Feast<\/b><\/p>\n
There are two kinds of feasts mentioned in the Bible<\/a>. Some were held to commemorate specific, one-time events, such as the feast Abraham held to celebrate the birth of Isaac. Others are commanded of the people of Israel as annual or repeated events.<\/p>\n In general, the one-time feasts represent<\/a> a conjunction of two spiritual<\/a> states<\/a>. We are, for instance, called on to bring our external<\/a> lives \u2013 what we do and think on a day-to-day basis \u2013 into conjunction with the internal<\/a> beliefs<\/a> we hold in the Lord<\/a> and the Lord’s desires for good<\/a> for us. At the times we succeed in doing that, we can experience a sense of joy<\/a> and fullness that brings to mind a feast.<\/p>\n The prescribed feasts represent the joy we can feel in worshipping<\/a> the Lord \u2013 both in ritual acts of worship and also the worship we offer when we live according to the divine commandments.<\/p>\n These are fitting meanings, both because feasts are joyful and festive and also because of the spiritual meaning of food and drink. Food represents the desire for good<\/a>, which ultimately comes to us from the Lord. Drink represents the true ideas<\/a> that help us know what good is and how to act on it. Feasting involves acquiring large quantities of both, which is certainly a joyful thing.<\/p>\n Passages from Swedenborg:<\/b><\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2341<\/b><\/p>\n ‘And he made a\u00a0feast\u00a0for them’ means dwelling together. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a\u00a0feast’. ‘Feasts’ are mentioned in various places in the Word, and in those places they mean in the internal sense dwelling together, as in Jeremiah,<\/p>\n The word of Jehovah came to him, You shall not go into the house of\u00a0feasting\u00a0to sit with them, to eat and to drink. Jer. 16:8.<\/p>\n In that chapter the prophet is told many things by which he was to represent the necessity for good to have no connection with evil, nor truth to have any with falsity. Among other things he was required ‘not to go into the house of\u00a0feasting’, which meant that good and truth were not to dwell together with evil and falsity.<\/p>\n [2] In Isaiah,<\/p>\n Jehovah Zebaoth will make on this mountain a\u00a0feast\u00a0of fat things for all peoples, a\u00a0feast\u00a0of sweet wines, of fat things full of marrow, of wines well-refined. Isa. 25:6.<\/p>\n Here ‘mountain’ stands for love to the Lord, 795, 1430. People with whom that love exists dwell together with the Lord in good and truth, which are meant by ‘a\u00a0feast’. ‘Fat things’ and those ‘full of marrow’ are goods, 353, ‘sweet and well-refined wines’ are truths deriving from goods, 1071.<\/p>\n [3] The\u00a0feasts\u00a0made from the consecrated elements when sacrifices were offered represented in the Jewish Church nothing else than the Lord’s dwelling together with man within the holy things of love meant by sacrifices, 2187. The same was at a later time meant by the Holy Supper, which the Primitive Church called a\u00a0feast.<\/p>\n [4] Chapter 21 below refers to Abraham making a great\u00a0feaston the day that Isaac was weaned, in verse 8. This\u00a0feastrepresented and therefore meant the dwelling together and initial conjunction of the Lord’s Divine itself with His Human Rational. ‘Feasts’ have the same meaning in the internal sense in other places, as may also be deduced from the fact that\u00a0feastsare occasions involving a number of people who are all simultaneously filled with love and charity, who are opening their minds to one another, and who are enjoying together the glad feelings that are the expressions of love and charity.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9286<\/b><\/p>\n ‘Three times you shall keep a\u00a0feast\u00a0to Me in the year’ means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘keeping a\u00a0feast’ or ‘holding a\u00a0feast’ as worshipping the Lord with gladness of mind on account of deliverance from damnation, dealt with in 7093; and from the meaning of ‘three times in the year’ as a state complete right to its end, for ‘three’ means complete from the beginning to the end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, and ‘year’ a whole period, 2906, 7839, 8070. At this point therefore complete and whole deliverance is meant; for ‘the\u00a0feast\u00a0of unleavened bread’ means purification from falsities, ‘the\u00a0feast\u00a0of harvest’ means the planting of truth in good, and ‘the\u00a0feast\u00a0of ingathering’ means the implanting of good from there. Thus complete deliverance from damnation is meant by these\u00a0feasts; for when a person has been purified from falsities, and after this has been brought by means of truths into good, and is at length governed by good, he is in heaven with the Lord and has accordingly undergone complete deliverance.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7093<\/b><\/p>\n ‘And let them hold a\u00a0feast\u00a0to Me in the wilderness’ means in order that they may worship the Lord with gladness of mind, in the obscurity of faith they live in. This is clear from the meaning of ‘holding a\u00a0feast’ as worship offered with gladness of mind, dealt with below (the fact that the Lord was the one to whom they were to hold the\u00a0feast\u00a0and whom ‘to Me’, that is, Jehovah, is used to mean here, see just above in 7091); and from the meaning of ‘the wilderness’ as obscurity of faith, dealt with in 1708, 7055. Regarding those who belong to the spiritual Church, that they live in comparative obscurity of faith, see 2708, 2715-2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289, 6500, 6945.