No. XXXVII.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
The progress of the year brings with it again that season,
in which God commanded his people to observe The Feast
of Tabernacles; and the constancy with which Israelites
in every part of the world still observe the rites and customs
handed down by their forefathers, necessarily commands
respect and admiration. When we remember the
many centuries during which their dispersion has continued,
the universal oppression which they have been compelled
to suffer, and the unmerited contempt with which they have
had to contend, we cannot but honour the strength of moral
courage which they have displayed, in thus observing and
handing down to their children a religion, which has been
the cause of their misfortunes. But this very constancy, and
the respect which it begets, naturally leads us to inquire
whether the religious system itself be true, and, therefore,
worthy of that fidelity with which it has been preserved;
and, above all, whether this constancy is such as at the last
great day to meet the approbation of Him who judgeth not as
man judgeth. The professors of this system think, of course,
that it is, and that by observing these rites and ceremonies,
they are keeping the commands of God, and thereby ensuring
his favour; and with regard to the observance of the Feast
of Tabernacles in particular, they are taught to believe that
they alone are so important, as at the day of judgment, to
prove Israel's obedience, and the disobedience of the other
nations. We will first state the doctrines of modern Judaism
on this subject, and then examine whether they be well
founded. In the Synagogue Prayers for this feast we find
it stated, that the construction of a tabernacle according to
rabbinic prescription, is a work of merit:—
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Hebrew characters)
"It must be four cubits long, and four cubits broad: but if it be less, it is profane; that it may render the people of Israel meritorious. (P. 116.) And a little lower down, after describing the feast in Paradise on the salted Leviathan and Behemoth, it adds, that this one precept will form the last trial vouchsafed to the Gentiles, and that their unwillingness to keep it will prove the cause of their final condemnation:—
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