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More Leviticus commentaries
Leviticus 20:1-27
Penalties for breaking the law
Leviticus 22:17-25
Perfection is a requirement
Leviticus 23:1-14
Certain times for feasting
Leviticus 23:15-22
What to do when there is sin in Church
Leviticus 23:23-32
Pentecost celebrates the wheat harvest
Leviticus 23:33-44
The “Feast of Tabernacles” was their Thanksgiving
Leviticus 25:1-17
Rest for land and people is important
Leviticus 26:1-13
Blessing promised for obedience
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Certain times for feasting
Leviticus 23:1–14
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
A man visited the Fiji islands. He was skeptical of missionaries and told the chief that nobody believed what the Bible had to say nowadays. He concluded his remarks by saying “I am sorry for you that you have been so foolish”. The Fijian chief shocked this visitor when … More
In this chapter the Lord instructed His people to reserve certain dates on their calendar for national public worship and sacrifice. Calendars are a normal part of our modern busy world, but they weren’t that important to the people of Israel in Moses day. The Jews worked from sunrise to sunset and they counted the months by the different phases of the moon as they watched the seasons come and go. God had promised a seed time and a harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night (Gen. 8:22). Now He is talking to them about special days called “feasts” for them to celebrate. “Feasts” did not mean eating but appointed times.
The first of these days was the weekly Sabbath (vv. 1-3). It was not one of the annual “feast” days but was a very important day and the Jewish people were expected to honor it. To dishonor it meant death (Num. 15:32-36). The first “feast” was the Passover (vv. 4-5) which marked Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and a celebration that the lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled on the door posts of each Israelite home.
The second “feast” day was that of Unleavened Bread (vv. 6-8), which began the day after the Passover and continued for a week. It was a time when the Jews ate only unleavened bread with their meals and when they cleansed all the yeast from their homes. During this time a “sheaf of first fruits” of barley was offered (vv. 9-14) as a wave offering before the Lord God and it symbolized the fact that it all came from Him.
Application
As a believer I am not commanded to keep any of these days today. However, each day is a sacred gift from God and I need to live it fully for Him.
Leviticus 23:1-14 (English Standard Version)
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work." And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings."
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