Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 23:1
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
The specified times for public worship according to the Law were;
(1) The daily morning and evening sacrifices, sometimes called the continual burnt-offering.
(2) The weekly Sabbath.
(3) the day of the new moon.
(4) the set feasts Num 29:39 or appointed times of annual observance, of which there were five, the Passover, the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. For each of these occasions special sacrifices were appointed Num. 28; 29.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXIII
The feast of the Lord, 1, 2.
The Sabbath, 3.
The passover and unleavened bread, 4-8.
The feast of first-fruits, 9-14.
The feast of pentecost, 15-21.
Gleanings to be left for the poor, 22.
The feast of trumpets, 28-25.
The great day of atonement, 26-32.
The feast of tabernacles, 33-44.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the Lord spake unto Moses,…. Much about the same time as before; and having delivered to him various laws concerning the holiness of the people of Israel, who were to serve him, and of the holiness of the priests, that were to minister in holy things to him, and of the purity and perfections of their sacrifices, he here appoints various times and seasons, for the more special worship and service of him:
saying; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This chapter does not contain a “calendar of feasts,” or a summary and completion of the directions previously given in a scattered form concerning the festal times of Israel, but simply a list of those festal days and periods of the year at which holy meetings were to be held. This is most clearly stated in the heading (Lev 23:2): “ the festal times of Jehovah, which ye shall call out as holy meetings, these are they, My feasts, ” i.e., those which are to be regarded as My feasts, sanctified to Me. The festal seasons and days were called “feasts of Jehovah,” times appointed and fixed by Jehovah (see Gen 1:14), not because the feasts belonged to fixed times regulated by the course of the moon ( Knobel), but because Jehovah had appointed them as days, or times, which were to be sanctified to Him. Hence the expression is not only used with reference to the Sabbath, the new moon, and the other yearly feasts; but in Num 28:2 and Num 29:39 it is extended so as to include the times of the daily morning and evening sacrifice. (On the “holy convocation” see Exo 12:16.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Sundry Feasts. | B. C. 1490. |
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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.
Here is, I. A general account of the holy times which God appointed (v. 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 a-going it was he that sanctified and blessed one day above the rest, Gen. ii. 3. Man may by his appointment make a good day (Esth. ix. 19), but it is God’s prerogative to make a holy day; nor is any thing 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 the general called feasts. Some read it, These are my assemblies, but that is co-incident with convocations. I would rather read it, These are my solemnities; so the word here used is translated (Isa. xxxiii. 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 concerning which we read, Blessed are the people that know it, Ps. lxxxix. 15. 4. They were to be sanctified and solemnized with holy convocations, that the services of these feasts might appear the more honourable and august, and the people the 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.
II. A repetition of the law of the sabbath in the first place. Though the annual feasts were made more remarkable by the general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not eclipse the brightness of the sabbath, v. 3. They are here told, 1. That on that day they must withdraw themselves from all the affairs and business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying our spiritual rest from sin, and in God: You shall do no work therein. On other holy days they were forbidden to do any servile work (v. 7), but on the sabbath, and the day of atonement (which is also called a sabbath), they were to do no work at all, no, not the dressing of meat. 2. On that day they must employ themselves in the service of God. (1.) It is a holy convocation; that is, “If it lie within your reach, you shall sanctify it in a religious assembly: let as many as can come to the door of the tabernacle, and let others meet elsewhere for prayer, and praise, and the reading of the law,” as in the schools of the prophets, while prophecy continued, and afterwards in the synagogues. Christ appointed the New-Testament sabbath to be a holy convocation, by meeting his disciples once and again (and perhaps oftener) on the first day of the week. (2.) “Whether you have opportunity of sanctifying it in a holy convocation or not, yet let it be the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Put a difference between that day and other days in your families. It is the sabbath of the Lord, the day on which he rested from the work of creation, and on which he has appointed us to rest; let it be observed in all your dwellings, even now that you dwell in tents.” Note, God’s sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by many families together in holy convocations. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, edify, and glorify them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
LEVITICUS- TWENTY-THREE
Verses 1-3:
This text begins the section consisting of Lev 23-25, regulating certain holy days and seasons. The first of these is the seventh day Sabbath.
“Feasts,” moed, “an appointment meeting.” The common concept of a “feast” is a bountiful, festive meal. This is not always the meaning of the term in Scripture. A meal may be served, but the primary meaning is that of an appointed time of meeting.
“Convocation,” miqra, “a calling together,” an assembly, in this instance for religious purposes.
All told, there were seven “holy convocations” annually, in addition to the weekly Sabbath: the first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; Pentecost; Yom Kippur; the Feast of Trumpets; and the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles.
“Sabbath,” shabbath, “cessation, rest,” The context determines if the “sabbath” is the seventh day of the week, or if it is some other special holy day. In this text, it is the seventh day, or weekly Sabbath. It began at sunset on Friday, and ended at sunset on Saturday. All work was forbidden. This was Israel’s most holy day. Its purpose: to commemorate the Person and work of Israel’s God (Ge 2:1-3; Ex 16:23-29; 20:8-11); to afford needed rest and refreshment; and to afford opportunity to reflect on His Person and Law.
The first and last days of this observance were days of holy convocation. No servile work might be done on these days.
Jesus was crucified on Nisan 15, the day after the Paschal meal. The note in Joh 18:28 regarding the Pharisees’ reluctance to enter the judgment hall because of the Passover, does not refer to the Paschal lamb, but to the Peace Offering which must be offered and eaten on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Nu 28:19-24 lists the public sacrifices to be offered on each of the days of this week’s festival. De 16:17 prescribes the Peace Offerings which might be offered at an individual’s discretion.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Israels Holy Festivals
SUGGESTIVE READINGS
Lev. 23:2.Concerning the feasts of the Lord. Religion has its joy seasons, its festive aspects. Israels sacred feasts symbolised the festivals of the Christian soul, those holy delights which believers now realise in their life of faith and fellowship.
(a) Sacred festivals, breaking in upon the monotony of the year, and arresting society amidst its common worldly employ, confer valued benefits on humanity; they are a temporary reprieve from the clamour of secular toils, and set men free for refreshment and rest; while they also incite to some degree of religious interest and gratitude, for they witness to gracious events in Gods redeeming purposes for the world, and summon the multitudes to gladness in commemoration.
(b) Spiritual joyousness, that sacred gladness we inher it in Christ, and of which those festivals were but suggestions and scintillations, has its special and more emphatic seasons within the experience of the Christian; for although religion brings into the soul an enduring happiness and a perennial feast of love, there are times when richer enjoyment of divine fellowship and privilege delights the godly man, and his holy relationship to Christ and the Church fills him with profounder satisfaction and bliss. The suns light shines steadily on throughout the entire day, but there are occasional intervals when his beams burst forth in more resplendant glory.
Lev. 23:2.Holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Heathenism had its wild, licentious orgies; Christianity claims sanctity for all its festivities. On all pleasures and delights it inscribes Holiness to the Lord. Happiness must be holy. God sends gladness into the soul He redeems, and its joy must be always kept pure.
Yet, in this arrangement that the feasts should be convocations, emphasis is placed on the fact that our joy should be sympathetic and communicative, not isolate and selfish. Redeemed men have common reasons for happiness and praise; God would have them meet together in grateful celebration, fostering a sacred friendship, entering into each others joy. Sin has drawn society together in the sympathy of sorrow and degradation; religion re-unites those it blesses in the fellowship of sacred gladness.
Lev. 23:3.The sabbath of rest. As the oldest of all sacred festivals, and the most frequent in recurrence, God places the sabbath in the front; it brings to toil-worn lives a day of rest, it announces to weary souls that sacred rest which Jesus gives, it foreshadows to lifes pilgrims Zionwards the rest which remaineth when heaven is reached.
The sabbath rest is to be enjoyed, not in selfish ease, but as a time for meeting with Gods people in sacred assembly, a holy convocation, and as a season for devout social fellowship; it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
Lev. 23:5.The Lords passover. A commemoration of grand events: spared from the angels stroke of death, freed from the cruelty of oppressive slavery. Redemption and emancipationsuch truths are proclaimed now to man through the sacrifice of Christ our Passover. Christians who have experienced the deliverance, and escaped into the glorious liberty of faith, should celebrate with joy this work of Gods salvation; for if Israel kept holy festival in memory of the Egyptian rescue, surely we should keep the feast (1Co. 5:7-8).
Lev. 23:7-8.Ye shall do no servile work; but ye shall offer an offering made by fire. They who are gathered under the merits of the Paschal Atonement are set free from servile toils. No more servile work now for the sinner, no weary efforts, no fruitless endeavours, no degrading labours; for the offering made by fire, the sweet incense offering of Christ, has gone up to God, and it is enough. The soul is set free from legal work, and now stands an observer of the meritorious offering which rises to heaven as by fire. Not the labours of our hands but the offering on Calvary: with that sweet savour of Christ God is well pleased; and sinners stand acquitted with their trust fixed on the accepted sacrifice.
Lev. 23:10.Bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest. The paschal offering foreshadowed the death of Christ, the sheaf of first-fruits His resurrection. And equally is symbolised the risen and renewed life into which all Christians emerge from their death in sin, under the quickening of Gods Spirit. Further, it predicts the final resurrection of those who sleep in Christ. Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christs at His coming. And as our resurrection body at the last day will be fashioned like unto his own glorious body, so, meanwhile, should our resurrection life be graced with all the perfections of His character. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Surely every soul called from sin to grace, raised from death unto life, should seal the outset (see Lev. 23:14) of His spiritual career by an act of first-fruits consecration, which should be the pledge of an after harvest of devoted service to the Lord.
Lev. 23:16.Number fifty days, and offer a new meat offering. This was the feast of Pentecost, which opened with the presentation of the first-fruits barley sheaf, and was to be closed with the offering of a loaf made from the ingathered wheat harvest. It celebrated the completion of the harvest season. It thus testified that God had given an abundant ingathering, and had blessed His people with bread. In the Christian Church the first-fruits were the foretoken of harvest abundance; for Christs resurrection guaranteed a great ingathering of souls; and on the day of Pentecost the spiritual harvest was brought in unto the Lord. It was exactly fifty days after Christ arose from the dead that the Holy Ghost was given, and the bountiful ingathering of converts was secured for the church (Acts 2).
Lev. 23:24.A memorial of blowing of trumpets. It was the rallying note amid the camp and throughout Israel, making known the opening of a new era. The Feast of Trumpets proclaimed the arrival of New Years Day, for the civil year began on the first day of the seventh month. With a great outburst of joy-strains the new epoch opened. Suggestive of the new era upon which a redeemed soul enters, the Christian convert starts forth as with music and gladness upon a holy career. The trumpet notes are typical of the Gospel call, by which men are aroused to regard and seize the first opportunity presented them. It prefigures also that mighty trumpeting at the end of time, which will summon living and dead to the day of God, to which those in Christ will first respond (1Th. 4:16), but which will awaken all who sleep to a new era for universal humanity (1Co. 15:51-52).
Lev. 23:27.A day of atonement. In chap. 16 the ritual of the great day is elaborately given; here the spirit and temper of the people is described, the whole congregation was to bow before God abased and penitential. It is well if only once every year we chasten and afflict our souls with humiliating thought of our sin, and bend before Jehovah with contrite hearts. Alas, there is need that we bemoan our demerit, and thus contemplate the Atonement. Yet how precious the fact that, while like a penitent we stand in shame for our sin, the Day of Atonement proclaims redeeming efficacy and grace for all who lay their hand and hope on the sacrificial Lamb.
Lev. 23:34.The Feast of Tabernacles. It is minutely directed in Lev. 23:40 that they were to take boughs of goodly trees, affording shade and shelter and suggestive of Gods overshadowing care and covenant; branches of palm trees, emblematic of victory (Rev. 7:9), for they were the triumphant host of God marching onward to possess Canaan; and willows of the brook, symbols of plenitude and prosperity (Isa. 44:4). This dwelling in booths seven days every year (Lev. 23:42) would perpetuate the memory of their pilgrim career, their dependence on divine care and providence, and Gods unfailing sufficiency for them from the outset to the close of their journey to Zion. And shall not we also keep in remembrance the years in which we have been strangers and pilgrims on the earth, through which the Lord has surely led us, never failing in the watchfulness of His providence or the sufficiency of His grace? Thou shalt remember all the ways the Lord thy God has led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart (Deu. 8:2).
SECTIONAL HOMILIES
Topic: THE SABBATH OF REST (Lev. 23:3)
Levitical enactments, its rites and regulations, its festivals and solemnities, were all transient and Jewish. The Sabbath is not to be classified with these: it is not one of many institutes of Israel. It preceded the wilderness encampment, was anterior to the enactments of Sinai. The Sabbath dates with mans creation, it began in Eden. It is primeval law. Its origin preceded sin.
If thus remote its origin, what of its permanency?
It was recognised through Antediluvian times. Noah kept it within the ark, sending forth his dove after seven days interval. Moses urges its observance, and this, not after its promulgation on Sinai, but at the outset of the encamping of the Israelites in the desert (Exo. 16:23), as being an institute well understood; it had, therefore, been known to them through their Egyptian bondage. It was no novel statute, therefore, when incorporated in the decalogue on Sinai.
In Jewish history it became re-inforced with all the solemnities of the giving of the law, the Sabbaths sanctity was inscribed on stone with the finger of God.
The line of prophets in succession urged its solemnity, and denounced its neglect and violation.
Our Lord re-asserted its authority, The Sabbath was made for man (Mar. 2:27), for all men, for all ages. And now
Sabbaths are threefold, as St. Austin says:
The first of time, or Sabbath here of days;
The second is a conscience trespass free;
The last a Sabbath of eternity.Herrick.
I. THE WEARY LIFE OF MAN CALLS FOR THIS INTERVAL OF SABBATH REST.
1. Each individual life requires it. Toil wastes our physical fabric, the strain on nerve and brain wears away the energy of life. The rush of daily duties consumes all leisure, allows no pause for bodily rest, no repose for thought, or attention to the souls great concerns.
2. Family life demands it. Amid the eagerness of worldly work parents and children are scattered, each to a separate scene and diverse tasks. Yet home is a unity; family life is a blended harmony. There is need for a lull in the clamour; a truce for the rallying together of the scattered ones; that home might quietly re-construct itself, and family life be realised.
3. Moral life calls for it. A worn and spent state of body, nerve, and brain, brings with it a relaxed will, an enfeebled moral purpose. With recouped physical energy comes reaffirmed force of mind and character. A pause for bodily rest is essential for this moral resuscitation.
4. Spiritual life cries out for it. Amid the arid scenes of the world the soul droops and thirsts. It pants for the living streams And as Christ called His disciples apart to rest awhile, so does the Sabbath; giving to overtaxed lives the sacred joy of going apart with Jesus.
Enquire: Is this inflexible command of God necessary in order to conserve the Sabbath?
If man so greatly needs it, would not his need assert itself, and lead men to perpetuate the beneficent institute without a divine command?
Answer: (a) Mans greed would lead him to deny a Sabbath to himself. His lust of gain, and clamour for success, would drive him on to ruinous absorption in earthly schemes and lucrative pursuits. The love of money urges on to suicidal indifference to all higher interests. He would never let a day go each week from his eager life. Time is money; and if a Sabbath brings no gain to his grasping hands it is a day lost.
(b) Nor would selfish men concede the Sabbaths rest to weary toilers. Already the oppressed and overwrought workers find it difficult to arrest the encroachments of trade on the sanctities of the Lords Day. Heartless employers would snatch precious hours from the Sabbath, and force their servants to labour. Men would not give the holy day to their fellows if no divine law interposed to check such infringements.
Every interest, therefore, of human life, is bound up with the maintenance of the Sabbath as a day of rest. [See Addenda to chapter; SABBATH.]
II. THE SIN-WORN SPIRIT OF MAN SIGHS FOR THE CONSOLATIONS OF SABBATIC SACRED REST.
The Sabbath is but typical of the rest of faith which the gospel brings to burdened souls.
1.All trials cease when the spirit enters into the Sabbatic rest which Jesus gives. The sinner ceases from his own works (Heb. 4:10). Worn with labour, and heavy laden with the burdens of conscious unrighteousness, the toiling soul comes to the Saviour (Mat. 11:28). A heavenly day, a serene Sabbatic life, dawns upon him at once, and in the restfulness of faith, trusting all to Jesus, he desists from fruitless efforts to establish his own righteousness, and sits down at the feet of Jesus. It is the Sabbath rest of his life begun.
2.Our daily conflicts and crosses render the Sabbath privilege a precious consolation to the believer. Resting in Jesus does not render the world a restful scene to the Christian. Nor does human life cease to know the common griefs and struggles of existence. Whereas also, the keen longings of the soul for fellowship with Christ finds few occasions for gratification amid the busy hours of the week. How welcome, therefore, to the believer is the day of rest! By still waters and amid green pastures he roams, in all the solemn delights of leisurely meditation: and his soul is restored (Psalms 24). To his troubled heart comes the solace of the peace which only Jesus gives (Joh. 14:1; Lev. 14:27). Within the sanctuary, soothed with holy hymn and psalm, quickened by fellowship with saints, and renewed through waiting upon God, he gains times of refreshing and strengthening of soul. He drinks of the brook by the way and lifts the head with freshened vigour for lifes journey. Full oft the rejoicing soul, glad in Christ, and refreshed by the Sabbath privileges, has to say,
Thou art a cooling fountain
In lifes dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgahs mountain,
We view the promised land;
A day of sweet reflection
Thou art, a day of love
A day of resurrection
From earth to things above.
III. THE LIFE-TIRED SOUL OF MAN LONGS FOR THE SABBATH OF HEAVENLY REST.
All sabbath repose and refreshing on earth; all realisations of the rest of soul Christ gives to the believer, all sanctuary consolations enjoyed on the Lords day, are but foretastes and foreshadowings of heavens eternal peace, and joy, and love.
1. As the sabbath day dawns after the night is spent, so heavens sabbath follows deaths dark night.
We have to live our lifes day of duty and service to confront the responsibilities of worldly trusts and opportunities to work while it is called day. This is not our rest. But the shadows at length fall; a hush spreads over the tumult of existence; the hand slackens its hold on the instruments of labour; darkness comes gently down upon earthly scenes. But a lively hope fills the Christian soul; a vision of a glorious dawn sweeps across the dimming human gaze.
And a voice, while earth cares fly,
With the closing hours is blending
Rest is coming, rest is nigh!
Night wraps itself around the life: the day of eternity breaks upon the spirit: Heavens rest is gained. And there shall be no night there, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more pain; for the former things are passed away. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: yea, from henceforth, saith the Spirit, for they rest.
2. As the sacred rest of faith is gained by the sinner only when he comes unto Jesus so the heavenly rest is gained only when the Christian reaches the very presence of his Lord.
Come unto me, says Jesus, and I will give you rest! Blessed the experience of reaching Him now by faith: but when the soul bursts through the barrier of death and passes the gates of the heavenly city, and finds itself within the Everlasting Arms, leaning on Jesus bosom, never more to leave the radiant presence of his Lord, then, indeed, will the full rest of heaven be known.
No rough billows heave on the serene ocean of life eternal. No shadow falls on the bright sky of heavens bliss. No distance ever more divides the redeemed soul from the rapture of Christs presence. For ever with the Lord: and therefore there remaineth a keeping of sabbaths for the people of God
Rest, spirit free!
In the green pastures of the heavenly shore,
Where sin and sorrow can approach no more,
With all the flock, by the Good Shepherd fed,
Beside the streams of life eternal led,
For ever with thy God and Saviour blest,
Rest, sweetly rest!
Topic: THE SABBATH (Lev. 23:3)
Placed first among the Hebrew festivals, the sabbath becomes invested with peculiar honour and importance. It claimed priority, dating back to the completion of creation, and reaching forward throughout all time, to be consummated in eternity. The institution and perpetuation of the sabbath secured time for the full observance of sacred duties; and, by its weekly advent, called attention to them. No institution of the Hebrew economy was more frequently referred to, or its observance more strictly enforced. Part of the badge that distinguished Israel from surrounding nations was cessation from worldly toil and complete consecration to sacred service one day in seven. The Hebrew Sabbath was
I. A SACRED MEMORIAL, of the original institution of a special season for rest and undisturbed attention to divine things. It would be a perpetual reminder of the fact that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, therefore, a constant rebuke to every form of heathenism, where the true God was ignored or unknown. Under the Christian dispensation observance of the Lords Day is a perpetual memorial of the fundamental fact of Christianity, that the Redeemers atoning work was completed on earth when He rose from the grave on the morning of the third day.
II. A SACRED FESTIVAL.
In it God took special delight. He demanded it as a sacrifice of time from those whose days really all belonged to Him. Though all secular work was to be discontinued, works of mercy, piety, and necessity were to be performed. The Hebrews were to gather together for divine worship and the cultivation of personal holiness. Though God did not need the restfor He never grows wearyyet man needed it; and God rejoiced in it, as its claims were recognised, its duties discharged. It was a festival, not a fast; for man to use, not abuse; to be made a delight, not a burden; for, in sanctifying time and strength to the Lord according to His gracious will, man finds his highest and truest joy.
The transfer of the sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week has not diminished its sacredness, or relaxed its claims. It is still a feast of the Lord, to be devoted to sacred purposes. It proclaims to all the right of freedom from exacting toil, and places all upon a level as the Lords free men.
III. A SACRED TYPE.
The law of the sabbath, re-published in the wilderness, pointed to the time when Israel would be able fully to observe it in the land of Canaan. The peculiar sanctity and blessedness of the day may fitly be regarded as typical of the perfect rest of heaven, where all the toils and trials of time willfor those who keep His commandmentsissue in the rest and recompense of eternity. In observing the sabbath, we not only obey the divine command, but we follow the divine example (Gen. 2:2-3). Thus God is pleased and man is blessed. Thus time becomes hallowed, life worth living, and heaven won. [See also preceding Homily on chap. 19 Lev. 23:3.]F. W.B.
Topic: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PASSOVER (Lev. 23:5-8)
The first Passover was the commencement of the special privileges of the chosen nation, every subsequent Passover became a pledge of the continuance of those privileges (Cave).
(a) The feast was RETROSPECTIVE and commemorative.
Israels deliverance from the destroying angel, and from Egyptian bondage, was an event unparalleled in human history. God would perpetuate the memory of so wondrous an incident as a testimony for all time that salvation is of the Lord, and that mightiest deliverances can be wrought for His people by our Redeemer.
Thus the Lords Supper, as a commemorative feast, also shows forth the Lords death, leading back our thoughts and faith to Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us, and the wondrous redemption wrought for an enslaved Church and a death-doomed world.
(b) The feast was PROSPECTIVE and typical.
The lamb of the paschal feast foreshadowed the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. For the lamb employed at this commemorative feast was more than a symbol of the victim whose blood was sprinkled on the doorposts in Egypt, it was a sacrifice. It meant substitution. It typically put away sin.
At the Lords Supper, Christ said to His followers, My body is broken for you, my blood is shed for you. And Paul adds the testimony that our Passover is sacrificed for us.
The Identification of the Paschal Victim with Jesus Christ:
I. With regard to the SELECTED VICTIM.
1. Was it a lamb? Christ is often so called on account of His innocence, meekness, and resignation (Isa. 53:7; Joh. 1:29; 1Pe. 1:19; Rev. 5:6).
2. Was it taken from the flock? Christ was chosen from among His brethren, was one of us (Act. 3:22-23).
3. Was it a male of the first year? (Exo. 12:5). Because the male, being the stronger, symbolised energy and excellence; and in its first year was at its fullest and most perfect development; so was Christ all comely, in the fulness and perfection of His days.
4. Was it without blemish? Christ was altogether spotless and faultless (1Pe. 1:10; Heb. 7:25).
II. With regard to its SACRIFICIAL OBLATION.
1. As the lamb was set apart four days before it was slain, so Christ was, during the last four days of His life, under examination, preparatory to His death (Mat. 21:1).
2. As the lamb was eventually slain, so was Christ (Rev. 5:9).
3. As its death was witnessed by the entire assembly, so was Christ publicly crucified (Luk. 23:18).
4. As the time of the sacrifice was at even (Lev. 23:5), so was our Saviours death (Mat. 27:45; Luk. 23:44-46). [Comp. Sleighs Aids to Reflection.]
III. With regard to the PASCHAL FEAST.
1. The eating of the passover typified that we find in Christ our life, our nourishment, and sufficiency (Joh. 6:35; Joh. 6:53-56).
2. The spirit in which the feast was to be partaken is indicated in the significance of the bitter herbs, suggesting a penitential spirit and bitter mourning, in remembrance of our sin (Zec. 12:10).
3. The regulations for partakers of the feast are significant. Eaten with haste, indicates the urgency with which we should receive Christ; with loins girded, denotes our willingness to quit the past for a pilgrim life of faith; with feet shod, suggestive of rough ways to be resolutely trod; staff in hand, declares our defence and support.
4. The feast being eaten in companies, teaches the Christian law of union in Church fellowship, that religion may not be isolate. Christ gathers His disciples together at the feast of His Supper, and says, Eat ye all of it, drink ye all of it.
O wondrous emblems! setting forth His death from whom our life doth flow;
Never can finite reason sound such depths of love, such depths of woe.
Topic: THE PASSOVER (Lev. 23:5-8)
The Exodus of Israel from Egypt, one of the most prominent landmarks in the history of the nation. The feast of the Passover was the significant memorial by which the memory of that event was perpetuated (Exodus 12). Not only individual, but national deliverance ought to be remembered.
I. THE HALLOWED MEMORIES IT EMBALMED.
The final plague with which Pharaoh and his people were visited led to the emancipation of Israel, and their departure from Egypt. The miraculous preservation of Israel, the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and the means employed to accomplish both were brought to mind when the Passover was observed as the anniversary of the solemn night of death that gave birth to the Hebrew nation.
II. THE SACRED DUTIES IT INCULCATED.
(a) Humility. Their own arm had not gotten them the victory, they had been redeemed from abject poverty and slavery. They had nothing in themselves to boast of when they remembered the hole of the pit from which they had been digged. (b) Thankfulness: seeing Jehovah had interposed in such a critical juncture for their race, He deserved their heartfelt gratitude, jubilant as the song of Moses, bright as the beautiful sea. (c) Gladness that they had escaped exacting toil, cruel oppression, bitter bondage; before them was a career of honour and blessedness, well might their hearts leap for gladness and their feet move with joyful steps. (d) Consecration. At the Exodus, Israel started on a new life. Henceforth the people were to be known as the servants of Jehovah, set apart and sanctified for His glory. They were not their own; to them His divine will would be communicated, and through them made known to the world.
In the Gospels the Passover is identified with the feast of unleavened bread, which began and closed with a Sabbath, suggesting the idea of a complete consecrated life. Only unleavened bread was to be eaten at the feast; in all our Christian service the leaven of evil is to be scrupulously avoided. Christ Our passover is sacrificed for us, let us keep the feast with humility, solemnity, thankfulness, gladness, devoutness, and consecration.
III. THE GLORIOUS EVENT IT FORESHADOWED.
About the typical character of the feast there is no room for doubt (see 1Co. 5:7-8). (a) In the deliverance it affected; from slavery, degradation misery, death. (b) In the means employed for deliverance; sacrifice of appointed lamb, sprinkling of its blood, etc. (c) In the co-operation the means demanded; the people were to believe, obey, fulfil the conditions laid down. (d) All who embraced the opportunity, and adopted the means, were saved. Not one house was visited by death where the blood had been sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintel. The above considerations may all be applied to what Christ has done and is for us, and to our duty in relation to His great atonement.
Conclusion. (a) There was but one way of deliverance. (b) It was not invented or suggested by man, but by God. (c) Only practical faith availed. So in relation to the Gospel. The excellence of Christ our Passover is seen in that while many victims were slain in Egypt and they were only efficacious for a select people and one period of time, the Lamb of God by one offering atoned for the whole world and all time. Indifference, as well as unbelief in, and rejection of the worlds Redeemer, will be visited with sore punishment, for how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?F.W.B.
Topic: THE SHEAF OF THE FIRST FRUITS (Lev. 23:10-11)
The book of nature is a fruitful study. In all Gods works He strives to fix attention on Himself. In feeding the body He would show Himself to the soul.
Harvest time nears. The early promise is fulfilled (Gen. 8:22). The firstlings of the grain are ripe. The fields of barley wave their golden heads. But shall the gatherers heedlessly reap, and thoughtless hands store the garner! No. On the altar the first sheaf must be laid.
I. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD MUST PRECEDE EVERY WORK.
The first act of harvest adores the harvests Lord. The first sickle cuts an offering for God.
1. Thought of God should precede all. Let morning dawn with Him. Let adoration introduce each task. Nothing is well done unless begun with God. All is disorder except the First be first.
2. The priest uplifts the sheaf on high. The first-fruits represent the entire produce of the fields. The act is a confession that all earth yields is from God, and belongs to God. Mans toil and care may be employed, but all results are divine.
3. The offering of the sheaf is but small. He who might justly claim the harvest, takes but one sheaf. The large abundance remains for mans supply. Thus, while a bounteous Hand fills our garners, while valleys bend with corn and clouds distil their fatness, the Giver makes His small demand. But the little God asks is an acknowledgment of His claim. He is no hard task master; but He requires that He be first in our thoughts; He then gives abundantly into our lives and hearts.
4. But in this demand He shows that all must not be consumed on self. We cannot take a sheaf to God now: but the poor need food: famished souls cry for the Word; the heathen perish for the bread of life. Such are the claims on our first fruits.
II. IN THIS HARVEST SHEAF CHRIST IS SET BEFORE THE SEEKING HEART.
1. The name of first fruits leads by a straight path to Him. The Spirits voice is very clear: Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept; Christ the first fruits: afterwards they that are Christs at His coming (1Co. 15:20; 1Co. 15:23).