<\/p>\n [2] The reason why ‘holding a\u00a0feast’ means offering worship with gladness of mind is that they were to hold the\u00a0feast\u00a0three days’ journey away from Egypt, thus not in a state when molested by falsities but in a state of freedom. For a person who is delivered from falsities and from the distress felt at that time gives thanks to God with gladness of mind, and in so doing holds a\u00a0feast. Furthermore the\u00a0feasts\u00a0which had been instituted among those people, three a year, are also said to have been instituted in remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, by which in the spiritual sense is meant in remembrance of deliverance from molestation by falsities through the Lord’s Coming into the world. They were also told to be glad on these occasions, as is evident in Moses where thefeast\u00a0of tabernacles is dealt with,<\/p>\n At the\u00a0feast\u00a0of tabernacles you shall take* on the first day the fruit of a fine tree,** fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream; and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. Lev. 23:40<\/p>\n [3] ‘The fruit of a fine tree, fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream’ means joy because of the goodness and truth present in a person from the inmost to the external parts of his being. The good of love, which is inmost, is meant by ‘the fruit of a fine tree’; the good of faith by ‘fronds of palm trees’; factual knowledge that accords with truth by ‘the branch of a thick tree’; and sensory impressions that accord with truth, which are the most external, by ‘the willows of a powerful stream’. No command to take all these things would have been given if there had not been some cause lying behind it in the spiritual world; and that cause does not become evident to anyone except from the internal sense.<\/p>\n [4] They were to be glad during the\u00a0feast\u00a0of weeks, as is also clear in Moses,<\/p>\n You shall keep the\u00a0feast\u00a0of weeks to Jehovah your God, and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God, you, and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. Deut. 16:10, 11.<\/p>\n These words too, in the internal sense, mean gladness because of the goodness and truth present in people from the inmost to the external parts of their being.<\/p>\n [5] The fact that\u00a0feasts\u00a0were times of gladness, so that holding a\u00a0feast\u00a0means worshipping with gladness of mind, is also evident from the following places: In Isaiah,<\/p>\n You will have a song like that of a night for hallowing a\u00a0feast. Isa. 30:29.<\/p>\n In Nahum,<\/p>\n Look, on the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings, of one proclaiming peace! Keep your\u00a0feasts, O Judah, perform your vows; for [the man of] belial*** will no more pass through you, he will be cut off completely.**** Nahum 1:15.<\/p>\n In Zechariah,<\/p>\n The fasts will be to the house of Judah ones of joy and gladness and good\u00a0feasts; only love truth and peace. Zech. 8:19.<\/p>\n In Hosea,<\/p>\n I will cause all her joy to cease, her\u00a0feasts, her new moons. Hosea 2:11.<\/p>\n In Amos,<\/p>\n I will turn your\u00a0feasts\u00a0into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. Amos 8:10.<\/p>\n The fact that ‘holding a\u00a0feast’ means offering worship with gladness of mind because they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, or in the spiritual sense because they had been delivered from molestation by falsities, is made plain by thefeast\u00a0of Passover. They were commanded to celebrate this each year on the day of their departure from Egypt; and they were commanded to do so on account of the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery, that is, on account of the deliverance of those who belonged to the spiritual Church from falsities, and so from damnation. And since the Lord delivered them by His Coming and raised them up with Him into heaven when He rose again, therefore this too was done at the Passover. This is also meant by the Lord’s words in John,<\/p>\n Now is the judgement of this world, now will the prince of this world be cast outdoors. But I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. John 12:31, 32.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3832<\/b><\/p>\n ‘And made a\u00a0feast’ means the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a\u00a0feast’ as making one’s own and being joined to, dealt with in 3596. Here it is the introduction, for this precedes the joining together, and is a pledge and witness to it. The\u00a0feasts\u00a0which were held in early times by people among whom meaningful signs and representatives existed meant nothing else than the introduction into the mutual love which is the essence of charity. Wedding\u00a0feasts\u00a0meant the introduction into conjugial love, and sacred\u00a0feasts\u00a0the introduction into spiritual and celestial love, the reason being that ‘feasting’ or eating and drinking meant making one’s own and becoming joined to, as shown in 3596.<\/p>\n [2] This being the meaning of ‘feasts’ the Lord also spoke in the same vein,<\/p>\n Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 8:11.<\/p>\n And elsewhere He said to the disciples,<\/p>\n That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.