FEASTS. “Feast” is used in the Eng. Bible without distinction for both private and public celebrations while Heb. used mishteh for the former and mo’ed or hag for the latter.

I. Old Testament

A. Private feasts (מִשְׁתֶּה, H5492; LXX Γάμος, marriage feast; δοχή, G1531, banquet; or πότος, G4542, drinking party). The social life of ancient Israel provided many joyous occasions that were celebrated with feasts: weddings (Gen 29:22)—the celebrations of which might extend seven days (Judg 14:10, 12, 17)—the weaning of a child (Gen 21:8), the birthday of a king (40:20), and the arrival of or approaching departure of guests (19:3; 26:30). Sheepshearing was also a joyous season and the first sheared wool went to the sanctuary (Deut 18:4; cf. Gen 38:12; 1 Sam 25:4-11, 36; 2 Sam 13:23-27). Job’s children held a feast at the house of each on his day (Job 1:4, 5). In the days of the monarchies there were state occasions (2 Sam 3:20; Esth 1:3ff.; Dan 5:1). Solomon dedicated the Temple with a feast (1 Kings 8:65); the queen might entertain the king (Esth 5:4, 14; 7:2, 7). Solomon celebrated his dream with a feast (1 Kings 3:15) and Ahasuerus celebrated his finding of a new queen (Esth 2:18).

Ancient Hebrews were not ascetics. Often feasts demanded no specific occasion other than gladness (Job 1:4, 5; Isa 5:12). It was a severe restriction upon participation in social life imposed by the Lord on Jeremiah when He forbade him to go to the house of feasting (Jer 16:8).

B. Communal feasts (מﯴעֵד, H4595, appointed time; חַג, H2504, festival gathering, esp. one observed by a pilgrimage; LXX ἑορτή, G2038, festival). Moses and Aaron in Egypt requested of Pharaoh permission to celebrate a feast in the desert (Exod 5:1ff.). After the Exodus the communal festivals were seasons of rejoicing (Deut 16:14). In early Israel at the yearly feast in Shiloh the girls danced in the vineyard (Judg 21:21). Elkanah annually attended the feast at Shiloh (1 Sam 1:3ff.). Later there were processions at the house of the Lord with songs and shouts (Ps 42:4). There was the ever present danger that drinking might result in drunkenness (1 Sam 1:13-15). Abuse of the festivals and false trust in their efficacy brought forth denunciations from the prophets (Isa 1:12-14). The communal festivals of Israel may be thought of in categories of: (1) weekly, (2) monthly, (3) annual, and (4) periodic events.

1. Weekly festival—The Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, H8701, LXX σάββατον, G4879, rest). The seventh day, sanctified by the Lord at creation (Gen 2:1-3), but not observed until the time of the Exodus (Exod 16:23), is listed in festivals (Lev 23:1). The day commemorated both the Lord’s rest at creation and the deliverance from servitude to Egypt (Deut 5:12-15). It is a sign between Jehovah and Israel (Exod 31:17; Ezek 20:12, 20).

The Sabbath was observed by strict cessation of servile work from sunset until sunset (Exod 20:12, 13; Neh 13:15-22) so that kindling a fire (Exod 35:3) and picking up sticks (Num 15:32, 33) were punishable by death (Exod 31:14; 35:2). One must remain in his place (Exod 16:29; Lev 23:3). Forming an analogy from the two thousand cubits of Numbers 35:2, the rabbis defined the Sabbath day’s journey to be limited to two thousand cubits (Acts 1:12; Jos. War V. ii. 3; cf. M. Erubin 4:1). The topic of movements on the Sabbath is treated at length in the Mishna tractate Erubin.

Some Jews of the Maccabean period allowed themselves to be massacred on the Sabbath rather than to profane it by self-defense after which the Maccabees permitted self-defense on the day (1 Macc 2:38-41). Some Jews would not negotiate for peace on the Sabbath (Jos. War IV. ii. 3). The extent of permitted activities was a point of dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees. The latter permitted defiling the Sabbath when human life was in danger. Jesus contended that lesser cases of human need as well as animal need took precedence over the Sabbath (Matt 12:1ff.). The Zadokite Fragment (10:14ff.), denies the right to aid suffering beasts on the Sabbath but grants it for humans.

