What Is Chag Yeshua?

There is an amazing and important festival on the Biblical calendar which has been lost and has not been observed for centuries. The festival was enacted in the 3rd Book of the Maccabees, but since this book was removed from the canon (along with the rest of the apocrypha), this festival was effectively removed with it. As the restoration of truth continues, one of the things that we need to do is restore this lost, biblical festival to our observance.

What is the background of this festival? After the Battle of Raphia in 217 B.C.E. Ptolemy IV sought to enter the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, but was miraculously repulsed (3Macc. 1:1-2:24). Upon returning from Egypt he seeks to punish the Jews there for his humiliation. He lowers their political status and seeks to impose paganism on them (3Macc. 2:25-33) and tortures and kills those that refuse to renounce Judaism (3Macc. 3:1-5:51) An elder priest named Eleazar prays for the deliverance of his people (3Macc. 6:1-25), YHWH intervenes bringing about the repentance of the king and the deliverance of the Jews (6:16-7:23) The Jews declared an annual festival called “The Feast of Deliverance” (Chag Yeshua) as an annual celebration of the salvation of the Jews in Egypt at this time. The festival enacted from the 8th to the 14th of the Egyptian month of Epeiph. The Egyptian calendar was a Solar Calendar and these days correspond to 19 August 217 BCE on the Julian Calendar and this was 12th Elul 3544 on the Hebrew calendar. This festival should be observed beginning on the 12th of Elul each year.

And there is another element in this festival for us as believers in Messiah. The Hebrew word for “deliverance” is YESHUA so we have here “The Feast of Yeshua”. The deliverance of the Jews from the hand of Ptolemy IV points us forward to the deliverance of Israel by the Messiah Yeshua. This feast gives us another important theme, Messiah and the deliverance of Israel.

What do we do on Hag Yeshua? The text of 3 Maccabees tells us that the day was celebrated with rejoicing and they “were crowned with all kinds of fragrant flowers.” The text also tells us that they:
1. A celebratory meal called “The Banquet of Deliverance” or “The Banquet of Yeshua”. This should not be confused with the Passover Sader and would be more akin to a “Thanksgiving Dinner”, or this time of year, a barbeque. (3Macc. 6:31)
2. Traditional songs (“Songs of their fathers”) and praising Yah as “savior”. Particularly appropriate are songs about “Salvation” or which speak of Yah’s defense as our shield. (3Macc. 6:32)
Recommended Chag Yeshua songs:
Deliverance/Protection/Victory Theme:
Behold!
And it Shall Come to Pass
Melech Ozair
As the Mountains
Shield about Me
In the Shadow of your Wings
Shouts of Joy
Yeshau (the Messiah) Theme:
Do You Know Yeshua?
In Yeshua's Name
Rejoicing:
He Put Laughter into My Soul
He has Made me Glad
Roni Bat Tzion
3. Traditional Hebraic Dance (2Macc. 6:35)
4. Obviously the festival should involve recounting the story of 3 Maccabees.

Since the festival is in the summer (at least in the northern hemisphere) this points obviously to summer festivities. Modern activities could include barbeques and pool parties.

In 2011 Chag Yeshua (The Feast of Deliverance) will run seven days beginning Sept. 11 2011 .I want to encourage you to join WNAE and other Nazarenes around the world this summer as we observe this festival again for the second time in nearly 2,000 years (last year was the first).

So plan your own Chag Yeshua events for Sept. 11-17th 2011

(The 17th is the Weekly Sabbath and the Synagogue day for observance)

James Scott Trimm
Worldwide Nazarene Assembly of Elohim
http://www.wnae.org

AHVOT: The Fathers 
(The first blessing of the Amidah)

Blessed Are You YHVH, our Elohim and Elohim of our fathers;

Blessing for Reading the Chag Yeshua

Blessed Are You YHVH, our Elohim, King of the universe,

Shehecheyanu—The Blessing for the New Season

Blessed are you YHWH our Elohim, King of the Universe

   Baruch atta YHWH Eloheynu Melech HaOlam

Who has kept us in life, and has preserved us,

   Shehecheyanu v’ki-y’manu

and enabled us to reach this time.

   v’higianu la-zman hazeh.

(The 3 Maccabees passages are here read)

Horov es rivaynu—The Blessing for Success

Blessed are you YHWH our Elohim, King of the Universe, who has contended for us and succeeding in our cause, avenging us by bringing retribution on all our mortal enemies and delivering us from our adversaries.

   Bo-ruch A-toh YHWH E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olom
   Horov es rivaynu, v’hadon es dinaynu, v’kanokaym es nikmosaynu,
   V’ham’shalaym g’mul l’chol o-y’vay nafshaynu
   V’hanifro lonu mitzoraynu
 

Hoel Moshiach—The Blessing for Messiah

Blessed are You, YHWH, 

  Bo-ruch A-toh YHWH

who delivers His people Israel

   hanifro l’amo yisro-ayl

from all their adversaries

    mikol tzorayhem,

Elohim who brought Messiah.

   Ho-Ayl haMoshiach

Amein.

(You may want to close with the Aaronic Blessing)