Leviticus 23:9-21 - Homiletics

The harvest festivals

among ourselves receive a sanction from the divinely appointed harvest festivals of the Jews, which were three in number.

I. THE PASSOVER HARVEST FESTIVAL .

1 . On Nisan 14, the selection of the field and the ears of barley which were to be cut.

2 . On Nisan 15, the progress of three appointed delegates to the spot, as the sun went down, with sickles and baskets; the reaping of the barley that had been marked to be cut, and its conveyance to the court of the temple.

3 . On Nisan 16, the waving of one sheaf of the barley before the Lord, in token that the whole crop, of which it was the firstfruits, was offered to the Lord in gratitude for his having given it to man for his food. Not until the firstfruits had been presented to God might the new year's barley be used. The firstfruits having been made holy, the whole lump was holy.

II. THE PENTECOST HARVEST FESTIVAL .

1 . At the beginning of the wheat harvest, the reservation of the field from which the ears of wheat were to be cut.

2 . On the forty-ninth day from Nisan 15, the progress, as before, of three appointed delegates to the spot, with sickles and baskets; the reaping of the wheat that had been marked; its conveyance to the court of the temple; its threshing, winnowing, and grinding, and the formation out of it of two loaves made with leaven.

3 . On the fiftieth day from Nisan 15, the waving of the two loaves before the Lord, in token that the whole wheat crop, like the barley crop before, was sanctified for the use of man by a sample portion of it having been given to God. Not till after this might the meat offering be made of the new flour.

4 . On the same day and subsequent days, the private offering of firstfruits, which might not be brought until the national offering of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest had been made, but kept up the harvest joyousness from that time to the end of the year. From each of the twenty-four districts into which Palestine was divided came a company. Each morning, while they were on the road to Jerusalem, their leader summoned them with the words, "Come ye, and let us go up to Zion, and unto Jehovah our God ' ( Jeremiah 31:6 ), and they answered, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord" ( Psalms 122:1 ). "First went one who played the pipe; then followed a sacrificial bullock, destined for a peace offering, his horns gilt and garlanded with olive branches; next came the multitude, some carrying the baskets with firstfruits, others singing the psalms which many writers suppose to have been specially destined for that service, and hence to have been called 'The Songs of Ascent,' in our Authorized Version 'The Psalms of Degrees.' The poorer brought their gifts in wicker baskets, which afterwards belonged to the officiating priests; the richer theirs in baskets of silver or of gold, which were given to the temple treasury … And so they passed through the length and breadth of the land, everywhere waking the echoes of praise. As they entered the city, they sang Psalms 122:2 , 'Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem.'… As they reached the temple mount, each one, whatever his rank or condition, took one of the baskets on his shoulder, and they ascended singing that appropriate hymn, 'Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the firmament of his power' ( Psalms 110:1-7 ). As they entered the temple itself, the Levites intoned Psalms 30:1-12 , 'I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.… (Edersheim, 'Temple Service'). The ceremonies of the actual presentation are detailed in Deuteronomy 26:1-19 , "Thou shalt go unto the priest that shall he in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swam unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land which floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God: and thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you" ( Deuteronomy 26:3-11 ).

III. THE INGATHERING HARVEST FESTIVAL .

1 . The dwelling in booths for a week in memorial of the encampment at Succoth, when the Israelites for the first time felt themselves to be free men.

2 . The rejoicing for the final ingathering of the olives and grapes and the other fruits of the earth. "Thou shalt keep the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field" ( Exodus 23:16 ). "Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates" ( Deuteronomy 16:13 , Deuteronomy 16:14 ).

3 . The carrying of the oethrog, or citron, and of the lulav, or palm, together with a myrtle and willow branch.

4 . On the last day of the feast, the drawing water from the pool of Siloam (a ceremony of a post-Mosaic date). "While the morning sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous procession, with music, went down to the pool of Siloam, whence he drew water into a golden pitcher capable of holding three logs (rather more than two pints) The priest then went up the rise of the altar and turned to the left, where there were two silver basins with narrow holes—the eastern a little wider for the wine, and the western somewhat narrower for the water. Into these the wine of the drink offering was poured, and at the same time the water from Siloam" (Edersheim, 'Temple Service'). Our Lord shows the true symbolism of this ceremony to be the gift of the Spirit.

5 . The further post-Mosaic ceremony of lighting four golden candelabra in the court of the women on the night of the first day of the feast, the wicks in the candelabra having been made of the robes of the priests worn out during the past year. This ceremony probably symbolized illumination by the Spirit.

IV. MORAL LESSON . The duty of thankfulness. It is a rabbinical saying that the Holy Spirit dwells in man only through joy. This is an exaggeration, but it teaches a truth which is forgotten wherever asceticism comes to be a subject of admiration. The service of God is a joyous service. "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord" ( Deuteronomy 16:11 ) is the injunction of the Old Testament; "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice" ( Philippians 4:4 ), is that of the New Testament. It is right that there should be special occasions on which this joy may be exhibited and encouraged. Hence the reasonableness of festivals and holy days.