SOLEMN ASSEMBLY (עֲצָרָה, H6809, from a root meaning to restrain or contain). It is the gathering and sanctifying of the community of Israel for a solemn occasion. It is used in a technical sense as the eighth day of the Feast of Booths (Lev 23:36; Num 29:35; Neh 8:18) and the seventh day of Passover (Deut 16:8). In both instances the people are instructed to “do no work” on this day for they were in a state of ritual holiness. At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon proclaimed a solemn assembly on the eighth day, “for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days” (2 Chron 7:9). For quite a different purpose, Jehu ordered the people to “sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal” (2 Kings 10:20). He was able to complete his purge of Baal worshipers from the land of Israel through the massacre of those who had gathered in the solemn assembly for the sacrifice to Baal he was to have offered.

In contrast to the above mentioned feast days, the solemn assembly also was convened for special days of fasting. When the locust plague threatened the land, Joel exhorted Israel to “sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry to the Lord” (Joel 1:14; cf. 2:15).

Amos and Isaiah disparaged these solemn assemblies (among other things) as that which God could not endure (Isa 1:13; Amos 5:21), because the people did not do justice in the land. As Isaiah charged, “even though you make many prayers...your hands are full of blood” (Isa 1:15).

This word, עֲצָרָה, H6809, also occurs in Jeremiah 9:2 for “a company of treacherous men.”