A. Besides the hooks and fillets of the pillars of the court, and the sockets of some of the pillars, and of all the boards of the tabernacle, which were of silver, Exod xxvi. 19, &c. and xxvii. 10, &c. there were chargers and bowls of silver, offered by the princes for the use of the sanctuary, Numb. vii. 13. and trumpets of silver, Numb. x. 2.

90 Q. What were the instruments of brass?

A. Those which belonged to the altar of burntoffering; namely, the pots, shovels, basins, and fleshhooks, and fire-pans, besides the brazen grate of network, Exod. xxxviii. 3, 4. Also the common censers for incense were supposed to be vessels of brass fit to hold fire, Numb. xvi. 17, 37.

91 Q. What were the instruments of wood?

A. The staves fixed to the golden rings to bear the ark, the incense altar, and the golden table, were all made of Shittim wood, and overlaid with gold, Exod, xxxvii. 4, 15, 25; but the staves to bear the altar of burnt-offering were overlaid with brass, Exod. xxxviii. 6.

SECTION V.

Of the holy times and holy actions.

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92 Q. Having surveyed the holy things of the Jews, let us inquire what were the chief of the holy times or days appointed to them?

A. The weekly sabbaths, the new moons, the feast of the passover, the feast of pentecost, the feast. of trumpets, the great day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. See most or all of these holy times prescribed in Lev. xxiii. and the several sacrifices belonging to them, in Numb. xxviii. xxix.

93 Q. What was the weekly sabbath?

A. The seventh day of every week was a day of holy rest from all the common labours of life, and a day of assembling, or worship, which is called a holy convocation, Exod. xx. 8, 10. Lev. xxiii. 2, 3.

94 Q. What special public service was done on this day?

A. The daily sacrifice was doubled, Numb. xxviii. 9. and it is very probable that some portions of the law were to be read, and perhaps expounded, chiefly by the priests and Levites, as was practised afterwards in the synagogues, Acts. xv. 21; and perhaps also this might be done at least in the following times on all days of holy convocation.

95 Q. Why was this day sanctified or made holy? A. Partly from God's resting from the work of creation on the seventh day, and partly in remembrance of the Israelites' deliverance and rest from their slavish labours in Egypt, Exod. xx. 11, Deut. v, 15. 96 Q. What was the feast of the new moons?

A. In the beginning of their months, which they reckoned by new moons, they were to blow the silver trumpets, and offer a special sacrifice, Numb. x. 10. xxviii. 11. 1 Sam. xx. 5. Psalm lxxxi. 3.

97 Q. What was the feast of the passover?'

A. It was kept for seven days in their first month, Abib, by sacrificing a lamb, and eating it in every family in remembrance of God's passing over the families of Israel, when he slew the first-born in every house of the Egyptians, Exod. xii. 18, &c.

Here note, That the first month of the Jews, for all the common affairs of life, which are called civil affairs, was Tisri, which in part answers to our September, and is the first month after the autumnal equinox, and it was always so to continue for civil affairs, as appears from ¡Exod, xxiii. 16. chap. xxxiv. 22. and Lev. xxv. 8-10. But as to ecclesiastical or religious matters, the first month after the vernal equinox, called Abib, which answers partly to our March, was designed to be the beginning of the year to the Jews, in memory of their great deliverance from Egypt.

98 Q. In what manner was the feast of the passover kept?

A. On the fourteenth day of the month, they were

to roast a lamb for supper, and to eat unleavened bread that evening, and seven days after, Exod. xii. 3, 8, 19. Numb. xxviii. 16, 17.

99 Q. Was there any particular worship performed on these seven days?

A. Yes, there were special sacrifices every day: a sheaf of the first ripe corn, that is, barley, was now offered to God; and on the first and last day there was a holy convocation or assembly for worship, Exod. xii. 16. Numb. xxviii. 18, &c. Lev. xxiii. 10. 100 Q. What was the feast of pentecost?

A. Fifty days, or seven weeks, after the first ripe corn (or barley) had been offered to God, there was a particular sacrifice, and a holy assembly, and two loaves of the first fruits of wheat were to be offered, Lev. xxiii. 15-21.

Note, This was called the feast of weeks, Deut. xvi. 16. compared with Exod. xxiii. 16. It was a sheaf of barley that was offered at a passover, and two loaves of wheat at pentecost, both of them as first fruits. See Pool's Annotat. on Exod. xxiii. 16.