2. The day of offering next seals this truth. On the morning which succeeds the Paschal Sabbath the sheaf is waved. On this same dawn Jesus arose.
Following this clue, let us gaze on this type. That sheaf
(a) Brings back thought of the seed cast into the ground. Buried in the earth: the frost imprisoned it: storms sealed its interment: but at last it rose into life: victory over death.
Thus Christ descended to the grave: life seemed extinct: the grave made fast its bars: but in vain. He came forththe First fruit from the dead.
(b) That sheaf relates a tale of triumph. It symbolises success. Death fails to hold Him. He is declared the Son of God with power by His resurrection. Raise high before God, therefore, your sheaf. It is the exultation of the believer. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: and because I live, ye shall live also.
Though that sheaf is alone before God, yet it predicts and guarantees the after harvest.
III. THE HARVEST INGATHERING IS SURE TO FOLLOW THE FIRST FRUITS.
1.Already it is fulfilled in the harvest of upraised souls. Believers have been raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
2.The rising dead as they quit their graves shall perfect the fulfilment of this sign. How changed shall they come forth! Decay will bloom into unfading youth: the mortal will be robed in immortality. We shall be like Him! The first sheaf predicts your resurrection.
3. A world-wide harvest, a glorious prospect is promised; when the whole mass of sanctified and ripened souls shall be reaped from earths fields and garnered in glory.Based on Dean Laws CHRIST IS ALL. [See Addenda to Chapter Harvest First fruits].
Topic: PENTECOST AND THE SPIRIT (Lev. 23:15-16)
The feast of Pentecost was celebrated on the fiftieth day after that in the Passover week on which the wave sheaf was presented to the Lord, and was marked by offering to Jehovah two loaves. It was also known by the name of the Feast of Harvest, from its coming at the close of the wheat harvest.
It was attended by vast multitudes (comp. Acts 2), was a holy convocation, and it was a day of gladness and joy (Deu. 16:14).
I. GRATITUDE EXPRESSING ITSELF IN JOYOUS DEDICATION.
I. Of themselves;
1. Of their property. For Israel not only renewed their self-consecration in worship and sacrifices laid on Gods altar, but also their possessions in the harvest reaped, as expressed by the waving of the baked loaves before Him.
(a) Pentecost thus reminded Israel of their dependance on God for the produce of their fields, as well as for higher good. God is the God of providence as well as of grace. He is supreme alike in the natural and spiritual worlds. Laws are everywhere the action of His power. He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things (Act. 17:25).
(b) But God will be acknowledged in His gifts and doings. Pentecost, therefore, excited a spirit of thankfulness; it kept alive in Israel the feeling of being Gods in what they possessed as well as in what they were. Yet what belongs to Him He claims. It is not only ourselves, therefore, that we are to yield to Him, but what we have. The burnt offering must not only be laid on the altar, but the baked loaves waved before Him as alike His property.
II. SACRED ASSOCIATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE PENTECOST FESTIVAL.
1. Historic. It was commemorative on the giving of the law on Sinai. With the chronological data of Exodus 19 before us, it is clear that it was on the fiftieth day after the departure of Israel from Egypt, i.e., after the first Passover, that the law was given, and the national existence of the Hebrews was inaugurated. Thus Gods manifestation of Himself to Israel on Sinai, and His words to Moses, effected for His wilderness Church what His Spirits advent and the gift of new tongues effected for the Christian Church at Jerusalem.
2. Typical. It looked forward as well as backward. As the Passover fore-shadowed the death of Christ, so did the Pentecost the Spirits descent. At the Feast of Pentecost the Holy Ghost, who writes the law of God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart, was poured out.
III. THE HARVEST BOUNTY SUGGESTS THE FULNESS OF THE SPIRIT WHICH MARKED THE CHRISTIAN PENTECOST.
1. The endowments of the Christian Pentecost were first for the apostles, giving them qualification for their life-work, and ensuring the maintenance of their joy of faith. For the promise of the Father they were bidden by Christ to wait at Jerusalem. Until the Holy Ghost came upon them they were not endowed with power, not prepared to be witnesses for Christ in Jerusalem and all Judea, etc.
2. But this baptism of power is what every child of grace needs and may possess. Discipleship is not of itself sufficient for all that we are required to be in character and service. For these we want the fulness of the Spirits indwelling
What the Spirit was, in the fulness of His indwelling presence, to the first disciples, He is, in a very real and blessed sense, to all so possessed by Him now: strengthened with might in the inner man, and equipped for a life-work of witness for Christ Jesus.
The bountiful harvest shows Gods plenitude, and His joy in enriching man. Certainly He is as willing to bestow the abundance of His Spirit. We receive Him by faith, and according to the degree of such faith. The promise of the Spirit, and the bestowment, are both Christs, and He will never allow the desire for Him to remain unmet. He is too anxious to see us what the Spirits indwelling alone will make us, to delay or refuse the answer to prayer for this holy gift.
Then will come into our souls grace in increasing supplies, fulness of assurance of faith and hope, and strength added to strength. So endowed and enriched, we shall yield ourselves unto God, and our members instruments for righteousness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith (Gal. 5:22).Outlined from Gospel in Leviticus, by Jas. Fleming, D.D.
Topic: A MEMORIAL OF BLOWING OF TRUMPETS (Lev. 23:23-25)
With reverberating tones of joy this blast of trumpets ushered in Israels civil year. At earliest dawn of the first day of the month the exhilarating notes sounded forth throughout the camp, or the land, of Israel. The music strains were continued all day. It was a Sabbath, for rest from work, for an holy convocation, but it was a Sabbath of praise, of music, of delight.
I. TRUMPET TONES AWAKEN ATTENTION.
Sleepers would start from their slumbers at that early blast of the trumpets. What need is there that sleepers should awake! Drowsiness is on the souls of multitudes. They dream on heedlessly, letting life glide away, and salvation lie in neglect. Thought sleeps, interest sleeps, spiritual claims and gospel realities are ignored. Eyes are closed from the Day Dawn, they see not that the Sun of Righteousness has arisen. It is high time to awake out of sleep.
Clarion notes startle drowsy souls. Providence sends out trumpet blasts. The preachers words may startle sleeping consciences. Gods Spirit may sound the note of arousing in the soul Awake, O sleeper: arise and call upon thy God!
II. This blowing of trumpets ANNOUNCED THE END OF A YEAR.
1. A year gone! A cause for joy, for glad trumpet tones. Yes! if the year has been spent well. Yes! if God has been known by us as a Refuge and a Faithful Friend; having kept us by His grace, and magnified His sufficiency for us. Yes! if we have escaped perils and conquered foes, and in review can cry, O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength; now thanks be to God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Yes! if our salvation is nearer, heaven nearer, the reward of faithful service nearer, the goal at hand.
2. A year gone! A startling fact; shrill trumpet notes should stir us to alarm. If not saved, if time has run to waste, if we have let slip from us the opportunities of grace, if we are yet in the bonds of iniquity, if still the door of our hearts is closed upon the knocking Christ, if we are without hope and without God in the world, redeem the time.
III. The Feast of Trumpets proclaimed A NEW YEAR OPENED.
The past is past. Opportunities unused are gone beyond recall. Penitential tears cannot bring back the misspent year. Verily God might cut us down as cumberers of the ground.
1. But a respite is announced. Another year opens. The Intercessor has pleaded Let be this year also. It is an extension of opportunity to seek the Lord, for sinners to forsake their ways, and unrighteous men their thoughts, to flee from the wrath to come, to haste to the hope set before us, to claim the salvation in Christ offered to the penitent and believing. O use the precious respite mercy gives. The trumpets sound; they tell of hope prolonged: seize the precious hour while it is called to-day.
2. A new era is set before Israel. Gratitude for past mercies, the memory of Gods great goodness, the experiences of redeeming and sustaining grace, incite to service, to consecration. How much owest thou unto thy Lord? Take thy bill and write quickly. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Let love and thankfulness urge to more diligence, more self-sacrifice, more eagerness in use of privileges, more fervent culture of holiness. Go up higher. Press to the mark. Repent, and do thy first works. The trumpet sounds; it rallies the hosts of the Lord to their ranks, to the battle, to brave achievements, to victories for the King.
IV. Those trumpet blasts were A MEMORIAL OF SINAI.
When God came down on the cloud-robed peak of the mount, it was a scene of appalling splendour and solemnity. The myriad observers below trembled, so terrible was the sight When suddenly a weird trumpet note swelled out on the air, filling all hearts with amaze: and the voice of the Trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder (Exo. 19:19). This blowing of trumpets was a memorial.
1. It led them back to solemn thoughts of God. Because Jehovah was now more graciously dwelling among them in the Holy place, He was still the God of Sinai. We must not presume on His grace. How august and dreadful is He with whom we have to do. Fear before Him, all ye saints.
2. It recalled the law, as the basis of their covenant relationship. Do this and live. Such were the terms on which they stood to Jehovah. Transgress, and you die. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. But who can? Is the trumpet blast, therefore, a summons to judgment? It need not be. It declares the standard for righteousness, only to emphasize the mercy which has provided sacrifice that the sinner might propitiate and live.
V. Assuredly the trumpet is A SYMBOL OF THE GOSPEL.
Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound (Psa. 89:15). I was in the Spirit on the Lords day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:10).
1. Christs voice should be heard in that blowing of trumpets. It sounds forth in the announcements of the gospel through the Scriptures, through all who tell the message of hope and grace. Jesus speaks to the heart affrighted by the clamour of Sinais awful peals. The Gospel is the silvery note sending a thrill of comfort and gladness into condemned souls. It is as music in our ears.
2. Christianity is a trumpet-toned herald: hastening through the heavens with the calls of grace to all mankind. I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach (Rev. 14:6). All who know the good news should take up the trumpet of Truth and send out the tidings over all the earth.
3. The Gospel is a joy note to the world. Not a voice of thunder, but of sweet melody. It brings good tidings of great joy; salvation to the utter-most; cleansing of all sin; a precious Saviour; an upraised cross; a new covenant of redemption; of an opened door in heaven for all who cleave to Jesus. Glad indeed are these trumpet tones; they calm the sinners fears; allure the troubled to peace, win the anxious to faith.
All around us are sad notes: O sorrow, O oppression, O anguished prayer, O dark despair. Earth is a scene of Babel discord. The air clangs with confusion.
But let the Gospel trumpet blow. Its sweet harmonies float, as did the songs of angels over Bethlehem fields, soothing unrest, heralding peace and good will, thrilling hearts with joy.
And still its heavenly music floats
Oer all this weary world.
VI. A prophetic thought is stirred by those trumpets: they foretell THE RESURRECTION SCENE.
The close of time will arrive; the great white throne will be set; the mighty angel will set his foot on the sea and another on the land, and declare that time shall be no more. And then the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God (1Th. 4:16). From opened graves the dead shall arise; and you with them.
Listen expectantly for that trumpet blast. At such an hour as ye think not it will sound. Sleepers were awoke when at early dawn the priests blew their trumpets on this Hebrew festival. And sleepers will awake at the judgment blast. And all that are in their graves shall come forth. Be ye therefore ready, so that that day should not overtake you unawares.
Fill the interval with a wise use of life. The Gospel trumpet offers you a perfect righteousness; the judgment trumpet will demand it. The Gospel trumpet bids you robe yourself in spotless garments: the judgment trump will call to condemnation those who are not white and clean, covered with the robe of salvation. Such will arise from deaths sleep glad to meet the Lord in the air, and so to be for ever with the Lord. [See Addenda to chapter BLOWING OF TRUMPETS.]
Topic: THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS (Lev. 23:24-25)
The feast of trumpets is mentioned here for the first time. It was kept on the first day of Tisri, with which the civil year began. It was a time of holy rest, and communion with the Lord through an offering made by fire unto Him. The feast was kept by Israel when they took possession of Canaan, and was characterised by great joy and gladness. The feast was suggestive of
I. THE COMPLETION OF THE WORK OF CREATION.
The earth (fitted to be the abode of man) was clad in beautiful garments; presented an aspect of great fertility and richness. The Lord pronounced it good; the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. The beginning of the civil year, when the harvest was ripe, and the air was ringing with the shouts of harvest home, would seem suggestive of the beginning of human history, which began amid scenes of plenty, as the first human pair came through the gate Beautiful.
II. THE PROMULGATION OF THE LAW FROM SINAI.
The sounding of the trumpet from morning to evening would remind Israel of the time when the sound of the trumpet called attention to the promulgation of those statutes, in the observance of which they would please Jehovah, and show to the world that they were His people. The feast would call attention to the divine voice, the trumpets would proclaim His right to be heard, the imperative duty of the listeners to hearken and obey.
III. THE BLESSINGS OF THE DEPARTED YEAR.
Israel had been spared through another year. God had been faithful to His promises, all their wants had been supplied. It became them to let their voices be heard in loud and joyful notes; the music of their hearts echoed in vocal praise.
IV. THE BOUNTY OF THE DAWNING YEAR.
As their storehouses were filled with plenty, and their presses burst forth with new wine, anxieties about the future would be allayed, provision would be abundant for man and beast. Israel would have wherewith to satisfy their physical necessities, and to offer the various sacrifices in connection with the tabernacle services. The trumpets would call to thankfulness and cheerful acknowledgment of indebtedness. However rich and abundant the oblations might be, they ought to be presented in the willing and gladsome spirit such words as these inspire, Of thine own have we given thee; thine is all the glory.
V. THE NEED OF WAKEFUL ALACRITY IN THE SERVICE OF JEHOVAH.
Trumpet peals rousing and stimulating; and, when blown by the priests, loud calls to hearty service. Though no servile work was to be done, yet sacred services were to be performed, solemn sacrifices offered. Israel was to awake and put on strength, enter with special enthusiasm upon the work of the Lord. External material aid may be consistently used to awaken attention and quicken devotion. Illustrative also of
VI. THE INAUGURATION OF THE GOSPEL AGE.
At the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was given, and the first fruits of the Gospel harvest were gathered in, the apostles went forth lifting up their voices like trumpets, preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Isaiah in predicting the Gospel age said, In that day the trumpet shall be blown; and verily the sound of the Gospel trumpet went speedily through all the earth. John in apocalyptic vision heard the divine voice as the sound of a trumpet; and the voice of God as of a trumpet shall, in the last great day, awake the dead to judgment. Let us begin each year with a feast of trumpets, and each day with a loud call to privilege and duty, that our lives may be one continuous litany and psalm. Then when the morn of eternity dawns, and the shadows of earth flee away, we shall join in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.F.W.B.
Topic: THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Lev. 23:33-44)
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, five days after the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles began, and (according to additional information gathered from Numbers and Nehemiah) the sacrifices, which were many, gradually decreased in number to the eighth day. Israel was very remiss in observing the feast on entrance upon Canaan; for, from the time of Joshua to Nehemiah, it was unobserved. Obviously, the object of the feast was to keep alive the spiritual life of the nation, to perpetually renew its youth. The feast was calculated
I. TO PERPETUATE AMONG THE PEOPLE THE MEMORY OF MIRACULOUS EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THEIR NATIONAL HISTORY.
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. Emancipation, protection, preservation, all the miraculous events connected with the exodus from Egypt and the pilgrimage through the wilderness, exhibited the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord. It would be well for Israel to be put in constant remembrance of these things. Such interpositions suggested their dignity and duty as a people, and their destiny among the nations of the earth. It is good for all peoples, in all time, to remember great national deliverers and deliverances. Surely, He should be lovingly remembered who has redeemed us from the bondage of sin and death!
II. TO AWAKEN IN THE PEOPLE GRATEFUL JOY FOR THE COMPLETED FRUITFUL SEASONS OF THE YEAR.
This the crowning, most joyous feast of the year. What a glad picture the people would present, as they sat under their booths rejoicing with the joy of harvest, the roads and fields vocal with the sound of happy voices, and the courts of the Lord resounding with sacred praise.
Permission to indulge in such innocent pleasures taught the people that Jehovah delighted in their happiness as well as in their holiness. God (as Cowper puts it) made the country, man the town. The verdure of the grass, the hues and fragrance of the flowers, the abundant foliage of the trees, the luscious fruits and golden corn, remind us that God would have us experience many joys in our earthly pilgrimage, while we look forward to the Canaan of ineffable beauty and undisturbed repose. In the gospel we have provision for all our spiritual wants, rich, full, free.
III. TO ENJOIN UPON THE PEOPLE CONSTANT OBEDIENCE TO THE REVEALED COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD.
The large number of sacrifices connected with the feast, and the septennial public reading of the whole law, would train and exercise the people in obedience, revive their knowledge of the Lord and acknowledgment of His sovereignty. In later times there was the additional custom of a solemn libation of water fetched from the pool of Siloam every day at the time of morning sacrifice. The whole ceremony was characterised by great enjoyment and delight. The feast may be regarded as illustrative, if not typical, of (a) The pilgrim character of the believers life. Here we dwell in frail tenements, and have no continuing city. (b) The advent of the Messiah; when God in very deed dwelt with man on the earth. At one of the celebrations of this feast, Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. (c) The latter day glory of the Church militant. (d) The glorious state of the Church triumphant; where the redeemed are represented as waving palm branches, indicative of peace, conquest, and joy. The Feast of Tabernacles followed closely on the Day of Atonement, thus joy sprang out of sorrow. Blessedness that flows from mediation and sacrifice is incomparable joy. Let sin be atoned for and removed, holiness and happiness inevitably ensue.F.W.B.
Topic: FESTIVAL OF TABERNACLES AND INGATHERING (Lev. 23:33-44)
It is a mistake to suppose that the Old Testament religion was only stem and repressive. It had its side of restraint and self-denial, and thence sprang much of all that was best in the character and happiness of the people. But it had also its side of cheer and hope, indeed of festivity. Its weekly Sabbaths were intended to be days of delight; so were its New Moons. Then each season had its great festival, save winter; the spring its Passover; the summer its Pentecost; the autumn its Feast of Tabernacles. Each was a joyful feast; but the last, falling on a time of the year when all hearts would naturally be glad, was the most joyful of all.
Note some of its more instructive features.
I. IT WAS A PROTRACTED RELIGIOUS MEETING.
As a feast unto the Lord it began and ended with a holy convocation, a coming together for religious ends.
1. These were held in the central sanctuary of the nation. All male Israelites were required to attend.
2. The highly religious character of this feast appears in the unusual number of its gifts and sacrifices.
3. All the Hebrew festivals were intended to inspire patriotism, and promote the separation of Israel from other nations; to remind the people of their covenant relations to God, and bind them in loyal piety to Him.
We should value occasions for holy convocation; and use them for such religiously joyous ends.
II. IT WAS A THANKSGIVING FOR GODS BOUNTY IN A COMPLETE HARVEST.
It came at the end of the year, when they had gathered in the fruit of the land (Lev. 23:39), and was therefore
1. A public recognition of divine faithfulness in giving rain in due season, causing the earth to yield her increase. Hence it was called the Feast of Ingatherings (Exo. 23:16).
2. A feast of grateful gladness. The sixty-first Psalm, supposed to be sung at this feast, well expresses the thought supreme in devout minds. This expressed itself in
3. A profusion of gifts and sacrifices. Multiplied and great mercies demanded the more abounding recognition. [See Addenda to chapter, HARVEST FIRST-FRUITS.]
III. IT WAS A COMMEMORATION FOR MERCIES ATTEMPERING HARDSHIPS AND DANGERS.
A part of the command ran thus: All that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, 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 (43, 44).
In such a sighta whole people deserting their homes, and lodging in temporary arbours, decorated with foliage and fruit-laden boughsthere was something picturesque and inspiriting But
1. It was also an impressive memorial. Israel was again abiding in tents according to their tribes, as he did when Balaam looked from the heights of Moab, and said, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, etc.
2. The celebration commemorated all the diverse experiences of the wilderness. Not its trials alone, but its triumphs and blessings. Doubtless the materials of the booths were reminders of the different stages of their wilderness journey; the branches of palm trees, of the valleys and the plains; the boughs of thick trees of the bushy mountain heights; the willows, of the refreshing water brooks.
3. For all times commemoration has its uses. To fire the patriotism of a nation, it is helpful to rehearse the memories of its founders and defenders. To rekindle enthusiasm in a noble cause, it is a good thing to recall its early struggles and victories. Stimulus is often found in keeping great days in personal history.
The manner of modern times is to foster pride by celebrating human exploits; that of ancient Israel was to kindle gratitude and stir obedience by recalling the goodness of God.
IV. In every aspect this festival was AN EXPRESSION OF THE JOYFUL SIDE OF RELIGION.
A feast. The people were to rejoice before the Lord their God (Lev. 23:40). Comp. also Deu. 16:14-15. There was a grand illumination of the court of the Temple; an evening procession in holiday attire, and with branches of myrtle and palm and willow; and a going in mass for water, which was poured out at the foot of the altar, while there arose the chantaccompanied with glad musicTherefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
It was concerning this ceremony that there sprang up the proverb: Whosoever hath not seen the rejoicing at the drawing of this water, hath never seen rejoicing at all.
1. This joy had its root in the sense of inward peace which comes from the pardon of sin. This feast followed close upon the Day of Atonement.
2. The joy was neither selfish nor lawless. Gifts for the poor designated it; intimating that life has no true delight that can be separated from either love or duty.
3. How false the theory that religion, if earnest, is joyless! It has indeed its restraints and obligations, its laws and duties; but this is a beneficent arrangement, giving zeal to our gladness. Between religion that knows how to be steadfast, self-denying, and heroic, and that
Mirth that after no repenting draws there can be no quarrel. They go often and well together.
V. This feast was a type of A GREATER FEAST NOW PREPARING FOR GODS PEOPLE.
Archbishop Trench has reminded us that on this rests the possibility of a real and not merely arbitrary teaching by parables, that the world of nature is throughout a witness for a world of spirit, proceeding from the same hand, growing out of the same root, and constituted for that very end. All lovers of truth readily admit these mysterious harmonies, to them the things of earth are copies of things of heaven. In this feast there is
1. A prophecy of the latter-day rest and joy of the earthly church (Zec. 14:16; Zec. 14:20; and also Isa. 25:6; Isa. 25:8). Under the abundant outpouring of Gods Spirit, closer fellowship with God and fuller bliss.
2. The heavenly feast following the harvest which is the end of the world. John beheld the scene: I looked, and behold a great multitude, palms in their hand, etc. (Rev. 7:9-10).
Evermore they shall drink of Gods river of pleasure. They shall be satisfied with delight.
What assurance have you that, when that bright day dawns, you will witness its rising beam; that when that great feast is spread, you will share in its delights!Rev. H. M. Grant, D.D.
OUTLINES ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 23
Lev. 23:2.Theme: FEASTS OF THE LORD.
I. SACRED LIFE IS ITSELF A FESTIVAL.
1 Divine in its origin. Feasts of the Lord.
2. Blissful in its quality. Feasts
3. Enriched with frequent delights.
Feasts; plural, for God breaks in upon he Christain career, itself a festival, with times of refreshing and incidents of gladness giving days of heaven on the earth.
II. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR HAS ITS FESTIVITIES.
1. Time is interrupted by sacred seasons.
A pause in the rush and absorption of earthly affairs, that God and His doings may have attention and commemoration.
2. Human life is refreshed by the blessings of religion.
Even the godless share in the relief and rest which our holy-days, holidays, bring them.
3. A witness to what is Gods will for man. That all should have a joyous life even here. That heaven should make earth glad; for happiness has its spring in the Lord.
III. GRACIOUS SEASONS ARE APPOINTED FOR THE CHURCH.
God would fill His people with blessedness; so there comes to them:
1. Days of rest and gladness. The Sabbath, the anniversaries of great gospel incidents.
2. Special times of revival. For quickened life; renewed power; aroused earnestness; rekindled love; awakened prayerfulness; enlarged prosperity.
3. Foretaste of heavens joy. He feasts His saints with felicities at gracious seasons, and the fulness of His favour satiates their souls. In such wondrous seasons, whether in the body or out of the body, God knoweth, they rise into third heavens, they find a feast of fat things provided, and enter the very banquetting house of heavens bliss.
Lev. 23:10Theme: FIRST FRUITS SHEAF.
Then shall ye bring a sheaf of firstfruits.
The celebration of this feast could not take place till Israel entered Canaan; for during the pilgrimage through the wilderness there was neither sowing nor reaping, the daily descent of manna from Heaven being adequate to supply daily bread. The first sheaf presented before the Lord hallowed and guaranteed the complete harvest. It exhibited
I. THE DEPENDENCE OF ISRAEL UPON THE LORD. The Holy Land was the Lords. Israel could not claim it by right of inheritance, purchase, or conquest. Being a free gift, reaping a harvest they had not sown, it was fitting the first reaped sheaf should be presented in a solemn act of worship, acknowledging that the harvest was the outcome of divine goodness and power. Israel would be as much dependent upon divine supply in Canaan as in the wilderness. Israel was to think of themselves last, God was to be owned and honoured first. Though selfishness would reverse the order, the command is, to honour the Lord with our substance, and the firstfruits of all our increase.
II. THE DELIGHT OF ISRAEL IN THE LORD. A meat offering accompanying the waving of the barley sheaf constituted the service a feast, not a fast. The fine flour, wine, and oil indicated that the feast was eucharistic, a season of social and sacred joy. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. Offerings should be presented ungrudgingly to Him who loads us with His benefits. The acceptability of offerings depend upon what and how, as well as upon what and when presented. The cheerful and loyal heart will devise liberal things.
III. THE DEDICATION OF ISRAEL, TO THE LORD. The waving sheaf would excite the people to gratitude, and symbolise their devotion to the glory of Jehovah. The thank-offering was accepted through the burnt-offering, denoting that all service must have its basis in complete self-surrender. The sheaf of first fruits, was an earnest that the whole harvest would be gathered in, and it consecrated the whole. Christ is the First fruits of them that slept. He rose on the day of the offering of first fruits of Jewish harvest, as an earnest that all who are one with Him, shall be safely gathered in at the harvest home of the world. All our gifts to the Lord must be preceded by complete self-consecration, through the mediation and merits of our Great High Priest.F. W. B.
Lev. 23:14.Theme: SELF IN ABEYANCE. Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God.
I. MANS SINFUL TENDENCY IS TO INTRUDE SELF BEFORE THE LORD.
1. Through impatient self-will.
2 Through a weak craving after visible enticements.
3. Through a habit of ignoring God in his life.
4. Through the infatuation which places material gains above spiritual interests.
II. SUBORDINATION OF SELF IS THE LAW OF RELIGION.
1. God is to be first in our affections.
2. Our gratitude should prompt us to quick recognition of what we owe Him.
3. Saved by Him, and enriched by His gifts, how natural that He be adored with alacrity and served with delight!
4. Christ Jesus sacrificed self for us: and has left us an example to make Him our first thought.
III. SELF-REPRESSION IS REWARDED WITH RICH BESTOWMENTS.
1. We deny ourselves but for a brief season. Until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering.
2. God gives us a present reward for every denial of self for His pleasure: in the approval of conscience, and the witness of His Spirit, and the happiness of a hallowed life.
3. Earthly denials and crosses for Christs sake and Gods service, quickly yield to the rich feasts of the heavenly world.
(a) If it become true of any in this self-indulgence, Remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, the loss will come in the future.
(b) Every subjection of self for God now is a pledge of coming bliss. For he that abaseth himself shall be exalted.
Lev. 23:15.Theme: THE FEAST OF PENTECOST; HARVEST HOME.
There were three divinely appointed harvest festivals among the Jews. The Pentecost feast followed the Passover feast, and the presentation of two loaves before the Lord was a token that the corn had been safely gathered in, and an expression of gratitude and acknowledgment of obligation to Jehovah. If Pentecost did not commemorate the giving of law from Sinai fifty days after exodus from Egypt, or typify the day when the Spirit would be given, symbolized by rushing wind and forks of flame; it certainly signified to the Hebrews:
I. THAT TEMPORAL BLESSINGS OUGHT TO BE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGED. Ingratitude is a besetting sin. Among the sins for which Israel was rebuked by the prophets, unthankfulness was the blackest. It led to forgetfulness of the Lord, to sensuousness and idolatry. Rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons come from God. He fills our hearts with good and gladness.
II. THAT SUCH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OUGHT TO BE MADE WITH BECOMING SOLEMNITY.
The observance of the day as a holy convocation, the abstinence from all servile work, and the presentation of various sacrifices, would invest the feast with great solemnity. The burnt offering would remind the people of the sovereign claim of Jehovah to their complete consecration to His service; the sin offering, of their entire unworthiness of the blessings received. Their festivities were not to be marked by frivolity and levity like Bacchanalian orgies, but by sacred devotion and becoming reverence. All seasons of individual and national rejoicing should be free from sinful indulgences and in harmony with a sanctified conscience enlightened by the word of God.
III. THAT BECOMING SOLEMNITY IN SACRED WORSHIP DOES NOT EXCLUDE THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE JOY.
Such a festival would sanctify and sweeten the blessing of the year, induce the people to feel, as they sat at their daily board, that they were in Gods banquetting house, and that His banner over them was love. In remembering the poor, Israel would have the exquisite joy that benevolence brings, and exemplify Him who is good to all. The fountain of joy springs up close by the altar of sacrifice and unselfishness. Let us not allow the gifts of Providence to stagnate in the Dead Sea of selfishness, but send them forth to gladden weary hearts and desolate homes. The joy of the Lord is the joy of giving; it is more blessed to give than to receive. Love to God and man sums up the whole law, is the new commandment of the Gospel.F. W. B.
Lev. 23:17.Theme: BEGINNING THE REAPING.
They are the firstfruits.
