Leviticus 23:1-14 - Festivals

"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. 3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. 4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. 13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." —  Leviticus 23:1-14 KJV.

HOLINESS IN DAYS — FESTIVALS INSTITUTED.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

Time, as a priceless gift of God, is subject to his claims. In addition to the seventh day he set apart other times to be observed by the Israelites for the threefold purpose of preserving a knowledge of the great facts on which their religion was based, of the maintenance of the feeling of national unity, and of developing their religious sentiments. These are the passover, in memory of the miraculous deliverance from Egypt; and two festivals which plainly have an agricultural significance — the feast of firstfruits, variously styled the feast of wheat-harvest, of weeks, or pentecost, and the feast of ingathering, called also the feast of tabernacles. It is supposed that the feast of pentecost commemorates the giving of the law, which was given just fifty days after the exode; but no Scripture proof can be cited for this opinion. Great wisdom is manifest in the times selected for the three great national gatherings. The passover was just before the harvest, pentecost between the grain harvest and the vintage, and the feast of tabernacles was called the ingathering because, like the national thanksgiving in the United States, it occurred after all the products of the soil were garnered. Two important events subsequent to the Mosaic era gave rise to two additional feasts, namely, Purim, (Esther 9:20,) celebrating the providential deliverance of the Jews from the massacre plotted by Haman, and the Dedication, (1 Macc. 4:56), commemorating the renewal of the temple worship after the three years’ profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes.

THE FEASTS OF THE LORD, 1, 2.

These festivals of Jehovah were by no means secular banquets, but religions assemblies convened at an appointed time and place. 

2. Holy convocations — The people were required to convene for no worldly end, but to worship Jehovah in the manner which he appointed. The term “convocation” is invariably applied to meetings of a religious character. With one exception (Isaiah 1:13) the term is peculiar to the Pentateuch.

THE SABBATH.

3. The seventh day is the sabbath — See notes on Exodus 16:23; 20:8-11. Ye shall do no work — Except in obedience to the higher law of brotherly kindness, (Exodus 23:4; Deuteronomy 22:1-4,) and of compassion to the brute creature, (Matthew 12:11,) commonly called works of necessity and of mercy.

THE PASSOVER, 4-8.

5. First month — This was called Abib previous to the Babylonish captivity, and Nisan afterward. The passover and the exode from Egypt were events of so great importance that the Israelites were instructed to reckon the ecclesiastical year from that point of time. Exodus 12:2. The months were lunar, and began at the announcement of the new moon. The cycle of religious feasts, commencing with the passover, depended not simply on the month, but on the moon; the fourteenth of Nisan was coincident with the full moon. The Lord’s passover — Because the Lord passed by the blood-stained doors of the Hebrews when he smote the firstborn of Egypt. Exodus 12:6.

6. The feast of unleavened bread — The unleavened bread in this feast was not sacrificial, (Leviticus 2:4,) but monumental. Leaven was not prohibited because it was corrupt in its nature and symbolical of depravity, (Matthew 16:6,) but because it was not in harmony with the historical fact commemorated by this feast — the hasty flight from Egypt. See on Exodus 12:34.

7. No servile work — Literally, no service of husbandry, no manual toil. The law always speaks of the days of holy convocation as sabbaths. But labour incident to the festivities, such as the building of booths, was lawful. In addition to the fifty-two sabbaths, the day of atonement was the only day when all kinds of labor was forbidden. On the other six days of holy convocation certain acts not called servile labour might be performed. Too many days of absolute rest are detrimental to the moral tone of a people, and are apt to degenerate from holy days to holidays. God made no such mistake.

8. Offering made by fire — See note on chap. 1:9. The seventh day — This is not the seventh day of the week but of the feast, which, since it must begin on a fixed day of the month, might fall on any day of the week. Hence there might be three days of holy convocation in the passover week, one of which would be the creation or decalogue sabbath, and the other two the feast sabbaths, the first and seventh days.

SHEAF OF FIRSTFRUITS, 9-14.

10. When ye… come into the land — This verse plainly indicates a state of expectancy suited to a sojourning people looking forward to a permanent home. It shows that the Levitical code was given in the wilderness, and was not a fabrication of a later period. Ye shall bring a sheaf — This command is not addressed to each tiller of the soil, but to the whole nation. It was the custom for a deputation of the Sanhedrim to go forth into some field near Jerusalem on the eve of the festival and tie the standing stalks of grain in bunches, and then cut enough for a sheaf with great formality, and, in the most public manner, carry it to the temple, and give it to the priest to be waved before the Lord. It was threshed, winnowed, bruised, roasted, mixed with oil, sprinkled with frankincense, waved by the priest in all directions, and eaten by ceremonially pure priests, after a handful had been thrown on the altar-fire. Then the harvesting might lawfully be done. Josephus tells us that the sheaf was barley. Barley ripens about the middle of April; wheat ripens in Palestine two or three weeks later. (Robinson’s Palestine, 2:263, 278.) Firstfruits… unto the priest — The revenue from this source was nearly two per cent. of the entire produce of the field. See note on Leviticus 2:14. The sheaf was only a representative of the forthcoming abundance of firstfruits of all kinds. The pious Hebrew could not relish any thing which he did not share with Jehovah. He was thought of first. His portion was offered first. How this rebukes the hurried Bible-reading, the hasty prayers, the doled-out ministerial support, and the reluctant and niggardly beneficence of many professed Christians with whom self is first and Christ is last!

11. The morrow after the sabbath — After the first day of holy convocation. Hence the waving of the sheaf, according to Josephus, was on the sixteenth of Nisan.

12. A burnt offering — Since the sheaf-waving has all the elements of a bread offering, it must be the concomitant of the more important whole burnt offering. The typical cleansing from sin by the blood of the lamb must precede the presentation of that offering which symbolizes the fruits of holiness, the accompaniments of regeneration.

13. Two tenth deals — There is no word “deals” in the Hebrew, but simply “two tenths.” The unit of measure is understood to be an ephah, two tenths of which, two omers, was about six quarts. The ordinary bread or meat offering consisted of only half this quantity. Exodus 29:40; Numbers 28:9, 13. It was doubled on this occasion in order to signalize this oblation. A sweet savour — See Leviticus 1:9. Drink offering — This consisted of wine, which was not poured upon the burning victim, as among the Greeks and Romans, but was a libation poured about the altar. (Josephus’ Antiquities, 3:9, 4.) Wine is emblematical of joy. When poured out after the whole burnt offering is laid on the altar, it beautifully typifies the abounding gladness of the soul wholly consecrated to Christ in possession of that comforting grace and full assurance inspired by the Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter. St. Paul, on the eve of martyrdom, signifies his joy by the words ἤδη σπένδομαι, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering.” [2 Timothy 4:6] The fourth part of a hin — The hin contained five quarts.

14. Parched corn… green ears — These, being fried, are still eaten with relish by the Arabs now dwelling in Palestine. See note on Ruth 2:14. Abstinence from the fruits of the earth till thanks have been rendered to the bountiful Giver in the form of an offering of firstfruits was a practice quite prevalent among the pagan nations. Pliny says of the ancient Romans, “They did not so much as taste of their corn and wine till the priests had offered the firstfruits.” A statute for ever. See note on Leviticus 3:17.