Leviticus 23:1

PART FOUR

ON HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS

(Leviticus 23-25)

Here begins the fourth major division of Leviticus dealing principally with the various holy days and festivals observed by the children of Israel. This division comprises Leviticus 23-25, with Leviticus 24 being somewhat of a parenthesis.

Significantly, these great festivals outlined here are still observed by the Jews all over the world, although with changes that have inevitably occurred. There was only one fast day, the Day of Atonement. In post-exilic times, the Jews imposed many fasts upon their people, but without God's command or sanction. It was a boast of the Pharisee (Luke 18) that he "fasted twice in the week"!

This part of Leviticus is distinguished by the continued use of "I am the Lord your God," frequently used to terminate paragraphs. Here it divides this chapter into two parts detailing the spring festivals (Leviticus 23:22), and the autumn festivals (Leviticus 23:43). The major divisions of the chapter ending in those verses are further subdivided by the clause, "this is a permanent rule for your descendants wherever you dwell" (Leviticus 23:14,21,31,41).

The principal thrust of the chapter regards the people's observance of these festivals. The detailed types of sacrifices required, which concerned chiefly the priests, are presented later in Numbers (Numbers 28-29).

Some of these festivals occurred at times of the year when many festivals in the pagan world had been observed continually for ages, and, as we should have expected, critical enemies of the Bible try to find the origin of these O.T. festivals in the older pagan ceremonies occurring about the same time, but all such attempts have failed. "The original ground of these festivals was not the natural celebrations of pagans, but historical. All of these observances derived from circumstances attending the birth of the nation of Israel and their deliverance from Egyptian bondage."[1] The divine origin of these celebrations is seen, for example, in the very name Passover, which memorializes the passing over of the houses of Israel the night when an angel of God slew the firstborn in all Egypt. Also, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during which no leaven was used for a whole week, still speaks, as it did at the inception of the celebration, of the haste in which the children of Israel were brought out of the land of their bondage, there being no time for leaven to be allowed to rise! The finger of God was in all of those ancient festivals, and it is still visible for those who will observe it. Thus, "The naturalistic identification of these feasts with the harvest feasts of other nations is a mistake."[2]

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The set feasts of Jehovah, 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 Jehovah in all your dwellings."

"Holy convocations ..." These words "do not signify the necessity of a journey to the sanctuary. Appearance at the tabernacle to hold the holy convocations was not regarded as necessary either in the law itself or in later orthodox custom."[3] As a matter of fact, and of history, religious meetings for the purpose of conducting worship were held every sabbath day WHEREVER Jews lived; and, "It was out of these that the synagogues arose."[4]

The sabbath itself is here mentioned somewhat parenthetically, because the sabbath itself was NOT one of the great festivals about to be proclaimed. However, it was a most vital part of the Jewish religion and is appropriately named here at the outset. Besides, the observance of additional sabbaths was involved in festivals themselves.

"Ye shall do no manner of work ..." (Leviticus 23:3). This is a more restrictive commandment than the one found in Leviticus 23:7,8,21,25,35,36, where "ye shall do no servile work," is the prohibition. "There is a definite indication here that the regular, frequently occurring sabbath was intended to be a holier day than any of the set feasts."[5] Similarly, in Christianity, the extreme sanctity of the regular, frequently-occurring Lord's Day services, constitute the holiest occasions of all. What a shame it is that the historical church has tended to downgrade the weekly observance and give the great stress to "special occasions," not commanded by the Lord at all, but devised by men, such as Easter, Christmas, Whitsunday, Good Friday, etc.