No sickle moved in Israels land before the sheaf had been brought. Gods bounteous hand must be revered before mans taking hand may work. Such was the ordinance. This was more than due worship, it was pure delight.
There is no joy like gratitude. They most enjoy who most perceive and bless the Giver. Earthly comforts should give wings to praise.
But this holy service discharged
I. ALACRITY PERVADES THE FIELD OF SERVICE.
With cheerful heart, animated look, and rapid step, the crowding reapers hasten forth.
1. Rich abundance meets them on all hands.
2. All is busy joy No hand is idle. Life is brisk with work.
II. TOIL WHEN HALLOWED BY GODS SMILE IS SWEET.
1. Labour is delight when God calls toil
2. Every willing hand finds occasion. And every religious heart will see occasion to be from God.
III. LIFE IS OUR INGATHERING DAY.
1. All about us is the harvest.
2. Every morning calls us to reap.
3 Gods blessing is on the diligent life.
4. The day is gone too quickly for loitering.
IV. EACH WORKER MAY FIND HIS OWN FIELD OF INGATHERING.
1. Ask, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? and He will show where we should go work.
2. The fields are various:
1. The Scripture field is ever ready. What have you gathered this day from the Bible page?
2. Duties are individual and always close to hand. Not a day but some finished obligation should be gathered in. An empty hand proclaims a graceless heart.
3. The world is a wide-spread scene, thick with precious souls. These call for ingathering. Here every grain is priceless.
V. THE REAPING methods and appliances ARE MANIFOLD.
1. Personal effort in the hot day of opportunity.
2. Direction and inspiration of others in Christian work.
3. Prayer for gracious hours.
VI. HARVEST SEASONS QUICKLY GO.
1. Scenes of eager toil are soon cleared. Then no more work can be done. They die around us; and are gone! How should we hasten
3. The hours of work glide past. Evening comes on. Life is rapid. Opportunity is swift winged.
Woe to the man whose life is not a reaping day. No idler enters the heavenly rest. DEAN LAW.
Lev. 23:22.Theme: HARVEST CLEANINGS FOR THE POOR.
Compare on Lev. 19:9.
Lev. 23:27.Theme: THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT.
The day of Atonement is here introduced as a Hebrew fast. It was a solemn preparation for seasons of rejoicing before the Lord at ensuing feasts. As this great day of expiation has been considered in Homilies on chap. xvi., remarks here upon it may be limited. The day was a call to
I. REPENTANCE. Ye shall afflict your souls. Not simply the observance of outward rites indicative of penitence, the mortification of the body; but thorough, sincere, public acknowledgment of guilt, heartfelt sorrow for sin. The call was peremptory, for the soul was to be cut off from the people that did not truly repent. Sin was to be felt, acknowledged, mourned for, and forsaken, in order that it might be forgiven through the atonement. The same call and conditions obtain in the new dispensation. The day was also a call to
II. RECONCILIATION. Sin excluded man from God, and necessitated restraint and restriction being imposed on the worshippers. On the day of Atonement, as the contrite Hebrews saw their representative enter the most holy place to offer incense before Jehovah, they would see that the distance had been removed, that God was pleased with, and reconciled to them, as they were reconciled to Him. The day was a Sabbath of rest in all their dwellings, so that their piety and purity were to be known in their homes as well as at the holy altar. Blessed be God, through the one offering on Calvary, all who repent towards God and exercise faith in Jesus Christ, may enter into the most holy place and enjoy Divine fellowship and peace. Thus God reconciles the world unto Himself, and repentance culminates in lifeF. W. B.
V 42.Theme: SOJOURNING IN BOOTHS.
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days: all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths.
It was commemorative: see Lev. 23:43.
It was significant: of
I. CHRIST TABERNACLING IN THE FLESH.
Three facts are suggestive here of Christs incarnation being foreshadowed in this feast:
1. Johns use of the idea, The Word dwelt tabernacled) among us, fall of grace and truth (Joh. 1:14).
2. The peoples gathering of palm branches when persuaded of His Messiahship (Mat. 21:8-9)
3. Christ chose the great day of the feast, of this very feast of tabernacles, to identify
Himself with one of its incidents. While the waters of Siloam were being, on that eighth day, poured on the altar steps, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink (Jno Lev. 7:37-38).
4. Yet His tabernacle life was not permanent. Booths are for pilgrims, not residents. And Jesus was here but for a season. Yet a little while I am with you.
II. MANS INSECURE TENURE ON THE EARTH.
1. A booth of boughs and palms would quickly wither: so does our frail tabernacle. What are these bodies but tents of drooping flesh?
2. It was, moreover, occupied but a few days; and we are resident in this body only a brief season. Think not to stay long here.
3. The materials of the booths were of the earth and returned to the earth: mere growths from the soil, soon to decay and go back to the soil. Even so, dust thou art, etc., of the earth earthy.
III. A CHRISTIANS PILGRIM CAREER.
Israel dwelt in booths through their journey from Egypt to Canaan (see Lev. 23:43).
1. Christs redeemed are pressing through a wilderness. It is not their goal.
2. Rest and content are not to be sought here. A temporary accommodation is enough.
3. Earths discomfort gives zest to desire for the city of habitation. And as Israel, weary with their booth-life, craved the sure abodes of Canaan, so we earnestly desire to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; for in this we groan, being burdened.
4. Gods ordinance of a booth life was a pledge of the certainty of Canaan. It assured them that He desired them to journey forward to the goodly land. And He would have us set our face Zionward.
[See Addenda to Chapter. FRAIL HABITATIONS.]
ILLUSTRATIVE ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 23
SABBATH:
As if a segment of the eternal Sabbath had been inserted in the days of earth, and men wondered at their own happiness.
HAMILTON.
Called by the Jews the Day of Light, by the Africans Ossa-day, the day of silence; by the Cree Indians the Praying day; by the early Christians the Queen of days.
BOWES.
How still the morning of the hallowed day! Mute is the voice of rural labour, hushed The ploughboys whistle and the milkmaids song.GRAYHAM.
Of a well-spent Sunday, Philip Henry used to say: If this be not the way to heaven I know not what is.
O, day of rest! How beautiful and fair
How welcome to the weary and the old!
Day of the Lord! And truce to earthly care!
Day of the Lord, as all our days should be.
LONGFELLOWChristus.
Oh, what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the Divine path of the Israelites through Jordan. There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath holy. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluableWILBERFORCE.
I feel as if God had, in giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two Springs in every year.
S. T. COLERIDGE.
Sir, said a man addressing a minister returning from church on Sabbath morning, did you meet a lad on the road driving a cart with instruments for harvesting in it? I think I did, replied the minister, a boy with a short memory, wasnt he?
What makes you think he had a short memory, sir? was the surprised answer.
I think he has, answered the minister, and belongs to a family who have short memories.
What in the world makes you think so? asked the man, greatly puzzled.
Because, replied the minister in a serious tone, the Great God has proclaimed from Mount Sinai, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and that boy has forgotten all about it.Christian Treasury.
Now let us repose from our care and our sorrow,
Let all that is anxious and sad pass away:
The rough cares of life lay aside till to-morrow,
And let us be tranquil and happy to-day
Let us say to the world, should it tempt us to wander,
As Abraham said to his men on the plain:
Theres the mountain of prayer, I am going up yonder,
And tarry you here till I seek you again.
To-day, on the mount we would seek for thy blessing:
O, Spirit of holiness meet with us there;
our hearts then will feel thine influence possessing,
The sweetness of praise, and the fervour of prayer.EDMERTON.
HARVEST FIRST FRUITS:
The Hindoos, when gathering in their harvest, before it is removed for the threshing floor, always put aside a part for their gods.
Lord of the harvest! all is Thine!
The rains that fall, the suns that shine,
The seed once hidden in the ground,
The skill that makes our fruits abound!
New every year,
Thy gifts appear,
New praises from our lips shall bound!
GURNEY.
BLOWING OF TRUMPETS:
The trumpet! the trumpet! the dead all have heard,
Lo the depths of the stone-covered charnels are stirred;
From the sea, from the land, from the south, from the north,
The vast generations of men are come forth.
MILMAN.
FRAIL HABITATIONS
On a house near Tretsey, in Cheshire, built in 1636, of thick oak framework filled in with brick, was this inscription:Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem; ridis cum non scis si sit forsitan una dies. [You would weep if you knew that your life was limited to one month; yet you laugh while you know not but that it may be restricted to a day].
When I get settled, Ill; so people are always planning; but how little they think of the uncertainty that lies in the first word when!BOWES.
A father with his little son is journeying overland to California, and when at night he pitches his tent in some pleasant valley, the child is charmed with the spot, and begs his father to rear a house and remain there; and he begins to make a little fence about the tent, and digs up the wild flowers and plants them within the enclosure. But the father says, No, my son, our home is far distant, let these things go, for to-morrow we must depart. Now God is taking us, His children, as pilgrims and strangers homeward; but we desire to build here, and must be often overthrown before we can learn to seek the city that hath foundation, whose Builder and Maker is God.H. W.BEECHER.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. SANCTIFICATION OF FEASTS 23:125:55
1. SABBATHS AND ANNUAL FEASTS 23:144
a. THE SABBATH 23:13
TEXT 23:13
1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2
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.
3
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.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 23:13
518.
In what way can we call the sabbath a feast?
519.
What is the meaning of the term convocation?
520.
Notice the difference in the text and the paraphrase in Lev. 23:3. Do you agree with the implied thought?
521.
Do we have any form of sabbath today?
522.
Was the sabbath observed in the days of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob?
PARAPHRASE 23:13
The Lord said to Moses, Announce to the people of Israel that they are to celebrate several annual festivals of the Lordtimes when all Israel will assemble and worship Me. (These are in addition to your Sabbathsthe seventh day of every weekwhich are always days of solemn rest in every home, times for assembling to worship, and for resting from the normal business of the week.)
COMMENT 23:13
Lev. 23:1-3 We like the words of C. H. MacKintosh: One of the most profound and comprehensive chapters in the inspired volume now lies before us, and claims our prayerful study. It contains the record of the seven great feasts or periodical solemnities into which Israels year was divided. In other words, it furnishes us with a perfect view of Gods dealings with Israel during the entire period of their most eventful history.
Looking at the feasts separately, we have the Sabbath, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the first-fruits, Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. This would make eight altogether; but it is very obvious that the Sabbath occupies quite a unique and independent place.
Some years ago we prepared a short study on the subject of The Sabbath. We believe it would be appropriate to include it just here:
SPECIAL STUDY
THE JEWISH SABBATH
Question: When was the sabbath first made known to man? Answer: At Mt. Sinai. Read this reference very carefully: Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them commandments, and statutes, and a law by Moses, thy servant. Neh. 9:13-14
Someone will immediately recall that the seventh day is mentioned in Gen. 2:1-3. Note carefully, please, that it is not referred to in rest. At Sinai, Moses set aside the seventh day (under Gods direction) for mans rest because in the creation of the earth the seventh day was Gods day of rest. Consider carefully the total circumstances of Gen. 2:1-3. No command is given here to man. No example is found here of the seventh day observance by man. There is one other reference to examine in connection:
But the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah, thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exo. 20:10-11.
It was not the sabbath day when God rested, but it was so called when Moses wrote this account in Exodus. The use of the word sabbath as found here is called a literary prolapse. To illustrate, we say that on February 22 we remember the birth of the first president, George Washington. In reality, on February 22, 1732, a baby named George Washington was born, but not at that time, President George Washington. If a historian were to describe the actual event of his birth as of 1732 he would not call him president; if the same historian were to look back on his birth from our day, he could very well call him President George Washington when speaking of his birth. Washington became president years after his birth. The seventh day became the sabbath years after God rested on that day.
In Gen. 3:20 we have an example of a literary prolapse. Note: And the man (Adam) called his wifes name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. At the time that Adam called his wife Eve, she had not so much as one child, but from the time that Moses wrote this he could see very well how the name Eve found its fulfillment.
Question: Is there any historical or archaeological evidence that the sabbath was kept prior to Exodus?
Answer: None. No evidence has been presented that shows sabbath observance prior to Exo. 16:23.
Question: If the sabbath was made known at Mount Sinai, how is it that instructions for the use of manna for the sabbath were given before the giving of the law? (Cf. Exo. 16:23.)
Answer: This must have been a preparatory measure. The nation of Israel was being prepared for the sabbath observance by this means. Without preparation there could have been a terrible destruction of sabbath breakers inasmuch as the penalty for not keeping the sabbath was death. (Cf. Exo. 31:14.)
John the Baptist came preaching and practicing a baptism of repentance. Johns baptism was in preparation of the baptism of our Lord (Act. 19:1-6). The baptism of Christ was so very important that preparation of the minds and hearts of the people was very necessary. When Jesus commanded His apostles to go into all the world and baptize, the apostles knew what baptism was and so did the people to whom the apostles spoke. Johns baptism prepared them for the baptism of Jesus.
Just so in the wilderness, when the seventh day began to be observed by the nation of Israel in connection with the gathering of the manna, they were preparing for the giving of the law when it was going to be observed in a new fashion.
You will note some interesting features about the observance of the seventh day in Exo. 16:1-36 that are different than the later observance of the sabbath.
(1)
There was no punishment given for the violation of the day.
(2)
When it was violated there was no punishment of the violator.
(3)
No specific instructions for its observance other than the manna is given.
Can we say a law has been given when no punishment has been specified for violators? If not, then no law for sabbath observance was given before the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Question: If we were to observe the sabbath today as it was observed in the days of Moses or Jesus, what would be required of us? Answer:
(1)
No cooking to be done on the sabbath. Exo. 16:23.
(2)
No fires to be built. Exo. 35:3.
(3)
Two lambs to be offered. Num. 28:9-11.
(4)
Not to pick up sticks. Num. 15:32-36.
(5)
To be kept according to Jewish timesunset Friday to sunset Saturday.
(6)
Violators put to death. Exo. 31:14.
Question: Why do you not observe the sabbath today?
Answer: There are seven very adequate reasons. Here they are:
(1) The sabbath was given to the Jews only. Read these references:
Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. Deu. 5:3. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm, therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. Deu. 5:15. (Cf. Exo. 20:1-2; Exo. 24:8.)
There is no example of any Gentile observing the sabbath day at any time, anywhere. If the covenant which contained the sabbath law was made with the Jews as a nation and we are not a part of that nation, what reason do we have for observing the sabbath day?
It might be well to explain just here the thought that Sunday is the Christian sabbath. The word sabbath means rest. Sunday, or the first day of the week, is not portrayed in the New Testament as a day of rest, but rather a day of worship. The sabbath has always been on the seventh day and could not therefore fall on the first day, even in the Christian dispensation.
(2) The sabbath has no commemorative value for any other than the Jew. Deu. 15:5. We were never in Egypt as slaves. We were never led out.
(3) Note, please, that the reference to the creation is for the purpose of showing why the seventh day was chosen as a day of rest; i.e. God rested, so you rest. The sabbath was a sign between God and Israel.
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, ye shall keep my sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. Exo. 31:12-13 a, 17. (Cf. Eze. 20:12-20.)
Let us understand again why a reference is made to the creation. The purpose is to point out why God chose the seventh day for rest. God rested on the seventh day and was refreshed, you rest and be refreshed on the seventh day.
The sabbath was a sign or seal of the covenant God had with Israel. We have no such covenant and no such sign.
(4) It is impossible to observe the sabbath universally. In the far north or south it could not be observed. How would you observe the sabbath from sunrise to sunset in the northern part of Alaska? The same question could be asked concerning some of the extreme southern countries. Geographical conditions are such in some countries that sheep could not be raised; hence, no lambs would be available for sacrifice. This reason presupposes that the sabbath is to be observed according to the only instructions we have for keeping of the sabbath, the Jewish law. If there are other directions for sabbath observance, we have failed to read them in the New Testament. Where are the directions for the observance of the sabbath by Christians?
(5) The sabbath was a part of the old covenant and was abolished with that covenant. There are many references to which we should refer in a careful consideration of this important point. Here are some of them:
1.
The sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were a part of the old covenant. Exo. 24:1-8; Exo. 24:12; Deu. 4:13-14; Deu. 9:9; Deu. 9:11; Deu. 9:15; 2Ch. 6:11; Heb. 9:4; 1Ki. 8:9.
For sake of clarity we will reproduce two verses which speak very plainly on this point:
Speaking of the house of the Lord, Solomon says: And there have I set the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which He made with the children of Israel. 2Ch. 6:11. In I Kings we have these words: There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 1Ki. 8:9.
2.
The old covenant was abolished and done away in Christ:
(1)
Abolished Eph. 2:14-15.
(2)
Done away 2Co. 3:3-17.
3.
We are not under this law. Gal. 3:16-25; Gal. 5:18.
4.
The old covenant was cast out. Gal. 4:21; Gal. 5:1.
5.
We have been discharged from the law. Rom. 7:1-7.
6.
The old covenant was blotted out and taken out of the way. Col. 2:14.
7.
The old covenant was nigh unto vanishing away almost 1900 years ago. Heb. 8:13.
The sabbath observance, as a part of the old covenant, was abolished with the old covenant. All of the old covenant was done away in Christ. There is no suggestion in the scriptures to the contrary. It might be pointed out here that the Ten Commandments are set aside from the rest of the law by those who wish to observe the sabbath, as the moral law of God in contrast to the ceremonial laws of the nation of Israel. This is purely an arbitrary distinction that has no warrant in fact or scripture. The following quotation explains this thought:
The term Moral Law when applied to them is a misnomer, untrue to revelation. They neither include all morality nor exclude all immorality. . . . Only the last six deal with morals. The first four are ceremonial in their precept.
The Ceremonial Law as denominated by the Seventh Day advocates has far more moral precepts than the Ten Commandments.
Every penalty for breaking the Ten Commandments is to be found only in the so-called Ceremonial Laws, which they say are done away with. A law is null and void without a penalty.
A. Word in The Church Revealed In The Scriptures
(6)
The church as a new and better covenant.
1.
Jesus became the surety of a better covenant. Heb. 7:22
2.
We have a new and faultless covenant. Heb. 8:7-13.
3.
Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant. Heb. 9:15; Heb. 12:18-24.
4.
The new covenant surpasseth the old covenant in glory. 2Co. 3:3-17.
5.
We, who are under the new covenant, are free, whereas those that were under the old covenant were inbondage. Gal. 4:21; Gal. 5:1.
(7) The sabbath was not incorporated in the new covenant. Nine of the ten commandments are embodied in the new covenant.
The ten commandments of the old covenant. Exo. 20:3-17. All but the sabbath are found in the new covenant:
IOther gods. Lev. 23:3
Act. 14:11-18; 1Ti. 1:17
IIImages, Lev. 23:4-5
Act. 15:20; 1Jn. 5:21
IIIName in vain. Lev. 23:7
Jas. 5:12
IVSabbath. Lev. 23:8
Not in New Testament
VFather and Mother. Lev. 23:12
VIKill. Lev. 23:13
Eph. 6:1-2; Col. 3:20
Rom. 13:9; Jas. 2:11
VIIAdultery. Lev. 23:14
Rom. 13:9; 1Co. 6:9-10
VIIISteal. Lev. 23:15
Rom. 13:9; Eph. 4:28
IXFalse witness. Lev. 23:16
Col. 3:9; Rev. 22:18
XCovet. Lev. 23:17
Rom. 13:9; Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:3
Question: Why did Jesus keep the sabbath?
Answer: Jesus kept the sabbath because He was living under the old covenant of which it was a part. The old covenant lasted until the death of Christ when He nailed it to the cross and took it out of the way. Col. 2:14. The new covenant was not brought into effect until the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Christs death.
Someone will undoubtedly want to know under what covenant or will man was living during the forty days after the resurrection while He made His appearances on earth before He ascended. The simple answer is that no will is in effect until it is read. Until Peter made known the terms of the New Testament or will on the day of Pentecost, man was yet under the former or old covenant.
Question: Why did the Apostle Paul go into the synagogues on the sabbath?
Answer: Paul was preaching Christ to the ignorant and unbelieving Jews. Act. 9:20; Act. 13:5. They needed to know the conditions of the new covenant whereby they could receive redemption for their transgressions under the old covenant. Heb. 9:15.
FACT QUESTIONS 21:13
524.
Name eight feasts. Why not include the sabbath?
525.
When was the sabbath first made known to man?
526.
Doesnt Gen. 2:1-3 teach us the sabbath was known at creation? Discuss.
527.
Is there any historical or archaeological evidence that the sabbath was kept prior to Exodus? Discuss.
528.
What about the instructions in Exo. 16:23?
529.
If we were to observe the sabbath today as in the days of Moses, how would we do it?
530.
Why not observe the sabbath today? List all seven answers and discuss.
531.
Discuss the moral and ceremonial laws.
532.
Why did Jesus keep the sabbath?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXIII.
(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses.The regulations about the holiness of the sanctuary and the sacrifices, the holiness of the priests and the people, are now followed by statutes about holy seasons.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE FEASTS OF THE LORD, Lev 23:1-2.
These festivals of Jehovah were by no means secular banquets, but religions assemblies convened at an appointed time and place.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Introduction With Regard To The Feasts And The Sabbath ( Lev 23:1-3 ).
Lev 23:1
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’
Once more it is stressed that we have the words of Moses as given to him by God.
Lev 23:2
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.”
Moses is to declare to the children of Israel what are His set feasts. He is to proclaim them as ‘holy convocations’, holy ‘calling-togethers’. They are the times when His people must come together for the purposes of joint worship and renewal of the covenant which bound them all together as His people.
There were, of course, already recognised times of celebration among many nations and tribes. They covered the lamb harvest, the barley harvest, the wheat harvest and the harvest of summer fruits and vintage. But in Israel’s case they also included celebration of the deliverance from Egypt at the Passover, and a recognition of the nation’s failures at the Day of Atonement, and a reminder of when they had dwelt in tents in the wilderness. Thus they were to celebrate both Yahweh’s continual provision in the various harvests and Yahweh’s deliverance, both past and present, deliverance from Egypt in the past (Passover), and deliverance from sin in the present (Atonement).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 23:9-14 The Feast of Firstfruits Lev 23:9-14 is about the feast of harvest, when the children of Israel bring in the firstfruits of the harvest.
Exo 23:16, “And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.”
Exo 34:22, “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.”
Illustration – As a manager of a Christian television station in Uganda, I have grown fruit trees in the compound. When the jackfruit trees bear their first fruit, the staff automatically brings to me the first of this fruit. I did not ask them. They just know that I represent the authority over this company, and they know to give me an offering out of respect. I respond by telling them that they are welcome to the rest of the fruit on this tree. Even occasionally bring me other jackfruit during the season out of thanksgiving for me giving them the fruit of the tree.
Lev 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.
Lev 23:27
[30] John E. Hartley, Leviticus, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 4, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 3.0b [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2004), notes on Leviticus 16:29-31.
Lev 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.
Lev 23:29
Act 3:23, “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Sabbath
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 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. v. 3. Six days shall work be done,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
PART IV. HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS: WEEKLY, MONTHLY, ANNUAL, SEPTENNIAL, AND EVERY HALF–CENTURY.
EXPOSITION
THIS Part consists of Lev 23:1-44, and Lev 25:1-55, with Lev 24:1-23 parenthetically introduced.
Every religion must have its round of holy days and seasons:
1. To give occasion for manifesting joyous thankfulness to the Giver of all good things.
2. To keep alive the memory of past events around which religious associations cling.
3. To impress upon the hearts of the worshippers those sacred mysteries which are regarded as essential characteristics of the system.
1. The duty and happiness of rejoicing before the Lord find a prominent place under the Mosaic dispensation, as they must in any religion where man feels himself in a covenant relation with God, brought nigh to him by himself, and no longer estranged from him who is his only true life and happiness. Accordingly, the first thought of the annual Jewish festivals is that of joyous thankfulness, such as is becoming to reconciled children grateful to their Father for the many bounties that they receive at his hands. The first gift of God of which man becomes conscious is that of the daily sustenance provided for him, and therefore we should expect holy days to be appointed to commemorate the goodness of God in bestowing the gifts of the earth. The first aspect, therefore, in which to regard the three great annual festivalsthe Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernaclesis that they were days of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth dispensed by God to man.
First, with regard to the Passover. We read at Lev 24:10, Lev 24:11, “When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf [or an omer] of the firstfruits 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.” The words, “the morrow after the sabbath,” mean, as we shall see, the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread, that is, the second day of the feast, Nisan 16, which fell early in April, when the first barley was ripening in Palestine. On the 14th day of Nisan (the day of the Paschal sacrifice) a certain quantity of standing barley was marked off, by men specially appointed for the purpose, in a field ploughed the previous autumn and sown at least ten weeks before the Passover, but not prepared artificially in such a way as to hasten the crop. On the following day, Nisan 15, at sunset, three men were sent to the selected field, and, in the presence of witnesses, cut the ears of corn before marked, and brought them into the temple. On the next day, Nisan 16, this corn, whether in the form of a sheaf or of flour, was offered to the Lord by being waved before him, and then consigned to the priest. Here, by the presentation of the firstfruits of the year, an acknowledgment is made that the products of the earth are by right God’s. This is one of the objects of the Feast of the Passover.
Secondly, as to Pentecost. After the sheaf, or omer, had been offered on Nisan 16, it was allowable to make the new year’s barley into bread, but the dedication of the grain crops was not complete until a portion of the wheat crop had also been offered. This was done a week of weeks later, at the Feast of Pentecost, forty-nine days after the presentation of the barley, and fifty days after the first day of Unleavened Bread. On this day, two leavened loaves, of the same size as the shewbread loaves, were waved before the Lord, and then delivered to the priest. These loaves were made out of ears of corn selected and reaped as the barley had been seven weeks before, and then threshed and ground in the temple. They were regarded as the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, though they were not made of the first cut wheat; and from their presentation the festival has the name of the Feast of Harvest (Exo 23:16); the Feast of the Firstfruits of the Wheat Harvest (Exo 24:1-18 :22); the Day of the Firstfruits (Num 28:26); while, from its date relatively to the Passover, it is called the Feast of Weeks (Exo 34:22; Deu 16:10). The name, Feast of Pentecost, is found only in the Apocrypha (Tobit 2:1; 2 Macc. 12:32), and in the New Testament (Act 2:1; Act 20:16; 1Co 16:8). The meat offerings might not be made of the new year’s flour until these two loaves had been offered.
Thirdly, with regard to the Feast of Tabernacles. The festivals connected with the seasons of the year and the products of the soil were not ended until the Feast of Ingathering (Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22), or Tabernacles (verse 34; Deu 16:13; Ezr 3:4; Zec 14:16; Jer 7:2), had been celebrated. This festival occurred about the beginning of October, and commemorated the final gathering in of all the fruits of the year, specially of the olives and the grapes. It was observed by a general dwelling in booths made of the branches of palms, willows, olives, pines, myrtles, and other close-growing trees (verse 40; Neh 8:15), in which all the Israelite males, with the exception of the sick, lived for seven days, and kept harvest home.
2. The second aspect in which to regard the annum festivals is the historical one. The Passover is characterized by its historical associations to a greater degree than either of the other festivals. The whole national life of the Israelites received its character from the Egyptian Exodus, and accordingly the anniversaries of their religious year began with its commemoration. It was the events which had taken place in Egypt which gave to the Paschal sacrifice and the Paschal feast their primary signification; and while to us the Passover festival serves as a proof of the truth of those events, to the Jew it served as a memorial of them, preventing them from ever being forgotten or disregarded (cf. Exo 13:3-16). The ancient Christian Fathers suggested that the Feast of Pentecost commemorated the institution of the old dispensation at Sinai, as, to Christians, it recalled the institution of the new Law by the gift of the fiery tongues at Jerusalem. This suggestion was adopted by Maimonides and the later school of Hebrew commentators, and it is a very probable conjecture; but as no appearance of it is found in the Old or New Testaments, nor even in early Hebrew writers, it cannot be regarded as a certainty. Historically, the Feast of Tabernacles is generally considered to commemorate the dwelling in tents throughout the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness; but if this were so, it would have been called the Feast of Tents, for the words “tent” and “tabernacle” differ, and the Israelites did not dwell in tabernacles in the wilderness. Rather, it commemorates the first encampment of the Israelites after setting forth from Egypt, which took place at “Succoth,” the meaning of which word is “tabernacle” (Exo 12:37). Thus, as the event historically associated with the first harvest festival, the Passover, was the setting forth from Egypt, that associated with the last, the Feast of Tabernacles, was the resting at the end of the first day’s journey at Succoth, where the people now felt that they were free, and began to rejoice in their freedom.
3. The typical character of the feasts, as well as their historical character, is more apparent in the Passover than in the other two feasts. St. Paul’s testimony on this point is sufficient: “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore 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” (1Co 5:7). Here we have the typical character of the Paschal lamb, and of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, authoritatively declared to us. The blood of the lamb slain on the night before the Exodus, being the means whereby the Israelites were delivered from the destruction which fell on all the rest of the inhabitants of the land, typified the still more efficacious bloodshedding by which the redemption of Christ’s people was wrought. The Feast of Pentecost, if it commemorated the gift of the Law at Mount Sinai, pointed thereby to the giving of the better Law on the day when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles in Jerusalem; and in any case, as a Feast of Firstfruits, it was emblematic of those firstfruits of the Christian Church presented to God on that day (Act 2:41). The Feast of Tabernacles, in which God’s people commemorated their rejoicing in their newly found liberty after the slavery of Egypt, awaits its full typical fulfillment in the spiritual joy of the redeemed after they have been delivered from the burden of the flesh and the sufferings of the world; but its typical meaning is partially fulfilled in the blessed peace and joy spread abroad in the hearts of the children of God by reason of their adoption in Christ, whereby we have obtained an inheritance with the saints (Eph 1:11, Eph 1:18).
