prescribed. In post-biblical times Pentecost was regarded as a commemoration of the giving of the Law on Sinai, which was supposed to have occurred on the fiftieth day after the Exodus (see Hastings' DB, art. 'Pentecost'). The festive joy of the Pentecostal Feast was to be shared by all classes of the community, the slave, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Deut. xvi. 11).

3. The Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (n, koptǹ σêηvŵv), also called the ‘feast of ingathering' (Exod. xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22), was observed from Tisri 15 to 22. It marked the completion of the harvest, when the corn, wine, and oil were all gathered in. It was the Hebrew harvest-home,' and was the most joyous and largely frequented feast of the year. Its special feature was the custom of living in tents or booths made of boughs gathered from the trees. See Exod. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 34 foll.; Num. xxix. 12–40; Deut. xvi. 13 foll., and cp. Neh. viii. This custom was intended to commemorate the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. In post-exilic times, portions of the Law were publicly read on each day of the feast, and the sacrifices were more numerous than at any other festival. Other picturesque customs were introduced at a later time, two of which (the procession to Siloam to fetch water which was solemnly poured out at the foot of the altar, and the illumination of the 'court of the women' in the temple) are probably alluded to in St. John vii. 37, and viii. 12. See Westcott, ad loc.

III. Minor Historical Festivals.

1. The Feast of Purim, or 'lots,' is said to have been instituted in commemoration of Haman's overthrow and the failure of his plot for the destruction of the Jews (Esth. iii. 7, ix. 15-32). Hence also the title'day of Mordecai ' in 2 Macc. xv. . 36. It was celebrated on Adar 14 and 15. The 13th Adar was at a later time observed as a fast in preparation for the Feast. On the evening of the 13th the book of Esther was publicly read at the synagogue service amid the execrations of the congregation. Some scholars ascribe to this feast a Persian origin.

2. The Feast of Dedication was instituted to commemorate the re-dedication of the temple after its desecration by Antiochus

Epiphanes (25 Chisleu, 165 B.C.). It lasted for eight days, and was the occasion of extensive illuminations.

Other minor feasts are mentioned by Josephus and in 1 Macc., but they seem never to have been generally observed.

IV. Fasts.

1. The Day of Atonement (37 0", †μépa ¿§ıλaσμoî) was observed on Tisri 10, five days before the joyous feast of Tabernacles. It was the only fast appointed by the Law. The observances of the day are fully prescribed in Lev. xvi. As there is no mention of its observance in biblical times, it has been inferred that the Day of Atonement was not instituted before the time of Nehemiah (see Hastings' DB, art. 'Atonement, Day of'). In any case the developed ritual must have gradually assumed the form described in Lev. xvi.

The leading features of the day were three:

1. The entry of the high priest into the Holy of Holies. 2. The sending away of the scape-goat.

3. The observance of a rigorous fast.

The day was in fact the culminating institution of the sacrificial system. It "summed up and interpreted the whole conception of sacrifices which were designed by divine appointment to gain for man access to God" (Westcott, Hebrews, p. 279). It related to all the sins of the people, thus completing the series of piacular sacrifices. Once a year took place an atoning rite, which included not only the people but the sanctuary itself, in so far as it had contracted defilement from its presence in the midst of a sinful people (Lev. xvi. 16).

See inter alia Schultz, Old Test. Theology [Eng. Tr.], vol. i. pp. 367 foll., 402 foll.; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 388 foll.; Delitzsch's and Westcott's commentaries on the Ep. to the Hebrews.

2. From Zech. vii. 3-5 it may be inferred that two fasts were observed after 586, one in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem (5th month), the other in memory of the murder of Gedaliah and the extinction of the Jewish state (7th month). Two other fasts are mentioned in Zech. viii. 19, both connected with the fall of the city, but it is uncertain whether these were publicly observed. The