Holy Bible

These are My feasts. Leviticus 23:2-44 The holy festivals J. A. Seiss, . D. D. I. Commentators generally on this part of Hebrew law have remarked upon THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND COMMERCIAL BENEFITS RESULTING TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE FROM THESE NATIONAL FESTIVALS AND CONVOCATIONS. They served to unite the nation, cemented them together as one people, and prevented the tendency to the formation of separate cliques and conflicting clans or states. These convocations also had great effect upon the internal commerce of the Hebrew people. They furnished facilities for mutual exchanges, and opened the ways of trade and business between the various sections. II. There was also A DIRECT RELIGIOUS VALUE AND FORETHOUGHT IN THE APPOINTMENT OF THESE FESTIVALS. They prescribed public consociation in worship. Man is a worshipping being. It is not only his duty, but his nature and native instinct to worship. Mere isolated worship, without association in common set services, soon dwindles, flags, degenerates, and corrupts. Neither does it ever reach that majesty and intense inspiration which comes from open congregation in the same great acts of devotion. "As iron sharpeneth iron, so man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." And just as the multitude of these mutual sharpeners is increased, will their common devotion be deepened and augmented. III. I propose to speak more particularly of THE TYPICAL RELATIONS OF THESE HOLY FEASTS AND SEASONS. We have in them a system of types, chronologically arranged, to set forth the true course of time — to prefigure the whole history of redemption in its leading outlines from the commencement to the close. 1. The first was the Passover. It was a sort of perpetual commemoration of their deliverance from the oppressor and from death — a standing testimonial that their salvation was by the blood of the Lamb. It was the keynote of the Christian system sounding in the dim depths of remote antiquity. That bondage in Egypt referred to a still deeper and more degrading slavery of the spirit. That redemption was the foreshadow of a far greater deliverance. And that slain lamb and its sprinkled blood pointed to a meeker, purer, and higher Victim, whose body was broken and blood shed for us and for many for the remission of sins. 2. The next was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a sort of continuation of the Passover on the next day. The one refers to what Christ does and is to the believer, and the other refers to what the true believer does in return. The one refers to our redemption by blood and our deliverance from condemnation; the other to our repentance and consecration to a new life of obedience, separated from the leaven of unrighteousness. It is therefore plain why both were thus joined together as one. Redemption is nothing to us if it does not lead us to a purification of ourselves from the filthy ways and associations of the wicked, We can only effectually keep the gospel feast by purging out the old leaven of malice and wickedness. Seven days was this Feast of Unleavened Bread to be kept — a full period of time. We are to "serve God in righteousness and holiness all the days of our life." Our work is not done until the week of our stay in this world ends. We must be faithful until death. 3. Joined with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the additional service of presenting before God the first sheaf of the barley harvest. "This," says Cumming, "was a beautiful institution, to teach the Israelites that it was not the soil, nor the raindrops, nor the sunbeams, nor the dews, nor the skill of their agriculturists, that they had to thank for their bounteous produce; but that they must rise above the sower and reaper, and see God, the Giver of the golden harvest, and make His praise the keynote to their harvest-home." It was all this, but it had also a deeper and more beautiful meaning. The broad field, sowed with good seed, with its golden ears ripening for the harvest, is Christ's own chosen figure of His kingdom upon earth, and the congregation of His believing children maturing for the garners of eternal life. In that field the chief sheaf is Jesus Christ Himself; for He was in all respects "made like unto His brethren." He is the "firstfruits." He was gathered first, and received into the treasure-house of heaven. It was the Passover time when He came to perfect ripeness. It was during these solemnities that He was "cut off." And when the Spirit of God lifted Him from the sepulchre, and the heavens opened to receive Him, then did the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits have its truest and highest fulfilment. Until this sheaf was thus offered along with the blood of atonement there could be no harvest for us. 4. There was another harvest, and another festival service connected with its opening, fifty days later than the barley harvest. This was the wheat harvest, at which was celebrated the Feast of Weeks, otherwise called Pentecost. The Passover shows us Christ crucified; the sheaf of firstfruits shows us Christ raised from the dead and lifted up to heaven as our forerunner; and the Pentecostal feast, with its two leavened loaves, shows us Christ in the gracious influences of His Spirit wrought into the hearts and lives of those who constitute His earthly Church. This spiritual kneading took its highest and most active form on that memorable Pentecost when the disciples "were all with one accord in one place," and the Holy Spirit came down upon them with gifts of mighty power. Three thousand souls were that day added to the Church, It was a glad and glorious day for Christianity. It was the firstfruits of wheat harvest brought with joyous thanksgiving unto God. But it was only the firstfruits — the earnest of a vast and plenteous harvest of the same kind ripening on the same fields. Thenceforward the world was to be filled with glad reapers gathering in the sheaves, and with labourers kneading the contents of those sheaves into loaves for God. Leaven there needs is in those loaves; but, presented along with the blood of the chief of the flock and herd, they still become acceptable to Him who ordained the service. There was a peculiar requirement connected with these laws for the wheat, harvest well worthy of special attention. The corners of the fields and the gleanings were to be left. This was a beautiful feature in these arrangements. It presents a good lesson, of which we ought never to lose sight. But it was also a type. Of what, I have not seen satisfactorily explained, though the application seems easy. If the wheat harvest refers to the gathering of men from sin to Christianity, and from subjects of Satan to subjects of grace, then the plain indication of this provision is that the entire world, under this present dispensation, shall not be completely converted to God. I believe that the time will come, and that it is largely and fully predicted in the Scriptures, when "all shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest" — when there will not be a single sinner left upon the earth. But that time will not come until a new dispensation with new instrumentalities shall have been introduced. 5. The next was the Feast of Trumpets. This was held on the first day of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, which was the same as the first month of the civil year. It was therefore a new-year festival, and at the same time the feast of introduction to the Sabbatic month. Its chief peculiarity was the continual sounding of trumpets from morning till evening. It was the grand type of the preaching of the gospel. The Feast of Trumpets was, to a great extent, a preliminary of the great Day of Atonement. We have already considered the peculiarities of this solemn day. Its leading thought is contained in its name — at-one-ment — that is, agreement, reconciliation, harmony, and peace with God. The Feast of Trumpets was a call to this at-one-ment. The gospel is an appeal to men to be reconciled to God. 6. Immediately succeeding the great solemnity on the fifteenth day of the month began another remarkable festival called the Feast of Tabernacles. It was to commemorate the forty years of tent life which their fathers led in the wilderness, and pointed, the same as that which it commemorated, to that period of the Christian's career which lies between his deliverance from bondage and his entrance into rest — that is, between his reconciliation to God and his final inheritance of the promises. It celebrates the state of the believer while he yet remains in this present life. This world is not our dwelling-place. We are pilgrims and strangers here, tarrying for a little season in tents and booths which we must soon vacate and leave to decay. "The earthly house of this tabernacle" must "be dissolved." The places that know us now shall soon know us no more. "Seven days" — a full period — were the people of Israel to remain in these temporary tabernacles. And thus shall we be at the inconvenience of a tent life for the full period of our earthly stay. But it was only once in a year that Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, when we once leave the flesh, we shall never return to it again. Our future bodies shall be glorified, celestial, spiritual bodies. It is also a precious thought connected with this subject that when the Jews left their tents at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles it was the Sabbath morning. This frail tent life is after all to be rounded off with the calm quiet of a consecrated day that has no night, and to merge into a rest that is never more to end. ( J. A. Seiss, . D. D. ) Feasts of the Lord W. H. Jellie. I. SACRED LIFE IS ITSELF A FESTIVAL. 