Ancient Israel

The Solemn Assembly in Ancient Israel

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In ancient Israel, the solemn assembly was a special occasion solemnizing the completion of a feast, or a penitential assembly of the people under threat of national disaster. It was marked by cessation from work and fasting or prayer.

The solemn assembly was the gathering and sanctifying of the community of Israel for a solemn occasion. It was used in the technical sense as the eighth day of the Feast of Booths (Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35; Neh. 8:18) and the seventh day of Passover (Deut. 16:8). In both instances, the people were instructed to “do no work” on this day, for they were in a state of ritual holiness. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon proclaimed a solemn assembly on the eighth day, “for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more” (2 Chron. 7:9). For a quite different purpose, Jehu ordered the people to “call an assembly in honor of Baal” (2 Kings 10:20). He used the occasion to complete his purge of Baal worshipers from the land of Israel by massacring those who had gathered.

In contrast to the above-mentioned feast days, the solemn assembly was also convened for special days of fasting. When a locust plague threatened the land, Joel exhorted Israel to “declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord” (Joel 1:14; cf. 2:15).

Amos and Isaiah discredited these solemn assemblies sanction (Isa. 1:13; Amos 5:21) because the people did not do justice in the land. As Isaiah charged, “even if you offer many prayers … your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:15).

Although not mentioned in connection with the worship of the New Testament church, the concept of the solemn assembly has been retained in the Christian tradition, especially in the Ash Wednesday service of the liturgical churches. Some nonliturgical churches, particularly among Southern Baptists, are restoring the solemn assembly as a weekend emphasis on church renewal.

The Day of Atonement in Ancient Israel

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The Day of Atonement was a time for fasting and cleansing from sin. Traditionally, the high priest made atonement on this day for the sins of the priests, the people, and the sanctuary.

The annual Day of Atonement (Yom Hakkippurim) is set forth in Leviticus 16:1–34 as the day for the supreme act of national atonement for sin. It took place on the tenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, and fasting was commanded from the evening of 9 Tishri until the evening of 10 Tishri, in keeping with the unusual sanctity of the day. On this day an atonement was effected for the people, the priesthood, and even for the sanctuary because it “is among them in the midst of their uncleanliness” (Lev. 16:16).

The Ritual

This was divided into two acts, one performed on behalf of the priesthood, and one on behalf of the nation Israel. The high priest, who had moved a week before this day from his own dwelling to the sanctuary, arose on the Day of Atonement, and having bathed and laid aside his regular high priestly attire, dressed in holy, white linen garments, and brought forward a young bullock or a sin offering for himself and for his house. The other priests, who on other occasions served in the sanctuary, on this day took their place with the sinful congregation for whom atonement was to be made (Lev. 16:17). The high priest slaughtered the sin offering for himself and entered the Holy of Holies with a censer of incense so that a cloud of fragrance might fill the room and cover the ark in order that the priest should not die. Then he returned with the blood of the sin offering and sprinkled it seven times before the mercy seat for the symbolic cleansing of the Holy of Holies, defiled by its presence among the sinful people. Having made atonement for himself, he returned to the court of the sanctuary.

The high priest next presented the two goats, secured as the sin offering for the people, to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle and cast lots over them, one lot marked for Yahweh, and the other for Azazel (Lev. 16:8 RSV). The goat on which the lot had fallen for the Lord was slain, and the high priest repeated the ritual of sprinkling the blood as before. In addition, he cleansed the Holy Place by a sevenfold sprinkling and, finally, cleansed the altar of burnt offerings.

The Goat for Azazel

In the second stage of the ceremony the live goat, the goat for Azazel, which had been left standing at the altar, was brought forward. The high priest, laying hands on it, confessed over it all the sins of the people, after which it was sent into an uninhabited wilderness, bearing the iniquity of the nation.

The precise significance of this part of the ceremony is determined by the meaning attached to the expression “for Azazel” (“for the scapegoat” [Lev. 16:8 kjv]). Basically, there are four interpretations. (1) A specific location would have been problematic for a people on the move, as was true for the Israelites at this time in their history. (2) Azazel was a person, either Satan or an evil spirit. But the name Azazel occurs nowhere else in Scripture, which is unlikely if he were so important a person to divide the sin offering with God, which the suggestion in itself has an offensive connotation. Moreover, demon worship is condemned in the Law in Leviticus 17:7–9. (3) Azazel was an abstract noun meaning “dismissal” or “complete removal.” (4) The name Azazel most likely designates the goat itself. This view was held by Josephus, Symmachus, Aquila, Theodotion, Martin Luther, Andrew Bonar, the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the King James Version (“scapegoat”), and others. Hence the goat was called in the Hebrew Azazel, meaning “the removing goat”: “[Aaron] shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel” (Lev. 16:8 RSV), for the removing goat—i.e., for the goat as the remover of sins. Both goats were called an atonement and both were presented to the Lord. Therefore, both goats were looked on as one offering. Since it was physically impossible to depict two ideas with one goat, two were needed as a single sin offering. The first goat by its death symbolized atonement for sins; the other, by confessing over it the sins of Israel and sending it away, symbolized complete removal of the sins (cf. Lev. 14:4–7).

Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Trumpets in Ancient Israel

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Ro’sh Hashshanah (literally, “head of the year”) the Hebrew new year, ushered in the Feast of Trumpets with the blowing of the ram’s horn. It was the first of the high holy feast days and looked forward to the solemn Day of Atonement which occurred ten days later.

