Book review: The Feasts of Israel

★★★★★

A good way to measure the worth of a book, for me, is to page through it afterward noting how much of the text has been highlighted. In this case, a lot! If I have any criticism of the book, it’s that Scott finds too much meaning in the feasts. He works overly hard to relate every aspect of Jewish celebrations to the life of Jesus, even when the New Testament authors didn’t appear to have any intention of such parallels. This artificiality does betray Scott’s evangelistic emphasis.

This book is written very simply; a young teenager could appreciate and enjoy it as much as adults. And when this young teenager finished the book, he/she would have a deeper understanding  of the New Testament’s Jewish influence than the majority of Christian ministers!

Scott covers the Sabbath and the major feasts of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Jewish New Year, the Day of Atonement, and the Feasts of Tabernacles in part 1. He then covers a number of minor feasts (including Hanukkah and Purim) and Jewish fast days in part 2.  A concluding chapter titled Shadow or Substance? discusses what the recognition of these feasts should mean to us today, and whether or not Christians should celebrate them.