1. Divine in its origin. 2. Blissful in its quality. 3. Enriched with frequent delights. II. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR HAS ITS FESTIVITIES. 1. Time is interrupted by sacred seasons. 2. Human life is refreshed by the blessings of religion. 3. A witness to what is God's will for man. III. GRACIOUS SEASONS ARE APPOINTED FOR THE CHURCH. 1. Days of rest and gladness. 2. Special times of revival. 3. Foretaste of Heaven's joy. ( W. H. Jellie. ) The great feasts J. C. Gray. I. POLITICAL EFFECTS. Annual gatherings of the people exhibited the numerical strength of the nation. As they went "from strength to strength," i . e. , from company to company ( Psalm 84:7 marg.), on their way to Jerusalem, and saw the vast crowds flocking from all parts of the kingdom to the capital, their patriotic ardour would be fired. The unity of the nation, too, would be ensured by this fusion of the tribes. Otherwise they would be likely to constitute separate tribal states. They would carry back to the provinces glowing accounts of the wealth, power, and resources of the country. II. SANITARY EFFECTS. They would greatly influence the health of the people. The Sabbath, necessitating weekly cleansings, and rest from work, and laws and ceremonies concerning disease (as leprosy) and purifications, deserve to be looked at in this light also. The annual purifying of the houses at Feast of Unleavened Bread; the dwelling at certain times in tents — leaving the houses to the free circulation of light and air; and the repeated journey on foot to Jerusalem, must have had a great sanitary influence. As man was the great object of creation, so his welfare — in many respects besides religion — was plainly aimed at in these regulations. III. SOCIAL EFFECTS. Promoted friendly intercourse between travelling companions. Distributed information through the country at a time when the transmission of news was slow and imperfect. Imported into remote provincial districts a practical knowledge of all improvements in arts and sciences. Enlarged the general stock of knowledge by bringing many minds and great variety of taste together. Spread before the eyes of the nation the wonders collected in Jerusalem by the wealth and foreign alliances of Jewish kings. IV. MORAL EFFECTS. The young looking forward to, the aged looking back upon, and all talking about past or future pilgrimages to the city of the great King. Education, thus, of memory and hope and desire. Influence of this on the habits of the people. Thrift promoted to provide against expenses of the journey. The promise of bearing company held out as reward to well-conducted youth. Enlargement of knowledge, improvement of taste, advantage to health, fixing habits, etc., would all react morally on the character of the people. V. RELIGIOUS EFFECTS. These the most important. Preserved the religious faith of the nation, and religious unity among the people. Constantly reminded the people of the Divinely wrought deliverances of the past. Promoted gratitude and trust. Testified the reverence of the people for the Temple and its sacred contents. Influence of well-conducted Temple services upon the synagogues through the land. Led the mind of the nation to adore the one true and only God. ( J. C. Gray. ) Seven feasts mentioned in this chapter D. C. Hughes, M. A. There were seven feasts which God commanded His people to observe every year. All these feasts are mentioned in this chapter, and should be studied together so that their relation may be seen. The first, the Sabbath, commemorated God's rest from the work of creation, and typified the rest of God's people in the eternal Sabbath-keeping. The second, the Passover, commemorated Israel's redemption through the blood of the paschal lamb, prior to their exodus from bondage, and typified our redemption through Christ's blood, previous to our exodus from the bondage of sin to the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free ( Galatians 5:1 ). The third, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, typified the holiness of life for which they were redeemed through blood ( 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8 ). The fourth, the Firstfruits, was a grateful assurance of the coming harvest, and typical of the resurrection unto life of all believers, because Christ as their firstfruits has risen from the dead ( 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23 ). The fifth, the Pentecost, has become universally known by being the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to the twelve in the upper room in Jerusalem ( Acts 2:1-4 ), and as in the Feast of Firstfruits (type of Christ's resurrection), the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest was waved before the Lord, so on the Day of Pentecost, the sheaf of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, typical of the gift of the Holy Spirit and prophetic of the harvest of souls gathered to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The fifth, Feast of Trumpets, typical of Israel's ingathering for their millennial privileges, and of the call to all the world to come to the gospel feast. The sixth, the Day of Atonement, typical of Christ's atonement. The seventh, the Feast of Tabernacles. ( D. C. Hughes, M. A. ) God's holy days Here we have a general account of the holy times which God appointed (ver. 2); and it is only His appointment that can make time holy. For He is the Lord of time; and as soon as ever He had set its wheels agoing, it was He that first sanctified and blessed one day above the rest ( Genesis 2:3 ). Man may by His appointment make a good day ( Esther 9:19 ), but it is God's prerogative to make a holy day; nor is anything sanctified but by the stamp of His institution. As all inherent holiness comes from His special grace, so all adherent holiness from His special appointment. Now concerning the holy times here ordained, observe — 1. They are called feasts. The Day of Atonement, which was one of them, was a fast; yet, because most of them were appointed for joy and rejoicing, they are in general called feasts. Some read it, "These are My assemblies,' but that is coincident with convocations. I would rather read it, "These are My solemnities"; so the Word here used is translated ( Isaiah 33:20 ), where Zion is called "the city of our solemnities." And reading it so here the Day of Atonement was as great a solemnity as any of them. 2. They are the feasts of the Lord: "My feasts." Observed to the honour of His name, and in obedience to His command. 3. They were proclaimed; for they were not to be observed by the priests only that attended the sanctuary, but by all the people. And this proclamation was the joyful sound which they were blessed that were within hearing of ( Psalm 89:15 ). 4. They were to be sanctified and solemnised with holy convocations that the services of these feasts might appear the more honourable and august, and the people more unanimous in the performance of them. It was for the honour of God and His institutions, which sought not corners, and the purity of which would be best preserved by the public administration of them; it was also for the edification of the people in love that the feasts were to be observed as holy convocations. ( Matthew Henry, D. D. . ) God's festivals The solemnities appointed were — 1. Many, and returned frequently; which was intended to preserve in them a deep sense of God and religion, and to prevent their inclining to the superstitions of the heathen. God kept them fully employed in His service that they might not have time to hearken to the temptations of the idolatrous neighbourhood they lived in. 2. They were most of them times of joy and rejoicing. The weekly Sabbath is so, and all their yearly solemnities except the Day of Atonement. God would thus teach them that wisdom's ways are pleasantness; and oblige them to His service by obliging them to be cheerful in it and to sing at their work. Seven days were days of strict rest and holy convocations: The first day, and the seventh, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; the Day of Pentecost; the day of the Feast of Trumpets; the first day, and the eighth, of the Feast of Tabernacles; and the Day of Atonement: here were six for holy joy, and one for holy mourning. We are commanded to rejoice evermore, but not to be evermore weeping. ( Matthew Henry, D. D. . ) In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. Leviticus 23:5 The Passover J. B. Lowe, B. A. The typical character of the Old Testament is a subject full of instruction, and one which opens a very extensive field of investigation before the mind of the Christian student. It presents itself to our view not only in the ordinances of the Jewish people, their sacrifices and priesthood, and religious rites in general, but also in the historical parts of these lively oracles. Many of the events recorded in these sacred pages have not only an historical, but also a typical, or in other words a prophetic interest. They were, in fact, living prophecies, having each his manifest counterpart or antitype somewhere in the gospel scheme. But this observation particularly applies to the ordinances of the Ceremonial Law. These rites had, no doubt, a duty to accomplish on behalf of those who celebrated them, and subserved some moral purpose towards them who did the service. But they had also a higher object; they had all a Christian aspect, or, as the apostle to the Hebrews says, they were "the shadows of good things to come." In the former bearing they have long since passed away, but in the latter they are still abiding. And what an important addition have we here to the prophetic evidence of Christi-unity! For these rites and ceremonies must, every one of them, be