In the annual fast held on the 10th of Tisri, the great Day of Atonement, the typical element outweighs any other. The present and the past sink away in comparison with the future. The day suggests no thought of the seasons or of the products of the earth, and it recalls no event of past history. It teaches a lessonthe need of reconciliation; and by the entrance of the high priest into the holy of holies with sacrificial blood, and by the ceremony of the scapegoat, it typically foreshadows how that reconciliation is to he effected.
The monthly festivals had a purpose different from the annual. They occurred on the new moon, or the first day of each month, and their intention was to dedicate each month to God. Only one of these monthly festivals is mentioned in this chapter the Feast of Trumpets. It is the feast of the new moon of the sacred seventh month, with which the civil year began. Because it was New Year’s Day, it had more ceremonies attached to it than the first days of the other months. Whereas the feasts of the new moons in other months only sanctified the special month which they began, the Feast of Trumpets sanctified also the whole year, and was therefore an annual as well as a monthly feast.
The weekly festival was the sabbath (see Exo 20:10; Deu 5:15). This feast sanctified each week, as the monthly feasts sanctified each month; and like the annual festivals, it looked both backwards and forwards: backwards, to the sanctification bestowed upon it “Because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Gen 2:3); forwards, to the great sabbath in which Christ rested in the grave, and yet further onwards to another sabbath still to be enjoyed by the people of God.
The sabbatical year and the jubilee were extensions of the sabbatical principlecertain civil and religious institutions and regulations being attached to each of them.
Lev 23:2
Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. The translation should rather be, The appointed times which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my appointed times. The appointed times (mo’adin) include the great fast as well as the festivals, and the weekly and monthly as well as the annual holy days. The primary purpose with which the following enumeration of holy days is introduced, is to give a list of the holy convocations. While the Israelites were still dwelling in the wilderness, a holy convocation appears to have been a religious assembly of all the males in the court of the tabernacle. After the settlement in Canaan, a religious gathering for prayer or festive rejoicing in all their dwellings, that is, wherever they lived, would have satisfied the command to hold a holy convocation, except on the three great festivals, when all who could, “kept the feast” at Jerusalem. There were in all seven holy convocations in the year, besides the sabbath, namely, the first and last days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Lev 23:3
The seventh day is the sabbath of rest. This is a very strong expression, literally, the sabbath of sabbatism, which doubles the force of the single word. Ye shall do no work therein. The sabbath and the Day of Atonement were the only days in which no work might be done, whereas on the other festivals it was only no servile work that might be done. It is not to be observed solely where the tabernacle is pitched or the temple is built, but in every town and village of Canaanin all your dwellings. In the sanctuary itself the peculiar characteristics of the sabbath were a holy convocation, the renewal of the shewbread, and the burnt offering of two lambs with their meat and drink offerings (Num 28:9, Num 28:10); elsewhere it was observed only by the holy convocation and rest from all labour. It commenced at sunset on Friday evening, and continued till sunset on Saturday evening. In later days the hour at which it began was announced by three blasts of the priests’ trumpets, immediately after which a new course of priests entered on their ministry.
Lev 23:4
This verse repeats the statement or heading contained in Lev 23:2, with reference to the annual holy day, the sabbath having been disposed of in Lev 23:3.
Lev 23:5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover. The month of Nisan was made the first month of the religious year in consequence of the original Passover having taken place in it (Exo 12:2). On the occasion of the first, or Egyptian, Passover, all heads of a family, either singly or two or three heads of families in conjunction, provided themselves with a lamb or a kid on the 10th day of Nisan, killed it in the evening of the 14th, and, taking a bunch of hyssop, dipped it in the blood and struck the lintel and two side posts of the doors of their houses with the blood. They then roasted the animal whole for eating, added to it unleavened bread, and garnished it with bitter herbs. They made themselves ready to eat it by dressing themselves for a journey, “with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hands” (Exo 12:11), and thus they ate it in haste, in a standing position. The meaning of the ceremony is explained by what was taking place at the same time. On the same night, after the blood had been sprinkled upon the lintel and side posts, God slew the firstborn of all who had not exhibited this symbol of their having been brought into covenant with himself, and the Israelites set off hurriedly on their departure from Egypt. It was commanded that the day should be kept hereafter in like manner as a memorial, and that the following seven days should be kept as a Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exo 12:14, Exo 12:15). This command is here concisely repeated, as it is again repeated in Deu 16:1-8. One very considerable change was, however, necessarily made in the method of its observance. Originally, each head of a household or combination of households sacrificed the lamb himself, and sprinkled the blood upon the doorposts and lintel. But after the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood and the withdrawal of the priestly authority previously vested in each head of a house (Deu 8:1-20, Deu 9:1-29), and after the stringent prohibition of sacrificing elsewhere than in the court of the tabernacle had been issued (Deu 17:1-20), this could not continue. Accordingly, we find in the Book of Deuteronomy the direct injunction, “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his Name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt” (Deu 16:5, Deu 16:6). A result from this rule was that every male Israelite had to present himself at Jerusalem, and there slay his lamb on the day of the Passover, which in the time of Nero, brought between two and three million pilgrims to Jerusalem each year. The crowd of pilgrims took their way to the temple, and were admitted into the court in three divisions. There they slew each man his lamb, while the priests offered the blood on the altar, and the Levites sang the Hallel. Then they bore away the lambs, roasted them whole on a spit of pomegranate wood, taking care that no bone should be broken, and prepared the Paschal supper. At the supper, as well as at the sacrifice, a change of manner was introduced. “As the guests gathered round the Paschal table, they came no longer, as at the first celebration, with their loins girded, with shoes on their feet, and a staff in their hands; that is, as travelers waiting to take their departure. On the contrary, they were arrayed in their best festive garments, joyous and at rest, as became the children of a king. To express this idea, the rabbis also insisted that the Paschal supper, or at least part of it, must be eaten in that recumbent position with which we are familiar from the New Testament. ‘For,’ say they, ‘they use this leaning posture, as free men do, in memorial of their freedom.’ And again, ‘Because it is the manner of slaves to eat standing, therefore now they eat sitting and leaning, in order to show that they have been delivered from bondage into freedom.’ And finally, ‘No, not the poorest in Israel may eat till he has sat down, leaning.’ But though it was deemed desirable to sit leaning during the whole Paschal supper, it was only absolutely enjoined while partaking of the bread and the wine” (Edersheim, ‘Temple Service’). The essentials of the Paschal feast were the Paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs (Exo 12:8). To these were afterwards added a dish formed from an animal sacrificed on the Passover day, a composition of dates and other dried fruits, and four cups of red wine mixed with water, the last of which came to be regarded as essential as that which had been commanded in the Law. The Rabbi Gamaliel is reported by the Mishna to have said, “Whoever fails to explain three things in the Passover fails to fulfill his duty. These are the Paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. The Paschal lamb means that God passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt, which were sprinkled with blood; the unleavened bread, that our fathers were hurried out of Egypt; the bitter herbs, that the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers in Egypt bitter” (Pes. Deu 10:15). The wine was regarded so necessary an adjunct, that it is ordered that every householder must provide himself with four cups, even if he had to sell or pawn his coat, or hire himself out for a servant, or receive money from the poor’s box, in order to do so (Pes. 1). The supper began with drinking the first cup of wine, before which a grace, or thanksgiving, of the following character was said:”Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine! Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, King of the universe, who hast chosen us from among all people, and exalted us from among all languages, and sanctified us with thy commandments! And thou hast given us, in love, the solemn days for joy, and the festivals and appointed seasons for gladness, and this, the day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the season of our freedom, a holy convocation, the memorial of our departure from Egypt. For us hast thou chosen; and us hast thou sanctified from among all nations, and thy holy festivals with joy and with gladness hast thou caused us to inherit. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who sanctifiest Israel and the appointed seasons! Blessed art thou, Lord, King of the universe, who hast preserved us alive, and sustained us, and brought us to this season” (Edersheim, ‘Temple Service’). After drinking the first cup, there followed a general washing of hands, after which the company ate some of the bitter herbs. Then the second cup was filled, and in order to carry out the injunction of Exo 12:26, Exo 12:27, the youngest member of the company inquired, “What mean ye by this service?” And the president of the feast replied, “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.” At the same time, he explained the purport of the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, and called upon the company to give thanks for what God had wrought for them and for their fathers, ending with Psa 113:1-9, Psa 114:1-8, sung by all present. The second cup was then drunk, and after second washing of hands, the unleavened bread was broken, and thanks again given, after which the pieces of bread, the bitter herbs, the other sacrificial dish (if any), and the Paschal lamb were partaken of in turn. The third cup was then filled, thanks were again given, and the cup was drunk. This cup had the name of the “cup of blessing,” owing to the blessing said over it, and it was succeeded after an interval by the fourth cup, when Psalm 115-118 (which, with Psa 113:1-9, Psa 114:1-8, made up the Hallel) were sung, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving.
HOMILETICS
Lev 23:5
The Paschal supper was observed by our Lord
in obedience to the command in Exo 12:14; Le Exo 23:5; Deu 16:1-8, in the following manner, so far as we are able to gather from the narrative of the gospel.
I. HE SENT PETER AND JOHN BEFOREHAND TO PREPARE THE PASSOVER. The first step in the preparation of the Passover was the purchase of the Paschal lamb. We may see the two disciples, after they had been led by the man bearing a pitcher of water to the house where the feast was to be held, providing themselves with a lamb, unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and that other dish into which the sop was afterwards dipped; then carrying the lamb to the temple, to be sacrificed in the court. This was on the afternoon of Nisan 14. Admitted into the court of the temple, in one or other of the three divisions into which the maps of the pilgrims and residents were divided, they would have slain the lamb, and, after the blood had. been thrown on the altar by the priests, they would have carried the body to the house in which the preparations for the Master’s eating the Passover were being made.
II. HE SELECTED HIS PASCHAL COMPANY. The rule was that the company should not consist of less than ten persons. In the present case it amounted to thirteen. Around him were gathered his twelve disciples, with whom “he desired with desire to eat the Passover before he suffered” (Luk 22:15).
III. HE ENTERED INTO JERUSALEM IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT EAT THE PASSOVER IN THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD HAD CHOSEN. (Deu 16:7.) “It was probably as the sun was beginning to decline in the horizon that Jesus and the other ten disciples descended once more over the Mount of Olives into the holy city. Before them lay Jerusalem in her festive attire. All around pilgrims were hastening towards it. White tents dotted the sward, gay with the bright flowers of early spring, or poured out from the gardens and the darker foliage of the olive plantations. From the gorgeous temple buildings, dazzling in their snow-white marble and gold, on which the slanting rays of the sun were reflected, rose the smoke of the altar of burnt offering. These courts were now crowded with eager worshippers, offering for the last time, in a real sense, their Paschal lambs. The streets must have been thronged with strangers, and the fiat roofs covered with eager gazers, who either feasted Their eyes with a first sight of the sacred city for which they had so often longed, or else once more rejoiced in view of the well-remembered localities. It was the last day view which the Lord had of the holy city till his resurrection. Only once more in the approaching night of his betrayal was he to look upon it in the pale light of the full moon. He was going forward to ‘accomplish his death’ in Jerusalem; to fulfill type and prophecy, and to offer himself up as the true Passover Lamb’the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’ They who followed him were busy with many thoughts. They knew that terrible events awaited them, and they had only a few days before been told that these glorious temple buildings, to which, with a national pride not unnatural, they had directed the attention of their Master, were to become desolate, not one stone being left upon the other. Among them, revolving his dark plans and goaded on by the great enemy, moved the betrayer. And now they were within the city. Its temple, its royal bridge, its splendid palaces, its busy marts, its streets filled with festive pilgrims, were well known to them as they made their way to the house where the guest-chamber had been prepared for them” (Edersheim, ‘Temple Service’).
IV. HE ATE THE PASSOVER MEAL IN THE CUSTOMARY MANNER, YET WITH SUCH ALTERATIONS AS MADE IT A NEW INSTITUTION. For example:
1. He began with the first cup, over which he gave thanks as usual, and then gave it to the company to drink. It is of this cup that we read in St. Luke, “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves” (Luk 22:17).
2. Instead of the first washing of hands, he “began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded” (Joh 13:5).
3. The feast then continued in its usual order. The second cup, the unleavened bread (part of which was “the sop” given to Judas), the hitter herbs, and the eating of the lamb followed in order.
4. The Lord then took some of the unleavened bread, and when he had given thanks over it, or blessed it, he brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body” (Mat 26:26; Luk 22:19; 1Co 11:24).
5. He took the third cup, called “the cup of blessing” (cf. 1Co 10:16), “and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”.
6. The fourth cup, accompanied by the “hymn,” or Hallel, no doubt finished the supper in the usual manner.
V. THE PASCHAL SUPPER THUS CEASED FOR EVER, AND THE LORD‘S SUPPER WAS ‘INSTITUTED IN ITS PLACE. The blood of the original lambs slain in Egypt received its efficacy in covering the people of Israel and delivering them from the visitation of God’s angel of wrath, by its anticipatory representation of the blood of the true Lamb of God, which was shed for the deliverance of God’s redeemed upon the cross. The time had now come for that blood to he shed, and therefore the memorial and typical sacrifices offered year by year necessarily ceased, the shadow being swallowed up in the substance, the type in the antitype. In like manner, the feast on the body of the lamb, which represented the body of Christ, necessarily ceased when there was no longer a lamb to be sacrificed. The Paschal feast, if continued longer, would have bees an unmeaning form, because its meaning had become exhausted.
Yet, just as Christianity grew by God’s will out of Judaism, so a new memorial of Christ sprang out of the old type. He took the bread that was before him, an accessory of the old feast, and consecrated it, together with the third cup, to represent his body and blood in the future, for a memorial, just as the body of the lamb which was eaten and the blood of the lamb that was shed had typically and by anticipation represented them in the past. Thus the dead wood of the old form, at the moment of perishing blossomed into new life.
The Passover was to be kept as “a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever” (Exo 12:14); and any one who did not keep the feast was to “be cut off from Israel” (Exo 12:15). In like manner, the Lord’s Supper is to continue, the bread is to be eaten and the cup to be drunk, as the means of showing forth the Lord’s death “till he come.” The one ordinance is of as permanent a nature as the other, and the neglect of it may cause people to incur a no less penalty in the second case than in the first.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Lev 23:1-3
The offering of rest: the sabbath.
cf. Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3; Exo 16:22; Exo 20:8-11; Mar 2:23-28; Rev 1:10. In the sacrificial worship we come across what is essentially different as an offering from the sacrifice of an animal or of any palpable possession, and yet is a real sacrifice all the whilewe mean that of time. The sabbath, as an offering of rest, has consequently a very high place among the Jews. As Ewald has remarked, it is the only sacrifice which finds a place among the ten commandments. No wonder he regards it as “the greatest and most prolific thought” in the Jewish religion. And here let us notice
I. THE HIGH VALUE MAN USUALLY SETS ON HIS TIME. It is indeed said to be money. Many will make almost any other sacrifice more willingly than that of their tinge. They will give money, valuables, almost anything you like to ask, except their precious time. What a fuss made about an evening devoted to you by a busy friend, or half an evening, or sometimes half an hour!
Hence, in demanding from man a proportion of his time, God asks for what man esteems highly and is loth to give. Time is regarded as so peculiarly man’s own, to do what he likes in, that it becomes no light sacrifice, but rather the crown of all sacrifices, when a considerable portion of time is made over unto God.
II. THE DEMAND GOD MAKES IS IN MAN‘S INTEREST, FOR IT IS FOR REST AFTER LABOUR. Six days of work, and then, saith God, one day of rest. The body needs it. Seven days’ unceasing toil would soon take the heart out of all workers, and bring on premature decay. God himself has set the example. After the untold labours of the creation, after the hard workif we may reverently use such terms of Godof the creative periods, he has entered into the long sabbath of human history. He is in the midst of it now. This is implied by the words of Jesus, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (Joh 5:17), in their connection. And so a restful Father in heaven calls upon his toiling children upon earth to rest, as he has done, one day out of seven, and not sink through unceasing labour. So consonant is this weekly rest with the laws of our physical nature, that some, who do not see clearly the scriptural proof and obligation of a holy day, believe that it might safely be allowed to rest upon the foundation of physical need. But the needs of others, alas! constitute no sufficient sanction with selfish men. God must speak and make his demand, else men will run counter to their general welfare in their self-indulgence.
III. GOD‘S REST IS TO BE CHARACTERIZED BY SOCIAL WORSHIP. Man is not to spend his seventh day in inactivity. He is not to loiter about his tent or gossip at its door all the day. There is to be “an holy convocation” (). The day is to be celebrated by social worship. The people were expected to gather in their thousands to praise the Lord. Were it not for such a regulation as the sabbath, with its public services, even Judaism could not have survived.
The same reason still holds for a holy sabbath. In the interests of religion it must be observed. What would become of our holy religion if a set time for its weekly observance were not generally kept? Men need these “trysting times” and “trysting places” (as , in Rev 1:2, might very properly be translated), that religion may keep its position among us.
We may imagine what our land ‘would be if no Lord’s day were kept, if no sabbath bells summoned people to public prayer, and no preachers got their weekly opportunities. It would soon be an irreligious land, carelessness and indifference reigning throughout it in a measure infinitely greater than they do even now.
IV. THE DAY OF REST IS TO BE REGARDED AS THE LORD‘S. “It is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” The Jew regarded the sabbath as “the Lord’s day.” It was the day of the week that God regulated, and all whose hours he claimed as his. We claim as much for “the first day of the week” under our dispensation. We ask men to lay the day as a hearty offering on God’s altar. They are not doing so while they spend it as they like. It is to be a holy day, not a holiday; a holy day, and therefore to a holy soul a happy day, the day in which we can rejoice and be glad. When we can say with John, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” we are sure to have most precious visions of the Lord’s beauty and glory (cf. Rev 1:10, etc.).
It is no contention, therefore, about something Jewish, but simply about something honestly dedicated as a day to God. Those who contend against the strict observance of the Lord’s day either labour under a total misapprehension about the way some people spend it, or are really bent upon devoting the day to their own purposes instead of to God’s. If we are commonly honest, we shall esteem it only right to surrender as the highest offering of our religious life the seventh of our time to him who deserves it all.
“Man, then,” says Ewald, “shall release his soul and body from all their burdens, with all the professions and pursuits of ordinary life, only in order to gather himself together again in God with greater purity and fewer disturbing elements, and renew in him the might of his own better powers. If, then, the interchange of activity and rest is already founded in the nature of all creation, and is the more beneficial and health-bringing the more regular its recurrence, so should it be found here too; yet not as when, in the night and in sleep, the body is cared for, but as when, in a joyous day of unfettered meditation, the spiritual man always finds his true rest, and thereby is indeed renewed and strengthened.”R.M.E.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Lev 23:1-3
The sabbath.
This is here classed amongst the “feasts of the Lord.” The greater number of these were first observed after the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan; but the Passover was an exception, which was held at the time of the Exodus, forty years earlier. The sabbath also was an exception. We have to consider
I. THE OBLIGATION OF THE SABBATH.
1. It is not altogether a Mosaic institution.
(1) Its original enactment took place at the close of the creation week. The words are these (see Gen 2:1-3).
(2) It was, therefore, an Adamic law, and was obligatory upon mankind at large more than twenty centuries before the Israelites had an existence,
(3) It was by the Israelites themselves recognized as a patriarchal law. For, in the wilderness of Sin, probably three months before they were fully constituted into a nation by receiving their own Law at Sinai, the double portion of manna which they gathered on the sixth day had respect to the sabbath to follow on the seventh (see Exo 16:22-30).
2. It was incorporated in the Sinai code.
(1) It formed the fourth commandment of the Decalogue (Exo 20:8-11). But even here it is introduced with the word “Remember,” as a law already known to exist. The reason for its observance also is that given at the original institution.
(2) As a Levitical law, however, it has an additional reason, viz. the deliverance of the children of Israel from the cruel servitude in Egypt, where they could not enjoy the rest of the ancient institution.
(3) In this relation also death was made the penalty of its transgression (see Exo 31:13-15; Num 15:32-36).
3. The Levitical law of the sabbath is repealed.
(1) The body is of Christ, who fulfilled the type of the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt in emancipating us from the bondage of sin.
(2) The Levitical penalty of death for the transgression of the Law is, of course, removed with the obligation of the Law itself.
4. But the Adamic law remains.
(1) As Gentiles, we were never under the Levitical Law. The institution of the Levitical sabbath, or the incorporation of the patriarchal sabbath in the Mosaic code, left us still where we were, under the Adamic law.
(2) And as the enactment of the Mosaic Law, which mainly concerned the Hebrew people and their land, left us where we were, so do we remain there after the abrogation of the Mosaic Law.
(3) But what effect has that abrogation upon the Hebrew? It leaves him where he was before the publication of his Law, viz. in common with mankind at large, still under obligation to observe and keep the sabbath of the Adamic law.
(4) This reasoning is equally good, whether we identify the sabbatic law as set out in the Decalogue with the Adamic law on the one hand, or with the Levitical on the other.
II. HOW IT SHOULD BE KEPT. It should be kept:
1. As a day of rest from business.
(1) The idea of rest is expressed in its name. It was the most obvious idea in the injunction from the beginning. God hallowed it, or separated it from the six days of the week, because on the seventh day he rested from the work of the creation.
(2) The rest of God does not imply that he was weary from his work, but that he ceased from the action of creating. This is the import of the word (). The teaching is that God so constituted his creation that his active creatures need a hebdomadal pause or rest.
(3) To ensure this to them he mercifully constituted it into a law. He foresaw that otherwise it would be refused under the influence of cupidity, avarice, tyranny, and stupidity.
2. As a day of holy convocation.
(1) Rest being secured from the toil of business, the activities of the soul have now to be turned into another course. Change really constitutes the rest of an essentially active nature. So the rest of God from creation is his work in providence and redemption. This our Lord taught us when he said, “My Father worketh hitherto,” or until now ( ) (Joh 5:16, Joh 5:17; comp. Psa 31:19).
(2) That change which is the greatest from the activities of business is communion with God in his worship and service. This seems to have constituted the blessing of the seventh day, for on that day God visited his children in Eden. Ever since it has been the season sacred to religious services.
(3) Men must not be diverted from this noblest of pursuits by seeking their own pleasure on the sabbath day (Isa 58:13).
3. As a day of prophetic anticipation.
(1) Barnabas puts this subject thus: Attend, my children, to what he say ‘finished in six days ‘that is to say, in six thousand years the Lord God will consummate all things, for with him the day is a thousand years, as he himself testifies, saying, ‘Behold, this day shall be as a thousand years.’ Therefore, children, in six daysthat is, in six thousand yearsall things shall be consummated. And he rested the seventh day, that is, when his Son shall come and make an end of the time of the wicked one, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun, and moon, and stars; then shall he rest gloriously in the seventh day.”
(2) These views seem to be in harmony with the sacred calendar of prophecy. And Paul in particular refers to the “sabbath-keeping which remaineth for the people of God” (Heb 4:1-16).J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Lev 23:3
Aspects of the sabbath.
We are reminded of
I. ITS ORIGIN IN EARLIEST HUMAN HISTORY. “The seventh day is the sabbath of rest” (see Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3).
II. THE SPECIAL OBLIGATION RESTING ON ISRAEL, AS A REDEEMED PEOPLE, TO OBSERVE IT. “The Lord thy God brought thee out thence therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deu 5:15). We, also, as those redeemed at far greater cost, may feel ourselves on this ground constrained to observe it.
III. ITS PLACE IN THE PROPHETIC TESTIMONY. It is deeply significant that the prophets, who were the rebukers of mere ritualism and the advocates of the moral and spiritual elements in religion, should have given so high a place as they did to the observance of the sabbath (see Isa 1:10-15, comp. with Isa 56:2 and Isa 58:13, Isa 58:14).
IV. ITS CHRISTIAN ASPECT.
1. It commemorates the greatest fact in human history the resurrection of our Lord. The crowning act of redemption is more to us than the crowning act of creation.
2. Its obligation rests not on any one positive precept, but on the known will of Christ.
3. It meets the two great wants of manhis bodily and his spiritual requirements.
4. It is to be observed:
(1) in the Church,it is to be “an holy convocation;”
(2) in the home,”in all your dwellings.” As individual souls we shall seek to honour our Lord and gain access of spiritual strength in the sanctuary; as parents we shall do our best to make the sabbath a holy, happy, welcome day to the children in our homes.C.
Lev 23:6-44
EXPOSITION
Lev 23:8
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was instituted at the same time with the Feast of the Passover (Exo 12:15-17), and from the beginning the two festivals were practically but one festival, never separated, though separable in idea. The Passover, strictly so called, lasted but one day, Nisan 14; the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days, Nisan 15-21. The whole made a festival of eight days, called indifferently the Feast of the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The bread to be eaten throughout the festival was unleavened, in order to remind the Israelites of the historical fact that on account of the urgency of the Egyptians, “the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders” (Exo 12:34), and quitted the land of their affliction in haste. Accordingly, in the Book of Deuteronomy it is appointed, “Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the laud of Egypt all the days of thy life” (Deu 16:3).
Lev 23:7, Lev 23:8
The first and the last day were to be days of holy convocation, on which no servile work might be done. It was on the first day, Nisan 15, that our Lord was crucified. The Pharisees found nothing in the holiness of the day to prevent their taking virtual part in his seizure and condemnation and death; but we are told by St. John that “they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover” (Joh 18:28). What is meant in this passage by “the Passover” is not the Paschal lamb which had already been consumed, but probably the peace offering, or chagigah, which had to be offered and eaten on the first day of Unleavened Bread. The public sacrifices on each of the seven days of the week were two young bullocks, one ram, and seven Iambs for a burnt offering, with the accompanying meat offerings, and one goat for a sin offering (Num 28:19-24). And these were followed by peace offerings made at the discretion of individuals, “according to the blessing of the Lord which he had given them” (Deu 16:17).
Lev 23:9-14
A second command is given on the subject of the Feast of Unleavened Bread respecting those ceremonies which were only to be made use of when the Israelites had reached Canaan. It has reference to the second day of Unleavened Bread, which is called the morrow after the sabbath, the first day of the feast being meant by the sabbath, on whatever day of week it may have occurred. It was on this second day that the presentation of the first or wave sheaf of barley took place, according to the command, Ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits 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. Which command was fulfilled in the following manner. “Already, on the 14th of Nisan, the spot whence the first sheaf was to be reaped bad been marked out by delegates from the Sanhedrim, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, the barley that was to be cut down. Though for obvious reasons it was customary to choose for the purpose the sheltered Ashes valley across Kedron, there was no restriction on that point, provided the barley had grown in an ordinary fieldof course in Palestine itselfand not in garden or orchard land, and that the soil had not been manured nor yet artificially watered. When the time for cutting the sheaf had arrived, that is, on the evening of the 15th of Nisan (even though it was a sabbath)just as the sun went down, three men, each with a sickle and basket, formally set to work. But in order clearly to bring out all that was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders three times each of these questions: ‘Has the sun gone down?’ ‘With this sickle?’ ‘Into this basket?’ ‘ On this sabbath?’ (or first Passover day); and lastly, ‘Shall I reap?’ Having been each time answered in the affirmative, they cut down barley to the amount of one ephah, or ten omers, or three seahs, which is equal to about three pecks and three pints of our English measure. The ears were brought into the court of the temple” (Edersheim, ‘Temple Service’). The sheaf composed of these ears (for the Authorized Version is right in considering that it is the sheaf, and not the omer of flour made out of the ears of barley, that is meant by , though Josephus and the Mishna take it the other way) was on the following day waved by the priests before the Lord, in token of its consecration, and through it, of the consecration of the whole barley crop to the Lord. With it was offered the burnt offering of a lamb, a meat offering double the usual quantity, and a drink offering. This passage and Lev 23:18 and Lev 23:37, are the only places in the Book of Leviticus where the drink offering is mentioned. Until the waving of the sheaf, neither bread nor parched corn, nor green ears, that is, no grain in any form, might be eaten. We may imagine how delicacies made of the new flour would at once appear in the streets as soon as the sheaf had been waved.
Lev 23:15-21
The Feast of Pentecost lasted but one day. From the morrow after the sabbaththat is, from the second day of Unleavened Breadthe day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths, i.e; weeks, were to be counted, making forty-nine days, and on the day following the completion of the seventh sabbath (meaning here the seventh week), the festival was to be held, whence its later name of Pentecost, or Fiftieth-day Feast. It would have fallen about the beginning of Junea season of the year which would have made the journey to Jerusalem easy. The characteristic offering of the day was that of two wave loaves of two tenth deals of fine flour baken with leaven. These loaves were regarded as the firstfruits unto the Lord of the wheat harvest, although the greater part of the crop had now been reaped and housed. They were to be leavened and brought out of your habitations; that is, they were to consist of such bread as was ordinarily used in daily life. They were made out of ears of wheat selected and cut like the barley in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then threshed and ground in the temple court. Each loaf contained an omer of flour, amounting to about five pints, and would therefore have weighed about five pounds. With these were offered two lambs, which were waved before the Lord by being led backwards and forwards before the tabernacle or the temple, and then the loaves were waved also, but they were not placed upon the altar, as they were leavened. The twentieth verse, which is somewhat obscure in the Authorized Version, should be punctuated as follows. And the priest shall wave them (the two lambs) with the bread of the firstfruits (the two loaves) for a wave offering before the Lord; with the two lambs they (the loaves) shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. The other sacrifices to be offered on this day are described in the text as seven lambs, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. In the Book of Numbers (Num 28:27) they are stated to be “seven lambs,” “two young bullocks,” “one ram,” with meat and drink offerings, and “one kid of the goats.” Seeing that in Leviticus one young bullock and two rams are commanded, and in Numbers “two young bullocks and one ram,” it is reasonable to suppose that a copyist’s error has found its way into one or the other text. The feast was to be kept as a day of holy convocation, and no servile work was to be done upon it. The number of sacrifices offered by individuals who had come to Jerusalem caused the festivity to be in practice continued for several days subsequent to the festival itself.
