The Festivals and Their Sacrifices

The law requires that at public expense a year-old lamb be killed every day, at the beginning and at the end of the day; but on the seventh day, which is called the Sabbath, they kill two and sacrifice them in the same way. At the new moon they perform the daily sacrifices and also slaughter two bulls, seven year-old lambs, and a ram, and a young goat as well, to atone for sins — that is, if they have sinned through ignorance. [a] In the seventh month, which the Macedonians call Hyperberetaeus, they add to those already mentioned a bull, a ram, seven lambs, and a young goat for sins. [b]

On the tenth day of the same lunar month they fast until evening, and on this day they sacrifice a bull, two rams, seven lambs, and a young goat for sins. Besides these they bring two young goats. One is sent alive out beyond the bounds of the camp into the wilderness as the scapegoat, to atone for the sins of the whole people. The other is taken to a very clean place on the outskirts and burned there, skin and all, without any cleaning. With this goat a bull was burned, brought not by the people but by the high priest at his own expense. When it had been slaughtered, he brought some of its blood into the holy place, together with the blood of the goat, and sprinkled the ceiling with his finger seven times, and the floor as often, and as many times again toward the most holy place and around the golden altar. Last of all he brings it into the open court and sprinkles it around the great altar. Besides this, they set the extremities, the kidneys, and the fat, with the lobe of the liver, on the altar. The high priest also presents a ram to God as a burnt offering. [c]

On the fifteenth day of the same month, when the season is turning toward winter, the law commands us to set up booths in every one of our houses, to protect ourselves from the cold of that time of year. It also commands that, when we should reach our own country and come to the city we would then have as our capital because of the temple to be built there, we should keep a festival for eight days, offer burnt offerings and sacrifice thank offerings, and carry in our hands a branch of myrtle and of willow and a palm frond, with a citron added. The burnt offering on the first of those days was to be thirteen bulls, fourteen lambs, and two rams, with a young goat added to atone for sins; and on the following days the same number of lambs and rams, with the goats, but with one bull fewer each day until there were only seven. On the eighth day all work was set aside, and then, as we said before, they sacrificed to God a bull, a ram, and seven lambs, with a young goat to atone for sins. This is the customary festival of the Hebrews when they set up their booths. [e]

In the month of Xanthicus, which we call Nisan and which is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries — for it was in this month that we were set free from slavery under the Egyptians — the law ordered us to slaughter every year the sacrifice which, as I told you before, we slaughtered when we came out of Egypt, and which was called the Passover. So we celebrate this Passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice until the next day. The feast of unleavened bread follows the Passover. It falls on the fifteenth day of the month and lasts seven days, during which they eat unleavened bread, and on each of those days two bulls, one ram, and seven lambs are killed. These lambs are burned whole, besides the young goat added to all the rest for sins, for it is meant as a feast for the priest on each of those days. On the second day of unleavened bread, the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. And since they think it right to honor first of all God, from whom they receive this rich provision, they offer the firstfruits of their barley, in this way. They take a handful of the ears, dry them, beat them small, and clean the barley of its bran. Then they bring about two quarts of it to the altar, to God, and after throwing one handful of it on the fire they leave the rest for the use of the priest. After this they may reap their harvest, publicly or privately. At this offering of the firstfruits of the earth they also sacrifice a lamb as a burnt offering to God. [g]

When a week of weeks, which is forty-nine days, has passed after this sacrifice, on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost but is called by the Hebrews Asartha, a word meaning Pentecost, they bring to God a loaf made of about four quarts of wheat flour, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring two lambs. When these have only been presented to God, they are prepared for the priests’ supper, and nothing of them may be left until the next day. They also slaughter three bulls and two rams for a burnt offering, and fourteen lambs, with two young goats for sins. There is no festival on which they do not offer burnt offerings, and they rest on every one of them. Accordingly the law prescribes, for all of them, what kinds they are to sacrifice and how they are to rest completely, and that they must slaughter sacrifices in order to feast on them. [i]

Out of the common funds, bread baked without leaven was set out, using about twelve gallons of flour, for that is how much is spent on this bread. It was baked in two stacks. They were baked the day before the Sabbath but brought into the holy place on the Sabbath morning and set on the holy table, six loaves to a stack, each loaf standing over against another. Two golden cups full of frankincense were also set on them, and there they remained until the next Sabbath. Then other loaves were brought in their place, while the old loaves were given to the priests for their food, and the frankincense was burned in the sacred fire in which all their offerings were burned; and fresh frankincense was set on the loaves in place of the old. The priest also offered a sacrifice at his own expense, twice every day. It was made of flour mixed with oil and baked gently over the fire. The amount was about two quarts of flour; he brought half of it to the fire in the morning and the other half at night. I will give a more exact account of these sacrifices later; but I think I have said enough about them for now. [k]