FESTIVALS
- How would you design the holidays to fall in a year?
- Do you think festivals should be on a new moon, or full
moon, or at other time? What is the reason of your
choice?
- Festivals could be a burden, what are the causes of such
burdens, and how could they be rid of?
- What are the festivals designed by the LORD?
- What is the meaning of the festival of passover?
- What is the meaning of the festival of booth? Why do we
have to live in tents for a week during this festival?
(Try to live in a tent for a week with your family, and
find out the reason on 15/7 - 22/7 (lunar calendar!) )
- LORD prescribed many details for the festival of
passover, especially that the lamb is to be roasted
whole, without breaking its bone. Also bitter herb is to
be eaten with the lamb and unleavened bread. Practice
this with your family and try to find out the rationale
of LORD's design.
LORD also told us not to carry forth the flesh outside
the house, therefore we are not to take the meat as gifts
to our neighbours, but rather invite them (poor, widow,
or orphan) to our house. Try to do both things and
discover the rationale behind it.
- When many people are gathered together, there is a danger
of infectious diseases. How may we prevent such things from
happening? What is LORD's solution?
LORD to the Israelites after they have escaped from Egypt and
was in Sinai desert:
- "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh
day you shall rest; that your ox and your ass may have
rest, and the son of your bondmaid, and the alien, may be
refreshed....
- "Three times in a year you shall keep a feast to me.
You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread; as I
commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven
days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in
it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me
empty-handed. You shall keep the feast of harvest, of the
first fruits of your labour, of what you sow in the
field. You shall keep the feast of ingathering at the end
of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit
of your labour. Three times in the year shall all your
males appear before the LORD GOD." (Ex. 23:12-17,
Lev. 23)
- "...And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace
offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of
his offering; he shall not leave any of it until the
morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive
offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the
day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the morrow what
remains of it shall be eaten, but what remains of the
flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned
with fire. If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his
peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers
it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to
him; it shall be an abomination, and he sho eats of it
shall bear his iniquity." (Lev 7:11-18)
(NOTE: Festival of Unleavened Bread is the same as Festival of
Passover. It is from 15/1 to 21/1 (Lunar Calendar, the week after
full moon). Festival of Ingathering is the same as Festival of
Booths. It is from 15/7 to 22/7.
Peace offering is an animal from cattle/sheep/goat, and may be
male or female. Part of the animal (breast and right thigh) is to
be given to the priest who burns the fat/kidney/gall on the
altar, the rest he eats with family members or the
poor/widow/orphan he invites.
Holy convocation is a time where we can learn from each
other.)
Passover
- From sheep or goat, a male a year old, without blemish.
- Begin preparation on the 10th day of the month.
- Roasted. Not boiled, nor raw.
- Roast with its head, leg, and inner part. Eat it with
bitter herb.
- Let none remaining till the morning, anything that
remains shall be burnt.
- In one house shall it be eaten, do not carry forth any
flesh outside the house.
- Eat unleavened bread 7 days.
- Holy convocation on the 1st and 7th days.
CAUTION
- LORD specifies that the sheep/goat is roughly one year
old, do not depart from this "1 year old" rule.
(NOTE: whether the young sheep/goat is to be kept may be
seen at this age, it is time to kill the sheep/goat with
undesirable behaviour. Moreover, do not kill the female.)
- Minimum preparation is needed for the sheep/goat, as the
fire will burn away its fur. Do not cut it into pieces.
Accidents during festival is a thing least desired,
moreover, bone fragments are dangerous if swallowed.
Safety first.
- May share with neighbour if the household is too small
for a sheep/goat, but must consume the sheep/goat before
dawn. Do not keep back anything, let everyone eat their
fill.
- May invite poor neighbour (e.g. widows, orphans, etc.)
into our house, NEVER carry forth the flesh as gift to
them. Simplicity and Convenience is the key to our
keeping the festivals year after year.
- When making unleavened bread, add in oil and salt into
the flour, mix thoroughly, then add in water. If you add
in water before oil and salt, it would be very difficult
to knead.
FESTIVAL OF BOOTHS
Put some fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs
of leafy trees and willows of brook inside out tents. (NOTE: LORD
did not tell us the reason of doing this in the Bible, but I
think the leafy things are for killing germs in air to prevent
infectious disease happening during the festival.)
(Ex. 12, Lev. 23)
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