regarded as predictions of those things they typified. Every well-established type is an instance of fulfilled prophecy; and when we view them all combined we have a congeries of prophecies manifestly fulfilled, and affording an amount of accumulated evidence which must be convincing to any candid mind. In all the necessary elements of prophetic evidence the argument derived from these types is remarkably certain and facile. Their antiquity, or priority in point of time to their antitypes, is undoubted, it is admitted on all hands. They were celebrated by successive generations for centuries before those things which answered to them appeared to human observation, or could be known in any other way than by Divine revelation. Their fulfilment, also, is equally certain; we compare the antitypes with the types, and find them answer the one to the other in an immense variety of particulars. It is utterly impossible that this agreement should be the result of accident; it is so minute, and carried out into such numerous ramifications, that it exceeds even the credulity of infidelity itself to ascribe it to anything but design. Here, as in a kind of panorama, that gospel passes before us, so that we, as it were, behold with our eyes those very truths which are the source of our present and eternal peace. And this, perhaps, is one reason why these ordinances are so minutely enjoined; why we find so many, and sometimes such trifling particulars commanded. The sceptic smiles at this minuteness, and refuses to believe that God could condescend to be the author of such unimportant injunctions. The reply to this is at once suggested from the book of nature, where the Deist professes to become acquainted with his God. We bid him to consult that book which is open before his eyes, and behold the minuteness of detail which characterises all the works that meet him there. See the particularity of design and of execution which pervades its every part. Has not the same hand which restrains the billows of the mighty ocean in their proper bounds painted the tiny shells which are buried in its deep abyss? But to the believer, who recognises the gospel in these ordinances, this very minuteness with which they are prescribed constitutes their perfection. He sees in this a representation of that condescending love which has ordained every particular of that covenant of grace — "the covenant ordered in all things, and sure." And not only so, but everything to him becomes significant; he could not part with one of them; and all together make up a perfect whole on which his faith is founded. We are to consider the feast of the Passover, instituted, as its name implies, in commemoration of that night in which the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites when He smote the first-born in the land of Egypt. In order, then, to understand aright the typical or prophetic bearing of this ordinance, we must recall to mind the transactions of that memorable night, and — I. THE LAND OF EGYPT EXHIBITS A TYPE OF THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD — THE WORLD, I MEAN, AS DISTINCT FROM THE CHURCH AND PEOPLE OF GOD. Egypt was ripened for judgment, and was devoted to destruction. She had despised her opportunities and hardened herself against the warnings of Jehovah, and was now arrayed in hostility against God and His people. And such is the world in which we live, it is destined to destruction; and why? Because it has rejected alike the mercies and the warnings of the Lord; it has despised His counsel and will have none of His reproof. And there is one point of analogy between the case of Egypt and that of this present world which is especially deserving of attention; I mean the fact that the climax in either case is preceded by a succession of judgments. I feel persuaded, my dear brethren, that we ought to be prepared for an outpouring of Divine judgments upon the earth, the effect of which shall be, as in the case of Egypt, the hardening of "the men of the earth" against the Lord and against His anointed ( Revelation 9:20, 21 ; Luke 21:35, 36 ). II. BUT GOD HAD A PEOPLE IN EGYPT. They were in Egypt, but they were not of it; differing in their origin, their customs, their laws, their worship, and their God. They were the people of Jehovah; His by covenant arrangement; His chosen ones, His own. And why were they chosen? Was it because of their own goodness? because they were better than the other nations? No; for they were a stiff-necked people. Why, then, were they chosen? Simply because He loved them, and took them to Himself out of all the nations of the earth. And so it is at the present time. The Lord has a people in the world, but yet not of the world. "Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." But if He has loved His people, He has "made them to differ" from Egypt. As they are His by sovereign grace, so also are they His by manifest consecration to Him and separation from the world. Their origin is from above. They are "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." III. BUT WHAT WAS THE MEANS BY WHICH THE ISRAELITES WERE SAVED FROM THE JUDGMENT OF EGYPT? It was the sprinkled blood ( Exodus 12:12, 13 ). And so if we escape the righteous judgment of God it can only be by the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb — "the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" ( 1 Peter 1:19 ). Outside of Christ is wrath, in Him is perfect peace and safety. Not that this sprinkled blood is the exciting cause of God's love unto His people. No; He needed not this inducement. God did not love the children of Israel because the blood was sprinkled on their houses; no, the blood was sprinkled there because He loved them. They misunderstand the doctrine of the atonement who represent it as appeasing a God of vengeance and stimulating Him to mercy. "God is love." IV. THE ISRAELITES WERE COMMANDED TO FEAST UPON THE LAMB. The lamb was to be the food of them for whom his blood was sprinkled. And what is the spiritual food supplied to the Church of God? It is the Lamb that was slain ( John 6:57 ). If we would have spiritual strength to do the work of God we can derive it only by feeding on, that is, by habitually contemplating and confiding in the work of Jesus. A living faith in Him will appropriate Him. And when the Passover is called a feast we are reminded that those who feed on Jesus have in Him not only necessaries, but abundance; not only salvation, but peace and happiness and joy — "fat things full of marrow, wines on the lees well refined" ( Isaiah 25:6 ). You see we are supposed to be ever feasting. And if our souls are not abundantly satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, the fault is entirely our own. The provision is made; all things are ready; everything that the hospitality of eternal love, aided by the counsels of infinite wisdom and the resources of infinite power could procure to make glad the shiner's heart. Why do we go so heavily on our way? Why have we so little peace and joy? It is because we do not feed, as we should, upon the Lamb. We do not make Him our daily bread, and incorporate Him, by a living faith, with our souls. And mark, the whole of the paschal lamb was eaten; not one particle of it was to be left. 'Tis thus the Saviour gives Himself altogether to be His people's food; it is not a part, but the whole of a precious Christ that is provided for us. All the holiness of His life, all the devotedness of His death, all the efficacy of His blood, all the power of His resurrection — the dignity of His ascension — the influence of His intercession, and the glory of His coming again; everything He does — He has — He is; the whole is given unto us to feast upon; and we need it all. I must have Him all to meet the exigency of my case, the necessities of my soul. V. But let us remark THE ADJUNCTS OF THIS FEAST. They were to eat it with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs; with staves in their hands and shoes on their feet. Each particular is significant. Are they to eat it with unleavened bread? If we would have communion with Jesus it must be "in the Spirit." The carnal mind cannot find enjoyment in Him; and if we are walking after the flesh we cannot feed on Him. We must "put it out of our houses," so as not to follow or be led by it. Again, too, "the bitter herbs." Oh! how significant is this! The paschal feast is not a feast of self-indulgence; it is not to gratify the carnal mind. They that feed on Jesus must deny themselves, and take up the cross and follow Him. The path He leads in is not that of self-gratification and carnal ease. If these be the objects we pursue we are not — we cannot be feeding on the Lamb ( Galatians 2:20 ). It is impossible for the true believer to escape the taste of the "bitter herbs." The very principles which actuate him, the motives of which he is conscious, the tastes implanted in his mind are such as to render his life in this world a scene of constant trial. There are trials peculiar to the Christian which others have not, and cannot even understand. Beloved, let us search our hearts diligently; let us examine our motives. Are we indeed sincere before God? Are we really humbled before the Cross, and has every other shadow of dependence been put away? And are we dressed, too, in the garb of pilgrims? Or rather have we the pilgrim's heart? Or are our thoughts and affections given to the things of earth — the flesh-pots of Egypt? ( J. B. Lowe, B. A. ) When ye be come into the land. Leviticus 23:9-15 The conditions of the spiritual land-tenure H. T. Edwards, M. A. I. MAN'S TRUE RELATION TO THE LAND OF PROMISE. 