Leviticus 23

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:05utc

The Feasts Ch. 23; 24:1-9

ch. 23:1-44

This section, together with the first seven chapters about the sacrifices and the sixteenth chapter about the Day of Atonement, form the high points of this book. The part about the oil for the lampstand and the show bread does not strictly belong to this section, but it fits even less with the following one about the young man who blasphemed God's Name.

If we do not count the Sabbath, in vs. 1-3 with these feasts there are seven in all. The outline is as follows:

The Sabbath-- weekly on the seventh day (vs. 1-3)

The Passover-- on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nissan) ± April. According to TLB "The end of March" (vs. 5)

The Feast of Unleavened Bread-- from the fifteenth through the twenty-second of Nissan (vs. 6-8)

The First Sheaf of the Grain of Harvest - no date mentioned, except that it be on the day after the Sabbath (vs. 9-14)

Pentecost-- Fifty days after the presentation of the first sheaf of grain (vs. 15-22)

The Feast of the Trumpets-- on the first day of the seventh month (Ethanim) ± October. According to TLB "Mid September" (vs. 23-25)

The Day of Atonement-- on the tenth of the seventh month (vs. 26-32)

The Feast of Tabernacles - on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. According to TLB "The last day of September" (vs. 33-44)

From this calendar we see that the high point of the Israelite year was on the seventh month, that is about October on our calendar, a little past the half-way mark of the year. With the exception of the Day of Atonement, the feasts were an occasion for joy. The keyword for the Day of Atonement was self denial. The Hebrew word is 'anah which, according to Strong's Dictionary, means "looking down or browbeating; to depress literally or figuratively." Self-denial is not the same as mourning. In a sense the Day of Atonement was a feast also, but a more solemn one.

Vs. 1-3. The phrase, "The LORD said to Moses," which appears three times in this chapter, (vs. 1,9 and 23) places this section that deals with the feasts under the heading of divine revelations. The feasts are announced as "the appointed feasts of the LORD." And God emphasizes the fact that they are His by saying: "'These are my appointed feasts." This implies that God has to be the central point, the focus of all the activities. It is not man's initiative, but God's. God celebrates and we are invited. With this in mind, we should read Jesus' words: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son."[ 1 ] And, remembering the joy in Heaven, Jesus speaks about the joy in Luke, when one sinner repents. "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. .... In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. .... But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."[ 2 ]

The feasts of the Lord are celebrated on account of His Son. That is why man may participate in them. The fact that this involves the salvation of man gives to the feast a contradictory character of sadness and joy. There is no unadulterated joy because the price that was paid for salvation was so high. At the same time the sadness gives a depth to the joy that can only be experienced in the presence of God.

The feasts are called "sacred assemblies" because the presence of the Lord sanctifies the activity of the humans. When the Lord is present there is holy joy, even sanctified fun; truly, seriousness and enjoyment are compatible.

The Sabbath vs. 1-3

The first feast is the weekly Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. It is the only feast that is mentioned on the Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments.[ 3 ] The Pentateuch establishes the connection between the Sabbath and the order of creation. In that connection the Sabbath is mentioned in Genesis. "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."[ 4 ] The study of the Sabbath throughout the whole Bible would be a rich undertaking. The Sabbath is the only feast that had, originally, nothing to do with man's fall into sin. It is the expression of God's approval of the creation He made. "And God saw that it was good."[ 5 ] Then we read: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy."[ 6 ] The eternal God takes possession of time and blesses that element of life on earth that forms the basis of all human experience. So, there is no contradiction between time and eternity, because in the Sabbath, that which is divine and eternal, is linked to time, which is the essence of human life. Both are brought together in perfect harmony. I wonder if, in Heaven, the Sabbath will be based upon the same principle.

