<\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nBut, there are further provisions in the Torah for the cyclical reading of the covenant. They are found in the King James Version’s phrase: “holy convocation.”<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“1 And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying, <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, [Concerning] the feasts of YHWH, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations,<\/STRONG> [even] these [are] my feasts. <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation;<\/STRONG> ye shall do no work [therein]: it [is] the sabbath of YHWH in all your dwellings. <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 4 These [are] the feasts of YHWH, [even] holy convocations,<\/STRONG> which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” Leviticus 23:1-4.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nThe above verses begin the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus. The whole chapter is about YHWH’s feasts, the first of which is the seventh-day Sabbath. A “holy convocation”
\nis required for the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. “Holy convocations” are also required for the rest of YHWH’s feasts. For the first and last days of the Feast of
\nUnleavened Bread (the 15th<\/SUP> and 21st<\/SUP> of the first Hebrew month, Abib (Nisan)) Leviticus 23:7, 8 requires a “holy convocation.” At Pentecost, Leviticus 23:21 requires a “holy
\nconvocation.” On the seventh new moon, the Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:24 requires “an holy convocation.” On the tenth day of the seventh Hebrew month, the Day of
\nAtonement, Leviticus23:27 requires an “holy convocation.” And, for the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the 15th<\/SUP> and 22nd<\/SUP> of the seventh Hebrew month, Leviticus
\n23:35, 36 requires “an holy convocation.”<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\nWhen I first began to study about the Biblical feasts, I assumed that an “holy convocation” was a “sacred gathering,” a “sacred assembly.” As we shall shortly see, this meaning
\nis only by extension.<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\nThe Hebrew word translated as “convocation” is Strong’s H4744:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>Strong’s H4744 miqra> {mik-raw’}<\/STRONG> from H7121; something called out, i.e. a public meeting(the act, the persons or the place); also a rehearsal: – assembly, calling, convocation, reading.<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD><\/p>\n
- <\/FONT>Strong’s H7121 qara> {kaw-raw’}<\/STRONG> a primitive root [rather identical with H7122 through the idea of accosting a person met]; to call out (i.e. properly to address by name, but used in a wide variety of
\napplications): – bewray [self], that are bidden, call (for, forth, self, upon), cry (unto), (be) famous, guest, invite, mention, (give) name, preach, (make) proclamation, pronounce, publish, read<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT>, renowned, say.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nTake note that in Leviticus 23:2, we find the command, “the feasts of YHWH, which ye shall proclaim<\/EM> [to be] holy convocations,<\/STRONG><\/FONT> [even] these are my feasts.” The Hebrew
\nword translated as, “proclaim,”<\/EM> is Strong’s H7122:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>Strong’s H7122 qara> {kaw-raw’}<\/STRONG> a primitive root: to encounter, whether accidently or in a hostile manner: – befall, (by) chance, (cause to) come (upon), fall out, happen, meet.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nTake note that the Hebrew word, miqra<\/EM>, has among it’s meanings the idea of reading.<\/EM> Thus, all of the above commands to have a “holy convocation” or, to “proclaim an holy
\nconvocation,” are actually commanding to annunciate (voice aloud) a “holy reading.” Thus, Israel was commanded to have a “reading” of that which was “holy.” The natural
\nquestion that follows is: “What was the “holy reading” that was to be read?” Several texts assist our understanding about what was to be “read.”<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“7 And he [Moses] took the book of the covenant, and read<\/EM> in the audience of the people:<\/STRONG><\/FONT> and they said, All that YHWH hath said will we do, and be obedient.” Exodus 24:7.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nHere, we learn that Moses “read” the book of the covenant to the people. But, we still do not have sufficient information to appreciate whether this same book of the covenant
\nwas to be read every seventh-day Sabbath and also on the festival sabbaths of the Biblical feasts.<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\nDeuteronomy 32:11, 12 partially solves the question as to what was the “holy reading” that was to be read. But first, the following quotation is important in order to appreciate
\nthe Deuteronomy 31:11 quotation that follows.<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before YHWH thy Elohim in the place which He shall choose;<\/STRONG> in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles:
\nand they shall not appear before YHWH empty:” Deuteronomy 16:16.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nThree times each year (at the appointed times of YHWH’s feasts) the males of Israel were to appear before YHWH their Elohim “in the place which He shall choose.” “The
\nplace that He shall choose” was first Shiloh and then later, Jerusalem.<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“11 When all Israel is come to appear before YHWH thy Elohim in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read<\/EM> this law before all Israel in their hearing.<\/STRONG><\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that [is] within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear YHWH your Elohim, and observe to do all the
\nwords of this law:” Deuteronomy 31:11, 12.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nIn light of the commands in Leviticus 23 to have a “holy convocation,” a “holy reading” at the various feasts of YHWH, Deuteronomy 31:11, 12 teaches us that the law (Torah)
\nwas to be read to all Israel assembled together at the three annual feasts.<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\nIn the following text, Josiah reads to all Israel all the words from the book of the covenant:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“2 And the king [Josiah] went up into the house of YHWH, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and
\nhe read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant<\/STRONG> which was found in the house of YHWH.” 2Kings 23:2. See also 2Chronicles 34:30.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nThe book of Daniel mentions several times a “holy covenant.” But, Luke specifically defines what the “holy covenant” was:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“67. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 68 Blessed be YHWH Elohim of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant;<\/STRONG> <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,<\/STRONG> <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n - 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.” Luke 1:67-75.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DD>
\n<\/DL><\/p>\nTake note of the words, “that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear” and compare them with the following:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n
\n - <\/FONT>“25 And ye shall serve YHWH your Elohim,<\/STRONG> and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. <\/FONT><\/DD>
\n