Chapter 10.
CONCERNING THE FESTIVALS; AND HOW EACH DAY OF SUCH FESTIVAL
IS TO BE OBSERVED.FJAJ 3.68
1. THE law requires, that out of the public expenses a lamb of the first
year be killed every day, at the beginning and at the ending of the day;
but on the seventh day, which is called the Sabbath, they kill two,
and sacrifice them in the same manner
At the new moon, they both perform
the daily sacrifices, and slay two bulls, with seven lambs of the first
year, and a kid of the goats also, for the expiation of sins; that is,
if they have sinned through ignorance.FJAJ 3.69
2. But on the seventh month, which the Macedonians call Hyperberetaeus,
they make an addition to those already mentioned, and sacrifice a bull,
a ram, and seven lambs, and a kid of the goats, for sins.FJAJ 3.70
3. On the tenth day of the same lunar month, they fast till the evening;
and this day they sacrifice a bull, and two rams, and seven lambs, and
a kid of the goats, for sins
And, besides these, they bring two kids of
the goats; the one of which is sent alive out of the limits of the camp
into the wilderness for the scapegoat, and to be an expiation for the sins
of the whole multitude; but the other is brought into a place of great
cleanness, within the limits of the camp, and is there burnt, with its
skin, without any sort of cleansing
With this goat was burnt a bull, not
brought by the people, but by the high priest, at his own charges; which,
when it was slain, he brought of the blood into the holy place, together
with the blood of the kid of the goats, and sprinkled the ceiling with
his finger seven times, as also its pavement, and again as often toward
the most holy place, and about the golden altar: he also at last brings
it into the open court, and sprinkles it about the great altar
Besides
this, they set the extremities, and the kidneys, and the fat, with the
lobe of the liver, upon the altar
The high priest likewise presents a
ram to God as a burnt-offering.FJAJ 3.71
4. Upon the fifteenth day of the same month, when the season of the
year is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles in
every one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of
that time of the year; as also that when we should arrive at our own country,
and come to that city which we should have then for our metropolis, because
of the temple therein to be built, and keep a festival for eight days,
and offer burnt-offerings, and sacrifice thank-offerings, that we should
then carry in our hands a branch of myrtle, and willow, and a bough of
the palm-tree, with the addition of the pome citron: That the burnt-offering
on the first of those days was to be a sacrifice of thirteen bulls, and
fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, with the addition of a kid of the goats,
as an expiation for sins; and on the following days the same number of
lambs, and of rams, with the kids of the goats; but abating one of the
bulls every day till they amounted to seven only
On the eighth day all
work was laid aside, and then, as we said before, they sacrificed to God
a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, with a kid of the goats, for an expiation
of sins
And this is the accustomed solemnity of the Hebrews, when they
pitch their tabernacles.FJAJ 3.72
5. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and
is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month,
when the sun is in Aries, (for in this month it was that we were delivered
from bondage under the Egyptians,) the law ordained that we should every
year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out
of Egypt, and which was called the Passover; and so we do celebrate
this passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the
day following
The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the passover,
and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days,
wherein they feed on unleavened bread; on every one of which days two bulls
are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs
Now these lambs are entirely
burnt, besides the kid of the goats which is added to all the rest, for
sins; for it is intended as a feast for the priest on every one of those
days
But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth
day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before
that day they do not touch them
And while they suppose it proper to honor
God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in the first place,
they offer the first-fruits of their barley, and that in the manner following:
They take a handful of the ears, and dry them, then beat them small, and
purge the barley from the bran; they then bring one tenth deal to the altar,
to God; and, casting one handful of it upon the fire, they leave the rest
for the use of the priest
And after this it is that they may publicly
or privately reap their harvest
They also at this participation of the
first-fruits of the earth, sacrifice a lamb, as a burnt-offering to God.FJAJ 3.73
6. When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which
weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost,
but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost,
they bring to God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals,
with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs; and when they have
only presented them to God, they are made ready for supper for the priests;
nor is it permitted to leave any thing of them till the day following.
They also slay three bullocks for a burnt-offering, and two rams; and fourteen
lambs, with two kids of the goats, for sins; nor is there anyone of the
festivals but in it they offer burnt-offerings; they also allow themselves
to rest on every one of them
Accordingly, the law prescribes in them all
what kinds they are to sacrifice, and how they are to rest entirely, and
must slay sacrifices, in order to feast upon them.FJAJ 3.74
7. However, out of the common charges, baked bread [was set on the table
of shew-bread], without leaven, of twenty-four tenth deals of flour, for
so much is spent upon this bread; two heaps of these were baked, they were
baked the day before the sabbath, but were brought into the holy place
on the morning of the sabbath, and set upon the holy table, six on a heap,
one loaf still standing over against another; where two golden cups full
of frankincense were also set upon them, and there they remained till another
sabbath, and then other loaves were brought in their stead, while the loaves
were given to the priests for their food, and the frankincense was burnt
in that sacred fire wherein all their offerings were burnt also; and so
other frankincense was set upon the loaves instead of what was there before.
The [high priest also, of his own charges, offered a sacrifice, and that
twice every day
It was made of flour mingled with oil, and gently baked
by the fire; the quantity was one tenth deal of flour; he brought the half
of it to the fire in the morning, and the other half at night
The account
of these sacrifices I shall give more accurately hereafter; but I think
I have premised what for the present may be sufficient concerning them.FJAJ 3.75