Special offerings were made on the Sabbath (Num 28:9, 19) and the twelve loaves of showbread were placed on the table in the Holy Place (Lev 24:5-8). Psalm 92 is said to be a Psalm of the Sabbath. The day was a day of holy convocation (Lev 23:3) but only after the rise of the synagogue are instruction and worship activities attested as a prominent part of Sabbath observance (Luke 4:16, 31ff.; Acts 13:14; 18:4).

Despite its restrictions, the Sabbath was a joyous occasion (2 Kings 4:23; Isa 58:13ff.) the cessation of which in the Exile was considered as a punishment from God (Lam 2:6; Hos 2:11). The prophets called for proper Sabbath observance (Isa 56:4; Jer 17:19ff.).

2. Monthly festival—the New Moon (חֹ֫דֶשׁ֒, H2544, or רֹאשׁ הַחֹדֶשׁ; LXX νουμήνια). At the beginning of the month special offerings were demanded by the law (Num 28:11-15; cf. Ezra 3:5). There was also a blowing of trumpets (Num 10:10; Ps 81:3). The observance was prominent in the period of the kings and an accidental uncleanness excused one from attending as did a conflict with a “daily feast.” One might visit a holy man on that day (2 Kings 4:9). David’s arrangements for the Levites included service on the new moon (1 Chron 23:31). A cessation of activity, not demanded in the law, seems to have been observed with laxity in Amos’ day (Amos 8:5). This day with others is included in prophetic denunciations of abuses of religious observances (Isa 1:13, 14). The Exile brought a temporary cessation (Hos 2:11 [13])) but the festival continued to the end of OT time (Neh 10:33) and formed a part of Ezekiel’s Temple description (Ezek 45:17) and of Isaiah’s picture of the new heaven and earth (Isa 66:22, 23).

In Pauline thought new moons and sabbaths are mere shadows of good things to come (Col 2:16).

3. Annual festivals. a. Pentateuchal festivals. These annual seasons—designated by ḥag, “to dance, to turn around”—requiring the appearance of all males at the sanctuary dominated the Israelite religious year: Passover, Weeks, and Ingatherings (Deut 16:16). These occasions, called “the feasts of the Lord” (Exod 12:14; Lev 23:39, 41, etc.), were times in which freewill offerings were made (Deut 16:16, 17). Some aspects of the seasons were celebrated at night (Isa 30:29). These days were of course interrupted by the Exile (Hos 9:5).

(1) Passover (פֶּ֫סַח, H7175; LXX πάσχα, G4247). The Passover commemorated the final plague in Egypt in which the first-born of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites were spared by the blood on the doorpost (Exod 12:11, 21, 27, 43, 48). Thereafter the event was observed as a feast to the Lord (12:14). The second Passover was observed in the wilderness of Sinai (Num 9:1-5).

Passover fell in the first month (Abib; Deut 16:1; the first month is called Nisan in postexilic times: Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7) on the fourteenth day at evening (Lev 23:5). The victim was selected on the tenth day of the month (Exod 12:3) and after slaughter on the fourteenth was boiled and eaten (Deut 16:7). Neither the uncircumcised person nor the hired servant could eat (Exod 12:48). None of the lamb should be left over on the following morning (34:25). Special sacrifices were made to the Lord (Num 28:16-25). The unclean person observed the corresponding day in the second month (9:10ff.).

This night was followed by seven days—the ḥag hammassot—in which unleavened bread was eaten (Exod 34:18, 19; Lev 23:6; cf. Exod 12:31-34). For this reason the NT speaks of the entire season as “the days of unleavened bread” (Acts 12:3; Luke 22:1). On the first and the seventh of these days no servile work was to be done and special offerings were made upon them all.

The Passover was observed at Gilgal when Joshua brought Israel into Canaan (Josh 5:10-12). Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah were characterized by elaborate Passover celebrations (2 Kings 23:21-23; 2 Chron 30:1ff.; 35:1-19). Passover and unleavened bread were observed by the Elephantine Jews (ANET, p. 491).