The enjoyment of the Sabbath is, evidently, the feature that is lacking in the book of Ecclesiastes. The "vanity" of the book consists in the fact that man is unable to enjoy nature and life and his possessions.[ 7 ] So the Sabbath is God's gift to man. That is why Jesus takes possession of the Sabbath with the words: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."[ 8 ]

Obviously, sin has drastically changed the character of the Sabbath. In Numbers we read how a man who did not keep the Sabbath received the death penalty.[ 9 ] For the man who lives in sin, the Sabbath becomes a curse. For Jesus the Sabbath had, especially, the character of a day of restoration and renewal. When the Jews accused Him for breaking the Sabbath when He healed the man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, He said: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."[ 10 ] Following this statement, Jesus preached His great sermon about the resurrection from the dead which is the fulfillment of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is also an interruption of the curse which man brought upon himself when he sinned. God said to him: "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."[ 11 ] From a day of enjoyment at the accomplishment of creation, the Sabbath became a pointer to the time of rest that would be the result of complete redemption. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews treats the Sabbath specifically as the rest of faith.[ 12 ] Man shares in God's Sabbath through the redemption in Jesus Christ.[ 13 ] The tragedy of life in sin is that the Sabbath, which was intended to be a blessing for man, became a curse to him. Jesus was in the grave on the Sabbath day. In this way, He took our curse upon Himself.

Our most important day is the day after the Sabbath, the eighth day. The young church began immediately to celebrate the day after the Sabbath as the day on which Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave. The eighth day is the real Sabbath. That is why in Lev. 23 the Sabbath is not strictly counted among the feasts. The actual feasts start with vs. 4.

The Passover Feast Vs. 4-5 The date is the fourteenth of Nissan. We find the detailed description of this feast in Exodus.[ 14 ] The time indicated, "at twilight," "at even," (KJV) is less precise than it appears. It could be translated as "between the evenings" leaving a rather large space of time. The Passover was a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt, when the blood of the Passover lamb had to be applied to the door posts of the Israelite homes to protect them from the plague that would kill all the firstborn sons of Egypt. The meat of the lamb had to be roasted. Only the circumcised, that is those who had entered the covenant that God had made with Abraham, were allowed to eat of it. The main point of the feast was not the commemoration of the departure from Egypt but the fact that Israel was saved and Egypt was punished. The amazement of this fact still rings in the words: "It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians."[ 15 ] The Israelites understood that these events were not self-evident. This was not something God owed them.

The Passover is merely mentioned in one sentence probably because for the Israelites in the desert, the facts of that last night were still fresh in their memory when this law was given.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread Vs. 6-8

Immediately following the Passover, even partly overlapping it, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The eating of this bread began during the Passover celebration.[ 16 ] This was the bread Jesus took and broke during the celebration of the first Lord's Supper. The feast celebrates the consequences of our redemption; that is the purification of our sins. It began and ended with a Sabbath. According to Exodus, all the yeast in the house had to removed and the man who ate bread with yeast forfeited his life.[ 17 ] The seven-day-long celebration is an image of daily life. God wanted to impress upon His people that the consequences of their escape from God's wrath and of their deliverance from the slavery of Egypt was to lead a life in which the people would no longer feed themselves with sin. For the average Israelite whose heart had not been renewed by the Holy Spirit, this must have been a source of endless frustration. He got "from the frying pan into the fire." For a Christian the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a feast in the true sense of the word. The apostle Paul puts it this way: "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast-- as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."[ 18 ] "Let us therefore celebrate the feast!"

Just as the Passover, so also the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the Lord's feast. In celebrating it we share our Master's happiness.[ 19 ] God celebrates with us the fact that we were transferred from the power of darkness into His wonderful light. Thus we partake of His divine nature.

The First Sheaf of the Grain of Harvest vs. 9-14

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread show us the "What" of salvation; the Feast of the First Sheaf of the Grain of Harvest and the Feast of Pentecost speak to us about the "how" of our redemption. Just as the first two feast belong together so also do the first sheaf and the harvest.

The Feast of the First Sheaf of the Grain of Harvest is, in the first place, a fulfillment of God's promises. It could only be celebrated after the conquest of Canaan. The basis of the feast is victory. Paul calls Christ's resurrection "the firstfruits." He says: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."[ 20 ] And John calls Him "the firstborn from the dead."[ 21 ] So, the Feast of the First Sheaf of the Grain of Harvest is a shadow of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This resurrection signifies the complete defeat of the devil who "holds the power over death"[ 22 ] and who was dethroned by the death of Christ. The is no clearer proof that the Strongman has been bound than the resurrection of Christ.

