Yahweh Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Festivals and sacrifice=== {{also|Feast of Wine}} The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life: [[Passover]] with the birthing of [[Sheep|lambs]], [[Shavuot]] with the [[cereal]] [[harvest]], and [[Sukkot]] with the [[fruit]] harvest.{{sfn|Albertz|1994|p=89}} These probably pre-dated the arrival of the Yahweh religion,{{sfn|Albertz|1994|p=89}} but they became linked to events in the [[national myth]]os of Israel: Passover with [[the exodus]] from Egypt, Shavuot with the law-giving at [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]], and Sukkot with the [[wilderness]] wanderings.{{sfn|Davies|2010|p=112}} The festivals thus celebrated Yahweh's [[salvation]] of Israel and Israel's status as his holy people, although the earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost.{{sfn|Gorman|2000|p=458}} His worship presumably involved sacrifice, but many scholars have concluded that the rituals detailed in [[Leviticus]] 1β16, with their stress on purity and [[Atonement in Judaism|atonement]], were introduced only after the [[Babylonian exile]], and that in reality any head of a family was able to offer sacrifice as occasion demanded.{{sfn|Davies|Rogerson|2005|pp=151β152}} A number of scholars have also drawn the conclusion that [[infant sacrifice]], whether to the underworld deity [[Molech]] or to Yahweh himself, was a part of Israelite/Judahite religion until the reforms of [[King Josiah]] in the late 7th century BCE.{{sfn|Gnuse|1997|p=118}} Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital of [[Book of Psalms|psalms]], but again the details are scant.{{sfn|Davies|Rogerson|2005|pp=158β165}} [[Jewish prayer|Prayer]] played little role in official worship.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=302}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page