Leviticus 23:1-2 The Lord appointed these festivals, which they are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. This implies a synergy of celebration with holy observances.
Leviticus 23:3 Keep the Sabbath. The fourth commandment. (Exodus 20:8-11) Take a day off every week and rest! (Genesis 2:2-3) Celebrate that the Lord has provided so generously that you can prosper without working all the time.
Leviticus 23:4-8 Passover originated during the Exodus, marking the date that the Jews left Egypt. Since they were in a hurry, they did not have time to put yeast in their bread, hence it is also the feast of unleavened bread. (Exodus 12:14-20). It begins on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan). Nisan begins the Jewish calendar (in the Pentateuch), on the first day after the new moon closest to the vernal equinox. The relationship between the lunar and solar calendars, apart from any religious significance, and their history over the millennia in various cultures is fascinating.
Passover also is mentioned as the day on which the Last Supper was celebrated. (Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:1, John 13:1) In every respect, the Passover was consummated during the Last Supper as Jesus identified the bread with His body (Matthew 26:26), and it was truly not leavened by sin. (Hebrews 9:14) The disciples ate the unleavened bread, as Jesus’ body would shortly become the means of their deliverance from the Egypt of sin. Although the temple guard wasn’t as numerous or fearsome as the Egyptian army, they did come to arrest Jesus.
Leviticus 23:9-14 Offering the wave offering of the first-fruits of the land before partaking of them indicates the necessity of showing our allegiance to Christ in order to receive forgiveness of and deliverance from sin. This takes many forms today. In some circles, saying the sinners’ prayer, in others it is baptism, in others it is public testimony. The simplest text simply says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)
Leviticus 23:15-21 The feast of weeks, which begins the day after seven weeks has passed (the fiftieth day), is designated for offering first-fruits from the new grain to the Lord. This lasting ordinance was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1) They were to bring both a wave offering, a burnt offering, and a drink offering to the Lord.
On Pentecost when the disciples were gathered in the upper room, there was the sound of a rushing, mighty wind and the appearance of tongues of fire, and the disciples began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them. (Acts 2:1-4) The story is well-known, but Peter cited the prophet Joel and the Psalms rather than the Law. (Acts 2:17-21, 25-28,34-35) The disciples were the first-fruits of the New Testament, believers who had become sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus.
Leviticus 23:22 Leave the gleanings for the poor and alien. (19:9)
Leviticus 23:23-25 Rosh Hashanah, the feast of trumpets, is the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei. This prefigures the angels’ blowing trumpets as described in the New Testament, to announce the return of Jesus and the gathering of His people. (Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:16) This is observed annually in Israel with the blowing of the shofars in anticipation of that great day. Many believe this fulfillment will fall on Rosh Hashanah.
Leviticus 23:26-32 The day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is nine days later, on the tenth of Tishrei. It is to be observed as a Sabbath rest, with an assembly and presentation of food offerings to the Lord. This was described in considerable detail earlier. (Leviticus 16) It points to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:23-28) The timing in the ecclesiastical calendar is a bit of a mystery since we observe Good Friday before Easter, the day after the Passover Seder. It is unclear to me why this falls in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar.
Leviticus 23:33-43 Succoth, the feast of tabernacles, begins five days later on the 15th of Tishrei, lasting for a week. An assembly is held on the first and eighth days. Branches from different types of trees are taken before the Lord. They are to live in temporary shelters, to remind the Israelites of living in tents in the desert during the Exodus. Perhaps this is a picture of being caught up in the air to be with the Lord after the angels’ trumpet blasts announce His return. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) On that day, we will shed our temporary earthly bodies for the glorified bodies He will give us.
Leviticus 23:44 Moses announced the ecclesiastical calendar to the Israelites. This is somewhat different, and much more systematic than our modern calendar. We celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, which has no corresponding observance in Leviticus 23. Easter is of course the third day after Good Friday, celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Many churches observe Pentecost, celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We do not typically observe the holy days of the seventh month, most likely because they haven’t been fulfilled yet. The modern liturgical calendar has a season for every week, including Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and so on. The important point of Leviticus 23 is that all holy days point to Jesus. It is sad when the commercialization of Christmas overwhelms references to Jesus’ birth. Such crass worldliness was not unknown in Moses’ day, hence the warnings in this chapter.
The church has struggled with descending into cold formalism throughout its history. Whether this is the result of activity by the world, the flesh, or the devil has varied. Formal religion has its place in retaining a structure of godliness in these eras of coldness, but every generation needs a fresh fire of personal relationship with Jesus kindled anew. We need the whole gospel as expounded in all of the Bible, and we need the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit to apply these truths to our lives and thusly experience God’s presence. Others have written at length about the specifics of this process. We must simply remember that the whole of the Christian life includes doctrinal truth, personal experience with God, and the consequent implications for eschewing sin, relating to others, generosity to the poor, sharing the gospel, and so forth. Structure is part of this, but only part.
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