One-half of these months consisted of thirty days, the other of twenty-nine, alternately, making in all three hundred and fifty-four. To supply the eleven days and six hours which were deficient, they introduced every second year an additional month of twenty-two days, and every fourth year one of twenty-three days; by which means they approached as nearly to the true measure as any other nation had attained till the establishment of the Gregorian calendar.

The Hebrews divided the space from sunrise to sunset into twelve equal parts, and hence the hours of their day varied in length according to the season of the year. For example, when the sun rose at five and set at seven, an hour contained seventy minutes; but when it rose at seven and set at five, the hour was reduced to fifty minutes, and so on in proportion to the duration of the time that the sun was above the horizon. A similar rule applied to the night, which was likewise divided into twelve equal portions.

It must be acknowledged, however, that the ob

Nisan was sometimes called Abib, as descriptive of the state of vegetation in that month,-the earing of the corn and the blooming of the fruit-trees.

servations now made apply rather to the acquirements of the Jews after their return from the East, than to the more simple condition in which they appear under their Judges and Prophets.

Next to the learning of this early period, the reader of the sacred history will have his curiosity excited in regard to the time, the place, and the manner of religious worship. When the Israelites had obtained possession of the Holy Land, and distributed the territory among their tribes, the tabernacle, or ambulatory temple, was placed at Shiloh, a town in the possession of Ephraim. To that sacred retreat the Hebrews were wont to travel at the three great festivals, to accomplish the service enjoined by their law.

But it appears that a more ordinary kind of religious duty was performed at certain stations within the several tribes, in the intervals between the stated feasts appointed for the whole nation; having some reference, it is probable, to the periodical return of the Sabbath and new moons. For this purpose the people seem to have repaired to high places, where they might more readily perceive the lunar crescent, and give utterance to their customary expression of gratitude and joy. This species of adoration was connived at rather than authorized by the priests and Levites, who found it impossible to check altogether the propensity of the multitude to perform their worship on the high hill and under the green tree. Samuel, the prophet and judge, saw the expediency on one occasion of building an altar unto the Lord on Ramah, which is called the High Place; and in the reign of Solomon the same practice was continued, " because

there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days."

It is difficult to determine with precision at what epoch the Hebrews first formed those meetings or congregations, which are called synagogues,—a name afterwards more frequently applied to the buildings in which they convened. The earliest allusion to

them is found in the seventy-fourth psalm, where the writer, describing the havock committed by the Assyrians, remarks, “ they have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land." We might infer, from this statement alone, that such edifices were common before the Babylonian captivity; but we are supplied with a more direct proof in the words of St James, who informs us, that "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day."+

The duty in these places, which was confined to prayer and exposition, was performed by that section of the Levites who are usually denominated Scribes; the higher office of sacrifice, the scene of which was first the Tabernacle and afterwards the Temple, being confined to the priests, the sons of Aaron. Perhaps in remote places, where the population was small, the inhabitants met in the house of the Levite,-a conjecture which derives some plausibility from an affecting incident mentioned in the second book of the Kings. When the son of the woman of Shunem died, "she called unto her husband and said, send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run

to the man of God.

豪

1 Kings iii. 2.

And he said, wherefore wilt

+ Acts xv. 21.

thou go? it is neither new moon nor Sabbath." It is reasonable to conclude, that on these days it was customary to repair to the dwelling of the holy man for religious purposes.

We have already alluded to the fact that, at the first settlement of the Promised Land, the tabernacle was established in Shiloh, a village in Ephraim, at that time the most numerous and powerful of all the tribes. The profanity or disobedience of the people in this district led to the removal of the Divine presence, the symbols of which were commanded to be deposited in Jerusalem. "Go ye," says the prophet Jeremiah, "unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first ; and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel." Hence the origin of the feud which subsisted so long between Ephraim and Judah, and afterwards between the Jews and Samaritans, in regard to the spot where Jehovah ought to be worshipped. Each laid claim to a Divine appointment; neither would yield to the other or hold the slightest intercourse in their adoration of the same great Being; and the question remained as far as ever from being determined, when the Romans finally cut down all distinctions by their victorious

arms.

Our limits will not permit us to indulge in a minute account of the Jewish festivals. Still the three great institutions, at which all the males of the Hebrew nation were commanded to appear before Jehovah, are so frequently mentioned in the history of the Holy Land, that we must take leave to specify their general objects. The feast of the Passover, comprehending that of unleavened bread, comme

morated the signal deliverance of this wonderful people from the tyranny of Pharaoh. It was to be kept upon the fifteenth day of the first month, to last seven days, and to begin, as all their festivals began, the evening before at the going down of the sun.

The reader will attend to the distinction just stated the beginning and end of their sacred days. The celebration of the ordinary Sabbath, indeed, commenced on the evening of Friday, and terminated at the going down of the sun on Saturday. "From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbaths." But the Jews, in the concluding period of their government, had innovated so far on the Mosaical institution as to prohibit the passover from being observed on 'Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, and to appoint the celebration of it on the following day. The year in which our Lord suffered death, this great annual feast fell on a Friday-beginning, as already stated, at sunset on Thursday evening-and the Redeemer accordingly, who came to fulfil all righteousness, ate the paschal supper with his disciples on the evening of Thursday. Yet the Jews, we find from the evangelical narrative, were not to observe that rite till the following evening; and hence, the early part of Friday being the preparation, they would not go into the judgment-hall" lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover" after the going down of the sun. For the same reason they besought Pilate that the bodies might be removed; intimating that the day which was to begin at sunset was to them a high day, being in fact not only the Sabbath, but also the paschal feast, both extremely solemn in the estimation of every true Israelite.