Ye shall do no servile work. — With the exception of what was absolutely necessary, all handicraft and trade were stopped. (See Leviticus 23:7.)
But ye shall offer. — As the festival is also the new moon, a threefold sacrifice was offered on it, (1) viz. the ordinary daily sacrifice which was offered first; (2) the appointed new moon sacrifice (Numbers 28:11-15); and (3) the sacrifice for this festival, which consisted of a young bullock, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year, with the usual meat offerings, and a kid for a sin offering (Numbers 29:1-6). With the exception, therefore, of there being one bullock instead of two, this sacrifice was simply a repetition of the monthly offering by which it was preceded in the service. During the offering of the drink offering and the burnt offering the Levites engaged in vocal and instrumental music, singing the eighty-first and other psalms, whilst the priests at stated intervals broke forth with awful blasts of the trumpets. After the offering up of the sacrifices, the service was concluded by the priests, who pronounced the benediction (Numbers 6:23-27), which the people received in a prostrate position before the Lord. Having prostrated themselves a second time in the court, the congregation resorted to the adjoining synagogue, where the appointed lessons from the Law and the Prophets were read, consisting of Genesis 21:1-34; Numbers 29:1-6; 1 Samuel 1:1 to 1 Samuel 2:10; Genesis 22:1-24; Jeremiah 31:2-20. Psalms were recited and the festival prayers were offered, beseeching the Lord to pardon the sins of the past year, and to grant the people a happy new year. This concluded the morning service, after which the families resorted to their respective homes, partook of the social and joyous repast, and in the evening went again into the Temple to witness the offering of the evening sacrifices, and to see the candlestick lighted with which the festival concluded, all wishing each other, “May you be written down for a happy new year; may the Creator decree for you a happy new year.” To which was responded, “And you likewise.” With the exception of the sacrifices, the Jews keep this festival to the present day. The trumpet which they use on this occasion consists of the curved horn of a ram, in remembrance of the ram which Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac. This event, as we have seen, is also commemorated in the lesson of the day.