Feast

As a mark of hospitality (Gen. 19:3; 2 Sam. 3:20; 2 Kings 6:23); on occasions of domestic joy (Luke 15:23; Gen. 21:8); on birthdays (Gen. 40:20; Job 1:4; Matt. 14:6); and on the occasion of a marriage (Judg. 14:10; Gen. 29:22). "Feasting was a part of the observances connected with the "offering up of sacrifices (Deut. 12:6, 7; 1 Sam. 9:19; 16:3, 5)," "and with the annual festivals (Deut. 16:11). "It was one of the" "designs of the greater solemnities, which required the" "attendance of the people at the sacred tent, that the oneness of" "the nation might be maintained and cemented together, by" "statedly congregating in one place, and with one soul taking" part in the same religious services. But that oneness was primarily and chiefly a religious and not merely a political "one; the people were not merely to meet as among themselves, but" "with Jehovah, and to present themselves before him as one body;" the meeting was in its own nature a binding of themselves in fellowship with Jehovah; so that it was not politics and "commerce that had here to do, but the soul of the Mosaic" "dispensation, the foundation of the religious and political" "existence of Israel, the covenant with Jehovah. To keep the" "people's consciousness alive to this, to revive, strengthen, and" "perpetuate it, nothing could be so well adapated as these annual" "feasts." (See [207]FESTIVALS.)"

Related Bible Dictionary Terms:
Dedication Feast of the    New Moon Feast of    Tabernacles Feast of    Trumpets Feast of    Weeks Feast of