1. In his original estate man realised his dependence upon God, and his responsibility before God for the true and righteous use of all God's gifts. As long as man used God's glorious gifts in obedience to God's supreme law of love, his life was blessed with the fulness of weal: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat." But in the day when the sense of responsibility to God was lost, and the commandment which embraced in itself the significance of all the other commandments was broken, the .disorders and the miseries of human society arose. The spirit of individual selfishness is the power which disorganises society, which brings a blight upon the garden of God, and drives human souls out from the glory and wealth into the thorny, desolate wilderness. There is no power that can enable man to dress the garden and to keep it, but the sense of responsibility to the one supreme Lord of Life, whose name is Love. This principle is the Divinely ordained power that suffices to check the deadly evils that arise from exaggerated notions of the rights of human property. In human society gifts are unequally distributed. The gifts of genius and the external gifts of property are alike unequal. In the ownership of the riches of mind we see men endowed with vast territories of knowledge and intellectual power. It is God's order. Gifts are not equally divided. So the land is not, and never can be, possessed in absolutely equal portions by the citizens of state. There must be the large landowners and the multitude of the poor who have but little. Where is the check that is to restrain the abuses of property? In the perpetual remembrance of the truth that the proudest landowner is but a tenant who holds from God, upon God's conditions, in order that the land may be dressed and kept so as to promote the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number. 2. Another truth closely related to our absolute dependence upon God's love, and the realisation of which is equally necessary to our spiritual health, is declared in this passage, viz., that the occupiers of the land of promise can only enjoy the fruits which God gives upon God's conditions. The king upon the throne who has not a kingly heart and soul occupies a land of promise, but does not eat of its fruits. In all the professions of human activity, from the highest to the humblest, the enjoyment of the noblest fruits of the position can only be realised by those who know how to perform the duties which belong to it.. The conditions of enjoyment are imposed upon the occupiers of every land of promise. The blessed land of rest, towards which human souls are travelling through the wilderness of earthly struggles, can only produce its harvest, and pour forth its stores of milk and honey to those who shall have been made "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." II. THE CONDITIONS UPON WHICH THE FRUITS OF CANAAN CAN BE EATEN. 1. The elevated use of the gifts of life. The man who uses God's gifts to pamper his lusts, by feeding the low life of debased animalism, lowers the corn of the field below its original level by devoting it to the "table of devils," as the food taken to create blood for the heart in which the basest, foulest feelings have their homes, and for the brain, out of which the thoughts that are set on fire of hell wing their flight. The drunkard, the glutton, and the unclean, degrade the fruits of the land by using them to feed the life of the tenants who dwell in the moral abyss. On the other hand, in the man who strives to live a life of high purpose, pure feeling, and noble thought, the corn is taken into the manhood and shares its elevation. It is that lofty use alone that gives man fulness

Benson Commentary Leviticus 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Leviticus 23:1-2 . In this chapter Moses, by divine appointment, gives more particular directions about the observation of those solemnities which were before instituted. These, in our translation, are termed feasts; but the word ????? , mognadee, here used, rather means solemn seasons, or meetings, and as the day of atonement was comprehended in them, which was not a feast, but a fast, they certainly are improperly termed feasts. The literal translation of the words is, solemnities of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim for holy convocations, these are the solemnities. They are termed holy convocations, because on these days they were called together and assembled to hear the law, to offer sacrifices, and to address prayers and thanksgivings to God. Leviticus 23:2 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. Leviticus 23:3 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. Leviticus 23:3 . The seventh day is first named as a holy convocation — A day to be kept holy by every Israelite, in all places wheresoever they dwelt, as well as while they lived in the wilderness; and as a day of rest, in which they were to do no work — A similar prohibition is declared Leviticus 23:28 , concerning the day of expiation, excluding all works about earthly employments, whether of profit or of pleasure; but upon other feast-days he forbids only servile works, as Leviticus 23:7 ; Leviticus 23:21 ; Leviticus 23:36 ; for surely this manifest difference in the expressions used by the wise God, must needs imply a difference in the things. In all your dwellings — Other feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, both in synagogues, and in their private houses. Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. Leviticus 23:4 . These are the feasts of the Lord — The solemnities, as the same word is rendered, Isaiah 33:20 , where Zion is called the city of our solemnities. Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. Leviticus 23:5 . In the fourteenth day — See Exodus 12:18 . At even — For all the Jewish festivals were kept from evening to evening, their day beginning in the evening. Is the Lord’s passover — Exodus 12:11 . Though Moses had often before mentioned this, and several other of their solemnities, he here sets them down all together, according to the order of time in which they were kept, that this chapter might serve the Jews for a general table of all their religious festivals. Leviticus 23:6 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. Leviticus 23:7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Leviticus 23:8 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 . Leviticus 23:8 . Ye shall offer — unto the Lord seven days — Every day of the seven was to have a sacrifice offered upon it, about which there are particular directions, Numbers 28:10-25 ; and the first and last days of the week’s festival were to be days of universal assembly for religious duties at the place of public worship. Leviticus 23:9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Leviticus 23:10 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: Leviticus 23:10 . When ye come into the land, &c. — In the wilderness they sowed no corn, and therefore could not be obliged by this precept till they came into Canaan. And shall reap the harvest — Begin to reap, as the sense shows, and is explained Deuteronomy 16:9 . Then ye shall bring a sheaf — Or handful, as the margin has it; but in the Hebrew it is omer. And they did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf, or handful, but, as Josephus affirms, and may be gathered from Leviticus 2:14-16 , purged from the chaff, dried, and beaten out. Leviticus 23:11 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. Leviticus 23:11 . He shall wave the sheaf — Or omer, rather. In the name of the whole congregation, it was lifted up toward heaven, as an acknowledgment to God for his goodness, and with prayer for his blessing upon all their ensuing harvest, which it, as it were, sanctified to them, and of which it gave them a comfortable use. For then we may eat our bread with joy, when God hath accepted our works. And thus should we always begin with God; begin our lives with him, begin every day with him, begin every work and business with him: Seek ye first the kingdom of God — Reader, dost thou do this? The morrow after the sabbath — After the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a sabbath, or day of rest, as appears from Leviticus 23:7 ; or upon the sixteenth day of the month. And this was the first of those fifty days, in the close whereof was the feast of pentecost. Leviticus 23:12 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. Leviticus 23:13 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. Leviticus 23:13 . Two tenth-deals — Or parts, of an ephah; that is, two omers; whereas in other sacrifices of lambs there was but one tenth-deal prescribed. The reason of which disproportion may be this; that one of the tenth-deals was a necessary attendant upon the lamb, and the other was peculiar to this feast, and was an attendant upon the oblation of the corn, and was offered with it in thanksgiving to God for the fruits of the earth. Leviticus 23:14 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 23:14 . Ye shall eat neither bread nor corn — Of this year’s growth. This was a most reasonable testimony of their respect for God, to give him the first place, and pay their tribute of gratitude to the donor before they used his gifts. They who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, or temple, were allowed to eat new corn on this day after mid-day, because the offering to God was always presented before that time. Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Leviticus 23:15-16 . From the morrow — From the sixteenth day of the month, and the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, inclusively; seven sabbaths shall be complete — Namely, forty-nine days; unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath — Which made just fifty days; whence this feast, from a Greek word, ?????????? , pentecoste, which signifies the fifteenth day, was called pentecost. Ye shall offer a new meat (or flower) offering — Another first-fruit-offering, made of wheat, which was then ripe. Leviticus 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:17 . Two wave loaves of two tenth-deals — There was one tenth-deal in each loaf. They were called wave-loaves, because they were presented to God by waving them toward heaven. Baken with leaven — Contrary to the established law in other bread or flower offerings, Leviticus 2:11-12 . The reason may be, that these first-fruits were a symbol of the leavened bread which the Israelites commonly used. Leviticus 23:18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:18 . One bullock and two rams — In Numbers 28:11 ; Numbers 28:19 , it is two young bullocks and one ram. Either therefore it was left to their liberty to choose which they would offer, or one of the bullocks there, and one of the rams here, were the peculiar sacrifices of the feast-day, and the others were attendants upon the two loaves, which were the proper offering at this time. And the one may be mentioned there, and the other here, to teach us, that the addition of a new sacrifice did not destroy the former, but both were to be offered, as the extraordinary sacrifices of every feast did not hinder the oblation of the daily sacrifice. Leviticus 23:19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. Leviticus 23:19 . One kid — In Leviticus 4:14 , the sin-offering for the sin of the people is a bullock, but here a kid, &c. the reason of the difference may be this: because that was for some particular sin of the people, but this only in general for all their sins. Leviticus 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. Leviticus 23:20 . Wave them — Some part of them, in the name of the whole; and so for the two lambs otherwise they had been too large and too heavy to be waved. For the priests — Who had to themselves not only the breast and shoulder, as in other sacrifices which belonged to the priest, but also the rest which belonged to the offerer; because the whole congregation being the offerers here, it could neither be distributed to them all, nor given to some without offence to the rest. Leviticus 23:21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Leviticus 23:21 . A holy convocation — A sabbath, or day of rest, called pentecost; which was instituted, partly in remembrance of the consummation of their deliverance out of Egypt, by bringing them thence to the mount of God, or Sinai, as God had promised; and of that admirable blessing of giving the law to them on the fiftieth day, and forming them into a commonwealth under his own immediate government; and partly in gratitude for the further progress of their harvest, as in the passover they offered a thank-offering to God for the beginning of their harvest. The perfection of this feast was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on this very day in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls through the word of truth, as the first-fruits of the Christian Church. Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:22 . When ye reap, thou — From the plural, ye, he comes to the singular, thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who had a harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that, though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to show that our devotion to God is little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men. Leviticus 23:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Leviticus 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Leviticus 23:24 . A sabbath — Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests, not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. They began to blow at sunrise, and continued blowing till sunset. This seems to have been instituted, 1st, To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof, as to civil matters, and particularly as to the jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God’s blessings in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs. 2d, To put a special honour upon this month. For, as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year, so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, on account of the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this, more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well that of atonement, and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God’s mercies. Leviticus 23:25 Ye shall do no servile work therein : but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Leviticus 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:27 . Afflict your souls — With fasting and bitter repentance for all, and especially their national sins, among which, no doubt, God would have them remember their sin of the golden calf. For as God had threatened to remember it in after-times to punish them for it, so there was great reason why they should remember it to humble themselves for it. Leviticus 23:28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. Leviticus 23:29 . Whatsoever soul — Either of the Jewish nation or religion. Hereby God would signify the absolute necessity which every man had of repentance and forgiveness of sins, and the desperate condition of all impenitent persons. Reader! hast thou considered this? Leviticus 23:30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Leviticus 23:31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:31 . Of tabernacles — Of tents, or booths, or arbours. This feast was appointed to remind them of that time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, and to stir them up to bless God, as well for the gracious protection then afforded them, as for the more commodious habitations now given them; and to excite them to gratitude for all the fruits of the year newly ended, which were now completely brought in. Leviticus 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. Leviticus 23:32 . From even to even — The day of atonement began at the evening of the ninth day and continued till the evening of the tenth day. Ye shall celebrate your sabbath — This particular sabbath is called your sabbath, possibly to denote the difference between this and other sabbaths; for the weekly sabbath is oft called the sabbath of the Lord. The Jews are supposed to begin every day, and consequently their sabbaths, at the evening, in remembrance of the creation, as Christians generally begin their days and sabbaths with the morning, in memory of Christ’s resurrection. Leviticus 23:33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Leviticus 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein . Leviticus 23:36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein . Leviticus 23:36 . Ye shall offer — A several offering each day. The eighth day — Which, though it was not one of the days of this feast, strictly taken, yet, in a larger sense, it belonged to this feast, and is called the great day of the feast, John 7:37 . And so indeed it was, as for other reasons, so because, by their removal from the tabernacles into fixed habitations, it represented that happy time wherein their forty years’ tedious march in the wilderness was ended with their settlement in the land of Canaan, which it was most fit they should acknowledge with such a solemn day of thanksgiving as this was. Leviticus 23:37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: Leviticus 23:37 . A sacrifice — A sin-offering, called by the general name, a sacrifice, because it was designed for that which was the principal end of all sacrifices, the expiation of sin. Leviticus 23:38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Leviticus 23:38 . Besides the sabbaths — The offerings of the weekly sabbaths. God will not have any sabbath-sacrifice diminished because of the addition of others, proper to any other feast. And it is here to be noted, that though other festival days are sometimes called sabbaths, yet these are here called the sabbaths of the Lord, in the way of contradistinction, to show that these were more eminently such than other feast-days. Your gifts — Which, being here distinguished from the free-will-offerings made to the Lord, may denote what they freely gave to the priests over and above their first-fruits and tithes or other things which they were enjoined to give. Leviticus 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. Leviticus 23:39 . This is no addition of a new, but only a repetition of the former injunction, with a more particular explication both of the manner and reason of the feast. The fruit — Not the corn, which was gathered long before, but that of the trees, as vines, olives, and other fruit-trees; which completed the harvest, whence this is called the feast of ingathering. Leviticus 23:40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. Leviticus 23:40 . Of goodly trees — Namely, olive, myrtle, and pine, mentioned Nehemiah 8:15-16 , which were most plentiful there, and which would best preserve their greenness. Thick trees — Fit for shade and shelter. And willows — To mix with the other, and in some sort bind them together. And as they made their booths of these materials, so they carried some of these boughs in their hands, as is affirmed by Jewish and other ancient writers. Leviticus 23:41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Leviticus 23:42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: Leviticus 23:42 . In booths — Which were erected in their cities or towns, either in their streets, or gardens, or the tops of their houses. These were made flat, and therefore were fit for this use. Leviticus 23:43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD. Leviticus 23:44 . The feasts of the Lord — We have reason to be thankful that the feasts of the Lord now are not so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly; but more spiritual and significant, and surer and sweeter earnests of the everlasting feast, at the last ingathering, which we hope to be celebrating to eternity! Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Leviticus 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, THE WEEKLY SABBATH Leviticus 23:1-3 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The set feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My set feasts. Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of work: it is a sabbath unto the Lord in all your dwellings." The first verse of this chapter announces the purpose of the section as not to give a complete calendar of sacred times or of seasons of worship, -for the new moons and the sabbatic year and the jubilee are not mentioned, - but to enumerate such sacred times as are to be kept as "holy convocations." The reference in this phrase cannot be to an assembling of the people at the central sanctuary which is elsewhere ordered {Exo 34:23} only for the three feasts of passover, weeks, and atonement; but rather, doubtless, to local gatherings for purposes of worship, such as, at a later day, took form in the institution of the synagogues. The enumeration of these "set times" begins with the Sabbath ( Leviticus 23:3 ), as was natural; for, as we have seen, the whole series of sacred times was sabbatic in character. The sanctity of the day is emphasised in the strongest terms, as a shabbath shabbathon, a "sabbath of sabbatism,"-a sabbath of solemn rest, as it is rendered by the Revisers. While on some other sacred seasons the usual occupations of the household were permitted, on the Sabbath "no manner of work" was to be done; not even was it lawful to gather wood or to light a fire. For this sanctity of the Sabbath two reasons are elsewhere given. The first of these, which is assigned in the fourth commandment, makes it a memorial of the rest of God, when having created man in Eden, He saw His work which He had finished, that it was very good, and rested from all His work. As created, man was participant in this rest of God. He was indeed to work in tilling the garden in which he had been placed; but from such labour as involves unremunerative toil and exhaustion he was exempt. But this sabbatic rest of the creation was interrupted by sin; God’s work, which He had declared "good," was marred; man fell into a condition of wearying toil and unrest of body and soul, and with him the whole creation also was "subjected to vanity". {Gen 3:17-18 Rom 8:20} But in this state of things the God of love could not rest; it thus involved for Him a work of new creation, which should have for its object the complete restoration, both as regards man and nature, of that sabbatic state of things on earth which had been broken up by sin. And thus it came to pass that the weekly Sabbath looked not only backward, but forward; and spoke not only of the rest that was, but of the great sabbatism of the future, to be brought in through a promised redemption. Hence, as a second reason for the observance of the Sabbath, it is said {Exo 31:13} to be a sign between God and Israel through all their generations, that they might know that He was Jehovah which sanctified them, i.e. , who had set them apart for deliverance from the curse, that through them the world might be saved. These are thus the two sabbatic ideas; rest and redemption. They everywhere appear, in one form or another, in all this sabbatic series of sacred times. Some of them emphasise one phase of the rest and redemption, and some another; the weekly Sabbath, as the unit of the series, presents both. For in Deuteronomy {Deu 5:15} Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath in commemoration of the exodus, as the time when God undertook to bring them into His rest; a rest of which the beginning and the pledge was their deliverance from Egyptian bondage; a rest brought in through a redemption. THE SET FEASTS OF THE LORD Leviticus 23:1-44 IT is ever an instinct of natural religion to observe certain set times for special public and united worship. As we should therefore anticipate, such observances are in this chapter enjoined as a part of the requirement of the law of holiness for Israel. It is of consequence to observe that the Revisers have corrected the error of the Authorised Version, which renders two perfectly distinct words alike as "feasts"; and have distinguished the one by the translation. "set feasts," the other by the one word, "feasts." The precise sense of the former word is given in the margin "appointed seasons." and it is naturally applied to all the set times of special religious solemnity which are ordained in this chapter. But the other word translated "feast,"-derived from a root meaning "to dance," whence "feast" or "festival,"-is applied to only three of the former six "appointed seasons," namely, the feasts of Unleavened Bread, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles; as intended to be, in a special degree, seasons of gladness and festivity. The indication of this distinction is of importance, as completely meeting the allegation that there is in this chapter evidence of a later development than in the account of the feasts given in Exodus 34:1-35 , where the number of the "feasts," besides the weekly Sabbath, is given as three, while here, as it is asserted, their number has been increased to six. In reality, however, there is nothing here which suggests a later period. For the object of the former law in Exodus was only to name the "feasts" ( haggim ); while that of the chapter before us is to indicate not only these, -which here, as there, are three, -but, in addition to these, all "appointed seasons" for "holy convocations," which, although all mo’adim , were not all haggim . The observance of public religious festivals has been common to all the chief religions of the world, both ancient and modern. Very often, though not in all cases, these have been determined by the phases of the moon; or by the apparent motion of the sun in the heavens, as in many instances of religious celebrations connected with the period of the spring and autumnal equinoxes; and thus, very naturally, also with the times of harvest and ingathering. It is at once evident that of these appointed seasons of holy convocation, the three feasts ( haggim ) of the Hebrews also fell at certain points in the harvest season; and with each of these, ceremonies were observed connected with harvest and ingathering; while two, the feast of weeks and that of tabernacles, take alternate names, directly referring to this their connection with the harvest; namely, the feast of first fruits and that of ingathering. Thus we have, first, the feast of unleavened bread, following passover, which was distinguished by the presentation of a sheaf of the first fruits of the barley harvest, in the latter part of March, or early in April; then, the feast of weeks, or first fruits, seven weeks later, marking the completion of the grain harvest with the ingathering of the wheat; and, finally, the feast of tabernacles or ingathering, in the seventh month, marking the harvesting of the fruits, especially the oil and the wine, and therewith the completed ingathering of the whole product of the year. From these facts it is argued that in these Hebrew feasts we have simply a natural development, with modifications, of the ancient and widespread system of harvest feasts among the heathen; to which the historical element which appears in some of them was only added as an afterthought, in a later period of history. From this point of view, the idea that these feasts were a matter of supernatural revelation disappears; what religious character they have belongs originally to the universal religion of nature. But it is to be remarked, first, that even if we admit that in their original character these were simply and only harvest feasts, it would not follow that therefore their observance, with certain prescribed ceremonies, could not have been matter of Divine revelation. There is a religion of nature; God has not left Himself without a witness, in that He has given men "rains and fruitful seasons," filling their hearts with food and gladness. And, as already remarked in regard to sacrifice, it is no part of the method of God in revelation to ignore or reject what in this religion of nature may be true and right; but rather to use it, and build on this foundation. But, again, the mere fact that the feast of unleavened bread fell at the beginning of barley harvest, and that one-though only one-ceremony appointed for that festive week had explicit reference to the then beginning harvest, is not sufficient to disprove the uniform declaration of Scripture that, as observed in Israel, its original ground was not natural, but historical; namely, in the circumstances attending the birth of the nation in their exodus from Egypt. But we may say more than this. If the contrary were true, and the introduction of the historical element was an afterthought, as insisted by some, then we should expect to find that in accounts belonging to successive periods, the reference to the harvest would certainly be more prominent in the earlier, and the reference of the feast to a historical origin more prominent in the later, accounts of the feasts. Most singular it is then, upon this hypothesis, to find that even accepting the analysis, e.g., of Wellhausen, the facts are the exact reverse. For the only brief reference to the harvest in connection with this feast of unleavened bread is found in this chapter 23, of Leviticus, composed, it is alleged, about the time of Ezekiel; while, on