The new moon of the seventh month (1 Tishri) constituted the beginning of the civil new year and was designated as Ro’sh Hashshanah, “the first of the year,” or yom tƒru‘ah, “day of sounding [the trumpet].” Leviticus 23:23–25 and Numbers 29:1–6 are the only Old Testament references to Rosh Hashanah, the regulations, prayers, and customs of which fill volumes today in the Jewish rabbinic literature. The blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn, occupied a significant place on several other occasions, such as the monthly new moon and the Year of Jubilee, but especially so at the beginning of the new year, hence its name—Feast of Trumpets.

The Hebrew calendar actually began with Nisan in the spring (Exod. 12:2), but the end of the seventh month, Tishri, usually marked the beginning of the rainy season in Palestine when the year’s work of plowing and planting began. Tishri was the beginning of the economic and civil year. Business transactions, sabbatical years, and Jubilee Years were all determined from the first of the seventh month. Later, Judaism associated many important events with Rosh Hashanah, including the creation of the world and humankind; the births of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samuel; and the day of Joseph’s release from prison (Ben M. Edidin, Jewish Holidays and Festivals [New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1940], 53–54).

The day was observed as a sabbatical feast day with special sacrifices. It also pointed to the solemn Day of Atonement ten days later. Rosh Hashanah (new year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) constitute what are called “high holy days” in Judaism. Rosh Hashanah has come to be considered a day of judgment for one’s deeds of the previous year. It is a day for examining one’s life, prayer, and repentance. On this day, in Jewish thought, God judges all humans for their deeds and decides who shall live or die, prosper or suffer adversity.

The Feast of Tabernacles in Ancient Israel

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The Feast of Tabernacles came at the end of the harvest and was the outstanding feast of rejoicing in the year. During its seven days the people lived in booths to recall the time Israel spent in the wilderness.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Ḥag Hassukkot), the third of the pilgrimage feasts, was celebrated for seven days from 15 to 21 Tishri, the seventh month, approximating our October. It was followed by an eighth day of holy convocation with appropriate sacrifices (Lev. 23:33–36; Num. 29:12–38; Deut. 16:13–15). It was also called the “Feast of Ingathering” (Exod. 23:16) for the autumn harvest of the fruits and olives, with the ingathering of the threshing floor and the winepress, which occurred at this time (Lev. 23:39; Deut. 16:13). It was the outstanding feast of rejoicing in the year, in which the Israelites, during the seven-day period, lived in booths or huts made of boughs in commemoration of their wilderness wanderings when their fathers dwelt in temporary shelters. According to Nehemiah 8:14–18, the booths were made of olive, myrtle, palm, and other branches, and were built on roofs of houses, in courtyards, in the court of the temple, and in the broad places of the city streets. Sacrifices were more numerous during this feast than at any other, consisting of the offering of 189 animals during the seven-day period.

When the feast coincided with a sabbatical year, the Law was read publicly to the entire congregation at the sanctuary (Deut. 31:10–13). As Josephus and the Talmud indicate, new ceremonies were gradually added to the festival, chief of which was the simḥat bet hashsho’evah, “the festival of the drawing of water.” In this ceremony, a golden pitcher was filled from the pool of Siloam and returned to the priest at the temple amid the joyful shouts of the celebrants, after which the water was poured into a basin at the altar (cf. John 7:37–38). At night the streets and temple court were illuminated by innumerable torches carried by the singing, dancing pilgrims. The booths were dismantled on the last day, and the eighth day was observed as a Sabbath of holy convocation. The feast is mentioned by Zechariah as a joyous celebration in the millennium (Zech. 14:16).

The Feast of Pentecost in Ancient Israel

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Pentecost, which means “fifty,” is celebrated fifty days after Passover. It is the only one of the three pilgrimage feasts which did not commemorate a specific event in Israel’s history. Eventually it came to be associated with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.

Pentecost, which is the Greek word for “fiftieth,” is called in Hebrew Ḥag Shavu‘ot, that is, “the Feast of Weeks” (Exod. 34:22; Lev. 23:15–22). Its name derived from the fact that it was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover, on the fiftieth day (Lev. 23:15–16; Deut. 16:9–10). It is also called the “Feast of Harvest” (Exod. 23:16) and the “Day of Firstfruits” (Num. 28:26).

Pentecost was a one-day festival in which all males were to appear at the sanctuary and a Sabbath in which all servile labor was suspended. The central feature of the day was the offering of two loaves of bread for the people from the firstfruits of the wheat harvest (Lev. 23:17). As the omer ceremony signified the onset of the harvest season, the presentation of the two loaves indicated its close. It was a day of thanksgiving, in which freewill offerings were made (Deut. 16:10), of rejoicing before the Lord, and of special consideration shown to the Levite, sojourner, orphan, and widow (Deut. 16:10–12). The festival day signified the dedication of the harvest to God as the provider of all blessings.

The Old Testament does not specifically give any historical significance for the day, Pentecost being the only one of the three great agricultural feasts that do not commemorate some event in Jewish history. Later tradition, on the basis of Exodus 19:1, taught that the giving of the Law at Sinai was fifty days after the Exodus and Passover, and as a result, Shavu‘ot has also become known as the Torah festival. The book of Ruth, which describes the harvest season, is read at Pentecost. The significance of the day for the New Testament is set forth in Acts 2 when Pentecost marked the beginning of the church.