It might be
easier to equate this use of the word feast with the word
"party." A
party usually has food, but the food isn’t the party. The party
can have a serious focus, such as honoring a retiree leaving a
company or a young person graduating from high school or
college. But at the same time it usually includes fellowship,
camaraderie, and pleasure for the participants. The biblical feasts were
intended by God to serve all these purposes and more.
Fun Feasts?
But the
notion of pleasure or "fun" at such feast times may seem to go against a
common phrase in the King James Bible. Speaking of the Feast of
Tabernacles, the King James translation records God as saying:
Deuteronomy 16:15
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the
LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose:
because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine
increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore
thou shalt surely rejoice.
In this instance, it is
emphasized that the feast is to be a "solemn feast." In modern
America, the use of the adjective solemn usually refers
to this dictionary definition:
marked by grave
sedateness and earnest sobriety <a solemn gathering>
c :
SOMBER,
GLOOMY
<a solemn gray building>
So is this what God intends, that
people come three times a year to gatherings in which they
are to be grave, sedate, earnestly sober, somber, and gloomy?
No, in the 1600s, when the KJV
was translated, the word solemn was particularly used in the
sense shown in these two modern definitions:
Solemn:
from
Latin sollemnis regularly
appointed
1
: marked by the invocation of a religious sanction
<a solemn oath>
2 : marked by the observance of
established
form or ceremony; specifically : celebrated
with full liturgical ceremony
Because of this
shift in the emphasis of the common usage of the word solemn
today, most modern translations just use the plain term "feast"
in this and related passages. But what did the ancient Hebrew
wording actually say in this passage? The KJV translated the
single Hebrew word chagag as the phrase "keep a solemn
feast." Strong's Concordance explains that chagag means:
to move in a
circle, that is, (specifically) to march in a
sacred procession, to observe a festival; by
implication to be giddy:
It is the
context that tells translators which of these meanings applies.
But the bottom line is that there is nothing about being
"solemn" in the sense of gloomy and somber and gravely sedate in
the original Hebrew of these passages. In fact, far from it ...
for the very word itself carries an implication of being
"giddy"! In some places in the Bible, even the King James
translators chose to render the same exact word as celebrate,
dance, and reel to and fro.
Holy Feasts?
However, even if
some of the activity at these gatherings ended up being
exuberant and festive, there are other comments in the
scriptures about the Feasts that make it clear that the
festivities are not intended to be observed or celebrated in a
mood of carnal, riotous revelry. For they are to be, as the KJV
puts it "Holy Convocations."
Exodus 12:16
And in the first
day there shall be an holy convocation [NIV: "sacred
assembly], and in the seventh day there shall be an holy
convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them,
save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of
you.
These phrases,
holy convocation and sacred assembly, are
translations of the Hebrew term qodesh miqra. And that term
implies the same thing as the English does in modern time: qodesh, holy, and sacred mean:
devoted entirely to the deity or the work of
the deity <a holy temple> <holy prophets>
And miqra,
convocation, and assembly mean:
a company of persons gathered for
deliberation and legislation, worship, or
entertainment
Joyous Feasts
The feasts of the Bible are to
be gatherings that are devoted to the worship of God. Because of
this, they will include activities that are specifically
"religious," such as public reading and exposition of the
Scriptures, prayers, and singing of hymns and spiritual songs.
But they are also to be to times of good food, good fellowship,
and fun for all ages. For instance, speaking of the Feast of
Tabernacles, God says:
Deuteronomy 12:12
And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and
your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and
your maid-servants, and the Levite that is within your
gates, forasmuch as he hath no portion nor inheritance with
you.
The English
word "rejoice" here translates the Hebrew word samach,
which means:
to
brighten up, that is, (figuratively) be (causatively make)
blithe or gleesome
In other places
in the KJV Bible, this same word is translated as "cheer up,"
"be glad," "make glad," "have--or make--joyful," "be merry," or
"make merry."
It has been
God's intent from the beginning of the creation that the times
of gathering to worship Him--His Feasts--would be also the
greatest times of merriment, gladness, cheer, and joy for those
who love Him.
For more
details on the "vocabulary of celebration" in the Bible, see the
Mini-Pedia of Celebration
elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website.
Many people who
accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to
themselves as "Christian" or "Messianic," observe the biblical
Feasts and Holy Days as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They
believe that these Feasts are shadows pointing to the reality of
Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable spiritual
lessons to be learned year by year through actually physically
setting aside these times as "appointments with God."
Each of the three
feasts mentioned in Deuteronomy 16 have individual Holy Days
associated with them. See What Is a
Biblical "Holy Day"? for an explanation of the relationship
between Feasts and Holy Days, and a summary of all of these
Times of Refreshing in the Bible.
For more about the
biblical Feasts in general, see the article
Theme Times elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing
website.
For an explanation
of the Christian observance of each of the Feasts as they come
in their seasons, explore the links on the navigation bar above.
For sources of the
Hebrew, Greek, and English definitions in this and articles on
this website, see the Information page.
For sources
of the Biblical quotations in this and other articles on this
website, see the Information page.
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Refreshing WebAuthor
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of Refreshing website were written by Pam Dewey, with
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Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational
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www.youall.com/oasis
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