the other hand, the narrative in Exodus 12:1-51 , regarded by all the critics of this school as the earliest account of the origin of the feast of unleavened bread, refers only to the historical event of the exodus, as the occasion of its institution. If we grant the asserted difference in age of these two parts of the Pentateuch, one would thus more naturally conclude that the historical events were the original occasion of the institution of the festival, and that the reference to the harvest, in the presentation of the sheaf of first fruits, was the later introduction into the ceremonies of the week. But the truth is that this naturalistic identification of these Hebrew feasts with the harvest feasts of other nations is a mistake. In order to make it out, it is necessary to ignore or pervert most patent facts. These so-called harvest feasts in fact form part of an elaborate system of sacred times, -a system which is based upon the Sabbath, and into which the sacred number seven, the number of the covenant, enters throughout as a formative element. The weekly Sabbath, first of all, was the seventh day; the length of the great festivals of unleavened bread and of tabernacles was also, in each case, seven days. Not only so, but the entire series of sacred times mentioned in this chapter and in chapter 25 constitutes an ascending series of sacred septenaries, in which the ruling thought is this: that the seventh is holy unto the Lord, as the number symbolic of rest and redemption; and that the eighth, as the first of a new week, is symbolic of the new creation. Thus we have the seventh day, the weekly Sabbath, constantly recurring, the type of each of the series; then, counting from the feast of unleavened bread, -the first of the sacred year, -the fiftieth day, at the end of the seventh week, is signalised as sacred by the feast of first fruits or of "weeks"; the seventh month, again, is the sabbatic month, of special sanctity, containing as it does three of the annual seasons of holy convocation, -the feast of trumpets on its first day, the great day of atonement on the tenth, and the last of the three great annual feasts, that of tabernacles or ingathering, for seven days from the fifteenth day of the month. Beyond this series of sacred festivals recurring annually, in chapter 25, the seventh year is appointed to be a sabbatic year of rest to the land, and the series at last culminates at the expiration of seven sevens of years, in the fiftieth year, -the eighth following the seventh seven, -the great year of jubilee, the supreme year of rest, restoration, and release. All these sacred times, differing in the details of their observance, are alike distinguished by their connection with the sacred number seven, by the informing presence of the idea of the Sabbath, and therewith always a new and fuller revelation of God as in covenant with Israel for their redemption. Now, like to this series of sacred times, in heathenism there is absolutely nothing. It evidently belongs to another realm of thought, ethics, and religion. And so, while it is quite true that in the three great feasts there was a reference to the harvest, and so to fruitful nature, yet the fundamental, unifying idea of the system of sacred times was not the recognition of the fruitful life of nature, as in the heathen festivals, but of Jehovah, as the Author and Sustainer of the life of His covenant people Israel, as also of every individual in the nation. This, we repeat, is the one central thought in all these sacred seasons; not the life of nature, but the life of the holy nation, as created and sustained by a covenant God. The annual processes of nature have indeed a place and a necessary recognition in the system, simply because the personal God is active in all nature; but the place of these is not primary, but secondary and subordinate. They have a recognition because, in the first place, it is through the bounty of God in nature that the life of man is sustained; and, secondly, also because nature in her order is a type and shadow of things spiritual. For in the spiritual world, whether we think of it as made up of nations or individuals, even as in the natural, there is a seedtime and a harvest, a time of first fruits and a time of the joy and rest of the full ingathering of fruit, and oil, and wine. Hence it was most fitting that this inspired rubric, as primarily intended for the celebration of spiritual things, should be so arranged and timed, in all its parts, as that in each returning sacred season, visible nature should present itself to Israel as a manifest parable and eloquent suggestion of those spiritual verities; the more so that thus the Israelite would be reminded that the God of the Exodus and the God of Sinai was also the supreme Lord of nature, the God of the seed time and harvest, the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth, and of all that in them is. Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. THE FEAST OF PASSOVER AND UNLEAVENED BREAD Leviticus 23:4-14 "These are the set feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed season. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is the Lord’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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 the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: 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. And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meal offering thereof shall be two tenth parts of an ephah 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 a hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." Leviticus 23:5-8 give the law for the first of the annual feasts, the passover and unleavened bread. The passover lamb was to be slain and eaten on the evening of the fourteenth day; and thereafter, for seven days, they were all to eat unleavened bread. The first and seventh days of unleavened bread were to be kept as a "holy convocation"; in both of which "servile work," i.e. , the usual occupations in the field or in one’s handicraft, were forbidden. Further than this the restriction did not extend. The utter impossibility of making this feast of passover also to have been at first merely a harvest festival is best shown by the signal failure of the many attempts to explain on this theory the name "passover" as applied to the sacrificial victim, and the exclusion of leaven for the whole period. Admit the statements of the Pentateuch on this subject, and all is simple. The feast was a most suitable commemoration by Israel of the solemn circumstances under which they began their national life; their exemption from the plague of the death of the firstborn, through the blood of a slain victim; and their exodus thereafter in such haste that they stopped not to leaven their bread. And there was a deeper spiritual meaning than this. Whereas, secured by the sprinkling of blood, they then fed in safety on the flesh of the victim, by which they received strength for their flight from Egypt, the same two thoughts were thereby naturally suggested which we have seen represented in the peace offering; namely, friendship and fellowship with God secured through sacrifice, and life sustained by His bounty. And the unleavened bread, also, had more than a historic reference; else it had sufficed to eat it only on the anniversary night, and it had not been commanded also to put away the leaven from their houses. For leaven is the established symbol of moral corruption; and in that the passover lamb having been slain, Israel must abstain for a full septenary period of a week from every use of leaven, it was signified in symbol that the redeemed nation must not live by means of what is evil, but be a holy people, according to their calling. And the inseparable connection of this with full consecration of person and service, and with the expiation of sin, was daily symbolised ( Leviticus 23:8 ) by the "offerings made by fire," burnt offerings, meal offerings, and sin offerings, "offerings made by fire unto the Lord." On "the morrow after the Sabbath" ( Leviticus 23:15 ) of this sacred week, it was ordered ( Leviticus 23:10 ) that "the sheaf of the first fruits of the (barley) harvest" should be brought "unto the priest"; and ( Leviticus 23:11 ) that he should consecrate it unto the Lord, by the ceremony of waving it before Him. This wave offering of the sheaf of first fruits was to be accompanied ( Leviticus 23:2-13 ) by a burnt offering, a meal offering, and a drink offering of wine. Until all this was done ( Leviticus 23:14 ) they were to "eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears" of the new harvest. By the consecration of the first fruits is ever signified the consecration of the whole, of which it is the first part, unto the Lord. By this act, Israel, at the very beginning of their harvest, solemnly consecrated the whole harvest to the Lord; and are only permitted to use it, when they receive it thus as a gift from Him. This ethical reference to the harvest is here expressly taught; but still more was thereby taught in symbol. For Israel was declared {Exo 4:22} to be God’s firstborn; that is, in the great redemptive plan of God, which looks forward to the final salvation of all nations, Israel ever comes historically first. "The Jew first, and also the Greek," is the New Testament formula of this fundamental dispensational truth. The offering unto God, therefore, of the sheaf of first fruits, at the very beginning of the harvest, -in fullest harmony with the historic reference of this feast, which commemorated Israel’s deliverance from bondage and separation from the nations, as a first fruits of redemption, -symbolically signified the consecration of Israel unto God as the firstborn unto Him from the nations, the beginning of the world’s great harvest. But this is not all. For in these various ceremonies of this first of the feasts, all who acknowledge the authority of the New Testament will recognise a yet more profound, and prophetic, spiritual meaning. Passover and unleavened bread not only looked backward, but forward. For the Apostle Paul writes, addressing all believers: {1Co 7:1-40; 1Co 8:1-13} "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth";-an exposition so plain that comment is scarcely needed. And as following upon the passover, on the morrow after the Sabbath, the first day of the week, the sheaf of first fruits was presented ‘before Jehovah, so in type is brought before us that of which the same Apostle tells us, {1Co 15:20} that Christ, in that He rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, became "the first fruits of them that are asleep"; thus, for the first time, finally and exhaustively fulfilling this type, in full accord also with His own representation of Himself {Joh 12:24} as "a grain of wheat;” which should "fall into the earth and die, and then, living again, bear much fruit." Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: THE FEAST OF PENTECOST Leviticus 23:15-21 "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall there be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with leaven, for first fruits unto the Lord. And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations." Next in order came the feast of first fruits, or the feast of weeks, which, because celebrated on the fiftieth day after the presentation of the wave sheaf in passover week, has come to be known as Pentecost, from the Greek numeral signifying fifty. It was ordered that the fiftieth day after this presentation of the first sheaf of the harvest should be kept as a day of "holy convocation," with abstinence from all "servile work." The former festival had marked the absolute beginning of the harvest with the first sheaf of barley; this marked the completion of the grain harvest with the reaping of the wheat. In the former, the sheaf was presented as it came from the field; in this case, the offering was of the grain as prepared for food. It was ordered ( Leviticus 23:16 ) that on this day "a new meal offering" should be offered. It should be brought out of their habitations and be baken with leaven. In both particulars, it was unlike the ordinary meal offerings, because the offering was to represent the ordinary food of the people. Accompanied with a sevenfold burnt offering, and a sin offering, and two lambs of peace offerings, these were to be waved before the Lord for their acceptance, after the manner of the wave sheaf ( Leviticus 23:18-20 ). On the altar they could not come, because they were baken with leaven. This festival, as one of the sabbatic series, celebrated the rest after the labours of the grain harvest, a symbol of the great sabbatism to follow that harvest which is "the end of the age". {Mat 13:39} As a consecration, it dedicated unto God the daily food of the nation for the coming year. As passover reminded them that God was the Creator of Israel, so herein, receiving their daily bread from Him, they were reminded that He was also the Sustainer of Israel; while the full accompaniment of burnt offerings and peace offerings expressed their full consecration and happy state of friendship with Jehovah, secured through the expiation of the sin offering. Was this feast also, like passover, prophetic? The New Testament is scarcely less clear than in the former case. For after that Christ, first having been slain as "our Passover," had then risen from the dead as the "Firstfruits," fulfilling the type of the wave sheaf on the morning of the Sabbath, fifty days passed; "and when the day of Pentecost was fully come," came that great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the conversion of three thousand out of many lands, {Act 2:1-47} and therewith the formation of that Church Of the New Testament whose members the Apostle James declares {Jam 1:18} to be "a kind of first fruits of God’s creatures." Thus, as the sheaf had typified Christ as "the Firstborn from the dead," the presentation on the day of Pentecost of the two wave loaves, the product of the sheaf of grain, no less evidently typified the presentation unto God of the Church of the firstborn, the first fruits of Christ’s death and resurrection, as constituted on that sacred day. This then was the complete fulfilment of the feast of weeks regarded as a redemptive type, showing how, not only rest, but also redemption was comprehended in the significance of the sabbatic idea. And yet, that complete redemption was not therewith attained by that Church of the firstborn on Pentecost was presignified in that the two wave loaves were to be baken with leaven. The feast of unleavened bread had exhibited the ideal of the Christian life; that of first fruits, the imperfection of the earthly attainment. On earth the leaven of sin still abides. Leviticus 23:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS Leviticus 23:23-25 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." By a very natural association of thought, in Leviticus 23:22 the direction to leave the gleaning of the harvest for the poor and the stranger is repeated verbally from Leviticus 19:9-10 . Thereupon we pass from the feast of the seventh week to the solemnities of the seventh month, in which the series of annual sabbatic seasons ended. It was thus, by eminence the sabbatic season of the year. Of the "set times" of this chapter, three fell in this month, and of these, two-the day of atonement and tabernacles-were of supreme significance: the former being distinguished by the most august religious solemnity of the year, the entrance of the high priest into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the nation; the latter marking the completion of the ingathering of the products of the year, with the fruit, the oil, and the wine. Of this sabbatic month, it is directed ( Leviticus 23:25 ) that the first day be kept as a shabbathon, " a solemn rest," marked by abstinence from all the ordinary business of life, and a holy convocation. The special ceremony of the day, which gave it its name, is described as a "memorial of blowing of trumpets." This "blowing of trumpets" was a reminder, not from Israel to God, as some have fancied, but from God to Israel. It was an announcement from the King of Israel to His people that the glad sabbatic month had begun, and that the great day of atonement, and the supreme festivity of the feast of tabernacles; was now at hand. That the first day of this sabbatic month should be thus sanctified was but according to the Mosaic principle that the consecration of anything signifies the consecration unto God of the whole. "If the first fruit is holy, so also the lump"; in like manner, if the first day, so is the month. Trumpets - though not the same probably as used on this occasion-were also blown on other occasions, and, in particular, at the time of each new moon; but, according to tradition, these only by the priests and at the central sanctuary; while in this feast of trumpets everyone blew who would, and throughout the whole land. Leviticus 23:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, THE DAY OF ATONEMENT Leviticus 23:26-32 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Howbeit on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no manner of work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even shall ye keep your sabbath." After this festival of annunciation, followed, on the tenth day of the month, the great annual day of atonement. This has already come before us (chapter 13) in its relation to the sacrificial system, of which the sin offering of this day was the culmination. But this chapter brings it before us in another aspect, namely, in its relation to the annual septenary series of sacred seasons, the final festival of which it preceded and introduced. Its significance, as thus coming in this final seventh and sabbatic month of the ecclesiastical year. lay not merely in the strictness of the rest which was commanded ( Leviticus 23:28-30 ) from every manner of work, but, still more, in that it expressed in a far higher degree than any other festival the other sabbatic idea of complete restoration brought in through expiation for sin. This was indeed the central thought of the whole ceremonial of the day, -the complete removal of all those sins of the nation which stood between them and God, and hindered complete restoration to God’s favour. And while this restoration was symbolised by the sacrifice of the sin offering, and its presentation and acceptance before Jehovah in the Holy of Holies; yet, that none might hence argue from the fact of atonement to license to sin, it was ordained ( Leviticus 23:27 ) that the people should "afflict their souls," namely, by fasting, in token of their penitence for the sins for which atonement was made; and the absolute necessity of this condition of repentance in order to any benefit from the high priestly sacrifice and intercession was further emphasised by the solemn threat ( Leviticus 23:29 ): "Whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people." These then were the lessons-lessons of transcendent moment for all people and all ages-which were set forth in the great atonement of the sabbatic month, -the complete removal of sin by an expiatory offering, conditioned on the part of the worshipper by the obedience of faith and sincere repentance for the sin, and issuing in rest and full establishment in God’s loving favour. Leviticus 23:33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES Leviticus 23:33-43 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day