'Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple,

What think ye, that He will not come to the feast?'--John 11:56

The symbolical character which is to be traced in all the institutions of the Old

Testament, appears also in the arrangement of its festive calendar. Whatever

classification of the festivals may be proposed, one general characteristic pervades the

whole. Unquestionably, the number seven marks in Scripture the sacred measurement of

time. The Sabbath is the seventh of days; seven weeks after the commencement of the

ecclesiastical year is the Feast of Pentecost; the seventh month is more sacred than the

rest, its 'firstborn' or 'New Moon' being not only devoted to the Lord like those of the

other months, but specially celebrated as the 'Feast of Trumpets,' while three other

festivals occur within its course--the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and

its Octave. Similarly, each seventh year is Sabbatical, and after seven times seven years

comes that of Jubilee. Nor is this all. Seven days in the year may be designated as the

most festive, since in them alone 'no servile work' was to be done, 111 while on the so-

called minor festivals (Moed Katon), that is, on the days following the first of the

Passover week and of that of Tabernacles, the diminution of festive observances and of

restrictions on labour marks their less sacred character.

Besides this general division of time by the sacred number seven, certain general ideas

probably underlay the festive cycles. Thus we may mark two, or else three, such cycles;

the one commencing with the Paschal sacrifice and ending on the Day of Pentecost, to

perpetuate the memory of Israel's calling and wilderness life; the other, which occurs in

the seventh month (of rest), marking Israel's possession of the land and grateful homage

to Jehovah. From these two cycles the Day of Atonement may have to be distinguished,

as intermediate between, applying to both, and yet possessing a character of its own, as

Scripture calls it, 'a Sabbath of Sabbatism,' 112 in which not only 'servile work,' but as on

the weekly Sabbath, labour of any kind was prohibited.

In Hebrew two terms are employed--the one, Moed, or appointed meeting, applied to all

festive seasons, including Sabbaths and New Moons; the other, Chag, from a root

which means 'to dance,' or 'to be joyous,' applying exclusively to the three festivals of

Easter, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, in which all males were to appear before the Lord in

His sanctuary. If we might venture to render the general term Moadim by 'trystings' of

Jehovah with His people, the other would be intended to express the joyousness which

was to be a leading characteristic of the 'pilgrim-feasts.' Indeed, the Rabbis expressly

mention these three as marking the great festivals: Reiyah, Chagigah, and Simchah; that

is, presence, or appearance at Jerusalem; the appointed festive offerings of the

worshippers, which are not to be confounded with the public sacrifices offered on these

occasions in the name of the whole congregation; and joyousness, with which they

connect the freewill offerings that each brought, as the Lord had blessed him, and which

afterwards were shared with the poor, the desolate, and the Levite, in the joyous meal

that followed the public services of the Temple. To these general characteristics of the

three great feasts we ought, perhaps, to add in regard to all festive seasons, that each

was to be a 'holy convocation,' or gathering for sacred purposes; the injunction of 'rest'