Lev 23:22
When ye reap the harvest of your land. The legislator pauses in his enunciation of the festivals to add the rule of charity, already laid down in the nineteenth chapter, as to leaving the gleanings unto the poor, and to the stranger.
Lev 23:23-25
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month. Only one of the monthly festivals is named in this chapter, because it is the only one on which a holy convocation was to be held. The first day of the seventh month we should expect to be holier than the first day of any other month, on account of the peculiar holiness of the seventh month, and because it was the beginning of the civil year. It is to be a sabbath; that is, a festival observed by rest, and a memorial of blowing of trumpets. The latter words should be rather rendered a memorial of a joyful noise. That these joyful sounds were made by blowing the cornet, we may well believe from the testimony of tradition, but the text of Holy Scripture does not state the fact, and the use of the word trumpets in place of “cornets” leads to a confusion. Every new moon, dud among them that of the seventh month, was observed by the blowing of trumpets (Num 10:10), but the trumpets then blown differed in their use and shape from the cornet. The trumpet was a long-shaped, metal instrument, at first used to give the signal for marching, afterwards to serve as the sign of the arrival of the monthly festival; the cornet was an animal’s horn, or, if not a real horn, an instrument formed in the shape of a horn, and it was used to express joyful emotions, answering somewhat to our modern bell-ringing in the West, or firing unloaded guns in the East. Besides the blowing of trumpets, special sacrifices were appointed for the first of each month, “two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs,” with their meat and drink offerings, for a burnt offering, and “one kid of the goats” for a sin offering (Num 28:11-15). On New Year’s Day, which, from its difference from the other new moons, was an annual as well as a monthly feast, the special offerings were “one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs,” with their meat and drink offerings for a burnt offering, and “one kid of the goats” for a sin offering; and these were to be in addition to the offerings made on the first day of each month (Num 29:2-6). It became a custom for the Levites to chant at the morning sacrifice Psa 81:1-16, and at the evening sacrifice Psa 29:1-11. The great joyfulness of the day is shown by the account given of its observance in the Book of Nehemiah. It was on the first day of the seventh month that Ezra read the Book of the Law publicly to the people, and when “the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law,” Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites said, “This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep . Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them” (Neh 8:9-12).
Lev 23:26-32
The ceremonies to be observed on the day of atonement have been already described in Lev 16:1-34, where it found its place as the great purification of the people and of the sanctuary. Here it is reintroduced as one of the holy days. It is the one Jewish fast; to be observed as a day of holy convocation, a day in which to afflict your souls and to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, and in which no manner of work was to be done; inasmuch as, like the weekly sabbath, it was a sabbath of rest from the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even. The time of year at which it was appointed shows that one purpose of its institution was to make solemn preparation for the joyous festival of Tabernacles, which was to follow in five days’ time, when the people ought to be in a state of reconciliation with God.
Lev 23:33-36
The third of the great festivals, the Feast of Tabernaclesbeginning on the 15th of Tisri, as the Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the 15th of Nisanlasted seven days, and was followed by an octave; on two days, the first day and its octave, there is to be an holy convocation, and on these no servile work is to be done. The eighth day is also a solemn assembly. The meaning of the word atzereth, translated a solemn assembly, is doubtful. It occurs ten times in the Hebrew Scriptures, and appears to signify
(1) the last day of a feast (see Joh 7:37, where mention is made of “the last day, that great day of the feast”);
(2) a solemn assembly held on the last day of a feast; whence it comes to mean
(3) a solemn assembly.
The Jews gave the name to the Feast of Pentecost, as being the close of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On each of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles was to be offered an offering made by fire unto the Lord. The sacrifices to be offered are enumerated in Num 29:12-38. There were to be sacrificed two rams, and fourteen iambs, and bullocks diminishing by one a day from thirteen on the first day to seven on the last. These formed the burnt sacrifices. The sin offering on each day was one kid of the goats. On the eighth day the burnt offering consisted of one bullock, one ram, seven lambs, and the sin offering, as before, of one kid of the goats. Thus there were offered in all, in the eight days, seventy-one bullocks, fifteen rams, one hundred and five lambs, and eight kids, beside meat and drink offerings.
Lev 23:37, Lev 23:38
These verses form the conclusion of the immediate subject. The feasts have been enumerated in which holy convocations are to be held and public sacrifices offered; these sacrifices, it is explained, not including those of the sabbath or of individual offerers.
Lev 23:39-44
A further instruction respecting the Feast of Tabernacles is appended. When ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, not necessarily at the completion of the ingathering, but at the time at which the festival is held, ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees. The word in the Hebrew, in its literal acceptation, means fruits of goodly trees, and hence in later times a misunderstanding arose (see 2 Macc. 10:6, 7), which led to the graceful practice of carrying in the left hand citrons (the fruit of goodly trees), and in the right hand myrtles, palms, and willows. It appears, however, that the word signifies in this place rather products than fruits, namely, leaves and branches. The command, therefore, would be, ye shall take you products of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brooks. Originally, the purpose of these boughs was to make booths, as is shown by Neh 8:15, Neh 8:16, “Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths.” And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. Accordingly we find when the feast was observed by Ezra, after the long interval from the days of Joshua, “there was very great gladness” (Neh 8:17). The reason of the injunction to dwell in booths is 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; that is, on the first night after they had been delivered from Egypt, and encamped at Succoth (Exo 12:37).
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Lev 23:3
Aspects of the sabbath.
We are reminded of
I. ITS ORIGIN IN EARLIEST HUMAN HISTORY. “The seventh day is the sabbath of rest” (see Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3).
II. THE SPECIAL OBLIGATION RESTING ON ISRAEL, AS A REDEEMED PEOPLE, TO OBSERVE IT. “The Lord thy God brought thee out thence therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deu 5:15). We, also, as those redeemed at far greater cost, may feel ourselves on this ground constrained to observe it.
III. ITS PLACE IN THE PROPHETIC TESTIMONY. It is deeply significant that the prophets, who were the rebukers of mere ritualism and the advocates of the moral and spiritual elements in religion, should have given so high a place as they did to the observance of the sabbath (see Isa 1:10-15, comp. with Isa 56:2 and Isa 58:13, Isa 58:14).
IV. ITS CHRISTIAN ASPECT.
1. It commemorates the greatest fact in human history the resurrection of our Lord. The crowning act of redemption is more to us than the crowning act of creation.
2. Its obligation rests not on any one positive precept, but on the known will of Christ.
3. It meets the two great wants of manhis bodily and his spiritual requirements.
4. It is to be observed:
(1) in the Church,it is to be “an holy convocation;”
(2) in the home,”in all your dwellings.” As individual souls we shall seek to honour our Lord and gain access of spiritual strength in the sanctuary; as parents we shall do our best to make the sabbath a holy, happy, welcome day to the children in our homes.C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
PART THIRD
Sanctification of the Feasts
Keeping holy the theocratic times and places, the feasts and their cultus, the most holy name of the covenant God and His holy land.Lange.
Chaps. 2325
FIRST SECTION
Of the Sabbaths and Annual Feasts
The Holy Seasons, Laws of the Feasts. Sabbath, Easter, Pentecost, the Seventh New-Moon or Sabbath of the Year, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.Lange.
Lev 23:1-44
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PRELIMINARY NOTE
The following, under Langes Exegetical, may properly be placed here. The foundation of these developed ordinances for the feasts has already presented itself in Exo 20:8-11; Exo 31:14 [add Exo 23:14-19; Exo 34:21-26, and in regard to the Passover, the full account of its institution, Exo 12:3-27; Exo 12:43-50,F. G.]; the section, Numbers 28, 29, contains more specific directions about the sacrifices which were to be offered on the feast days. [The three great festivals are also described in Deu 16:1-17, and the reading of the law required at the feast of tabernacles in the Sabbatical year, Deu 31:10-13.F. G.]. Here the treatment is of the organic appearance of the whole festivity of Israel in the unity of its collective holy feasts, with the ordinance of the festal cultus (Feast-calendar, Knobel says, which is set aside by Keil); in the Book of Numbers the sacrifices are plainly specified as the requirements of the theocratic state, an indication that they were not the principal things in the ideas of the cultus.
Upon this important section the article Feste in Winer and others, is to be compared, as well as the rich literature in Knobel, p. 541, to which add Kranold, commentatio de anno Hebrorum Jubilo. Gotting, Dietrich, 1838. [See also Philo ; Baehr, Symbolik bk. iv.; Ewald Alterthmer; Kalisch on Exodus 20, etc.; Michaelis Laws of Moses, Art. 7476, 194201; Bochart, Hieroz.; and the appropriate articles in Smiths Bible Dict., Kittos Cyclop. of Bib. lit., Herzogs Real-Encykl., and the various literature cited in these.F. G.].
The Hebrew festivals are to be regarded especially in a two-fold aspect: 1. The holy seasons ( ). 2. The ideas of the different feasts, the holy convocations ( ).
The holy seasons are, according to their prevalent fundamental number, the number seven, collectively, memorial feasts of the creation; the Sabbath, as the seventh day; Pentecost, as the feast of the seventh week; the seventh new moon, with its following Day of atonement and feast of tabernacles, as the feast of the seventh month; the Sabbatical year, as the festival of the seven Sabbath years; and the Praise year or year of Jubilee; the 50th year, as the festival of the completed seven, the seven times seven, the prophetic festival of the new eternal festal season, (Leviticus 25).
Even through the single feasts the number seven runs again: seven days of unleavened bread, seven days in tabernacles, and no less indeed is it reflected in the sevenfold number of the festal sacrifices.
The datum, however, from which the whole construction of the festal season proceeds, on which the whole building rests, is the datum of the typical deliverance of Israel (Lev 23:15). The line of feasts culminates indeed in a festival [Tabernacles, the last feast of the year] which plainly, as a symbol of the completed deliverance stands over against the [Passover as a symbol of the] beginning of deliverance. [From another point of view the Passover (which, as such, is not mentioned in this chapter) is generally regarded as a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt in its totality, and in its typical significance it points forward to the deliverance from sin through the death of Christ; and this again has its memorial in the Lords Supper, pointing forward to the feast of the Lamb in heaven. The feast of tabernacles, on the other hand, was expressly commemorative of the very temporary dwelling in booths ( = huts made of branches; the is to be distinguished from the = tent, the comparatively permanent dwelling of the wilderness) see Lev 23:42-43, and comp. Exo 12:37; Exo 13:20.F. G.]. * * *
With regard to the natural aspect of the Israelitish feasts, they are divided into pre-Mosaic, Mosaic (for that the feasts here appointed belong to the original Mosaic legislation is admitted by Knobel), and later feasts.
In the first class, however, can only be placed with certainty a tradition of the Sabbath, the feast of the new moon, and the harvest feast. Upon the heathen festal seasons see the full notes of Knobel, p. 537 sqq.
It is however in the highest degree noteworthy, that the Israelitish ordering of the feasts forms an unmistakable contrast to the heathen customs. At the time of the Spring feast the Jewish Easter was kept, which, in connection with its unleavened bread, expresses a very solemn meaning, and is not at all to be judged by the Christian Easter. At the time of the autumnal equinox, however, when the Syrians (and the Egyptians) mourned over the death of Adonis the summer sun (like the Germanic Baldur), the Jews kept their most joyful feast, and freely used the green branches of summer before they faded. [The contrast would bear to be even more strongly expressed, for the feast of Tabernacles occurred more than a month later than the autumnal equinox.F. G.]. It was as if they had wished to celebrate the triumph of the theocratic spirit over the natural sadness for the death of beautiful nature; as they certainly accent the blessing of God and His judgment in this present life in contrast to the dark Egyptian necromancy with its prophecy inspired this side the grave, and in contrast to the melancholy cultus of the world of death beyond the grave.
As to the explanation of the apparently superfluous days in the seven day feasts, the eighth day of unleavened bread, and the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles (a question which also concerns the 50th week of the 50th year as a year of Jubilee), it is certainly sufficient to say, that the festal close of such great days or weeks and years was to be particularly emphasized. (Comp. Knobel, p. 549).
The second Easter day as the feast of the first beginning of the harvest, the beginning of the barley harvest, the feast of the ears (Abib, ear month), corresponds to the completed wheat harvest which was celebrated at the feast of Tabernacles (later, Pentecost because fifty days were reckoned from Easter to its celebration), and both these harvest feasts, of the necessities of life and of the abundance of life, form a contrast to the harvest feast of joy [feast of Tabernacles] for the refreshing and comforting gifts of God, the fruit, the oil and the wine.
A strikingly isolated position is given to the feast of Pentecost between the other feasts. Since as the chief harvest feast it seems to be only a natural feast, there was sought, and later, there was also found, in addition to its natural aspect, a holy and theocratic aspect also, in that this feast has been described as the feast of the law (since Maimonides. See on the other hand Keil, p. 151) [Translation p. 444, note]. * * *
The increased sacrifices of the yearly feasts must form a symbolical expression of the self-surrender of the nation to Jehovah, renewed by the feasts, as it was elevated by the thanksgiving for His gifts,the ever new gifts of creation, the ever new gifts of atonement and of deliverance.
That which makes feasts to be feasts is as follows: 1) They are high seasons appointed by God, seasons of the fulfilment of Divine promise and of human hope. 2) Seasons in which the union of God and man, as well as of men with one another, and thus fellowship with God and brotherhood with man was celebrated. 3) Seasons in which nature, together with man, appears in the dress of theocratic sanctification. 4) In which the highest happiness of human fellowship arises from the highest joyfulness of sacrifice to Jehovah. 5) Seasons which have a great sequence, and form a chain from the feast of deliverance in the night of judgment and of fear (Passover) to the feast of holy freedom and joy (Tabernacles). Lange.
In regard to the times of the festivals, it is to be remembered that God in His dealings with man always shows a tender regard for the nature with which He has constituted man. The Hebrew festivals were therefore so arranged as to combine the most important religious memorials and types with the occasions of national and social need. The Passover was the greatest of all the annual festivals of the Hebrews, and was the only one resting upon a distinct historical and miraculous event, and the only one, too, the neglect of which was accompanied with the penalty of excision (Num 9:13). The obligation to observe it was so urgent upon every adult circumcised Israelite, that alone of all the feasts it had attached to it a second observance at the same time in the following month for those who were prevented from keeping it by absence on a journey, or by defilement from contact with a dead bodythe only causes which interfered with the eating of the paschal lamb. Historically, it was far more generally observed than either of the other festivals. Attached to this, and often included in the general name of Passover, was the week of unleavened bread; but the strictness of the command for the observance of the Passover itself did not apply to this. See Deu 16:7. The Passover was celebrated in the month Abib or Nisan; and this month, as the month of the great national deliverance from Egypt, became the first of the ecclesiastical year. Just at this time occurred the beginning of the barley harvest, and the festival for this was accordingly so associated with the Passover, that a sheaf of the first-fruits was to be waved before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath. The time of the feast of weeks, or Pentecost, was determined by the Passover, from which it was distant just fifty-two days, as we still reckon from Good-Friday to Whitsunday; for seven weeks complete, or forty-nine days were reckoned from the morrow after the Sabbath, or the second day after the eating of the Paschal lamb itself, making fifty-one days, and then the feast was to be held on the following day. The symbolism of the sevens is therefore to be sought rather in the means of computing the time than in the relation of the festivals to one another. Pentecost occurred at the close of the grain harvest, and was celebrated as a thanksgiving, with especial liberality to the poor and needy in remembrance that the Israelites themselves had been bondmen in Egypt. (Deu 16:9-12). This feast continued but a single day, and its distinguishing rite was the waving before the Lord of two leavened loaves prepared from the first fruits of the wheat.
With the coming in of the seventh month the civil year began. Of the existence of this year as distinguished from the ecclesiastical year, there can be no reasonable doubt. It has indeed been called in question; but the form of expression in Exo 12:2, the commencement of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years in the month Ethanim, or Tisri, the tradition of both the rabbinical and Alexandrian Jews, and the fact that the new moon festival of Tisri is the only onenot excepting that of Nisanwhich is distinguished by peculiar observance, seem to bear sufficient testimony to a more ancient computation of time than that instituted by Moses in connection with the Passover. Another argument is furnished by Exo 23:16. Clark. Accordingly, as generally in all times and among all nations, the New Year was ushered in by a special observance. Among the Hebrews this took the form of the Feast of Trumpets. This was marked by an holy convocation; but attendance upon it was not obligatory. On the tenth day of the same month occurred the solemn fast of the Day of Atonement already treated in Leviticus 16. Both these continued but a single day. On the fifteenth day of the same month (which was thus far more marked by religious solemnities than any other), began the Feast of Tabernacles, continuing for seven days with an holy convocation following on the eighth day. The attendance obligatory at this would naturally have led to a large presence of the people on the Day of Atonement, only five days before. It was the great harvest festival at the close of the agricultural season, corresponding to our Thanksgiving day, and was very joyfully celebrated. It was also connected with the theocratic system by the injunction to dwell in booths in memory of the Exodus from Egypt.
With all these, and pervading them, was the weekly Sabbath, a remembrance in its recurrence of Gods rest from the work of creation (Exo 20:11), and in its determination to the seventh day of the week of the deliverance from Egypt (Deu 5:15).
In regard to the detail of these several festivals, see the Exegetical.
The Jews were prohibited by the law from all work only on the fifty-two weekly Sabbaths and on the Day of Atonement; they were also prohibited from all servile work on the days of holy convocation, viz. two each in connection with the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, one at the Feast of Pentecost, and one at the New Moon of Tisri, the seventh month. There is no prescription in the law in regard to cessation of work on the other New Moons; but from Amo 8:5 they appear to have been, at least in later times, observed as Sabbaths. These would make in all seventy days, which would be reduced somewhat by the occurrence of some of the other days, and especially of the festival Sabbaths, one year with another, upon the weekly Sabbath; but on several of these days the prohibition extended only to servile work, and the feasts were probably largely used like European fairs, for purposes of trade. See a slightly different computation in Michaelis, Laws, Art. 201.
The three greater festivals, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, were required to be observed by the assembling of the whole adult male population at the place of the sanctuary. This was doubtless fully carried out during the life in the wilderness, but does not appear to have been ever completely observed in subsequent history. All these festivals were, however, attended by large numbers, and the devouter part of the people went up to the sanctuary at least once in the year (1Sa 1:3; 1Sa 1:21; Luk 2:41, etc.), which appears to have been most commonly at the Passover. The women were not obliged, but were allowed to attend, and frequently did so, as well as partake of the Paschal lamb.
Besides these annual feasts, there were the Sabbatical years, when the land was required to lie fallow, and all fruits were common property. This command could hardly have been complied with at all until after the return from the captivity (see 2Ch 36:21), and the existence of such an unobserved law is a strong proof of the genuineness of the Mosaic legislation. There was also the Year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year, which as it affected the tenure of land that had been sold, is likely to have been more continuously observed. It certainly was recognized in the days of Jeremiah (Jer 32:6-15). On the question whether it had continued to be observed in the intervening time, see Maimonides and Ewald in the affirmative, Michaelis (Laws, Art. 76) and Winer (sub voce), who are in doubt, and Kranold (p. 80) and Hupfeld (pt. iii., p. 20), who confidently deny that the provisions for this year ever came into actual operation.
Precisely what was meant by an holy convocation we have no means of ascertaining, except from the word itself. Doubtless in the wilderness life it would have meant a general assembling of the people for the purposes of the day, and the same sense may be held to apply to the three great festivals when all males were required to appear at the place of the sanctuary, but this cannot be true, after the settlement in Canaan, of the weekly Sabbath and of the Day of Atonement. Probably there were on these days gatherings for religious edification accompanied with rest from work in the various towns and villages throughout the land, just as there were in the Synagogues after the return from the Captivity. There were also probably such gatherings at the time of the Convocations of the greater festivals of those who did not go up to the Sanctuary.
Besides the weekly Sabbaths, there were in all seven Convocations in the year: the first and last days of the feasts of unleavened bread, and of Tabernacles, the days of Pentecost and of Atonement, and the Feast of Trumpets.
23.144
1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak 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 [unto them, The appointed times of the Lord which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations, these are my appointed times1].
3Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest,2 an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4These3 are the feasts of the Lord, even [These appointed times1 of the Lord are] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons [appointed times1].
5In the fourteenth day4 of the first month at even is the Lords passoLev Lev 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. 7In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile5 work therein. 8But 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.
9And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 10Speak 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 sheaf6 of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb [a ram7] without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 13And the meat offering [oblation8] 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 the9 drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn [grain], 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.
15And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths10 shall be complete: 16even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath10 shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering [oblation8] unto the Lord. 17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves11 of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. 18And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs [rams7] without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two [full-grown12] rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering [oblation8], and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord. 19Then ye shall sacrifice one kid [buck13] of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs [rams7] of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs [rams7]: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21And 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.
22And 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.
23And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath [a sabbath rest14], a memorial of blowing of trumpets,15 an holy convocation. 25Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
26And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 27Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be [only the tenth of this seventh month Isaiah 16] 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. 28And 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. 29For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations 32in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest,2 and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even,17 from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath [your rest18].
33And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 34Speak 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. 35On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36Seven 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,19 and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37These are the feasts [appointed times1] 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 [an oblation8], a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38beside 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.
39Also [Only16] in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered [at your gathering in20] 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. 40And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs [fruit21] of goodly trees,22 branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees,23 and willows of the brook; 41and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 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. 42Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43that 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.
44And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts [appointed times1] of the Lord.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Lev 23:2. The word according to all authorities means primarily a fixed, appointed time (Gen 21:2; Jer 8:7, etc.) and it is so translated in Lev 23:4 in their seasons. Thence it came to be used for the festivals occurring at set times (Zec 8:19). Besides these meanings the word has the divided signification of the assembly which came together at these times, and then the assembly or congregation generally (whence the expression Tabernacle of congregation), and then also the place of the assembly. The derivative significations are here out of the question. It occurs in this chapter five times, and is not elsewhere used in Lev. except in the phrase Tabernacle of congregation. With the same exception, it is uniformly translated time or season (set or appointed) in Gen. and Ex., and generally in Num. The translation four times by feasts in this chap. is therefore exceptional and supported only by a few instances in Num. It is better therefore to conform the translation here to the usage. There is a difficulty with either translation in the fact that a holy convocation was not proclaimed on the Day of Atonement;that is broadly applied to all, which was strictly true of nearly all the particulars mentioned. But feasts labors under the further disadvantage that the Day of atonement was a fast.
Lev 23:3. The translation necessarily fails to convey the full force of the Heb. a very strong expression used only of the days and years of rest appointed in the Mosaic legislation.
Lev 23:4. The Heb. has , the Sam. prefixes . According to Houbigant the former refers to what has preceded, the latter to what follows. In this case the Sam. reading is preferable.
Lev 23:5. The missing is supplied in 15 MSS. and the Sam.
Lev 23:7. , occupation of a work, signifies labor at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:1; Exo 36:3; hence occupation in connection with trade or ones social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, etc.; whilst is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food (Exo 35:2-3). Keil.
Lev 23:10. . The A. V. is probably right in translating here sheaf, which according to the lexicographers is the primary meaning of the word. See Deu 24:19; Rth 2:7; Rth 2:15, etc. It is so translated by the LXX., Vulg., and Luther, as well as by Gesen., Frst, Lee, and others. On the other hand Josephus (Ant. iii. 10, 5), and the Mishna, take it in its de rived and more usual sense of an Omer, viz., of the flour from the grain, offered with oil and frankincense as an oblation. Perhaps in later times the omer of the flour was substituted for the original sheaf of the grain.
Lev 23:12. . See Textual Note 5 on Lev 3:7. Here the sex is indicated.
Lev 23:13. . See Textual Note 2 on Lev 2:1. The pronoun is masc. with reference to the sex of the sacrifice.
Lev 23:13. The A. V. here and in the previous clause substitutes the def. art. for the masc. pronoun. The Heb, text is pointed in accordance with the kri which is also the Sam. reading.
Lev 23:15. Some critics (Keil, Clark, and others) would render here and in Lev 25:8 seven weeks, in accordance with the use of in the Talmud, and of in the N. T. The word seems to be used here, however, rather by a figure of speech as in Lev 25:2; Lev 25:4, etc., and the definite meaning of week to be of later origin. The on which Keil relies, agrees with the main idea.
Lev 23:17. The Sam. here supplies the word which is uniformly translated cakes in the A. V., and may indicate the kind of bread used.
Lev 23:18 indicates strong and full-grown rams of maturer age than the of the first clause. The Sam. 3 MSS. and LXX. add without blemish.
Lev 23:19. . See Textual Note21 on Lev 4:23.
Lev 23:24. here stands by itself without the used in Lev 23:3. When thus used by itself Rosenmller says de iis tantum feriis dicitur, qu non in septimum hebdomadis diem, qui , cessatio ab opere dicitur, incidit. It should therefore be rendered by another term, and the one suggested by Clark is adopted.
Lev 23:24. There is nothing in the Heb. corresponding to the words of trumpets, which should therefore be in italics. The Heb. reads simply = a memorial of a joyful noise. is frequently used in connection with various kinds of trumpets and other instruments (Num 31:6; Lev 25:9; Psa 150:5), denoting the clangor of those instruments, but it is also quite as frequently used without reference to an instrument of any kind (Num 23:21; Job 8:21; Job 33:26; Ezr 3:11; Ezr 3:13, etc.). The silver trumpets of the temple were however blown on all the festivals, including the new moons (Num 10:10), and there is no reason to question the tradition that on the feast of trumpets horns or cornets of some kind were blown generally throughout the land. The LXX. has , the Vulg. memoriale clangentibus tubis.
Lev 23:27. is a particle of limitation, and thus in this case of emphasis. It is better to omit the italicised words there shall be, and translate according to the usual construction of a Heb. clause ending with .
Lev 23:32. The word = at even is omitted in one MS., LXX., and Vulg.
Lev 23:32. The margin of the A. V. is more correct than the text. The Heb. is .
Lev 23:36. is a word the signification of which has been much questioned. The translation of the LXX. , meaning the close of the festival, is defended by Frst, and adopted by Patrick; so also Theodoret, referring not only to this feast, but to the whole cycle of feasts, , and so also Keil. Michaelis, using an Arabic etymology, interprets it of pressing out the grapes. The sense of the margin of the A. V. day of restraint is said to be advocated by Iken in a special dissertation (Con. Ikenii Dissertatt. Ludg. Batav. 1749) and is adopted by Abarbanel and other Jewish writers. The text of the A. V. assembly is defended by Rosenmller (3d Ed.), advocated by Gesenius, and is that given by onkeios, the Vulg., and Syr. The LXX. also elsewhere translates the word (Amo 5:2) and (Jer 9:2). The word occurs but ten times, in five of which it refers to the last day of one of the great feasts, and in one other (Jer 9:2 [1]) it clearly means assembly. Josephus (Ant. iii. 10, 6) applies it as a customary phrase to the feast of Pentecost. It is the day referred to in Joh 7:37 as the last day, that great day of the feast.
Lev 23:39. . It is better to preserve the indefiniteness of the original which does not determine whether the harvest was already fully gathered. Clark thinks that this could rarely have been the case.
Lev 23:40. The Heb., as noted in the margin of the A. V., is fruit, and it is better to retain the word even if it be explained (Keil) of the shoots and branches of the trees. According to the most ancient traditions, however, it was customary at this feast to carry in one hand some fruit, and the word is retained in all the ancient versions.
Lev 23:40. , lit. ornamental trees, a generic word including the various kinds specified just below. So the Sam., LXX., Syr., and Vulg., the lexicons, and most interpreters. Jewish tradition, however, incorporated into the Targums and Josephus (Ant. xiii. 13, 5) understands it specifically of the Citron.
Lev 23:40. . The rendering of the A. V. is sustained by almost all authorities, meaning trees of various kinds having thick foliage. The Targums all interpret it specifically of myrtles, which cannot be right, as in the account of the celebration of this feast in Neh 8:15 the myrtle and the thick trees are distinguished.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This chapter consists of five Divine communications to Moses, beginning respectively with Lev 23:1; Lev 23:9; Lev 23:23; Lev 23:26; Lev 23:33, all of which, except that concerning the day of Atonement, Lev 23:26, he is directed to speak unto the children of Israel. The first of these (18) relates to the weekly Sabbath, the Passover, and the following feast of unleavened bread; the second (922) to the wave sheaf in connection with the last feast, and the feast of weeks, or Pentecost; the third (2325) to the civil New Year, or the New Moon of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year; the fourth (2632) to the great Day of Atonement; the last (3344) to the feast of tabernacles.
Lev 23:2 forms the heading or introduction to the whole chapter. This is a full list of all those days and years, all the appointed times which the Lord had marked out as to be separated and distinguished from the ordinary course of the daily life; yet it does not include the ordinary new moons on which special sacrifices were also to be offered. Num 28:11-15.
Lev 23:3. First of all comes the weekly Sabbath, a day to be observed by a total cessation from all work and by an holy invocation. On the last expression see the close of the preliminary note. The weekly Sabbath is placed in the same way before the annual appointed times in Exo 23:12-17; Num 28:929. No reason is here given for this observance. It was certainly pre-Mosaic, and in the fourth commandment is made to rest upon the example of the Divine cessation from the works of creation. But this refers only to the observance of rest in a proportionate part of the timeone day in every seven, and therefore has no bearing upon the actual length of the creative work. In the repetition of the commandments in Deuteronomy 5, the observance of this rest on the particular day of the week, Saturday, is grounded on the deliverance from Egypt, that great mark of the Divine favor and national birth-day which enters more or less into nearly all the feasts.