The liturgy of the Passover celebration is the subject of minute elaboration in the Mishna tractate Passover. Despite the assertion of Jubilees 49:16 that one cannot eat the Passover outside the sanctuary, Jesus ate with His disciples in a private house as was the custom of the times (cf. M. Passover 5; 8:13). In addition to the pilgrimage to Jerusalem this festival retained some features of a home celebration which reasserted themselves after the fall of Jerusalem. The Passover meal was eaten at home with bitter herbs, successive cups of wine, the blessings and reciting of the Psalms. Whether a roast was eaten or not varied from community to community (M. Passover 4:4). The need for each individual to feel personally that he was brought out of Egypt was stressed.

During NT times large crowds, including Greeks, attended the celebration (John 12:20; Jos. War VI. ix. 3). Jesus was a participant in the celebration (Luke 2:42; John 2:13; 6:4; 11:5) and was Himself crucified during the Passover season (John 13:1). Peter’s imprisonment and deliverance was also at this season (Acts 12:3 RSV; KJV “Easter”).

In Pauline thought the Passover is used fig. when Christ our Passover Lamb is said to have been sacrificed and when the disposing of the leaven is allegorized to signify the casting out of insincerity (1 Cor 5:7).

(2) Weeks or Pentecost (שָׁבֻעֹת׃֙; LXX ἑορτὴ̀ ἑβδομάδων; NT: πεντηκοστή, G4300). This one day festival, thought earlier to have been the “feast of harvest” (Exod 23:16), the “feast of weeks” (34:22) or the “feast of firstfruits” (Num 28:26), is named from the fact that its date is set by counting from the sabbath of Passover to the morrow after the seventh sabbath (Lev 23:15ff.; cf. Tobit 2:1: “the feast of Pentecost which is the sacred festival of the seven weeks”). Two loaves of bread and seven lambs one year old, one bullock and two rams made up the special offering of the day. No laborious work was to be done. A free-will offering was to be made, and there was to be rejoicing with family and with the unfortunate classes of the community: the Levite, widow, orphan, and sojourner (Deut 16:9-12).

A memorial significance was given to the Feast of Weeks by the rabbis by the 2nd cent. a.d. when they designated it as the time the law was given at Sinai (T. B. Pesahim 68b), but the connection is not made in Scripture. The Book of Jubilees puts all the covenants it can find in the OT on the day of the Feast of Weeks. The Qumran Community celebrated the renewal of the covenant on the Feast of Weeks.

An ambiguity in the instructions for the day was the occasion of debate between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The former argued that “Sabbath” (Lev 23 means the first day of Passover without regard to the day of the week (Mishna Haggigah 2:4). Thereby for them Pentecost could fall on any day of the week. The Sadducees (Boethusians) argued that “Sabbath” has its regular meaning in the passage and thereby Pentecost must fall on the first day of the week (cf. M. Menahoth 10:3; Haggigah 2:4).

The outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2), took place on Pentecost and thereby the day acquired additional meaning as the beginning day of the Church. Paul hoped to extend his stay in Ephesus until Pentecost (1 Cor 16:8), but sought to be in Jerusalem at that season in a later year (Acts 20:16).

(3) Booths or Tabernacles (חַ֧ג הַסֻּכֹּ֛ות; LXX ἑορτὴ̀ σκηνῶν). The Feast of Booths or Ingatherings fell on the fifteenth of the seventh month, five days after the Day of Atonement, and occupied seven days (Exod 23:16, 17; 34:22). The first and eighth days were days of rest. Branches of palm trees, leafy trees, and willows along with fruit of goodly trees were used to make the booth in which the Israelite dwelt seven days—“That your generations may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lev 23:33-43). There was rejoicing with family, servants, widows, orphans, Levite, and sojourner of the community (Deut 16:13-15). Special sacrifices for this season totaled seventy bulls. Each seventh year there was the public reading of the law (31:9-13).

The returned exiles observed this feast under Darius (Ezra 3:4) and in the time of Ezra at which time Ezra read the law and led the people in acts of penitence. The celebration is said to be different from anything done since the days of Joshua (Neh 8:13-18). Zechariah 14:16-19 envisions all nations coming up to Jerusalem year by year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. The punishment for those who neglect it is that upon them no rain shall fall, but in the case of Egypt the inundation of the Nile would fail.