The conquest and occupation of Canaan and the harvest of the land belong together. The waving of the sheaf had to take place on the day after the Sabbath, that is the first day of the week, the day of resurrection! The bloody sacrifice that had to be brought that same day was a burnt offering. This most sublime of all sacrifices could not be brought on a more appropriate day. When Jesus died on the cross, He gave Himself to the Father, but when He rose from the dead, He did not belong to Himself either. As the Risen One He gave Himself anew to the Father in an act of perfect surrender of love. The sheaf was waved before the Lord, but it was not burned. The waving of the sheaf is, of course, a picture. In the reality which it portrays, the Priest and the Sheaf are one and the same. In the picture, an earthly priest holds a sheaf in his hands, which is the symbol of the basis and right of his priesthood. This sheaf is his "raison d'être." It stands for the One, Who is addressed by God as "priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."[ 23 ]

The offering up of the grain offering consisting of fine flour mixed with olive oil, both substances ground and crushed, establishes a relationship between the whole of creation and the resurrection.

In the law on the grain offering, given in ch. 2, no wine is mentioned. Wine would, of course, not have been available during Israel's trek through the desert. After the entrance into Canaan, wine became one of the elements of the daily sacrifice.[ 24 ] The prescribed ¼ of a hin must be the equivalent of ± 1 liter. The drink offering was another pointer to victory and the conquest of the land God had promised.

Wine is a symbol of joy. We have to keep a distance from the modern picture that wine evokes: drunkenness and licentiousness. The biblical image of wine is that of heavenly joy. "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."[ 25 ] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."[ 26 ] "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."[ 27 ] In these quotes, both the positive as well as the negative character of wine is emphasized. The pouring out of wine as a sacrifice reminds us that our daily joys, also, have to be poured out before God. We have the tendency to bring our sorrow before the Lord and to keep our joy to ourselves. The drink offering restores the balance. Joy will be a constant element in our lives only if we share it consistently with the Lord. Wine is, after all, an image of the joy of the Holy Spirit, which is only found in the presence of God. David says: "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."[ 28 ] And Nehemiah encouraged the people by saying: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."[ 29 ] And, finally, Jesus knew the source of joy. We read: "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.' "[ 30 ] What will stimulate our joy more than the realization that God broke the bonds of death, also for us, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? That is why God is called "The God, my joy and my delight."[ 31 ] We are not allowed to eat of the new harvest before we have gone through the resurrection.

Pentecost vs. 15-22

It was on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the first group of believers in Jerusalem. The church is the spiritual harvest. The special feature of the feast of Pentecost is the bringing of the two loaves of bread made with yeast. Together with the fellowship offering of thanksgiving in ch. 7:13, these are the only two instances in which bread with yeast was presented. The bread made with yeast is a beautiful picture of the church. The church consists of sinful people who are redeemed and who have been made into one body by the fire of God's Spirit. God used the fallen condition to create a monument of His grace. There is a sense in which the church is also the first fruit. James calls the church "a kind of firstfruits." He says: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."[ 32 ] We, who consider ourselves to be crucified with Christ, are also partakers of His resurrection. In principle we also belong to the sheaf of first grain. We should, therefore, consider the harvest to be more than the church alone. The relatively small group upon which the Holy Spirit came in Acts was only the beginning of the harvest. The total harvest will, ultimately, include the whole of creation.

It is remarkable that the two loaves are a symbolic presentation of the whole harvest. John sees another harvest in the book of Revelation, where the grapes are harvested and are thrown into the winepress of God's wrath.[ 33 ] Another account of the same event is found in Isaiah. But there it is silently implied that the treading of the winepress was done by God alone on Golgotha. We read: "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing."[ 34 ] In one way does the harvest precede the first fruit!