<\/p>\n And when He instituted the Holy Supper He said,<\/p>\n I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. Matt. 26:29.<\/p>\n Anyone may see that ‘reclining’, ‘eating’, and ‘drinking’ in the Lord’s kingdom do not mean reclining, eating, and drinking, but the kind of thing that exists in that kingdom; that is to say, these experiences are used to mean making the good of love and the truth of faith one’s own, and so to mean that which is called spiritual food and celestial food. The quotations given above also show plainly that there is an internal sense within words spoken by the Lord, and that without an understanding of that sense one cannot know what is meant by reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by eating and drinking at the Lord’s table in His kingdom, and by drinking of the fruit of the vine with them in the Father’s kingdom. Nor indeed can one know what is meant by eating bread and drinking wine in the Holy Supper.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10412<\/b><\/p>\n ‘And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a\u00a0feast\u00a0to Jehovah’ means that this is the really essential thing of the Church which is to be celebrated and the truly Divine reality that is to be worshipped unceasingly. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a\u00a0feast’ as the inclusion of celebration within the Church’s worship, for\u00a0feast\u00a0days were times of celebration, so that ‘proclaiming a\u00a0feast’ means the essential thing of the Church which is to be celebrated – the Divine essential reality that is to be worshipped being meant by the declaration that this\u00a0feast\u00a0was called ‘a\u00a0feast\u00a0to Jehovah’; and from the meaning of ‘tomorrow’ as that which is eternal and unceasing, dealt with in 3998, 7140, 9939.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5161<\/b><\/p>\n ‘That he made a\u00a0feast\u00a0for all his servants’ means the introduction and joining to the exterior natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a\u00a0feast’ as the introduction to a joining together, dealt with in 3832, and also as a joining together through love and a making one’s own, 3596; and from the meaning of ‘servants’ as the things which belong to the exterior natural. For when a person is being regenerated lower things are made subordinate and subject to higher ones, that is, exterior things are made so to interior ones. When this happens the exterior things become servants, and the interior become masters.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9296<\/b><\/p>\n ‘And the\u00a0feast\u00a0of ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field’ means the worship of a thankful mind on account of the implanting of good after that, and so on account of regeneration and complete deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the\u00a0feast’ as worship of the Lord and thanksgiving, dealt with above in 9286, 9287, 9294, and so the worship of a thankful mind; from the meaning of ‘ingathering’, when speaking of the implanting of truth in good, as the implanting of good itself; from the meaning of ‘the end of the year’ as the end of labours; and from the meaning of ‘when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field’ as the enjoyment and use of all that has been planted in good. For not only products of the field are meant by ‘labours’ but also those of the vineyard and the olive-grove, so that the fruits of the earth are meant, as is evident from the description of thisfeast\u00a0in Moses,<\/p>\n You shall celebrate the\u00a0feast\u00a0of tabernacles seven days, when you gather in from your threshing-floor, and from your winepress. And Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce, and in all the labour of your hands. Deut. 16:13, 15.<\/p>\n And elsewhere,<\/p>\n On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the earth, you shall keep the\u00a0feast\u00a0of Jehovah seven days. Lev. 23:39.<\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7884<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0‘You shall keep it as a\u00a0feast\u00a0by an eternal statute’ means worship of the Lord in keeping with the order of heaven for those belonging to the spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘an eternal statute’ as the order of heaven, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘keeping a\u00a0feast’ as worship of the Lord, as just above in 7882. And since the children of Israel are the ones who are told to keep it as a\u00a0feast, those belonging to the spiritual Church are meant. The reason why ‘an eternal statute’ means the order of heaven is that all the statutes which the children of Israel were commanded to observe were the kind that flowed from the order of heaven, and therefore also represented the things of heaven. By worship in keeping with the order of heaven one should understand all the good that is performed in keeping with the Lord’s commandments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Feast There are two kinds of feasts mentioned in the Bible. Some were held to commemorate specific, one-time events, such as the feast Abraham held to celebrate the birth of Isaac. Others are commanded of the people of Israel as annual or repeated events. In general, the one-time feasts represent a conjunction of two spiritual […]<\/p>\n
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