Upon these three great festivals all the males of Israel were required to appear before the Lord at the one place of his choice――the tabernacle or the temple――ultimately in Jerusalem “whither the tribes go up.” The women of Israel manifestly went when they chose and could. According to Oriental usage they traveled in groups――little caravans――several adjacent families, or as the case might be by households, the patriarch with his children and children’s children together, moving on with many a song of social cheer and grateful praise till at length they lifted up their eyes to the hills of the goodly city. The so-called “songs of degrees” (Ps. 120–134)――more strictly songs of the stages or upgoings――are specimens of this free and outflowing worship of the traveling companies, bound upward to Jerusalem. The allusion in Luke 2: 41–45, is pleasant to think of. We must not overlook the fact that the Lord relieved their minds of all fear lest their defenseless homes might be assailed and robbed and perhaps their wives and little ones murdered by foreign enemies while all their able-bodied men were away from their homes in Jerusalem. “Neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year” (Ex. 34: 24). None but a God of universal providence and omnipotent resources could safely make such a promise. In their own Jehovah they might safely trust. * * * * * Of sacred seasons, the most peculiar and striking yet remains to be noticed, viz. _the great day of atonement_. This was one day only; was not a feast day but a _fast_――a day “in which ye shall _afflict your souls_,” _i. e._ subject yourselves to the discomforts and pains of entire abstinence from food for the whole day, “from even to even.” Whoever would not afflict his soul on this day must be “cut off from his people.” All labor was forbidden under the same penalty. The passages Lev. 23: 26–32 and Num. 29: 7–11 give these general features of the institution. Only in Lev. 16 do we find a full description. In this chapter it appears that the original appointment of this day stands connected with the sad death of Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron for their rash unauthorized offering of strange fire before the Lord (Lev. 10: 1–8). That awful scene of death suggested the great necessity of ceremonial purity in the priesthood and of the utmost care and self-control when they came before God. There would be sins in the priesthood and sins among the people of which they might not be aware: hence the propriety of one comprehensive, all-embracing service for atonement.