The loaves of bread were not sacrificed in the sense that they were burned upon the altar. They were waved before the Lord, or rather they were presented to the Lord as an acknowledgment of His right of ownership. Added to this, a rather large number of animals were to be sacrificed: seven male lambs, one young bull and two rams, together with the accompanying grain offerings and drink offerings. In addition to these, one male goat had to be brought for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The last two animals were, first, waved before the Lord and subsequently given to the priest. It is not stated specifically that this present was meant for consumption, but the word "sacred offering" suggests slaughtering. Of the five categories of sacrifices, four had to be brought on the feast of Pentecost. Only the guilt offering was omitted.

The day had to be celebrated with a convocation to a sacred assembly. The New Testament name for the church in Greek is ekklesia. The church of Jesus Christ consists of people who have responded to the convocation and have left their place in the world to appear before the Lord. They were forbidden to do any work. The Hebrew word is `abodah which the KJV translates with "servile labor." It could mean work of any kind, but the intent is, probably, that nothing except absolutely essential chores could be performed. The day should symbolize liberation, and celebrate liberty from the powers of sin and death in our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we appear before the Lord of the harvest, we can hardly forget Jesus' words about how great the harvest is. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."[ 35 ] So, the celebration of the feast of Pentecost should, at the same time, be a Missions Feast. This emphasis may also be detected in the reference to the poor and the alien in vs. 22. The church must be careful that her compassion for the poor and the alien does not cool off. There is a pitfall in a plentiful harvest from which the church must keep its distance. A plentiful harvest, in the literal sense of the word, is a blessing. But plenty tends to dull the edge of our vision. All blessing is given to be shared, not to be enjoyed egocentrically. Only shared blessings are a benefit to mankind.

We should note, however, that the grain is not delivered at the doorstep of the poor and the alien. The corners of the fields are for them, but they have to do their own reaping. The Lord is God!

The Feast of the Trumpets Vs. 23-25

It is difficult to determine the clear meaning of the Feast of the Trumpets. It is not based on any historical event, as far as we know. In this it differs from the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. It is not linked to any event of nature like the Feast of the first Sheaf or Pentecost. Yet, it is not without foundation.

The trumpet blast gives a festive character to the celebration and it suggests victory and completion. Victory in a general sense cannot be celebrated if there is no victory in a particular sense. Victorious living has to be based upon a factual victory. It may be that the sounding of the trumpet points to the sounding of the last trumpet. We find a more elaborate description of the feast in Num. 29:1-6 but, also, without reference to any historical event. William Smith's Bible Dictionary states that there is insufficient ground to doubt the common understanding of both Jews and Christians that the feast celebrates the first day of the civil New Year, the day on which the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee began. The dictionary mentions Ps. 81 in this connection. In the text of Leviticus we find, however, no indication of this. This makes us believe that, although the feast was generally celebrated in connection with the New Year, God had a greater New Beginning in mind in ordering this feast. We can see beyond the horizon of the New Year to a new Heaven and earth and we may reach forward to the promise of Him who is "seated on the throne [and who] said, 'I am making everything new!' "[ 36 ]

We do hear the sound of a trumpet more often in the New Testament. In connection with the rapture of the church of Christ, Paul says: "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."[ 37 ] Paul says that the raising of the dead will be accompanied by the sound of the trumpet. We read: "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."[ 38 ]

In the celebration of the Feast of the Trumpet we may, therefore, celebrate the hope of the resurrection. This feast of resurrection is, at the same time, a preparation for the Day of Atonement. The fact that the dead will rise is the basis for our humbling ourselves and for our self-denial.

The Day of Atonement Vs. 26-32

The significance of this day is not discussed here since it has already been treated in detail in ch. 16. The punishment for disregarding the work prohibition is death, and the Sabbath rest has to begin on the day before, which is the ninth day of the seventh month. The most important feature symbolized in the Day of Atonement is the bringing of the blood of Christ before the throne of the Father in Heaven. Chronologically viewed this day should be observed between the Feast of the First Sheaf and Pentecost. But that is earth time; the clock of Heaven runs differently from the one on earth.