A great part of Langes Exegetical under this chapter has been already given in the preliminary note. All that follows what is given there will be found below.
1. The Sabbath.The six days of work are the foundation and the condition of the rest of the seventh day. The prohibition not only of servile labor (), but also of the higher and freer business (), forces the nobler sort of men directly to look in upon themselves, to devotion, and so to celebrate the feast. The Sabbath Sabbathon (the Sabbath feast) has, however, been here already appointed for the assembling in the Sanctuary, a thing which was possible in the desert journeys, and later in Canaan, was fulfilled by the substitution of the synagogues (see Winer, Synagogen), and thus was the germ of all festivals. Lange. On the interval of nearly a thousand years between the desert journeys and the institution of Synagogues, see preliminary note.
The weekly Sabbaths are in a sense included among the appointed times of Lev 23:2, but yet are distinguished from them by the fresh heading of Lev 23:4 and by Lev 23:37-38. They were indeed appointed times, but appointed from the creation of man, not first prescribed by the Mosaic law. The expression at the close of the verse in all your dwellings is interpreted by the Jewish writers to mean everywhere, in or out of the Holy Land. Certainly it is thus comprehensive; but the expression is more important as distinguishing the convocation of these days from those of the annual festivals. These were to be celebrated at home, in each town and village and hamlet, and thus kept alive the knowledge and piety of the simple yeoman in all the land. This single verse affords an interesting prospect of the unwritten history of Israels rural piety. Murphy.
Lev 23:4-8. Lev 23:4 is simply the heading in substance of Lev 23:2 repeated to distinguish the annual from the weekly festival. Lev 23:5-8 relate to the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, which are here, as in Exodus 12 and Num 28:16-17, clearly distinguished from each other. The same distinction is observed by Josephus (Ant. III. 10, 5), but both names came to be used interchangeably as in the New Test., especially in St. John. Of all the annual festivals the Passover came first in the cycle of the ecclesiastical year, first in the great historic event it commemorated, first in its obligation, and first in its spiritual and typical significance. The Paschal lamb was to be slain on the 14th Nisan between the evenings, and eaten in the following evening, i.e. according to the Hebrew division of the days, on the beginning of the 15th. But with the 15th began the first day of holy convocation, so that the two feasts were thus actually blended into one. Lange: 2. The feast of unleavened bread.With this begin the feasts in the more peculiar sense, which were proclaimed, and in Canaan are also feasts of convocation of Israel at the sanctuary (for the male youth and men). The 15th day is particularly the feast of Mazzoth, which lasts seven days, but in such wise that only the first and last day are in the more strict sense festival days which exclude all business. To these two feasts was appended in a certain sense as a third the preliminary feast of the harvest. It speaks for the antiquity of the text that this feast was postponed to the future. Not until they came into Palestine could Israel gather in harvests and offer sheaves of the first fruits. The first sheaf cut from the first field produce is meant, viz. barley (on the barley harvest in Palestine, see Keil, p. 148). [Trans., p. 439. Keil refers to Philo and Josephus for the statement that the sheaf was of barley, and says this is not expressly mentioned because it was a matter of course. In the warmer parts of Palestine the barley ripens about the middle of April, and is reaped in April or the beginning of May, whereas the wheat ripens two or three weeks later (Seetzen; Robinsons Pal. ii. 263, 278). F. G.] The sheaf was to be waved before Jehovah. Does this mean: hallowed indeed to Jehovah, but given to the priest? So it seems from Lev 23:20. But according to Exo 29:24; Exo 29:27, that which was waved was in part brought to the altar and in part designated as for Moses [i.e. for Aaron and his sons]. So the sanctification to Jehovah was to be the principal idea of the waving, but certainly with the secondary idea that it was only ideally offered to Jehovah for the use of the priest. The first day of the Mazzoth was reckoned as a Sabbath, and the sheaf of the first fruits was presented on the second of the seven days. That day was distinguished by a festal sacrifice. But the sacrifice is small, for the year is yet poorof less value than the later sacrifices: one lamb for the burnt offering, two tenths (of an Ephah) of wheat flour moistened with oil for the oblation, to which was added the fourth part of an hin for a drink offering. Under this condition only was Israel acceptable in its preliminary feast of the harvest, and the prohibition is a very prominent thing: before Jehovah has received His sheaf of the first, fruits nothing of the new bread can be eaten. A law for posterity! says the legislation in the wilderness. [The first Divine communication of this chapter closes with Lev 23:8. It contains the command for the observance of the Sabbath, of the Passover, and the general direction for the observance of the feast of unleavened bread. Here it ends, and a new communication begins with Lev 23:9, and extends to Lev 23:22 containing the commands for the wave sheaf, which was a part of the feast of unleavened bread, and for the feast of Pentecost. The reason for this apparent dislocation of the logical arrangement is obvious: what was directed in the first communication was to be immediately observed during the wilderness life, while the wave sheaf and Pentecost could not be, and were not intended to be observed until the entrance upon the land of Canaan. There is here therefore an incidental, but very strong evidence of the date of this legislation. At any other time than during the wilderness-life, all the precepts for the feast of unleavened bread would certainly have been arranged in the same paragraph. Lev 23:11. On the morrow after the Sabbath.Various opinions have been held in regard to this Sabbath. According to the Bthoseans (see Lightfoot on Luk 6:1) the beginning of the ecclesiastical year was so arranged that the Passover always fell on the Sabbath, and consequently the morrow after the Sabbath and the feast of Pentecost were always observed on the first day of the week. This opinion has been adopted by several modern authorities, as Hitzig, Hupfeld, Knobel, Kurtz. The two former of these think that the sheaf was waved after the conclusion of the feast on the 22d of the month; the two latter, on the 15th, the first day of holy convocation. It has been confuted by Bhr and Weiseler, and is rejected by Keil and Clark on the ground that such an arrangement would involve a broken or partial week almost invariably at the close of the year, which is of course inadmissible. It may be added further that the first day and the seventh day of the feast could not possibly have both fallen upon the weekly Sabbath, and that the provision for both is the same (Lev 23:7-8) forbidding only servile work. Another opinion is that the Sabbath was that weekly Sabbath which must occur on one of the days of the feast. This was the view of the Sadducees and of the Karaite Jews, but while it rests upon no positive support, seems sufficiently refuted by the argument of Keil (note, p. 440) that if the Sabbath was not fixed, but might fall upon any day of the seven days feast of Mazzoth, and therefore as much as five or six days after the Passover, the feast of Passover itself would be forced out of the fundamental position which it occupied in the series of annual festivals (comp. Ranke, Pentateuch II. 108). The better view is that found in the LXX., Philo, Josephus, the Targums, and the Rabbinical writers generally, and which seems most in accordance with the text itself, that the Sabbath was simply the festival Sabbath, the 15th Abib, on whatever day of the week it might happen to fall. So Lange below. The sheaf of first fruits was then waved on the 16th, and from that day the time was reckoned to the feast of Pentecost. By offering the sheaf of first fruits of the harvest, the Israelites were to consecrate their daily bread to the Lord their God, and practically to acknowledge that they owed the blessing of the harvest to the grace of God. Keil. The offerings of Lev 23:12-13, were especially connected with the wave sheaf, and were additional to the regular feast day sacrifices prescribed in Num 28:19-24. The oblation was doubled (see Exo 29:40; Num 15:4; Num 28:21) as was appropriate to a harvest festival; but the drink offering (which in Leviticus is mentioned only here and in Lev 23:18; Lev 23:37) remained as usual. Lev 23:14. Bread . parched grain . green ears are the three forms in which grain was commonly eaten, and the expression is equivalent to forbidding its use in any form whatever before the waving of the sheaf of first-fruits.F. G.].
3. The Feast of Weeks. [Lev 23:15-22]. Determination of the time: From the second day of the Mazzoth seven Sabbaths were counted, i.e., forty-nine days. The following day, the fiftieth, is the feast of weeks ( ). The leading thought is the new oblation which was brought to Jehovah from the completed grain harvest. It was to be brought out of all dwellings, and thus not out of the regular temple revenues: two wave loaves of two-tenths (of an Ephah) of fine wheaten flour. The baked bread must be leavened, which shows that leaven does not, in and of itself, signify the evil (comp. Comm. on Matt. p. 197) [Lev 11:33, Am. Ed., p. 245]. This was the first-fruits of the whole grain harvest which must be hallowed to Jehovah before the bread from the new harvest might be eaten. [This is not stated in the Text, and while it was undoubtedly true in regard to the wheat, must not be understood to include also the barley which it became lawful to use immediately after the offering of the wave sheaf during the feast of unleavened bread.F. G.]. The year has now become richer, and hence seven lambs must be offered for a burnt offering besides a young ox (bullock) and two rams, and with all these the proportionate drink offerings. Besides these there was a he-goat for the sin offeringhardly with reference to the unleavened bread (according to Keil, p. 151), but certainly with reference to the sins which were wont to accompany the harvesting. [The precise remark of Keil, (trans. p. 443) is as follows: The sin offering was to excite the feeling and consciousness of sin on the part of the congregation of Israel, that whilst eating their daily leavened bread they might not serve the leaven of their old nature, but seek and implore from the Lord their God the forgiveness and cleansing away of their sin. It is to be observed that this sin offering was neither that required for a definite sin of the whole congregation, a bullock (Lev 4:14), nor yet that for an individual, a she-goat (ib. 28), but was the same as that required for a prince (ib. 23). The reason for it is to be sought, not in any especial and definite sin, but in that general and continual sinfulness which the chosen people were commanded to recognize on all occasions of especial solemnity.F. G.]. Finally two lambs as a peace offering, or thank offering, closed the feast. These peace offerings were waved with the loaves of first-fruits, i.e., were sanctified to Jehovah, and then fell to the priest. A principal direction for even this day is that it was proclaimed as a convocation of the sanctuary, and that on it even domestic work itself was forbidden as well as servile labor. [The text however (Lev 23:21) contains only the prohibition of servile work. It is noticeable that this Pentecostal offering of two young rams was the only peace offering required of the whole congregation in the Mosaic ritual.F. G.]. With this memorable religious command is connected the humane one, that the reaper of the harvest must let some remain in the borders of the field, and that gleaning was forbidden in favor of the poor (comp. Ruth). It is plainly said again with this command: I am the Lord your God. [This feast was not to be observed until ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and Theodoret (Qu. 32 in Lev.), says that it then renewed the memory of the entrance into the land of promise. Since Maimonides (see Lange above) it has been customary to connect it with the giving of the law. Neither of these associations, however, rest on any sure foundation. In Exo 34:22 this festival is more particularly described, as indeed is implied here, as the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. The loaves differed from all ordinary oblations in being leavened, as an offering from the peoples daily bread to the Lord who had blessed the harvest (comp. Lev 2:11-12), but in accordance with the general law, they were not to be placed upon the altar. The injunction out of your habitations is not to be understood, as Calvin and others suppose [so also Corn. a Lapide, and Lange above], as signifying that every householder was to present two such loaves; it simply expresses the idea, that they were to be loaves made for the daily food of a household, and not prepared expressly for holy purposes. Keil. A moments reflection upon the immense mass of bread that would be required from the 600,000 men of Israel to be eaten only by the priests and their families, is sufficient to show that Keils explanation must be right. The victims to be offered, according to Lev 23:18-19, differ from those prescribed in Num 28:28-31 for the same occasion in two particulars: there is no mention there of the peace offerings required here (Lev 23:19), but this is merely a difference in the particularity of the command which frequently occurs; and there two young bullocks and one ram are required, while here it is one of the former and two of the latter, the offerings in all other respects being the same. On this account many commentators have supposed that the offerings in Num. were simply a festival enlargement of the daily burnt offering, while those here commanded were additional sacrifices accompanying the special rites of the festival. It can hardly, however, be considered a rash conjecture that in one place or the other the numerals may have changed places in the hands of the scribes. Josephus (Ant. iii. 10, 5) follows the statement in Num. Lev 23:19-20. The sin and peace offerings were to be waved. According to Jewish tradition this was accomplished by leading the animals backwards and forwards according to an established custom. With the waving of the sin offering comp. the waving of the lepers trespass offering, Lev 14:12. The flesh of both these offerings, unlike the ordinary peace offerings, was to belong to the priest. Lev 23:21. On the selfsame day. The feast of weeks is distinguished from the two other great festivals in lasting but a single day; but it is said to have been the custom in later times to give a festal character to the six days following, and to continue to offer abundant sacrifices upon them. The feast is only described here as an holy convocation, and is called the feast of harvest in Exo 23:16, the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest,Exo 34:22; Deu 16:10, day of the first-fruits Num 28:26. The name Pentecost belongs to a later time, and appears in the Apocrypha (Tob 2:1; 2Ma 12:32), and in the N. Test. (Act 2:1; Act 20:16; 1Co 16:8). By Jewish writers it is frequently called (see Text. Note 19 on Lev 23:36), Gr. . As in nature the ripening of the later grain was connected with that of the earlier, so in the law the time of the festival for the one was made dependent upon that of the other; just as when the type was absorbed in the Antitype the descent of the Holy Ghost was dependent upon the Resurrection of Christ, the First-fruits from the dead on the morrow after the Sabbath of the Passover; and the commemoration festival of Whitsunday has ever been observed by the Christian Church in dependence upon Easter. In Lev 23:22 the command already given in Lev 19:9-10, is appropriately repeated in connection with the harvest feast, and this is again reiterated in Deu 24:19 in connection with precepts of kindness to the needy.
Lev 23:23-25. Here begins a fresh Divine communication (the third of this chapter) because the present feast was, like those of the first, to come into immediate use. Lange: 4. The feast of Trombones, or the new-moon feast of the seventh day of the first month. [This is apparently a slip of the pen for the first day of the seventh month.F. G.]. The lesser new moon feasts are not mentioned here: they belong more to the ordinary life of the people and to the State (hence Num 28:11). Also the seventh new moon is here only very briefly mentioned, and significantly described as Sabbathon Zikron, as a feast Sabbath which was to be a Sabbath of memorial. The festal remembrance, however, had respect to the new holy season which dawned with the seventh month. Thus as the first feastsEaster, Mazzoth, and First-fruitsform a trilogy, so the great new moon feast makes also a trilogy with the following Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles. It is a feast of joyous sounds () to awaken a national festal disposition by means of a festival blowing, not however with trumpets which were not ordered till Numbers 10, and with their clear piercing tone were fitted for the march of the army of God; but with the deep droning of horns, trombones, which like bells, rather affect deeply than arouse. There is nothing said in the text of any instrument, see Textual Note 15 on Lev 23:24 : but as the silver trumpets were to be blown on all the new moons, and on all other festal occasions (Num 10:10), they must have been blown also on this new moon, whatever other instruments may have been used besides. In the modern service of the Synagogue, Psalms 81 is used at the feast of Trumpets. Clark. The general view of the Rabbinists is said to have been that it was a commemoration of the creation when all the sons of God shouted for joy, Job 38:7. Other commemorations, equally fanciful, have been proposed, but it is unnecessary to look beyond the fact that it was New Years day. This being a feast when it was not required that all the people should appear at the Sanctuary, the holy convocation was probably observed, like the weekly Sabbath, in each town and village throughout the land. Nevertheless a special burnt offering (Lev 23:25) was to be offered at the Sanctuary, and this is specified in Num 29:1-6, as consisting of a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, with their oblations and drink offerings.
Lev 23:26-32. A new communication is made in regard to the Day of Atonement, not for the reasons given before, but to mark the importance of the day. This subject has been so fully treated in Leviticus 16 that little need be said here. It was on this day and not on the first of the month that the year of Jubilee was to be proclaimed (Lev 25:9). On this day also the people were not required to assemble at the Sanctuary, and the holy convocation must have been kept at their homes. Lange: 5. The Day of Atonement. It is a noticeable anomaly that it falls upon the tenth day. Ten is the number of the closed history, the reckoning up of the double five, the well-used or badly-used freedom, the number of judgment. The Day of Atonement forms the climax as a day of purification, Leviticus 16; here it is an introduction, a preliminary condition for the great feast of Tabernacles (this relation is shown by the Lev 23:27. [By the restrictive , the observance of the day of atonement is represented a priori as a peculiar one. The refers less to the tenth day, than to the leading directions respecting this feast. Keil]. Num 29:7 supplies still a third meaning, as a social or political fast day. It was named the day of expiation (). Ye shall afflict your souls; Luther translates arbitrarily: Ye shall afflict your body, mortify your body, mortify your bodies. Certainly from the expression of the original text, the fast is meant in Isa 58:3, etc. In order that the neglect might be visible and could be punished, and that the limits might be fixed, it is said: from even unto even. For this feast also, as well as the former one, every business (not only labor) was forbidden. [This cannot be meant of the new moon of the seventh month, on which only servile work (Lev 23:25) was forbidden.F. G.]. The great rigor is to be noticed with which the penalty of death was threatened for every transgression against the rest of the Sabbath and against the fast.
Lev 23:33-36. The ordinance for the feast of Tabernacles is given in a separate communication since this was not to be observed until the entrance into the land of Canaan. Lange: 6. The feast of Tabernacles ( ). The feast is made prominent by being celebrated upon the 15th and not on the 14th day. [Just as the feast of unleavened bread began on the 15th of the first month.F. G.]. And moreover, by being completed by an eighth day (), the closing festal assembly, see Joh 7:37. [There is here also an analogy to the feast of unleavened bread, the seven days of which were preceded by the day of the Passover. In strictness the eighth day was not a part of the feast which, in Lev 23:34; Lev 23:40, is declared to be of seven days, and in Deu 16:13-15, and Eze 45:25, there is no mention at all of the eighth day; and it is also distinguished from the days of the feast proper by the much smaller number of the victims to be offered in sacrifice, Num 29:36. Moreover on this day among the Hebrews the booths were dismantled and the people returned to their houses.F. G.]. The first and eighth days are holy Sabbaths which exclude every kind of work. [The text, however, Lev 23:35-36, only forbids servile work.F. G.]. But everything else which distinguishes the feasts of the Lord, burnt offerings, oblations, etc., (Lev 23:37-38) distinguish this feast abundantly. [These offerings are specified in Num 29:12-38. They consisted of a he-goat for a sin offering and a burnt offering on each day. The latter included two rams and fourteen lambs on each of the days, with a varying number of bullocks. Beginning with thirteen on the first day, they were diminished by one on each successive day, until on the seventh only seven were offered. The burnt offering of the eighth day was only one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs. In all seventy-one bullocks were wholly consumed upon the altar, together with fifteen rams and one hundred and five lambs.F. G.]. It is also again a double feast: in the first place the feast of the garnered harvest, the third harvest, which includes both the former ones, and especially hallows to the Lord the noblest produce of the land: the inspiriting fruits, for the children (fruit), for the old (wine), and for the priests (oil). [The fruit, the oil, and the wine, were however all alike used by all classes in the community.F. G.]. And then, in the second place, it was the feast of the memorial of the booths in which Israel had dwelt in the wilderness. The sojourn in the wilderness must have been a hardship during a great part of the year, and they usually dwelt in tents; but then came the Spring and Summer time, when they could build booths, and such a time would be particularly festive, a picture of a paradisaical life of nature. And it is plain that here the subject must be neither the lasting sufferings of the wilderness nor the settlement in Canaan. Hence also the tents must be made from goodly trees. [The feast of Tabernacles did not itself occur in the Spring or Summer, but late in the fall. a month or more after the autumnal equinox. No evidence is adduced to show that the Israelites in the wilderness at any time lived otherwise than in tents, and indeed during a large part of their wanderings the construction of booths would have been impossible from the scarcity of trees. The reference to the booths (succoth) seems to be rather to the first encampments of the Exodus (comp. Exo 12:37; Exo 13:20), when they must have been as yet very imperfectly supplied with tents.F. G.]. So the feast of tabernacles was the highest feast in Israel (a bright contrast to the feast of Purim introduced afterwards, which was darkened by fanaticism), and was a type of the highest and most beautiful Christian popular feasts. Upon the single feast comp. the Lexicons, also Keil (p. 153 [Trans. p. 446]), and Knobel (p. 549). That this feast could readily bring in peculiar temptations is shown by the story of the adulteress, John 8. [This inference must depend upon the decision that the passage referred to is a genuine part of the Gospel, and is found in its proper place. It is also further to be noticed that the women of Israel were not required to dwell in the booths.F. G.]. But we may see also partially from John 7, how it had been in the course of time endowed with the richest symbolism, as a preacher-feast, as a fountain-feast, as a feast of lights, the culmination of the Old Testament festival seasons. [It is noticeable that this feast was the time chosen by Solomon for the dedication of the temple, 1Ki 8:2.F. G.].
Upon the observance of the line of feasts in the sabbatical year and year of Jubilee, see Leviticus 25. On the later Jewish feasts, see Bibl. Wrterbuch fr das Christl. Volk under the article Feste. So too the feasts of the later Jews in Herzogs Real-Encyclopdie. For additional matter concerning this feast, see under verses 3942.
In Lev 23:37-38, is a summary distinctly specifying that these appointed times, with their offerings, are additional to the weekly Sabbaths mentioned in Lev 23:3, and their offerings. Beside the Sabbaths is comprehensive, including both the day and the sacrifice offered upon it. It means beside them in regard to the other appointed days, and beside their offerings as regards the offerings belonging to these.
Lev 23:39-43 contain additional directions for the feast of Tabernacles. Nothing has been said in the previous verses of the dwelling in booths, as the object there was only to treat of it as an appointed time with its days of holy convocation. Here, however, this is introduced by itself, as a necessary direction, yet so as not to disturb the singleness of view in which the whole cycle of feasts has been presented. There is no occasion, therefore, to suppose that this is a distinct document subsequently added. As this precept has reference simply to the dwelling in booths, there is no repetition of the command for the holy convocations, or for the sacrifices, and no mention of the eighth day, on which they returned to their houses. It was pre-eminently a joyous festival (Lev 23:40), as comported with its character as a harvest feast. On the Sabbatical year at this time the law was to be publicly read in the hearing of all the people of all classes, including the strangers, Deu 31:9-13; Neh 8:18.
In later times two significant customs were added to the daily observances of the feast. At the time of the morning sacrifice on each day a priest drew water from the pool of Siloam in a golden pitcher and bringing it in to the altar poured it out with the libation of wine. This probably suggested the words of our Lord in Joh 7:37-38. Also in the evening the men and women assembled together in the court of the women to rejoice over the ceremony of the morning, the occasion being marked by great hilarity. At this time two tall stands were set up in the court, each bearing four lamps of large size, the wicks being made of the cast off garments of the priests, and the oil supplied by the sons of the priests. Many of the people also carried flambeaux, and the light is said to have been cast over nearly the whole city. This ceremony seems to have called forth our Lords words in Joh 8:12, I am the Light of the world. During both these ceremonies the choirs of Levites chanted appropriate psalms, and the people participated by carrying in their hands green branches and fruit. There is a curious contrast between the cycle of annual festivals in the Jewish and in the Christian Church; in both of them the festivals extend through about six months, but in the former, in which earthly blessings are everywhere prominent, it began with the 14th Nisan, and extended through the summer; in the latter, in which the thought is more directed to spiritual blessings, it begins with the early winter and extends round to the summer.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
I. The weekly Sabbath is the beginning and foundation of all the festivals, for herein God is acknowledged as the Creator of all things and of man. By that the people were joined to God, and so made ready for keeping the other festivals of His appointment. This was fixed for the older church upon the seventh day, in memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, the era of their national existence; just as for the Christian Church it is fixed upon the first day in memorial of Christs resurrection, on which rests the whole existence and constitution of that Church.
II. By the offering of the first-fruits to God the whole harvest was sanctified, comp. Rom 11:16. Until this had been done, no Israelite might partake of the harvest at all. Gods gifts are freely bestowed upon men; but they may not lawfully appropriate them to their own use until they have acknowledged the Giver.
III. In the three harvest festivals the dominion of God over nature is emphatically asserted. It is asserted in opposition alike to that Pantheism which underlay so much of the ancient heathen mythology, and which would worship the earth itself as the giver of its fruits, while here the homage is rendered to the Lord of the earth as distinct from and infinitely exalted above the earth; and it is asserted in opposition to Deism, which would so separate the Deity from His works as to make them in a sense independent of Him, while here He is recognized as their immediate Ruler and the Author of every earthly blessing.
IV. Leaven, which is for the most part forbidden in oblations, and altogether prohibited from coming upon the altar, is here commanded for the wave offering of the first-fruits of the wheat harvest, very plainly for the express object of teaching that the ordinary food of the people is to be sanctified by an offering to God, and thus in all things He is first of all to be recognized.
V. The peculiarity of a peace offering from the whole congregation marks the Pentecostal feast alone. At the beginning of the wheat harvest, the principal harvest of human food, it was peculiarly appropriate that it should be marked by the sacrifice of communion with God.
VI. In connection with the feast of the harvest comes again into prominence the care for the poor in the prohibition of gleaning. God leaves the poor always with us that man may learn through them to imitate Himself in giving freely to those who need out of the abundance He has given to us.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Lange: The feasts of the Lord and the festal ordinances (Leviticus 23). Their double basis: 1) the work, 2) the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the end of the trouble of labor, as Sunday is the beginning of festal work. The Old Testament feasts in the light of the New Testament. The Jewish Passover is a double feast; a type of Christmas and of Easter. The Jewish and the Christian Pentecostal feast. The Jewish feast of Atonement and the Christian Ascension-Day (comp. Heb 9:24). The Jewish feast of Tabernacles and the Christian harvest feast. The threefold Jewish harvest feast, Easter, Pentecost and Tabernacles, a threefold type of the Divine blessing in the kingdom of nature, and in the kingdom of grace (the first-fruits, the daily bread, the festival wine). The great Day of Atonement, as a day of repentance, and as a day of the Gospel. Comparison between the Day of Atonement and Good-Friday, between Christmas and the feast of Tabernacles. How all feasts by their historical significance are linked with one another, and by their spiritual significance play into one another. The feast is made gay with green boughs.
As the Sabbath is made the foundation of all festivals, so must the sanctification of the weekly day of rest ever be the condition of all acceptable consecration of appointed times to the Lord. The days on which no work at all might be done are only the weekly Sabbaths and the Day of Atonement; but the additional days on which no servile work might be done were nearly half as many more. These last therefore were days of rest to the slave and the hired laborer. The law would have days when the hard labor of life must cease without suspending its activity altogether, and gives its most numerous days of rest to those who must be employed in lifes drudgery.
The rejoicing before the Lord which is here, Lev 23:40, and in Deu 16:11 commanded with especial reference to the feasts of Tabernacles and of Pentecost, is elsewhere made into a more general duty, Deu 12:12; Deu 12:18; Deu 27:7. If joy was a commanded duty under the Old Dispensation, how much more under the Christian. See Php 4:4, etc.
The three great festivals were occasions of gathering all the males of Israel together, and promoting the sense of their common brotherhood. The effect in this regard of united worship is very plain. But especially at the feast of Tabernacles, all were required to dwell in booths, and for the time distinctions of rank and social position were levelled. Thus, as everywhere under the Old Dispensation, principles of the Gospel were taught by symbolical acts, and the brotherhood of all the people of God presented in sensible type and act.
Footnotes:
[1]Lev 23:2. The word according to all authorities means primarily a fixed, appointed time (Gen 21:2; Jer 8:7, etc.) and it is so translated in Lev 23:4 in their seasons. Thence it came to be used for the festivals occurring at set times (Zec 8:19). Besides these meanings the word has the divided signification of the assembly which came together at these times, and then the assembly or congregation generally (whence the expression Tabernacle of congregation), and then also the place of the assembly. The derivative significations are here out of the question. It occurs in this chapter five times, and is not elsewhere used in Lev. except in the phrase Tabernacle of congregation. With the same exception, it is uniformly translated time or season (set or appointed) in Gen. and Ex., and generally in Num. The translation four times by feasts in this chap. is therefore exceptional and supported only by a few instances in Num. It is better therefore to conform the translation here to the usage. There is a difficulty with either translation in the fact that a holy convocation was not proclaimed on the Day of Atonement;that is broadly applied to all, which was strictly true of nearly all the particulars mentioned. But feasts labors under the further disadvantage that the Day of atonement was a fast.
[2]Lev 23:3. The translation necessarily fails to convey the full force of the Heb. a very strong expression used only of the days and years of rest appointed in the Mosaic legislation.
[3]Lev 23:4. The Heb. has , the Sam. prefixes . According to Houbigant the former refers to what has preceded, the latter to what follows. In this case the Sam. reading is preferable.
[4]Lev 23:5. The missing is supplied in 15 MSS. and the Sam.
[5]Lev 23:7. , occupation of a work, signifies labor at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:1; Exo 36:3; hence occupation in connection with trade or ones social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, etc.; whilst is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food (Exo 35:2-3). Keil.
[6]Lev 23:10. . The A. V. is probably right in translating here sheaf, which according to the lexicographers is the primary meaning of the word. See Deu 24:19; Rth 2:7; Rth 2:15, etc. It is so translated by the LXX., Vulg., and Luther, as well as by Gesen., Frst, Lee, and others. On the other hand Josephus (Ant. iii. 10, 5), and the Mishna, take it in its de rived and more usual sense of an Omer, viz., of the flour from the grain, offered with oil and frankincense as an oblation. Perhaps in later times the omer of the flour was substituted for the original sheaf of the grain.
[7]Lev 23:12. . See Textual Note 5 on Lev 3:7. Here the sex is indicated.
[8]Lev 23:13. . See Textual Note 2 on Lev 2:1. The pronoun is masc. with reference to the sex of the sacrifice.
