"These [in Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." - Acts 17:11
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Isaiah 1:10-17 - Isaiah's Rebuke:
Judah's Feasts Displease Him Before Captivity

(10) Hear [O Jerusalem] the word of the Lord, you rulers {or} judges of [another] Sodom! Give ear to the law {and} the teaching of our God, you people of [another] Gomorrah! (11) To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me [unless they are the offering of the heart]? says the Lord. I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts [without obedience]; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he-goats [without righteousness]. (12) When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you that your [unholy feet] trample My courts? (13) Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure--[it is] iniquity {and} profanation, even the solemn meeting. (14) Your New Moon festivals and your [hypocritical] appointed feasts My soul hates. They are an oppressive burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. (15) And when you spread forth your hands [in prayer, imploring help], I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood! (16) Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes! Cease to do evil, (17) Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, {and} correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

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Isaiah 1:10-17 chronicles the time before Ezra and Nehemiah when Judah observed the feasts, yet in a wrong spirit and with reprehensible conduct. Isaiah preached this to the Jews about one hundred years before they went into captivity to Babylon.

This is a clear indictment of their spirit and attitude, advancing strong proof of why God later said through Ezekiel that Israel and Judah went into captivity because of idolatry and Sabbath-breaking (Ezekiel 20:12-21).

There is no reason to believe that, just because God says "your" new moons and "your" feasts, they were not the ones He appointed, at least in name. He could rightly call them "your feasts" because their keeping of them was so abominable that they bore no resemblance to His intent in commanding them to be observed. They were completely discordant with His character, as the listing of their sins shows.

He calls their giving of offerings, which were part of the spiritual aspects of keeping the feasts, vain and trampling His courts. He designates their prayers as an abomination, and their keeping of the feasts wearying to Him. Clearly, He had "had it up to here" with their Sabbath and festival observances. Have we examined our conduct recently in relation to our attitudes, approaches, and expectations for the Feast?

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Amos 5 and the Feast of Tabernacles



 

Topics:

Feasts of God

Feasts, Keeping Properly

Feasts, Keeping Spiritually

Idolatrous Religious Influence

Idolatry

Sabbath Breaking

Sabbath Keeping

Traditions of Men

Way We Worship

Worship

Worship, False

Worshipping in Vain




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