Truth you can trace
The festival year
What Israel's appointed times did to the city, the roads and the calendar: the crowds Passover brought to Jerusalem, the water and lamps of Tabernacles, the diaspora that gathered at Pentecost, the fast that dates Paul's voyage against the closing sailing season, and how far a man could walk on the Sabbath. It names a festival only where the text names one.
Passover: the feast that filled the city
Passover falls in the first month and is the reason for journeys all through the Gospels. Luke reports of Jesus' family that "his parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover" (Luke 2:41, ASV).
John 2:13 · John 6:4 · John 11:55
ReadTabernacles: booths, water and light
The command is in Leviticus: "On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto Jehovah" (Leviticus 23:34, ASV), and "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days" (Leviticus 23:42, ASV).
John 7:2 · John 7:37 · John 8:12
ReadPentecost: the feast that gathered the diaspora
Pentecost is the feast of Weeks, fifty days after the offering of the first sheaf, and it is one of the three at which attendance was commanded (Deuteronomy 16:16).
Acts 2:1 · Acts 2:5 · Acts 20:16
ReadThe Day of Atonement: the Fast, and the closing of the sea
Acts marks the turn of the voyage with a calendar note: "And when much time was spent, and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast was now already gone by, Paul admonished them" (Acts 27:9, ASV).
Acts 27:9 · Leviticus 16:29 · Leviticus 23:27
ReadThe Feast of Dedication: a winter feast the Law never commanded
John gives both the feast and the season: "And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: it was winter; and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch" (John 10:22-23, ASV).
John 10:22 · John 10:23
ReadThree times a year: the pilgrim roads
The requirement is stated three times in the Law, most fully in Deuteronomy…
Deuteronomy 16:16 · Exodus 23:14 · Exodus 34:23
ReadThe Sabbath: and how far a man could walk
Luke gives a distance in festival units: "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey off" (Acts 1:12, ASV).
Acts 1:12 · Exodus 16:29 · Joshua 3:4
ReadThe feast John does not name
"After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John 5:1, ASV). That is all.
John 5:1
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On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.