Leviticus: Leviticus 23

Sabbaths and Feasts: This section concerns religious duties of the people of God as they worship by giving thanks to God for their blessings. The principles here are: God requires his people to allow the poor to share in their bounty (10-11); God requires his people to provide times of rest and refreshment for those who labor for them (12); God requires allegiance to himself (13); God requires his people to come before him in gratitude and share their bounty (14-17); God requires that his people safeguard proper worship forms (18-19). - www.bible.org/netbible/exo23_notes.htm#231

Are we required to keep the feasts as laid down in this chapter? And again the answer is clear. We do not keep the feasts because we do not possess the land. We owe no ‘rent’. We do not offer the sacrifices because they have been superseded in the one Sacrifice made for all for all time. But we should and do give thanks for our harvests and bring to Him of our produce in gratitude for all His goodness. - www.geocities.com/genesiscommentary/exodus4.html

The spring holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits are a portrait of the death and resurrection of Y'shua (Jesus). He sacrificed Himself on Passover, was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and was resurrected on Firstfruits. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost) was the day the Holy Sprit fell on believers. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are held in immediate sequence. The lamb was slain on the fourteenth and the Feast of Unleavened bread began on the fifteenth day of the first month. And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten (Num. 28:16-17). This passage might account for why Jesus began His Passover seder on the fourteenth. These are distinctly different holidays falling on different days; however, due to their closeness they are usually treated as one festival. (The scriptures seem to teach that these are two names for the same festival. See Exodus 13:3-8.) As you study the Spring Festivals, you will see the plan of God fulfilled in such dramatic detail that you cannot help but be stricken by the awesomeness of our Eternal King. The spring festivals clearly prophesy the first coming of Messiah and the fall festivals are prophetic of His second coming. - biblicalholidays.com/spring_holidays.htm

Three agriculture-related pilgrimage festivals are mandated in Exodus 23:14-17: a seven-day springtime festival of Unleavened Bread, around the barley harvest; an early summer festival of Harvest, when the wheat ripens; and an autumn festival of Ingathering, when olives, grapes, and other fruits are harvested. (cf. Exod 34:18-23).
The book of Leviticus gives regulations for feast days that are to be celebrated "with a sacred assembly," including the weekly sabbath (Lev 23:1-4) and seven annual feast days: Passover (7 days, incl. unleavened bread), First fruits, Pentecost or Weeks, the New Year, the Day of Atonement, the first day of Booths, and the eighth day of Booths (Lev 23:5-44)
.These festivals are later transformed and combined with commemorations of historical/religious events; originally the people could bring their offerings to any major sanctuary, but later they are required to go to the Jerusalem temple, esp. for three main pilgrimage festivals (see Deut 16:1-17).

As they heard these regulations read out, it assured them that, although the going was tough now, in the not too distant future there would be harvests, there would be ingatherings, they would have fields to leave fallow, for this is what the regulations guaranteed. It was worth struggling through the wilderness for. It was worth going on for, it was worth fighting for. And later the outline would be filled in as they neared their final goal. (Moses was not expecting it to take forty years. That would be due to disobedience). - www.geocities.com/genesiscommentary/exodus4.html

1. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.

2. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, Exodus 34:22, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, which took place fifty days after, and hence called by the Greeks Pentecost.

3. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated about the 15th of the month Tisri to commemorate the Israelites' dwelling in tents for forty years, during their stay in the wilderness." (Clarke)

The Lord said to Moses,“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly.“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. “In addition to the Sabbath, these are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year.

----- Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread -----

“The Lord’s Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month. (late March, April, or early May.) On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the Lord continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly. For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly.”

----- Celebration of First Harvest -----

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf. On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

----- The Festival of Harvest -----

“From the day after the Sabbath—the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering—count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops. Along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. These burnt offerings, together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering. “The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the Lord, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the Lord, belong to the priests. That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. (This celebration, called the Festival of Harvest or the Festival of Weeks, was later called the Festival of Pentecost [see Acts 2:1]). It is celebrated today as Shavuat (or Shabuoth).
“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

----- The Festival of Trumpets -----

The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, (September or October. This festival is celebrated today as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.) you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet. You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the Lord.”

----- The Day of Atonement -----

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month—nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. (in September or October. It is celebrated today as Yom Kippur.) You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.”

----- The Festival of Shelters -----

And the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters (Or Festival of Booths, or Festival of Tabernacles. This was earlier called the Festival of the Final Harvest or Festival of Ingathering (see Exodus 23:16b). It is celebrated today as Sukkot (or Succoth). on the fifteenth day of the appointed month—five days after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the Lord will last for seven days. On the first day of the festival you must proclaim an official day for holy assembly, when you do no ordinary work. For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord. This will be a solemn occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day. (“These are the Lord’s appointed festivals. Celebrate them each year as official days for holy assembly by presenting special gifts to the Lord—burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings—each on its proper day. These festivals must be observed in addition to the Lord’s regular Sabbath days, and the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you give to fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to the Lord.) “Remember that this seven-day festival to the Lord—the Festival of Shelters—begins on the fifteenth day of the appointed month, after you have harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest. On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees—palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the Lord your God for seven days. You must observe this festival to the Lord for seven days every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month from generation to generation. For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters. This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” So Moses gave the Israelites these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the Lord.

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