The Feast of Tabernacles Vs. 33-44

The Feast of Tabernacles is described in more detail in Numbers and Deuteronomy [ 39 ] where more specific instructions regarding the sacrifices to be burned by fire on each day are given. The number of one-year-old bulls was reduced from thirteen on the first day to seven on the seventh day and to one on the eighth day. The number of two rams and fourteen male lambs one-year-old remained the same until the eighth day when only one of each of the animals was sacrificed, with the exception of the male lambs.

The large number of animals to be slaughtered and the living in booths made of leafy branches for seven days were the most characteristic features of this festival. The feast of tabernacles is the most exuberant of all celebrations. A large quantity of meat was eaten. In New Testament times the pouring out of water from the pool of Siloam was added as part of the ceremony of this feast. On the last day of this feast, Jesus stood in the temple and said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."[ 40 ]

The Feast of Tabernacles was a commemoration of the journey through the desert. The moment of its celebration was well chosen: after the harvest had been gathered in. For the people who grew up during the desert journey, the first harvest in the promised land must have been an overwhelming confirmation of the fact that they had arrived. In ordering the observance of this feast, the Lord confirms this first unforgettable experience. It is, indeed, something they should never forget. If the following generations were to lose their sense of history they were doomed to live as a nation without roots. In this sense the Feast of Tabernacles is a picture of Heaven since it is difficult for us to imagine what life in glory will be like. But it is likely that there will be reminders of things on earth. Our journey through life's wilderness, our hunger and thirst and all the hardships we went through will not be erased from our memory. Neither will the remembrance of moments of deliverance and miraculous provision be forgotten.

The deep lesson of it all is "that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."[ 41 ] This fact will be celebrated exuberantly throughout eternity.

Just as with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles had to be celebrated for seven days. A seven-day-long celebration indicates that the truth that is commemorated is not something transient, but a principle for life. After the Passover the Israelites had to eat unleavened bread for seven days. In the same way, after the harvest, they had to live in booths for seven days. The lesson expressed is that the result of redemption ought to be that we live a life of holiness. The result of entrance into a state of victory ought to be that our roots will not sink too deeply in the earth on which we live. We should always remember that we are aliens in this world and that our citizenship is in Heaven. This consciousness will maintain for us the joy of living day be day. The more we are detached from things of this life, the more we will enjoy each day we live on earth.

Evidently, the Lord wanted the Israelites to take a week's vacation at least twice a year.

[ 1 ] Matt. 22:2

[ 2 ] Luke 15:7,10,32

[ 3 ] Ex. 20:8-11

[ 4 ] Gen. 2:1-3

[ 5 ] Gen. 1:10,12,18,21,25 and 31

[ 6 ] Gen. 2:3

[ 7 ] Eccl. 2:24-26; 5:17-19

[ 8 ] Mark 2:27-28

[ 9 ] Num. 15:32-36

[ 10 ] John 5:17

[ 11 ] Gen. 3:17-19

[ 12 ] See Heb. Ch. 4

[ 13 ] Heb. 4:10

[ 14 ] Ex. 12:1-28,43-51

[ 15 ] Ex. 12:27

[ 16 ] See Ex. 12:8

[ 17 ] Ex. 12:15

[ 18 ] I Cor. 5:7-8 (NAS)

[ 19 ] See Matt. 25:21

[ 20 ] I Cor. 15:20

[ 21 ] Rev. 1:5

[ 22 ] Heb. 2:14

[ 23 ] Ps. 110:4

[ 24 ] See Num. 15:5,6,10; 28:7

[ 25 ] Ps. 4:7

[ 26 ] John 15:1-8

[ 27 ] Eph. 5:18

[ 28 ] Ps. 16:11

[ 29 ] Neh. 8:10

[ 30 ] Luke 10:21

[ 31 ] Ps. 43:4

[ 32 ] James 1:18

[ 33 ] Rev.14:14-20

[ 34 ] Isa. 63:3 (see also vs. 1-6)

[ 35 ] Matt. 9:37-38

[ 36 ] Rev. 21:5

[ 37 ] I Thes. 4:16

[ 38 ] I Cor. 15:51,52

[ 39 ] See Num. 29:12-40 and Deut. 16:13-16

[ 40 ] John 7:37,38

[ 41 ] Deut. 8:3