101 Q. What was the reason of the feast of the pentecost?

A. It was kept as a thanksgiving for the beginning of wheat harvest, Exod. xxiii. 16, and perhaps also in memory of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai ; which was seven weeks, or fifty days, after the passover, and their coming out of Egypt, Exod. xix. 1, 11. Note, They went out of Egypt the fourteenth day of the first month, Exod. xii. 17, 18. From thence to the beginning of the third month is forty-six or forty-seven days, when they came to the mount of Sinai, Exod. xix. 1,2. Then they purified themselves three days, v. 11, 15. and God gave the law the fiftieth day; and this feast was. called pentecost, which in the Greek signifies fiftieth. 102 Q. What was the feast of trumpets?

A. The first day of the seventh month, blowing of trumpets was appointed with peculiar sacrifices, and a holy assembly, Lev, xxiii. 24. Numb. xxix. 1, &c.

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103 Q. What are supposed to be the two chief designs of this feast of trumpets?

A. (1.) This seventh month having several holy days in it, it was a sort of sabbatical month, or month of sabbaths, and was to be begun with an extraordinary sound of trumpets. (2.) This was counted the first month, and first day of the year for civil matters, as the others were for things religious, and was to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet. See Pool's Annotat. on Lev. xxiii. 24. and xxv. 9.

Note, As the seventh day was the sabbath, or day of rest from labour, so the seventh month was a sort of sabbatical month; the seventh year a sabbatical year, to let the land rest from tillage; and at or after the seventh sabbatical year, that is, once in fifty years, there was a year of jubilee, or release, and rest from servitude or bondage. Lev. xxv. 2, &c.

104 Q. What was the great day of atonement ?

A. The tenth day of the seventh month was appointed as a general day of public fasting and humiliation, repentance, and atonement for all the people, Lev. xxiii. 27. and xvi. 29. and Numb. xxix. 7.

105 Q. What was to be done on that day?

A. This was the day when the high priest, dressed in his richest garments, was to enter into the most holy place with the blood of a peculiar sacrifice, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat before the Lord, to make atonement for the sins of the whole nation, and to offer incense on the golden censer. See several

Let

more ceremonies belonging to this day, Lev. xvi. it be observed also, that in the year of jubilee, on this great day of atonement, the trumpet of jubilee was to be sounded through the land, to proclaim liberty to all the inhabitants, Lev. xxv. 8—10.

106 Q. What was the feast of tabernacles?

A. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, at the end of all their harvest, they began this feast, and dwelt seven days in booths made of the boughs of trees, Deut. xvi. 13.

107 Q. What was the design of this ceremony?

A. To keep in memory their dwelling in booths in the wilderness, when they went out of the land of Egypt, Lev. xxiii. 39–44.

108 Q. How was this feast observed ?

A. by peculiar sacrifices every day of the feast, and a holy assembly on the first day, and on the eighth day, Numb. xxix. 12, &c.

109 Q. At what hour did their sabbaths and all their feasts begin and end?

A. The Jews counted their days, and particuliarly their holy days, from the evening of sunset to the next evening, Gen. i. 5. Lev. xxiii. 5, 32.

110 Q. At what place were the feasts to be kept? A. At the place which God should choose for the residence of the ark and tabernacle; which was first at Shiloh, afterwards at Jerusalem; though the blowing of trumpets to proclaim the beginning of the year was practised in all the cities of Israel. See Deut. xvi. 16. and Pool's Annot. on Lev. xxiii. 24. 2 Kings xxi. 4.

111 Q. How then could all Israel keep these feasts? A. At the three chief feasts, namely, the passover, pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles, all the males were to appear before God in one place with some offering, Exod. xxiii. 14-17. Deut. xvi. 16.

112 Q. What was the offering they were to bring unto God when they appeared before him at these solemn feasts?

A. The tithe or tenth part of their corn, wine, and oil, and the first-born of their cattle; but they themselves were to partake in eating of it, Deut. xiv. 22, 23, though the bulk of it was to be given to the priests and Levites. See chap. vi. quest. 15, 16.

113 Q. Was it not dangerous for them to leave their own dwellings, in towns and villages, which bordered on their enemy's country?

A. God promised them, that when they should go up to appear before him thrice in the year, no man should desire their land, Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24, which was a standing miracle during that dispensation..