[9]Lev 23:13. The A. V. here and in the previous clause substitutes the def. art. for the masc. pronoun. The Heb, text is pointed in accordance with the kri which is also the Sam. reading.
[10]Lev 23:15. Some critics (Keil, Clark, and others) would render here and in Lev 25:8 seven weeks, in accordance with the use of in the Talmud, and of in the N. T. The word seems to be used here, however, rather by a figure of speech as in Lev 25:2; Lev 25:4, etc., and the definite meaning of week to be of later origin. The on which Keil relies, agrees with the main idea.
[11]Lev 23:17. The Sam. here supplies the word which is uniformly translated cakes in the A. V., and may indicate the kind of bread used.
[12]Lev 23:18 indicates strong and full-grown rams of maturer age than the of the first clause. The Sam. 3 MSS. and LXX. add without blemish.
[13]Lev 23:19. . See Textual Note21 on Lev 4:23.
[14]Lev 23:24. here stands by itself without the used in Lev 23:3. When thus used by itself Rosenmller says de iis tantum feriis dicitur, qu non in septimum hebdomadis diem, qui , cessatio ab opere dicitur, incidit. It should therefore be rendered by another term, and the one suggested by Clark is adopted.
[15]Lev 23:24. There is nothing in the Heb. corresponding to the words of trumpets, which should therefore be in italics. The Heb. reads simply = a memorial of a joyful noise. is frequently used in connection with various kinds of trumpets and other instruments (Num 31:6; Lev 25:9; Psa 150:5), denoting the clangor of those instruments, but it is also quite as frequently used without reference to an instrument of any kind (Num 23:21; Job 8:21; Job 33:26; Ezr 3:11; Ezr 3:13, etc.). The silver trumpets of the temple were however blown on all the festivals, including the new moons (Num 10:10), and there is no reason to question the tradition that on the feast of trumpets horns or cornets of some kind were blown generally throughout the land. The LXX. has , the Vulg. memoriale clangentibus tubis.
[16]Lev 23:27. is a particle of limitation, and thus in this case of emphasis. It is better to omit the italicised words there shall be, and translate according to the usual construction of a Heb. clause ending with .
[17]Lev 23:32. The word = at even is omitted in one MS., LXX., and Vulg.
[18]Lev 23:32. The margin of the A. V. is more correct than the text. The Heb. is .
[19]Lev 23:36. is a word the signification of which has been much questioned. The translation of the LXX. , meaning the close of the festival, is defended by Frst, and adopted by Patrick; so also Theodoret, referring not only to this feast, but to the whole cycle of feasts, , and so also Keil. Michaelis, using an Arabic etymology, interprets it of pressing out the grapes. The sense of the margin of the A. V. day of restraint is said to be advocated by Iken in a special dissertation (Con. Ikenii Dissertatt. Ludg. Batav. 1749) and is adopted by Abarbanel and other Jewish writers. The text of the A. V. assembly is defended by Rosenmller (3d Ed.), advocated by Gesenius, and is that given by onkeios, the Vulg., and Syr. The LXX. also elsewhere translates the word (Amo 5:2) and (Jer 9:2). The word occurs but ten times, in five of which it refers to the last day of one of the great feasts, and in one other (Jer 9:2 [1]) it clearly means assembly. Josephus (Ant. iii. 10, 6) applies it as a customary phrase to the feast of Pentecost. It is the day referred to in Joh 7:37 as the last day, that great day of the feast.
[20]Lev 23:39. . It is better to preserve the indefiniteness of the original which does not determine whether the harvest was already fully gathered. Clark thinks that this could rarely have been the case.
[21]Lev 23:40. The Heb., as noted in the margin of the A. V., is fruit, and it is better to retain the word even if it be explained (Keil) of the shoots and branches of the trees. According to the most ancient traditions, however, it was customary at this feast to carry in one hand some fruit, and the word is retained in all the ancient versions.
[22]Lev 23:40. , lit. ornamental trees, a generic word including the various kinds specified just below. So the Sam., LXX., Syr., and Vulg., the lexicons, and most interpreters. Jewish tradition, however, incorporated into the Targums and Josephus (Ant. xiii. 13, 5) understands it specifically of the Citron.
[23]Lev 23:40. . The rendering of the A. V. is sustained by almost all authorities, meaning trees of various kinds having thick foliage. The Targums all interpret it specifically of myrtles, which cannot be right, as in the account of the celebration of this feast in Neh 8:15 the myrtle and the thick trees are distinguished.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
As the preceding chapters related to the solemn appointments of the LORD concerning places and persons; so in this, the same laws are carried on in relation to times and seasons for those services. The feasts of the LORD are here set down; the sabbath, the passover, the sheaf of first fruits, the feast of Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Let it be observed by the Reader, that all the sacred institutions of religion, derive their authority from the LORD. They are called his feasts, and consequently his appointment. What he sanctifieth and setteth apart must he holy. It were well if this was more carefully attended to, in respect to holy ordinances, first in reference to the LORD; Rom 14:6 . and secondly, in regard to ourselves; for the LORD hath promised in ordinances to bless his people. Exo 20:24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pleasant Ministries
Lev 23:44
The principal Jewish festivals were, the Feast of Passover or unleavened bread; the Feast of Pentecost; the Feast of Weeks or of the harvest, or of the day on which were offered the loaves made of the new wheat; the Feast of Trumpets, called by the Jews New Year; and the Day of Atonement, or the Great Sabbath; the Feast of Tabernacles or the Ingathering of the Harvest. Owing to the difficulty of travelling no festival was appointed for winter; there was one in the spring, one in the summer, and four were appointed for the autumn. The feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were called pilgrimage festivals, and were of a doubly joyful character, commemorative of national events and relating to the blessings of the seasons and the land. Besides the great annual feasts there were more occasional festivals, as, e.g., the weekly Sabbath, the feast of the new moon, the Sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee. With these festivals in their local setting we have nothing to do; our business is with the perpetual truth which glows in the terms, “And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” What a change in his great ministry! Never was man charged with the delivering of so many disciplinary and legal words. It is time that he had something to say with easier music in it, conveying a pleasanter appeal to the imagination and the whole attention of Israel. It was a new mission. The lips of Moses must have grown hard in the delivery of hard speeches. It was his business always to deliver law, to recall to duty, to suppress revolution, to command and overawe the people whose fortunes he humanly led. What wonder if the people dreaded his appearance? That appearance might have been equal to a new Sinai, a new Decalogue, a harder speech of law and duty and servitude. It was a pleasant thing for Moses, too, this change in the tone of his ministry; he is now speaking of feasts, of festivals, times of solemn rejoicing, yea, some of the very feasts which were instituted were designated by names the roots of which signified to dance and be glad with great joy. An awful fate for any man to be merely the legal prophet of his age! A most burdensome mission always to be called upon to rebuke and chastise, to suppress, and to put men down to their proper level, and call them up to their proper obedience! Thus the Lord varies the ministry of his servants. He says, There will be no utterance of new law to-day, but this very day shall be a day of feasting and music and dancing; he will have a home in the wilderness a glad, warm, happy home all troublesome memories shall be dismissed and one overmastering joy shall rule this festal day. That is the speech he has been longing to make; but we would not let him. He never wanted to make any other speech; we ourselves forced the hard terms from his reluctant lips. A complete ministry is terrible and gracious. It is terrible by the necessities of the case. Consider the nature with which the ministry of heaven has to deal: “there is none righteous, no not one”; we have turned aside from the right way and are far from the centres of light and rest and peace; sometimes nothing will reach us but fear, terror, awful denunciation of anger, and judgment. Our mother tongue would be deficient of one instrument which alone can touch some men, were we to remove from that sweetest tongue the word “perdition,” or the word “hell.” We do not want it: we avoid it when we can; we would not set it in our eloquence, or weave it into our music, or use it upon any occasion if we could possibly do without it; it is a word which is used in reply to infinite provocation; he who has pleasure in the use of it knows not its meaning; he who declines its use altogether knows not the mystery of the nature which he has undertaken to reclaim and educate. Paul said, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” The apostle used terror as an instrument of persuasion: not to keep men away from God, but to draw them near to the Father. That is the right use of all solemn terms and fearful judgments, all burning fires, all unutterable and infinite threatenings, namely, to bring men to consideration, to penitence, to newness of mind. But the ministry is also gentle: there is no gentleness like it. The true ministry of Christ is marked by surpassing and ineffable grace: its eyes are full of tears; its great trumpet-tones are broken down by greater sobs; it pities the weak; it speaks a word of hope to the fallen; it tells the farthest off that there is time for him to get home before the nightfall, or if he be overtaken with the darkness the light will be in the house he has abandoned; it pleads with men; it beseeches men to be reconciled to God; it writes its promises in syllables of stars; it punctuates its speech with fragrant flowers; it breaks down into the omnipotence of weakness by clinging to the sinner when all men have abandoned him in despair. We must establish a whole ministry. The mountain must have two sides: the side where the darkness lingers; the side where the light plays and dances in many a symbolism. This is human life. The two sides must go together. When the ministry thunders its law, it must be upheld; when it breaks down in tears over the Jerusalem that has rejected it, it must be regarded as the very heart of God.
Notice the time when the feasts were spoken of. Let us regard the very position of the text as instructive. We have now read up to it; beginning with the bondage in Egypt, dwelling tearfully and sympathetically upon that pagan servitude, watching the children of Israel led forth by a mighty hand, we have noted the discipline which afflicted them educationally; by this time we have become familiar with their hardships, now it is a welcome relief to the reader to come upon festival, dancing, joy, delight, one touch of heaven in a very wilderness of desolation. This is the day we have longed for. There was a hope hidden in our hearts that, by-and-by, golden gates would swing back upon happy places and offer us the liberty of heaven. We have come to that Sabbatic time; now we are in times of jubilee and Sabbath, release, pardon, rapture, praising God all the time, having found a temple without a roof, a sanctuary without a wall, an infinite liberty vast as the Being which it adores. This is a picture of life wisely ordered. It is a pity when any life begins with the feast. It is sad to see pampered children. What can make the wise man’s heart sorer than to see children whose every want is anticipated, who have no burdens to carry, no darkness to fear, no enemy to grapple with? It makes the spirit sad! The student of history knows what a fate awaits those fair children those sweet little ones. Every life must have its battlefield. The devil never allowed any soul to pass through without having to fight every inch of the way. Blessed are they who had their bondage first their hard toil in the first years of life, when they went home to a fireless grate, and sat down in the very midst of desolation; when every wind was a ghostly threat; when the morning brought but a variety of darkness; when the night came with new terrors and alarms. Blessed are they who fought early and got the battle over soon; they had a hard struggle: they were struck on one side of the head and on the other, and thrown down by invisible hands, but they dashed the tears away, or burned them in the fire of new courage, and stood up again like men. “It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” A terrible indictment is being written against people who imagine they can invert the purpose of Providence and rule life by new tricks in confectionery and pampering. Who are the strong men in the city, in the marketplace, in any department and sphere of life? The men who carry scars and wound-marks signatures of early battle, medals which testify that they met the foe and flung him in mortal wrestling. Who are the weak and the frail and the useless those who are but shells painted in colours that will not stand the wear and tear of life? To that inquiry no answer in words need be given. God’s plan is to train us for the feast Who enjoys the feast? Not the sated appetite, not the cloyed palate; but the labourer from the field; the soldier who unbuckles his military robe and throws down his weapons with a soldier’s heartiness; the man who has been out in the long wet night; the traveller who has just come to the summit of the hill; the pilgrim who brings with him all the fresh wind, the keen air of night, and the toil of a long ascent. Set down these men, and their very look is a benediction, their very way of eating is itself a religious expres?ion. This feast has been in the divine view from the very beginning: God has always meant hope, feasting, dancing, joy, liberty. Let us repeat, for our soul’s profit, that all things contrary to these have been of our own invention, or have been necessitated by our evil behaviour. “God… made man upright; but” men “have sought out many inventions.” Let us leave ourselves in the divine hands; at the last, gathered around the table of God, spread by his hands, every guest shall say, “Thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
Notice whose feasts they were, and how joy is ennobled by solemnity. “And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” They were not fools’ revels; they were not inventions even of Moses and Aaron; they were as certainly divine creations as were the stars that glittered above. The highest joy is always touched with melancholy. It has been said that laughter and tears lie close together; singular is that, but most true to our own consciousness and experience. We sigh at the wedding. There is so much joy and gracious hilarity, that he is supposed to be criminal to the genius of the occasion who utters one word of gloom; but the hearing ear has detected, in father or mother or friend, the sigh that meant it all. At the funeral we quote words that should make the face one broad and gracious smile; we feast at the grave side: the promises never eat so well, with so keen a relish on the part of the eater, as when the soul really feels its need of divine sustenance and inspiration. Did the Lord make feasts? He may have done so. Is “feasts” not a word too frivolous to associate with the name of the Lord? No. If we are to judge by analogy, No. The God of flowers may be the God of feasts. We know the flowers are his; we know that no Solomon has ever arrayed himself in equal beauty; he who made those flowers must have made a feast somewhere, a feast of reason, a feast for the soul, a luxury for the inner taste, an appeal to the larger appetency. He who made the birds may surely be the God of the soul’s music. The birds sing so blithely, without one touch of vanity; so purely, so independently, without pedantry, without sign or hint of human education; the God who set their little throats in tune may surely be the God of all pure music, the mother’s broad laugh over her little one, the father’s tender voice in the presence of distress and need; and he who made the birds’ throat may have put it into the mind of man to make the trumpet, and the cornet, and the flute, and the harp, and the sackbut, and the psaltery; they may be his judging by the happy analogies of nature. He who made summer, may have made heaven! There is but a step between them. When Summer is at her best, what wonder if she should think herself sister of the blue heavens? She is certainly lovely, nothing wanting in the completeness of her beauty: here so lofty and stately, there so pendent and graceful, yonder so fragrant and odorous as if with messages from paradise, and otherwhere so blithe and warm and gentle, climbing up in woodbine to the sick child’s little chamber, and uttering messages of hope to the mother’s heart, bidding all invalids come out and enjoy the feast Whoever made that summer must have made a heaven; standing in the summer meads, walking through the summer gardens, loitering by summer streams, watching summer heavens, it is easy to sing
The gospel is a feast. Jesus Christ makes his kings spread feasts and issue large invitations, and when the mighty and the proud and the grand will not come, he sends men out into the highways and the hedges to bring in the traveller, the beggar, the homeless one. To Christ’s feast all are invited; no exception can be made. Yet there are exceptions: the Pharisee, the self-righteous man, the critic of other people, is forbidden; Christ will have no cold souls at his banqueting-board none there who imagines he is conferring patronage upon God. Man cannot patronise the Church. The Church may have so debased herself as to accept patronage; but therein she has been disloyal to the divine call. Ho, every one that thirsteth, whosoever will, let him come; the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; let him that heareth say, Come. The great invitation is issued from end to end of the Gospel message, and if we turn to it a deaf ear, the result is hunger, pining, wasting, death! This feast never cloys. All other feasts bring their own ending; even the glutton says, with a porcine voice, “No more”; the voluptuary and the sensualist withdraw themselves from the feast by which they have been sated; but in the feast of wisdom, in the banquet of grace, there is no satiety. “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.” “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.”
A gracious voice! a glad, grand gospel! If hitherto ye have been living amid the sounding of law, the utterance of decree, if, up to this moment, ye have been trembling under the sight of the rod and in the presence of gleaming judgment, know ye that now the feast of the Lord is declared, and whoso is shut out is self-excluded!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Ver. 1. And the Lord spake. ] See Trapp on “ Lev 7:22 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Leviticus Chapter 23
THE SABBATH.
Lev 23:1-3 .
The scripture we are entering on at this time brings before us the whole outline of the dealings of God with His people on earth. It is not of course in detail, but first is the original purpose as before God; next, the foundation which He laid in order to accomplish this purpose; then, again, the ways of God in the application which He made of the mighty work thus accomplished; and, finally, the direct and full result at Christ’s appearing in glory, the heavenly things as well as the earthly.
It will be proved in the course of these remarks that God did really look forward far beyond the existing state of His ancient people. The Feasts had a simple and primary application, as no Christian doubts, to the Jews as they then were. The Feasts, at any rate the chief of them, served the purpose of gathering Israel around Himself where He had placed His name. But it is impossible to limit scripture to such an application. We hope to gather what the Holy Ghost contemplates in the shadows; for He was looking on to other things far greater than men are apt to allow. All was future in this point of view; and we may clearly see what has been accomplished, and what will be, as well as that which is now being verified. He has anticipated therein what was to have an entirely different and superior character, indeed what we commonly call Christianity. He also removes the veil from the age to come when He will establish the kingdom in glory. Whether for heaven or for earth, we see the stress laid on “holy convocations”: for God in Christ will gather His own around Himself. When we think what man was and is become, what grace! Thus we shall be able to trace the dealings of God, first, not merely in letter but in spirit, and then, when it will be no longer grace but glory, and this not only for heaven but mainly for the earth. It is quite a mistake to suppose that His glory is connected only with heaven. Undoubtedly He has allowed Satan to do his worst; but He has already won the victory morally in Christ, and efficaciously in His death and resurrection: and He will prove it before every eye in a day fast approaching. But now we walk by faith, not by sight. May the scripture thus brought before us continue to strengthen the faith of those who believe, as well as to rebuke those who dare to disbelieve, the word of God.
The first thing to which attention should be drawn is the sabbath, introduced in an altogether peculiar manner. This is no mere notion of mine, nor of any one else. It is marked very clearly in the opening of the chapter before us.
” 1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim [as] holy convocations, these [are] my set feasts. 8 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day [is] a sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; no manner of work shall ye do. It [is] a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings” (vers. 1-3). Thus the feasts open; but let us notice that the fourth verse begins again, “These are the feasts of Jehovah.” Hence we see that in the beginning of the chapter, where the feasts are introduced generally, the sabbath is named in particular; next, in ver. 4, there is a fresh beginning which excludes the sabbath.
Now there is nothing in vain in scripture; not a word from Genesis to Revelation which God wrote could be changed but for the worst. We know certain minds find this difficult to believe; and the reason is because they judge of God by themselves. If you, they, or I had written it, there would have been many a word to change for the better; and we are apt to attribute our infirmities to God’s word. No man can rightly reason on God’s word from himself; nor is it sound to reason from nature up to nature’s God. We must begin with God, and reason from Him (or His word) down to His works. If we start with what we find in reason or things here below, it is a start with what is frail, feeble, inconstant. How can we reason soundly when we commence with that which breaks at a touch? When we begin with God and His word, we are bound by that which judges all men and things. But the tendency of man is to take on him to judge the word of God; did he believe that the word of God judges all, it would be safer and more becoming If God has given a revelation of His mind, the revelation must be worthy of Himself; and He has taken particular care to call it His word. Undoubtedly He wrought by various means; but He never calls it the word of Moses, of David, of John, or Paul’s, or the word of man, but the word of God. Let us never forget this.
It may be said that here is a difficulty, and what appears even an irregularity. The sabbath is introduced, first as the beginning of the feasts; and then, secondly, we begin with the sabbath left out. Why? Because the sabbath has a character altogether peculiar to itself. Evidently as a matter of fact, and merely looking at it from a literal point of view, all the other feasts were celebrated but once a year, the sabbath every week. There is therefore a distinct line of demarcation; and so the second beginning is justified. But still the sabbath has the character of a feast, and with a most important aim, if in a way that marks no other; for this feast, and this alone, was to be continually repeated, as the end of the week came round. It was of all importance, that its twofold witness should be habitually before God’s people, the testimony to the creation as His work that sanctified it from the first, and the testimony of the great rest of God which His people are to enter and enjoy at the end.
Here let us not fail to notice the difference between this and what scripture calls “the Lord’s day.” Those who would and do confound the two understand neither. The sabbath day was originally and historically at the end of the week, when man had accomplished his ordinary round of toil. The end he gave to God. He had laboured himself for six days, on the seventh he rested. According to God’s law, it was not merely a seventh but “the” seventh day. No other day of the week would have done so well, or at all, if one looked at it with truly fear of God. From a utilitarian point of view, one day was as good as another; and this is man’s way of dealing with things. But God knows that man is prone to forget Him even in creation, above all to forget the gracious and final purpose of God pledged in the sabbath.
What is it that God means to bring in? A rest for Himself, a rest worthy of Himself, and a rest which He will share with His people. When will this be? Not till the end of all things. It is a wicked and fatal delusion that every man will enjoy that rest. No one can think or say so who believes what sin is, or that God will judge it, and the world by the Man risen from the dead and ordained for it. But while acknowledging that God must show His deep resentment against evil, we know also by faith that He has brought in a Deliverer and a deliverance for all who believe, in due time a manifest and glorious deliverance for creation. This is precisely what God will display in the day of Christ’s appearing; and His rest it will be.
Let me refer here to the striking New Testament scripture on the rest of God. In Heb 3 and 4 we find the Spirit of God (after pointing to Christ on high, Son of God, and Son of man, Who had died atoningly) to introduce this rest. What gave occasion to it was the evident danger for the Hebrew believers of taking their ease now, and thus forgetting they were pilgrims passing through the wilderness. They were so accustomed to connect with the coming of Messiah a present rest, that they could hardly understand why they were ushered into a scene of trial answering to His Who suffered without the gate, and were called to count it their privilege. They were in danger of seeking to make themselves at ease and comfortable here. The First Epistle to the Corinthians shows that they were not alone in this. It is a very natural snare to the heart of man, even for those who have found the Saviour. After a trying time of doubt and anxiety, the soul knowing what the judgment of God on sin is, and its own utter guilt and condemnation, there is often danger of reaction when deliverance in the Lord Jesus is once found.
The saints are apt to settle down, thinking that the campaign is over, because the great battle has been fought, and the victory is given through the Lord Jesus Christ. They flatter themselves that no great trouble can be more, because the deep soul-distress is closed. It is sufficiently plain that these Hebrews were in some such state. Hence the apostle not only reminds them later how joyfully they took their early spoliation and sufferings, but here instructs them that theirs is not yet the pattern of the settlement in the land, but like Israel to march through the desert. Accordingly we find that the whole argument of the Epistle supposes not the temple but the tabernacle, from first to last; and thus it hails from the camp, not from the kingdom to be set up in due time after the conquest of Canaan.
Hence it is said, “Let us therefore fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” (Heb 4:1 ). The apostle does not speak of believing in the Lord Jesus for present rest of conscience. Had this been the point before him, he would have boldly assured them that faith has no need to fear. To speak of the blood of Christ, and then exhort to fear, would be the denial of the glad tidings. For the gospel is the declaration of full remission, yea, of more than this, of reconciliation, of salvation of souls (1Pe 1:9 ), through the Lord Jesus. If forgiveness through Christ’s blood were in question, he would rather call on them to dismiss every fear; for, as the apostle John says in discussing the point, “perfect love casteth out fear.” It is not “perfect love” on our part (the law asked for this, and never could get it), but the perfect love of God, which is only revealed in and through our Lord and Saviour. What are we to fear then? Not the blood of Christ failing, not losing the remission of sins through change of mind at any moment from grace in God. Be afraid of settling down in this world; fear the coming short of the true outlook of pilgrims and strangers on the way to a better land. To have rested in the wilderness would have been fatal to Israel; and so we have to remember that this is not our rest, and that to settle down is virtually to deny and lose the rest to come.
In this Epistle the Spirit of God urges the necessity of going forward to the rest of God; and I press this as the only genuine meaning, because it is often applied to soul-rest, which it rather tends to enfeeble or destroy. That it is not within the scope of the passage of the text, we may see from verse 11, where we read, ”Let us labour (or, use diligence) therefore to enter into that rest.” What sort of a gospel would it be to tell people they must do so for rest of conscience? Evidently it would upset the grace of God, for that means no other than salvation by works. On the face of it, all can see that the apostle is addressing such Jews as professed Christ, who were in danger of slipping into present ease, instead of pressing through the wilderness world on their way to “that rest,” the rest of God’s glory.
Do not suppose that one overlooks Mat 11:28 , that in Christ is a present rest for faith. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” This is the rest of grace now, not of glory. Then follows something further too: ”Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” First, in pure sovereign favour, He gives rest unconditionally to all the weary that come; and then, when walking in the path of obedience and submission to Him, the faithful find rest. For if one be disobedient, one must have (as 1Jn 3 teaches) the heart ill at ease. Our heart condemns us; how then can be any rest of soul? But there remains a third sense: not only rest given by Christ as a present relief to the conscience; and, again, true rest of heart found in the path of obedience and learning of Him; but the rest of God, when it is no longer a question of man and sin and self-will and misery, but all the chequered scene of toil and suffering will be over; when God will rest in the satisfaction of His own love and glory, having brought His sons and His people into His everlasting rest, rest above and rest below.
Doubtless, as the apostle argues, God gave the sabbath at the beginning; but this was not His rest, for sin spoiled creation. Hence He says afterwards, “If they shall enter into my rest.” “If” implies that they had not entered it, and might fail also. So again, after Joshua (the “Jesus” of Heb 4:8 ) had put down the Canaanites (though never completing the conquest), after Israel had settled themselves in the land, was it then the rest of God? By no means; for the Psalm which speaks of that rest as not yet was written long after Adam and even Joshua. The conclusion is that “there remaineth therefore a rest ( , a sabbath keeping) for the people of God.” Consequently it is not yet come.
Further, the apostle strengthens this from another principle, namely, that one cannot be both working and resting in the same sense, at the same time. If one has entered into rest, he has done with works, even as is said of God Himself (ver. 10). But the bright day when we shall rest is not yet arrived. He therefore exhorts the saints to diligence meanwhile. Now is the time for work; and every one that has the love of Christ in such a world as this must feel it, for the simple reason that sin and wretchedness overspread the world. Divine love, whether in God or in His people, refuses to rest in evil or in misery. After Christ comes, it will not he so. “There remaineth therefore a sabbath-keeping for the people of God.”
Further, it is a mistake to suppose the sabbath is done with, for it is to be in force throughout the millennium. I am not speaking of the Lord’s day, when we very properly meet together as Christians; and let me say, so far from its being a mere question of man or the church appointing the Lord’s day, that it has the very highest divine sanction. So true is this, that a Christian in losing sight of the import, object, and character of the Lord’s day, would be more guilty than a Jew who dishonoured the sabbath day. But as the Lord’s day came in by the resurrection of Christ for the Christian and the church meanwhile, it will be the sabbath, and not the Lord’s day, when Jehovah God establishes the kingdom, and our Lord Jesus Christ reigns manifestly; when idolatry shall be abolished, superstition swept away, and every kind of iniquity which now raises its head will have met its end; when the groaning creation of this world will sing for joy. For one pities the man who thinks the world was only made to be spoiled. Certainly he who does not believe it is spoiled must be most lamentably wrong; but it is a gloomy and false thought that God made creation only to be ruined. As sure as the first Adam was the means of universal ruin for the creature, so the Second Man will be the great Deliverer not only of us but of it. He will reconcile to God all that He made, that is, all “things:” not all persons, for this is fatal error. In scripture you never read of all persons being reconciled.
One little word makes all the difference between blessed truth and hateful error. What can be more false than the infidel dream of universal restoration? God will judge all whose sins have not been borne away to faith in Christ and His cross.
There is a day coming when all creation shall rejoice, when the heavens and earth and all in them unite together. God has taken particular pains to express the earth’s joy also, and it is a singular proof of the infatuation of man that he cannot see it though clearly revealed. This will be the rest of God; and, when it comes, the sabbath (and not the Lord’s day) will again be the distinctive sign of God, which He will have observed and honoured through the whole earth. You will judge then from this that one is anything but an anti-sabbatarian. Yet it is an indisputable fact now that all is changed. We do not keep the last but the first day of the week. And what principle lies at the bottom of the change? That the Lord is risen indeed, and not only so, but is gone to heaven; and the first day of the week shines from the person of the risen Lord Jesus in the heavens, now opened, on a heavenly people who are as yet here, but going to be with Him there at His coming. Hence it must always follow that, when men confound the sabbath and the Lord’s day, they are earthly-minded. As the sabbath is bound up exclusively with the earth and an earthly people, so is the Lord’s day with those who are “heavenly.”
It is not the same principle which we find in the Lord’s day; for this is the intervention of divine power in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, after He had gone down into death to make propitiation for our sins, yea, to reconcile us and all things to God. Consequently the Lord’s day is an excellent day for spiritual toil, for the work of faith and the labour of love; and no one acquainted with Christ would think it wrong, if able, to preach a dozen sermons on that day, or to take many sabbath-day’s journeys to preach them. Were it the sabbath-day, he could not do so lightly. Thus they have a wholly different character. The source, nature, and end of the Lord’s day is marked out by grace in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, as the sabbath is by creation and the law of God.
It seemed good to the Lord then, and it is necessary for man, that there should be first the “rest truth of the sabbath set forth before we enter on the basis of all, and the ways of God. Before He gave the type of His redemption work, He hung out clearly and distinctly this initiatory pledge of rest at the end. “I am coming to have My rest (it means) but not to have it alone; you shall share it in glory with Me.” The sabbath is to be fulfilled in a day yet to come; and both for heaven and earth. But the rest is after all work is done, whether in type or anti-type.
THE PASSOVER.
Lev 23:4 , Lev 23:5 .
Here we come to a very distinct thing: God laying the foundation for all blessing. Mark first, He does not effect it hastily. There are many who think it would have been better if God had at the beginning given His Son to die for sinners. Instead of this He waited for 4,000 years and more. In His word we get the key to the difficulty. “In due season Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6 ). When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, come of woman, come under law that He might redeem, etc. (Gal 4:4-6 ). It was not on the first day of the first month that the passover was instituted, the great standing type of Christ slain for sinners, but on the fourteenth day. Was not God in this delay of importance in many ways testifying the fulness of time?
