Solemn meeting

The solemn meeting (Hebrew: atzeret, meaning a solemn assembly or closing festival) was the convocation held on the eighth day following the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35). It was a day of sacred rest with a distinct offering — one bull, one ram, and seven lambs — differing from the elaborate multiple sacrifices of the preceding seven days, and its character as a closing celebration set it apart from Tabernacles proper. Isaiah uses the term in his critique of Israel's hypocritical worship (Isa. 1:13), declaring that even solemn assemblies had become an abomination when accompanied by injustice.

The same Hebrew term is applied to the closing assembly on the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. 16:8). The Revised Version renders it "solemn assembly" throughout, and the festival structure it describes marks a formal conclusion to Israel's great autumn harvest celebration.