Celebrating the
Feasts and Holy Days of the Bible
A Mini-Pedia of Celebration
Mini-Pedia:
A small collection of related definitions and explanations
covering one limited topic.
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 observances 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."
This
Mini-Pedia
is provided to clarify
some of the Hebrew and Greek
words
that are used in the Bible to describe just what it means
to "celebrate" these special times.
For
a general introduction to the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, see the article
Theme Times elsewhere on this
Times of Refreshing
website. See What is a "Feast"? and
What is a Holy Day? for an
overview of the meanings of those terms. This Mini-Pedia
builds on concepts explained in those articles. If
you are not familiar with the cycle of these Feasts and
Holy Days, you may wish to read that material first.
See the
Sources footnote at the end of this
article for details on the sources for definitions provided
within this material.
Solemn Feasts?
There is a
common phrase used a number of times in the King James Version
of the Bible (KJV) that confuses some people
who are considering the idea of "celebrating" the Feasts and Holy Days of the 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 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 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 other 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. The KJV translated the
single Hebrew word chagag as the phrase "keep a solemn
feast" or "hold a solemn assembly." 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 when the root word chagag is used. 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.
Solemn Assembly
Those same KJV translators did the
same thing with another Hebrew word. Regarding the observance of
the Holy Day after the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes
referred to as the "Eighth Day Assembly," they record this
description of Solomon dedicating the Temple in Jerusalem:
2Ch 7:9
And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly:
for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and
the feast seven days.
In this case, the term "solemn
assembly" is once again translated from a single Hebrew word,
atsareth or atsarah. Strong's Concordance explains that
these words mean:
an assembly, especially on a
festival or holiday
Just as with chagag, there
is nothing in the Hebrew that connotes somber or gloomy. The
translators were merely reflecting the usage of solemn in 1611,
having to do with a "regularly appointed" assembly.
Times to Rejoice
Far from being times of somber
gloominess, most references to the Feasts and Holy Days of the
Bible include words like rejoice, joyful, and delight!
Below are sample passages from
the Bible related to the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, and
clarification of the Hebrew and Greek words that are used in the
original biblical sources. The main quotations are taken from
the New International Version (NIV) translation, with occasional
references to show how some of the terms were rendered in the
KJV.
Rejoice, be Joyful
Leviticus 23:39-40
So beginning
with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have
gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the
LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the
eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day
you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds,
leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice
before the LORD your God for seven days.
Deuteronomy 12:10-12
But you will
cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is
giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all
your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.
Then to the place
the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there
you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings
and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the
choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.
And there rejoice before the LORD your God,
you, your sons and
daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites
from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their
own.
Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Celebrate the
Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the
produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
Be joyful at
your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and
maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and
the widows who live in your towns. For seven days
celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD
will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your
harvest and in all the work of your hands, and
your joy will
be complete.
All of these words about
rejoicing and being joyful in the English are derived from the
Hebrew root word śâmach. Its forms are
translated in the KJV Bible variously as "cheer up," "be or make
glad," "have joy," "make merry," and "rejoice."
In general, śâmach
means to brighten up, make to be blithe or gleesome.
We don't use blithe and gleesome much these days.
Blithe means "of a happy, lighthearted character or
disposition." And gleesome means "exultant, high-spirited
joy."
It is hard to imagine an attitude farther from somber gloominess
than exultant, high-spirited joy!
Celebrate
Leviticus
23:41
Celebrate this [Feast of
Tabernacles] as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come;
celebrate it in the seventh month.
The Hebrew word here translated
as celebrate is châgag. Although it technically
means to "move in a circle," that is, "to march in a sacred
procession," the ultimate implication is said to even be
"giddy"! In addition to celebrate, it is also translated at
times in the KJV as "dance" and "reel to and fro."
It would seem that God intends
the celebration of His feasts to be lively!
Gladness
2 Chronicles 30:21
The Israelites who were
present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened
Bread for seven days with great
rejoicing [KJV: great
gladness], while the Levites
and priests sang to the LORD every day, accompanied by the LORD's instruments of praise.
The word gladness is from the
Hebrew word śimchâh, which is another version of the
word śâmach mentioned above. It means
"blithesomeness" or "glee," and is translated at times in the
KJV as "mirth, pleasure, gladness, joyfulness, and rejoicing."
It is obvious that the KJV
translators realized that "solemn feasts" weren't intended to be
somber and gloomy! And the translators of other versions,
including such modern translations as the NIV and the New
American Standard Bible (NASB), realize this as well.
But ... fireworks? Isn't that
going a bit overboard in exuberance?
Evidently not in the history of
Israel. Here is a description of one of the aspects of the Feast
of Tabernacles in the first century in Jerusalem. No, this
doesn't describe the kind of fireworks we have today, as they
hadn't been invented yet. But this is perhaps as close to the
same type of effect of dramatic nighttime illuminations that one
can get with just standard fire!
The evening
brought the most joyous part of the festival, the ceremony
called "the festivity of the water drawing." It was said
that "He who has not witnessed it has not seen what real
festivity is."
The Court
of the Women was crowded with people, and special galleries
were built above the courtyard for the women, while the men
assembled below in the courtyard. In the center of the court
were four golden menorot [candelabra] built on bases fifty
yards high. Each menorah had four branches terminating in
huge cups into which oil was poured. The wicks were made
from the worn-out garments of the priests. Throughout the
night, the cups were kept full, and the light of these
menorot was so intense that it is said to have illuminated
all of Jerusalem.
During the
night, the men carried lit torches and danced while
waving the torches, throwing them into the air, and catching
them.
Songs were
sung and instruments played, and the festivities continued
into the morning hours. In the morning after the sacrifice
was offered, a priest made his way to the Pool of Siloam for
the water libation.
What an
awesome, joyous spectacle that celebration must have been.
No wonder Tabernacles is known as the merriest of the yearly
festivals.
http://www.shalomoutreachministries.com/articles/articles.asp?ID=3
Although
there was no command in the Bible that this type of custom
must be incorporated into the celebration of the Feast of
Tabernacles, there is nothing to indicate that it didn't line up
with many of the words discussed above to describe what God
wanted for His people in the way of rejoicing. And there is
nothing to indicate that modern versions of this type of
jubilance would not be appropriate for Feast celebrations.
See Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs
for descriptions of more
of the customs of the past and present used by the Jews to
celebrate the annual Feasts and Holy Days. And see
The 3 R's for more exploration of
some of the principles from the Bible that can be applied to
contemporary observances by Christians today as they develop
appropriate ways to "Celebrate the Feasts."
Sources
PLEASE NOTE: The simple
English definitions of Greek and Hebrew root words in this
Mini-Pedia of Celebration are not intended to be
technical expositions, but merely helpful basics. Students who
wish to go into more detail on the technical nuances in the
ancient languages are encouraged to seek scholarly advice on
what reference works would be most useful.
The definitions
of Greek words are derived from a combination of:
- The online
New Testament Greek Lexicon at
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/NewTestamentGreek/
This Lexicon is based on Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon and Smith’s Bible Dictionary
-
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Greek Lexicon
The definitions
of Hebrew words are derived from a combination of:
- The online
Brown, Driver, Briggs Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon
at
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/OldTestamentHebrew/
-
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Hebrew Lexicon
The definitions
of English words in the material in this collection of articles
are adapted from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
at:
http://www.m-w.com/home.htm
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