Three Feasts
作者: New Christian Bible Study Staff
The Children of Israel were told to keep three feasts each year - the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first fruits, and the feast of ingathering. Should we still do that?
In Exodus 23:14-16, Moses receives the instructions about these feasts. Those three verses in Exodus comprise our brief story. Their inner meaning is explained in Arcana Coelestia 9286-9296.
There are three feasts. In the Word, the number three represents a completeness, a sense of things being covered from beginning to end. Our thankfulness to the Lord is supposed to keep going - to endure.
The first feast, of unleavened bread, stands for worship, for our thankfulness for the Lord's action in our minds to get rid of false ideas. That enables us to start to receive good loves.
The second feast, of first fruits, relates to the planting of true ideas in that "soil" of initial loves for doing good.
The third feast, of harvest, or ingathering, stands for the time when, by applying our true ideas, we receive real good - loves of the neighbor and of the Lord - that become the middle of our lives. This is the state of rebirth, where we have - by working through the year (our lives), and enduring in thankfulness, allowed the Lord to get rid of our false ideas, and push our evil loves to the periphery, so that good can work, and be fruitful.
These feasts, then, represent the progress of our spiritual lives. In some manner, we need to keep them.
Psalms 72
1
God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.
2
He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
3
The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
4
He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.
5
They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6
He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
7
In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
9
Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.
10
The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11
Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.
12
For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.
13
He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy.
14
He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
15
They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long.
16
Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
17
His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
18
Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
19
Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.
20
This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse. BOOK III A Psalm by Asaph.
