their ancestors in the wilderness, they were also enjoined, at the same time, to “rejoice before the Lord their God,” and celebrate his infinite mercies to an unworthy race by especial thanksgivings. The last, or eighth day of the celebration, “that great day of the feast,” as St. John calls it, was particularly devoted to thanksgivings for the “in-gathering” of the fruits of the earth. This was, indeed, the great harvest-home of Judea.
Each of these three greater festivals to which we have particularly alluded, the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, independently of other associations, had also a connection with the mercies of God, in bestowing upon man the fruits of the earth. Their harvest was solemnly commenced the day after the Passover by a peculiar religious observance: three sheaves of barley were gathered in three different fields of the territory of Jerusalem, and carried to the temple, where they were threshed in the court, and were then solemnly offered to the Lord by the priest, in the name of the nation. This ceremony was enjoined in Leviticus, and before it had been performed, no man was allowed to put the sickle to his barley, the first grain reaped. At Pentecost again, when the wheat harvest was over, two loaves were offered in the temple by the priest, in the name of the nation. And the Feast of Tabernacles, as we have already seen, concluded with especial offerings and sacrifices, and thanksgivings for the great national harvest, now fully completed.
But independently of these general public observances, there were others enjoined upon the Jews of a private nature. Every one was commanded to offer personally the first-fruits of his own portion to the Lord. The women, when making the bread of the family, set apart a portion for the Levite, which was considered