The Feast of Tabernacles was participated in by Jesus (John 7:2, 8ff.). Josephus calls it the holiest and greatest of the Heb. feasts (Antiq. VIII. iv. 1). Both Josephus (Antiq. III. x. 4; XIII. xiii. 5) and the Mishna (Sukkah) enlarge upon the customs of the later observance, one chief feature of which was a libation of water drawn from the fountain of Siloam. This practice furnishes a likely background for Jesus’ discourse on living water (John 7:37-39).

(4) The Day of Atonement (יֹ֧ום הַכִּפֻּרִ֣ים; LXX ἡμέρα ἐξιλασμοῦ) fell on the tenth day of the seventh month, Tishri (Lev 23:27-32; Num 29:7-11). Its ritual, which included the expiation for the priest and for the people and the sending away of the goat for Azazel, is described in Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26. It was a day of rest and fasting.

(5) The New Year’s Day (רֹ֨אשׁ הַשָּׁנָ֜ה, beginning of the year; LXX πρῶτος μῆν, first month). One of the most debated questions in current study is that of whether or not there was a New Year’s Day celebration in ancient Israel. Beginning with an analogy with the Babylonian Akitu festival which fell in the spring of the year and celebrated the renewal of creation and kingship of Marduk, it is postulated by many scholars that in Israel Yahweh was crowned annually at the “New Year Feast of Yahweh.” Mowinckel argued that the “enthronement psalms” (Pss 47, 93, 96-99) in which “Yahweh reigns” prominently occurs were a part of the liturgy of the day. Out of these concepts it is thought that Israel’s messianic and eschatological thought developed. It is argued that Jeroboam introduced a festival in the eighth month, similar to the one held in Judah, in order that the people not be attracted to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:32).

Opponents of the theory point out the difficulty of explaining how a spring festival got shifted to fall. Exodus 12:2 points to Nisan one as the beginning of the year. While there are special offerings on the first of the seventh month, a convocation was held in which no laborious work was done, trumpets were blown, and an offering made to the Lord (Lev 23:24-27; Num 29:1-6), the text says nothing specific about the New Year’s day. The postexilic gathering on the first of the seventh month is not said to be a day of high feast (Neh 8:1), and the one occurrence of rosh hasshanah in Scripture (Ezek 40:1) describes a vision on the tenth of the month and not one on the first. The observance of such a feast also goes unmentioned in the Apoc., Josephus, and Philo, but is the subject of a Mishna tractate Rosh Ha-Shanah.

b. Postexilic festivals. Two non-pentateuchal festivals were prominent in late Judaism:

(1) Purim (פֻּרִ֖ים; LXX φρουραὶ̀, lots) has its origin in the deliverance wrought by Esther (Esth 9:16ff.) and falls on the fourteenth of Adar (roughly March) by those in villages and unwalled towns and on the fifteenth by those in fortified cities (Esth 9:18, 19; Jos. Antiq. XI. vi. 13). The name is explained as coming from the lot (pur) which Haman planned to cast to destroy the Jews. The observance of the festival is first attested by 2 Maccabees 15:36 where it is called the “Day of Mordecai.” There is no mention of any religious observance connected with the day. In later observance the Book of Esther was read in the Synagogue amidst rejoicing, and food and presents were sent to friends; see Mishna Megilla.

(2) Hanukkah or Dedication (חֲנֻכָּ֤ה; LXX αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ τοῦ θυσιαστηριόυ, the days of the dedication of the altar; NT, τὰ̀ ἐγκαίνια). Following the victories of Judas Maccabeus in 167 b.c. a celebration of eight days commemorating the rededication of the Temple, whose worship had been interrupted three years, was instituted (1 Macc 4:41-49; 2 Macc 10:6-8). The festival begins on the 25th of Kislev (December) and one additional candle is lighted each day until a total of eight is reached (T. B. Sabbath 21b). Josephus (Antiq. XII. vii. 7) calls it “lights” (Phota). There was no partial or total abstention from ordinary occupation nor was there a holy convocation at the beginning and end. Jesus was once in Jerusalem at this season (John 10:22).

After 160 b.c. Nicanor’s day was celebrated on the thirteenth of Adar commemorating the victory over the Syrian general (1 Macc 13:51-52).

