The Seven Feasts ⅠThe Historical Background Of the Seven FeastsThere are probably few people in the world who do not enjoy celebration days. Many people look forward to holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Independence Day, and Memorial Day. There are also various celebrations, called “feasts,” in the calendar used by the Israelites. Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First Fruits, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Dedication, and Purim are representative of these feasts of the Jews. The Feast of Dedication and Purim are not actually specified in the law of Moses; these are days that came to be celebrated in the course of history after many years. Purim was designated as a feast after Esther and Mordecai succeeded in thwarting the evil plan of Hamon who was intent on annihilating the entire nation of the Israelites at the time of King Xerxes of the Persian Empire in the fifth century BC. Purim takes place on the 14th day of the month of Adar in the Jewish calendar, which is early March according to the Gregorian calendar.The Feast of Dedication is also known as the “festival of lights” or “Hanukkah” and commemorates the rededication of the temple after the Jews drove out Antiochus IV, king of Seleucus, who had persecuted Judaism and defiled the temple during the rule of the Greeks around the second century BC. This feast takes place on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Jewish calendar, which is about mid December according to the Gregorian calendar.The Feast of Dedication is mentioned just one time in the New Testament: in John’s Gospel chapter 10 verse 22. Since this feast came about between the times of the Old and New Testaments and after the entire Old Testament had been recorded, it does not appear at all in the Old Testament itself. The Old Testament merely contains a prophecy made by Daniel about the background events that would lead to the Feast of Dedication.The Old Testament introduces seven feasts in the law of Moses: from Passover to the Feast of Booths. Nevertheless, it is not easy to understand the words of the law that explain these feasts. The first point of which we need to take note is that these feasts were explained not just once, but several times and over a period of about forty years while the Israelites were in the wilderness. This is difficult to understand if we are lazy about reading the Bible. Another important point is that at times these seven feasts are explained in terms of three feasts, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread making up the first feast, the feasts from the Feast of First Fruits to Pentecost being the second feast, and the Feast of Booths the last feast.There is only one passage in the Bible that explains all seven feasts together, and that is Leviticus chapter 23. Then, Numbers chapters 28 and 29 provide a detailed record of the offerings to be made during all these feasts.The Historical Background of the Seven FeastsAt the time of Jacob and his twelve sons, Joseph—the eleventh of these sons—became the object of the jealousy of his brothers and they sold him into slavery in Egypt. There, with God’s help, Joseph rose to the position of governor, second only to the king. Later, Joseph forgave his brothers, and the latter part of Genesis tells how the entire family moved down to Egypt and settled in the land of Goshen. Over about the next four hundred years, the children of Israel became a great nation, but then a king came to power in Egypt who did not know about Joseph, and he enslaved the Israelites. We read aboutthis at the beginning of Exodus.During that time, Moses, who was born of the tribe of Levi, was adopted and raised by the pharaoh’s daughter. When Moses had grown to be a man, knowing that he himself was a Hebrew, he went out to see how his fellow countrymen were doing. As he examined their situation, he saw one of them being beaten by an Egyptian, and he attacked and killed the Egyptian. When this matter came to the light, Moses fled from pharaoh to the land of Midian.Forty years after that, God appeared to Moses. God sent him back to Egypt and commanded him to lead Israel, the people of God, back to the land of Canaan that God had promised to his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to conquer that land and settle down there.Moses went with his brother Aaron to persuade pharaoh, but pharaoh’s heart was hardened and several times he refused to obey God’s command that they relayed to him. Each time pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, God brought a great plague upon the land of Egypt, but pharaoh’s heart remained hardened.After bringing nine plagues upon Egypt, God explained what he intended to do for the tenth and final plague. This is recorded in Exodus chapter 11.So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.  verses 4-8Here God warned that he was going to kill all the firstborn of man and animal in Egypt. God was going to bring about a plague of great slaughter in order to free the Israelites from their life of slavery in Egypt, but he provided the Israelites with a way to escape from this tenth plague. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on you

정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.