Attendance at Festivals

Philo

On the Special Laws 1.67–70

First Half of 1st Century

Further, he does not consent to those who wish to perform the rites in their houses, but bids them rise up from the ends of the earth and come to this temple. In this way he also applies the severest test to their dispositions. For one who is not going to sacrifice in a religious spirit would never bring himself to leave his country and friends and…

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Ritual sacrifice could normally be conducted only in the Temple and not at home. Philo, writing in Alexandria in the first half of the first century CE (while the Jerusalem Temple still stood), says that Moses established this restriction as a test of faith. It requires adherents to leave home and family, to brave the dangers posed by travel, and to worship in a land far from home. The result is large masses of pilgrims converging on Jerusalem and the Temple, where they find spiritual uplift as well as a convivial community.

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