4. Periodic Festivals. a. Sabbatical year (שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתﯴנ׃֙ לָאָ֔רֶץ; LXX σάββατα ἀνάπαυσις ἔσται τῇ γῇ, “a sabbath of rest will be to the land”). Each seventh year brought a cessation of agricultural activity and a release from debt. That the land might have its required rest, exile was threatened for neglect of the observance (Exod 23:10, 11; Lev 25:1-7; Deut 15:1). At the Feast of Booths there was the public reading of the law (Deut 31:10ff.).

b. Jubilee (יﯴבֵ֥ל; LXX ἀφέσεως σημασία, “sign of release”). At the Day of Atonement of the forty-ninth year the sounding of a trumpet marked the onset of the Jubilee year as a period of freedom (darom) in the land. Property returned to its original owners. There was a price adjustment in sales in view of its approach. Sowing and reaping was forbidden (Lev 25:8-17). The Book of Jubilees is built around this custom, but uses a different system of calculation from that in Scripture.

II. New Testament

A. Jewish festivals. Allusions to the Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread (Matt 26:17; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:1; John 7:2), Feast of Tabernacles, Dedication (10:22) and Pentecost (Acts 2) may be seen under the appropriate heading in the above discussion. The parents of Jesus observed Passover when He was a child (Luke 2:42) and during His public ministry Jesus may have attended as many as four Passovers (John 4:45; 5:1; 6:4; 12:1ff.). To the last of these Greeks also came (12:20). Pilate had a custom of releasing a prisoner at the feast (Matt 27:15; Mark 15:6).

THE JEWISH SACRED YEAR

The festivals were sources of allegorical interpretation for the NT writers. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed (1 Cor 5:7ff.). Sabbaths, new moons, and festival days are mere shadows of good things to come (Col 2:16, 17). The epistle to the Hebrews allegorizes the rest of the people of God to be the eternal rest (Heb 4:1ff.) and the ceremony of the Day of Atonement forms the basis for the presentation of the work of Christ as our High Priest (Heb 8:1ff.).

B. Other feasts

1. Social occasions. Jesus denounced the Pharisees for seeking the uppermost seats at feasts (Matt 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46). Levi entertained Jesus and His friends at a great feast after he was called to discipleship (Luke 5:29). Jesus suggested that the poor should be invited rather than rich friends when one gives a feast (Luke 14:13). Jesus attended the marriage feast in Cana (John 2:8ff.).

2. Pagan feasts. In Corinth, because of food sacrificed to idols, a problem faced the Christian as to whether or not he could attend pagan feasts. Paul grants the right to go and eat whatever is set out asking no questions for conscience sake (1 Cor 10:27).

3. Love feast. Certain characters with heretical tendencies are said to be blots in the “love feasts” (ASV and RSV) or “feasts of charity” (KJV—the agapē Jude 12).

C. The marriage feast. The marriage feast (γάμος, G1141, marriage) or the banquet (δεόπνον, supper) is the background theme of the parables of Jesus: the ten virgins (Matt 25:1ff.), the marriage of the king’s son (22:2ff.), and the great supper (Luke 14:15ff.). Jesus compared His relation to the disciples to that of the bridegroom and his friends (Matt 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34); while John the Baptist spoke of himself as only the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29). The Book of Revelation climaxes with the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9). The background for this concept was laid in the prophets (Isa 25:6) and is closely related to the messianic banquet of rabbinic thought at which the righteous would dine on behemoth and leviathan. A disciple’s exclamation, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15) called forth the parable of the great supper. The universality of the Gospel may be expressed in terms of a feast in which many from the E and the W will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt 8:11; Luke 13:29). The entire Christian life may be called a feast (1 Cor 5:8).

D. The eschatological banquet. In the prophets already the figure of speech in which God’s judgment on a people as a sacrificial banquet is expounded (Isa 34:5ff.; Ezek 39:17-20). This inversion of the concept of a banquet in the Apocalypse when the birds are invited to enjoy the great supper of God is the counterpart of the messianic banquet (Rev 19:17ff.).

Bibliography G. F. Moore, Judaism (1927), II, 40-54; J. Pedersen, Israel (1940), IV, 377, 378; N. H. Snaith, The Jewish New Year Festival (1947); E. Auerbach, “Die Feste im alten Israel,” VT, VIII (1958), 1-18; 337-343; S. J. Schultz, The Old Testament Speaks (1960), 68ff.; R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1961), 468-517; S. Mowinkel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (1962), I, 106-189.