First, He leaves man to his own way; and then, lest man should complain that he had gone astray because abandoned to himself, God took him in hand and tested him under law. So Israel, as the centre of mankind, was placed under His government. What was the result? After all possible pains the tree bore more bad fruit. Israel at the close was worse than at the beginning. The end of man morally was the cross of Christ. They hated the Son and the Father. Therefore do we hear of Christ’s death at the consummation of the ages (Heb 9:26 ). It is not a mere chronological expression. God had tried man in various ways, as judgment, promise, law, rejection of His people, etc. which ended in nothing but wickedness and ruin. What does God then? He displaces alike man’s sin and his religion, which blinded him to sin as well as to God’s grace, by the infinite work of redemption; and this is what we have in the Feast of passover.
” 4 These [are] the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at even, [is the] passover to Jehovah” (vers. 4, 5). What was the great truth set forth in this Feast? God had intervened to deliver His people from the house of bondage. It was not because of any good in them; for the children of Israel were at that time worshipping false gods, and were utterly indifferent to the glory of the True. Next, if God delivers them, He must deliver them righteously. Pay particular attention to this. It is not simply a question of mercy in forgiving wicked people, but He will have them before Him on a foundation of right. He is a just God and a Saviour. Hence on that night He sent through the land a destroying angel to avenge sin. It was His judgment of evil, as the first thing impressed. He came down by that angel to deal with whatever was offensive to His nature and character. But one thing stayed the hand of the destroying angel, namely, the blood of the slain lamb. Wherever this was not on the doorposts and upper lintel, death reigned. Not that God was yet judging all men or all false gods. It was a sample, which testified practically what sin deserved, and what alone could screen from divine judgment. Jehovah declared by that blood on the sprinkled doorposts of the children of Israel, that only the death of a suited substitute could stay judgment.
If it was in the last degree solemn – the lamb judged for sin, what wondrous grace also! Judgment falling on the lamb; not on the guilty, but on the substitute! The judgment of God because of our sins Christ was given to endure, the spotless Lamb of God. What made the Lord Jesus sweat anticipatively as it were great drops of blood? Was simple dying before Him? This would lower the Lord below yourself, if you are a believer. A Christian rejoices in the thought of departing to be with Christ, Who alone suffered and died for our sins. But what meant that cry, “My God, my God, why didst thou forsake me?” It was the judgment of sin which then fell on Christ. It was not what the Jews did, nor Pontius Pilate, nor Herod, nor what man in general laid on Him.
We know the popular hymn says, “I lay my sins on Jesus.” But the truth is far better: God laid them there. If you or I had to bring our sins for expiation, we might have forgotten many; Jehovah laid the whole burden on Him. Hence the Lord suffered on the cross as never did before either any other or Himself. For if He had been bearing sins all His life, as some say, either He must have been forsaken of God all His life, or God must have acted as if sin was tolerable till then. Is either thought true? Neither; indeed without even an appearance of truth. Christ suffered once () for sins.
The judgment of God falling on the Lamb alone explains what sin is and calls for. The sprinkling of the blood on the doors answers to the believer’s application of Christ’s blood by faith to his own case. In this and this alone was seen that which made it a righteous thing to pass over sin. God’s judgment fell on His Son, because He is His Lamb Who was able to bear it. The blood of the Lamb is the witness of God’s judgment, but in the richest grace, because on His Son it fell. This was God’s basis; and let it be remembered that in these types we have not what Moses or others understood, but what God said and faith receives in and through our Lord Jesus.
Do you ask the authority for all this? 1Co 5:7 declares “Christ, our passover, was sacrificed for us.” Is not this ample warrant? The Holy Spirit says it to those who had been Gentiles and now were His church. In Egypt and before then He looked far beyond the Jew to another day; and in this day we find ourselves. But beyond us Christ’s death is the groundwork of all blessing, the blood of the slain Lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. We may see too, that it was not a question of continuous or repeated offering; as is argued in Heb 9:26 , “For now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Further, “He bore,” as Peter says, “our sins in His own body on* the tree.” The consequence of His work is perfect peace to the believer. If it were continually going on, one could not, one ought never here to, have settled peace. The perfect efficacy goes with the singleness of Christ’s offering, through righteousness as the apostle teaches in Rom 5 .
* The Authorised margin “up to” is not justified by Levitical usage in the LXX. which entirely conforms the textual rendering. Besides the verb is in the aorist, which expresses simply the fact and is transient not continuous which would require the imperfect. In every point of view the interpretation of Drs. John Brown, H. Bonar, and the like, is not only wrong but excluded by this scripture, as by others.
THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
Here is another feature to be noticed. The passover was followed immediately by the feast of unleavened bread. Not a single day was allowed to intervene. For as an ordinary rule, there was a space between these different feasts; but here is a plain exception to the rule. Let me ask who could, save by God’s power, have appreciated the force of this beforehand? Now that it is revealed, we may follow. Like Moses from the cleft of the rock, one can see Him as He passes before us; but who can go before Him? The passover was followed immediately by the feast of unleavened bread. There was not the lapse of a day between them – one being on the fourteenth, the other on the fifteenth, of the same month. As the feast of unleavened bread in the New Testament is treated as beginning with the killing of the paschal lamb, the immediate response of the Christian to Christ’s blood is to walk in holiness. Henceforth God will not have him to claim a single day to himself. At once he is called by the grace of God to own his responsibility to put away all leaven. We know from 1Co 5:7 that leaven is symbolic of corruption. “For also Christ, our passover, was sacrificed for us; wherefore let us keep the feast.” What feast? That of unleavened bread.
This differs in a weighty particular from the passover; for one day was kept in the latter case, seven days in the former. It may be assumed that all those who read their Bibles know the force of “seven days.” It was a complete cycle of time in connection with God’s people on the earth. “Day” might be used of heavenly or earthly things, but “seven days” intimated a full period for men on earth.
We may derive important instruction in God’s ways from all this. There are in scripture several applications of leaven. The Lord speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees, of the Sadducees, and of Herod. The Holy Ghost uses the expression “a little leaven” twice in the Epistles of Paul. From this we do not well to allow the thought that they are merely parallels. Each has its own force, though there is of course a common character. But as to all such passages, apt to be loosely huddled together, it is well that we should seek to discriminate. True wisdom is not manifested, as one of our sages says, by seeing resemblances in things which differ, but by discerning the real difference among those which resemble one another. We need to cultivate a sound judgment; but it is never got by hunting up so-called parallel passages.
It is written then that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Hence to many, as the same words appear in two different passages, the too rapid inference is that they point to the same thing. So far is this from being true that the application is wholly different. What then is the bearing of each? Pay attention to the principle, that, if we wish to understand any verse of scripture we must always interpret it by its context. In 1Co 5 leaven represents what is unclean, corrupting, and manifestly immoral. They were not to allow “the wicked person” in their midst, for evil spreads; and ever so little leaven, if allowed, defiles the whole lump. In Galatia evil was taking what we may call a religious or legal form (Gal 5:9 ). The Christians there were observing days, months, times, and years. They were crying up circumcision as a desirable supplement to faith. This was the Pharisaic leaven, as in Corinth was the Sadducean. The leaven of the Sadducees was the evil of free thought and licentious action. The leaven of the Pharisees was that of rigorous legalism and human tradition, as that of Herod was worldly time-serving.
” 6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of unleavened bread to Jehovah; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do. 8 And ye shall present to Jehovah a fire-offering seven days; on the seventh day [is] a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do” (vers. 6-8).
Keeping the feast of “unleavened bread” typifies the feeding on Christ, on Him in His unsullied purity. The bitter herbs were eaten with the lamb’s body on the paschal night; self-judgment accompanied faith in God’s mercy through the Lamb. But the unleavened bread was their food through all the seven days. This involved and required the maintenance of personal holiness. No leaven must be found in their houses. So scripture insists: Rom 6:7 , Rom 6:8 ; 1Co 5:6 ; Gal 5:6 ; Eph 4:5 ; 1Th 4:1-8 ; Heb 12:14 , etc. If we do lift up our hands to the Lord, let it be piously, without wrath or doubting; let the walk and ways be under the sense of responsibility, as separate to the Lord; let love be without dissimulation and with incorruptness.
But is this all? Not so. Leaven was to be banished from the house as well as from the individual. You may often find people rightly jealous as to personal walk, yet to the last degree lax as to ecclesiastical impurity. The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But corporate purity is a worthless pretension without due regard to personal holiness. Bring not horror of clericalism or of sects into shame by lack of a lowly spirit and a holy walk. We are bound to eschew all evil, whether collective or individual. In short, what God has here at heart is that we should please Him in every relation, in what is collective as well as our individual walk. It is far from all; but it covers the present time here below. The feast of “unleavened bread” takes in the entire pilgrimage, our whole course public as well as private. Thus we may see that, if the feast was to begin the first day after the Passover, the greatest care is taken to show that it was to be continued throughout our actual sojourn on earth. To keep this feast is ever our calling while here.
THE WAVE SHEAF AND THE WAVE LOAVES.
The foundation of all the ways of God for a fallen people is laid not in grace only but righteousness; it is the death and the efficacy of the blood of the Lamb. Theology would have ordered otherwise, and made it the law or Christ’s obedience of it. But mark it well; the paschal feast is not even a witness of the incarnation, nor of the Lord’s path on earth; but His blood staying divine judgment. God begins with Christ’s death; and no wonder. He could not overlook our sins; and there they were for the first time righteously met, and one may add, as far as the type goes, for the last time as well as the first. They were perfectly met for us by Him. It made no difference to the revealing Spirit whether the facts were present or future, so; far as the communication of God’s mind was concerned. All was before His eyes, though in Christ and after redemption the truth comes out with deeper and infinite fulness.
For every scripture is divinely inspired, and it was just as impossible that God could lie before His atoning work was accomplished as when it was; and that is in part my reason for taking this chapter for consideration. It is high time for every Christian to stand for the word of God, and for every written word of His. The difficult times of the last days are come, Those that hesitate their dislike, or openly declare it, against what they call “verbal” inspiration, are apt to lose all right sense of God’s word. It may be profitable, for such as shrink from the inspiration of the Bible, to say what remains for themselves to depend on. If you give up to the infidel the words of scripture, he will not leave you the thoughts of God. You may try to separate the truth from the words of God; but truth is communicated by words; and the apostle claims to speak “in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” (1Co 2:13 ) The Bible is the only book which possesses such a character: and the Christian who is led by the Spirit in searching the word of God will learn how worthy of confidence is the only and absolutely perfect communication of His mind.
On the paschal night God acted as Judge. This was necessary and righteous. How dangerous it is when people talk about His love, where they ought to think of their guilt and bow before His solemn judgment of all sin!
Love is not to be denied for an instant; but even the boundless love of God cannot treat with sin, except by His own judgment of it. If sin were to be judged in our persons, we must be lost for ever. Therefore grace provided an offering, the only adequate one, in Christ on the cross; and accordingly all the holy unsparing force of God’s judgment fell on the head of the Lord Jesus there and then. It is not merely that He died in love in order to meet our need – this He did most surely; but there was far more and of deeper import, for He met the judgment of God. He suffered what sin deserved at the hand of God. And this is so essential to truth; that one could not call a true believer in the atonement him who only sees Christ dying in love to man, and so only takes in the outward fact and human side of the cross.
It is patent to all that those who that day only saw Christ crucified were none the better, but rather worse. They were hardened at the sight, and afterwards more careless than ever. Those whom grace gave to believe what God wrought therein were saved from wrath. Shelter from judgment was shadowed in the blood of the slain Lamb.
Thereon immediately (and there is nothing morally more remarkable in these feasts) follows the feast of Unleavened Bread. Indeed as may be seen elsewhere, the two are so bound up together that they are both sometimes called the Passover. Not one day is allowed to separate them; and this because God will not allow that the remission of our sins brought in by the blood of the Lamb shall be for ever so little separated from our responsibility to holiness. The moment the Israelite was under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, he was forbidden to eat leavened bread, or to have leaven in any shape within his house.
THE WAVE SHEAF.
” 9 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say unto them, 10 When ye come into the land that I give to you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf (omer) of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah to be accepted for you; on the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf, a he-lamb without blemish, a yearling, for a burnt offering to Jehovah; 13 and the oblation (meal offering) thereof, two-tenths of fine dour mingled with oil, a fire-offering to Jehovah for a sweet odour, and a drink-offering thereof of wine, a fourth of a hint 14 And ye shall not eat bread, or roast corn, or green ears, until the same day that ye shall have brought the offering of your God; an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (vers. 9-14).
Now we come to another principle, which is made definite by a new speech of Jehovah to Moses. Yet in fact the Wave-sheaf was during the feast of Unleavened Bread on the morrow after its great sabbath. It was not merely that God was at the cross as the Judge of sin. What was shown at Christ’s resurrection? Without doubt, as it is written, that God, the very One Who smote Jesus, raised Him from the dead.. Sin was condemned, not for every one, but for those who believed. For those who do not believe there will only be the greater condemnation; for their sins are aggravated by the fact that, in the face of God, they have despised and rejected the Son of God; and, more than that, the Son of man dying as a propitiation for sins. Thus the divine judgment of sin on the cross makes the case of the unbeliever incomparably graver; for he is not only a sinner, but refuses the grace of God that would save him at all cost to Himself.
It is of express design, in fact a new utterance of Jehovah to Moses; not precisely a new feast, but at any rate introductory to a new feast and indeed the whole pivot on which it turns. What is the bearing of this? The reader, it may be taken for granted, believes that every word of God has a meaning, and a most important meaning. You do not require to be reminded that God’s word before Christ is just as truly inspired as the New Testament since.
The Wave-sheaf then is introduced as quite separate from the Passover and accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread. But in point of fact the Wavesheaf was waved on the first day of the week that followed the passover. So the Lord was crucified on Friday, lay in the grave on the sabbath or last day of the week, and rose on the first day or Sunday as the Gentiles called it. He was raised from the dead on the very day the Wave-sheaf was waved before Jehovah. Little did the priest who waved it conceive the power and character of the truth set forth in the first-fruits he was thus presenting before the God of Israel. But the Risen one and Raiser of the dead had left the grave and broken its power for believers, whether they knew it or not; but if the Jews refused to listen, the Gentiles by grace would hear. Thus the type of the Wave-sheaf begins a new order of things, distinguished from all before, as befits Him Who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, as the type of the Christian gathering (or the church) is seen immediately after. The church is dependent on Christ’s resurrection.
Indeed there is no apter figure of resurrection in the Bible than that of the grain falling into the ground and dying, and then springing up. It is the Lord’s own illustration in Joh 12:24 : “Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Of whom was this spoken? Of His own death and resurrection, with the mighty consequences. If He is not raised, vain is apostolic preaching, and vain the Christian’s faith. But Christ is raised from among the dead, first-fruits of those fallen asleep. So here it is said, “And ye shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you” (ver. 11). Nor is “salvation” ever known without it, though souls may be born again. For it is the light of His resurrection which chases away all gloom and dries every tear of sorrow. It is the resurrection of the Lord which brings out the acceptance of the believer without question before God. In His death our evil was dealt with atoningly, the sole righteous basis for the forgiveness of sinful man; but Christ’s resurrection declares that the sins are for ever gone for those who believe. “He was delivered for our offences, and raised for our justification.” “On the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” The type is fully confirmed by the striking coincidence of the plain and wondrous facts.
This then is what we have prefigured in the Wave-sheaf: Christ raised by God’s power and the Father’s glory. For His power entered the grave of the Lord Jesus, after all that God felt and could do against sin was exhausted in the cross. Therein was He so glorified that it was His right to raise up Jesus from the dead, never ceasing till He set Him at His own right hand in heaven, and gave Him a name which is above every name. As man He died; as man He is raised up end exalted. As a divine person, the Son has everything; but He became man, and humbled Himself, yea, to death of the cross; and now, in resurrection, He is taken up as man by the power of God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.
With the Wave-sheaf there was to be no offering for sin. This is a remarkable exception. If Israel or the Christian had been meant, there must have been a Sin and Trespass offering. Here it is Christ, and as fittingly there was no such offering. When it was a question of bringing Israel out of Egypt, blood was put on every door-post. The Passover was thus a striking type of holiness following. Here is a fresh truth in the Wave-sheaf. For there are two great principles: one displayed in the death of Christ; the other in His resurrection; and these are so distinct that God employs two different types to show them forth in our chapter.
It is certain that this typifies Christ’s resurrection, and none but His; for we see there was no offering for sin connected with it. He was the only man since the world began who could be presented to God without blood. An offering for sin was needed, even for the high priest, “as for the people, so also for himself;” but not so for Christ, Who died for our sins. It is clearly then a question of Christ only. For here we have the two great offerings of sweet savour: the Burnt-offering and the Meal-offering, both speaking of acceptance personally in His perfection; and of a double perfection – perfection of life lived, in the meal-offering, and perfection of life given up, or of death, in the Burnt-offering. There was of course the accompanying Drink-offering, but not a trace of anything inconsistent with the savour of rest that God found in Christ; for it is of Him, and of Him alone, that the Spirit here speaks prophetically.
The next verse helps to explain an expression in Luk 6:1 , about which very likely some here present have found difficulty, as certainly most people elsewhere. “And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the cornfields: and his disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.” What is the force of ‘`the second sabbath after the first”? To explain this it is of little use to send you to the commentators: for they are all at sea about it, as too often about difficulties for which help would be welcome. Some have had recourse to a harsh way of getting out of the difficulty by cutting out the word (for in Greek it is only a single word, ): a very dangerous principle where the Bible is concerned. One celebrated critic thus guilty repented, virtually confessing the fault by replacing it. But it is no bad moral lesson for us when we can say, “I do not know.” This at least is true and lowly: and if one looks up for light, it is well; for thus God can give what is lacking.
Let us look then at verse 14, for it is important, and helps to clear up a phrase otherwise dark. It is a vital claim of piety all through scripture that God must have His portion first, before the believer can becomingly take and enjoy his. One feels how right it is that God should be considered in the first place: it is due to Him, and true in everything; and if we do not render it, we must suffer the bitter consequence. So distinctly was this impressed on the statutes and ways of Israel, that no godly person then would have attempted to touch his corn before the first sheaf had been waved before Jehovah. How blessedly this applies to Christ, we all feel! Once Christ is the waved first-fruits, what of blessing may not follow?
For remember that Christ is a man, not only the eternal Son of God, but One Who having become man has accomplished redemption. To His resurrection the Wave-sheaf pointed in type, and this for our acceptance. As man risen from the dead He goes up to heaven. He was not taken up in a merely exceptional way as an individual, like Enoch or Elijah. He was head of the new family whose sins He had borne, going up into the glory of God, accepted for man, that is, for those who believe. By man, when He came here below, we know how He was rejected and crucified; but God raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.
Here then the disciples were going with their Master through the cornfields; and, being hungry, according to the gracious permission of Jehovah they on the sabbath plucked and ate the ears of corn. Now it is said here that this particular sabbath was “the second after the first,” or second-first. How striking that this should be the first sabbath on which it was allowable! It was of no use to show this to unbelieving Pharisees. For what did they care for the truth? Their only wish was through the disciples to damage the Lord, being blind instruments in the hand of Satan. But the Lord vindicates amply His guiltless followers. On this we need not enter, save just to sift out the force of the term in question. The first sabbath on the paschal feast was emphatically said to be a high or great day (Joh 19:31 ); and no wonder when we take in what God foresaw. But so it was in Jewish estimate. Alas for man! It was the very day in which Christ lay in the grave, the only day, sabbath as it was, marked by that awful crime throughout its entire evening and morning. There was only a part of the other two days, out of the three, but each reckoned a day and night. On that first sabbath, immediately before the Wave-sheaf as it was, no Jew would have partaken of the corn. The day after it was the first day of the week, when the Wave-sheaf was offered. The following sabbath was “the second-first” immediately after the Wave-sheaf. The one was the first, the next the second-first because associated with it.
But why dwell on this? To show how precious is scripture to explain scripture. What else can? Yet we need the Holy Spirit to apprehend it aright. The word “second-first” occurs nowhere but in this verse of Luke. We see the value of the Old Testament to understand the New, not only of the New to understand the Old. Holy scripture is inspired and profitable: yet it is a fact, as singular as it is sure, that we only appreciate intelligently the Old when we are at home in the New. They both go together for faith and blessing, as they ought; and the key to both is found in Jesus the Saviour alone, the Christ of Israel, and to reign over all nations too, as well as Head of the church as He is now. For we must not limit or confound but confess His glories.
THE WAVE LOAVES, OR FEAST OF WEEKS.
Next let us turn to the feast of verses 15 et seqq. ” 15 and ye shall count to you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete; 16 even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new oblation (meal-offering) to Jehovah. 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves of two tenths: they shall be baked with leaven, the first-fruits to Jehovah. 18 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 to Jehovah with their meal-offering and their drink-offerings, even a fire-offering of a sweet odour to Jehovah 19 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. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits, a wave-offering before Jehovah with the two lambs: they shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest. 21 And ye shall make proclamation on the self-same day: a holy convocation shall it be to you; no manner of servile work shall ye do: an ever-lasting statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
” 22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, and the gleaning of the harvest thou shalt not gather; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am Jehovah your God” (vers 15-22)
There is the peculiar expression of fulness here, such as we hear of nowhere else. This feast only is marked out by seven sabbaths intervening It is the feast of weeks, but among the Hellenists or Greek-speaking Jews, the number fifty, as is well known, has given the name to this feast, which is therefore called “Pentecost.” What then was fulfilled when the day of Pentecost was fully come? The Father made good His promise, that incomparable promise of which the Lord Himself had said, ”It is expedient for you that I go away.” What could outweigh the blessedness of His presence with His disciples on earth? The gift of another Advocate, not merely gifts but Himself baptizing them, no longer in hope but accomplished in fact.
Therefore they were told on that day to offer a new Meal-offering. I daresay you are all familiar with the repugnance that many, believers even, have to looking at the church as a new thing. They like to think of it as that which has always been and which shall always go on till eternity. Yet it is remarkable that not only does Paul give it the name of the “one new man,” but here Moses calls it a “new meal-offering.” There was a Meal-offering before, unambiguously shadowing Christ. What did the “new meal-offering” on the day of Pentecost mean? I leave it to yourselves, to your own conscience and intelligence: the answer is so certain that one need not say more about it. At that day began here below a thing so new that it was entirely without precedent. Compare 1Co 12:12 .
Again, in verse 17, we hear of “two waveloaves.” Mark the association with Christ. He was the Wave-sheaf, and He alone: these were Wave-loaves, and there were to be two. Do you ask if it be not said that the church was a mystery hid for ages and generations? How then can it be thus typified here? My answer is, God took care, though giving this type, not to reveal the mystery. He did show some important truths that meet in the mystery, but never disclosed itself. For instance, if He had meant to reveal it in this type, would it not, if one may reverently so speak, have been spoken of as “one loaf?” When the mystery was revealed, it was certainly marked as “one new man,” “one body,” etc.; and in the sign of the Lord’s Supper we have, not two loaves, but one bread or one loaf symbolising one body. The time then had not come to reveal the mystery; for Christ had not been rejected, nor was redemption yet wrought. Consequently the Spirit of God has only given us here the witness of our association with Him; what may be called a shadow, not the very image. The symbol was plain in the one loaf when the church began.
Some excellent men have supposed the two loaves to be the Jew and the Gentile; but it seems to be too much to assume. Ecclesiastical history may assure us that Peter and Paul founded two churches at Rome; but we know that the church of Rome was founded by neither apostle, and indeed by no apostle. It is perfectly certain from scripture that the saints in Rome were gathered long before an apostle went there; and it is very hard to learn on what ground they ever went there, except as prisoners of the Lord. Peter may have been crucified there; Paul went there to prison, and on the second occasion to death; but as to founding the Roman church, they never did; and no claim is put in for any other apostle.
Further, in the book of The Acts (so called) we have the fullest evidence of the care then taken to avoid having two churches anywhere. When Philip went down to Samaria, though people were converted and baptized, there was no church formed till the apostles Peter and John went down. Thus the link was kept up with the church in Jerusalem in the most careful manner. Of laying on of hands we hear not in Jerusalem, there being no necessity for it that day; in Samaria without it there might have been ground taken for an independent church, of which there is no trace in scripture. Geographically there may be ever so many churches, but there is only one church of God: but one communion is recognised on earth. No doubt many persons are exceedingly sore as to the point; it is usual when people feel their weakness. What they need to see is that it is no question of opinion or will, but of submission to God and His word.
Assuredly the two Wave-loaves do not mean two churches, a Jewish and a Gentile: the very worst notion possible, one may add, as it keeps up the old distinction; while the very essence of the gospel, as well as of the one body, is to break all this down, to unite as well as to save, in Christ.
When God speaks of a witness, His regular way is by at least “two.” So we read “that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” When there was to be a full witness, and not a barely valid or sufficient testimony, there were three. So the Lord was three days in the grave; there was the fullest witness to His death. Two witnesses were necessary. And so it will be by-and-by, when things come to a serious pass for the truth in Jerusalem. There will be “His two witnesses:” not that we need to understand this said numerically, but according to the figure of adequacy. Here Christ was risen, the Wave-sheaf. What witness was given next of the power of His resurrection? The assembly, as the two Wave-loaves. The Christian company are witnesses, not to the law of God like Israel, but to His grace in Christ risen from the dead. Such is the contrast that Paul brings out in 2Co 3 , where he speaks of our having Christ written on us. He takes particular pains to show that it is not on tables of stone. This he leaves to the Jew, who, without doubt, was called to bear witness to the law of Jehovah, as the Christian is to a dead and risen Christ in the power of the Spirit.
The Wave-loaves, we read, were to be of fine flour baken with leaven. Here are two constituents in the type, so opposed to each other that one who knew their use elsewhere might well wonder what to think of them here. Fine flour! – why, this is like Christ, pure without sin: but leaven! – this is like ourselves, naturally corrupt end corrupting; and is not this just what scripture teaches? It is exactly where so many find a difficulty about the two natures; but really it is hard to find an excuse for such want of light as to both scripture and themselves. Christians ever so young in truth should not be slow to believe that they have two natures within them: one craving after what is evil, the old habits of self; the other delighting in the will of God and loving what is of Christ. We have the truth plainly in Epistles like those to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians. Here we have the type to guard against the snare. Moses refutes all pretension to perfection in the flesh. For we have two seemingly incompatible things mingled in what typifies Christians – fine flour and leaven. Yet sad experience tallies with it. Not that there is the least excuse for yielding to sin; but sin is there, set out by leaven, not working but baked in the bread.
Thus we see how truth all hangs together, and from first to last God above reveals perfect truth. Man, without Him, can only find out and utter what is untrue in spiritual things. Our part in the things of God is not to theorise, but to believe. But the Spirit is as necessary to the understanding of the word, as the word is the necessary material for the Spirit to use. Hence it is that one really finds the truth, not as a mere student but rather as a believer. God is dealing with the heart and conscience. We cannot separate growth in the truth from the spiritual state of the soul: if we essay it, we may appear to run on fast in “mastering” the Bible; but it is to be feared that the next step will be a fall.
Again, in ver. 18, we read of the accompanying offerings of sweet savour. The Christian should have the sense of complete acceptance through and in Christ before our God and Father. But even that is not all. In verse 19 we are told of Sin-offerings and sacrifice of Peace-offerings. “Then ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of Peace-offerings.” With the Wave-sheaf there was enjoined a Burnt-offering and a Meal-offering. It is just the same here: the church by grace has the same acceptance as Christ had in Himself. The object of redemption was that we might be even now as completely freed from sin, yea, and as acceptable before God as the blessed Saviour. He in His own perfection, we in virtue of His work for us. Nothing can be plainer than the type, unless it be the divine explanation in the New Testament. Consequently we have the same figures and similar language used; but now we come to a different thing, for there is a striking difference. With the Wave-loaves there was to be a Peace-offering, and also a Sin-offering; there was none in the case of Christ. In Him was no sin. It is not merely that Christ never sinned, but in Him was no sin; and this must be particularly pressed. He never had a sinful nature, else He must have required a Sin-offering for Himself. For it was absolutely needful that an offering for sin should be essentially sinless. And again, when it was a question of Him or of His person, Peace-offerings have no place. The Peace-offering was when communion was restored (or when it was not in question); but thus it followed the Sin-offering. Compare Lev 7:13 , where we learn that cakes of leavened bread were to be offered with the sacrifice of Peace-offerings for thanksgiving. So it must be where we are directly concerned, but not in what foreshadowed Christ. The application is to us and not to Christ.
The Feast of Weeks then is a distinct type of God’s grace to, and ways with, the Christian calling. It is hardly possible that any one possessing an intelligent claim to the name of believer should question the fact. The Feast tallied to the very day with God’s sending down the Holy Spirit, and beginning to gather together His scattered children in one. No doubt they all were Jews or Proselytes at first, but along with it went this remarkable peculiarity: they were Jews that spoke every language under heaven. Jews that spoke not only the language of Canaan but the tongues of the Gentile world. Was it not a most significant fact? More than this: not only were such brought in, but Jews of Palestine, yea of Galilee, were employed by the power of the Holy Spirit to address them in the various Gentile languages never before learnt. The miraculous sign showed the widely-flowing grace of God that was come and to go out. It was not as yet that all creation, groaning in bondage, was to be delivered, but the whole of it under heaven was to hear the gospel. Hence the power of the Spirit enabled the unlettered fishermen of Galilee thus to address their fellow Jews in the language of every land into which the judgment of God had scattered men.
Besides a gathering power to Christ as a centre, grace would meet men in the variety of tongues to which the judgment of God had doomed them at Babel. For it needs no reasoning to prove that God’s work at Pentecost was not merely to save sinners. Those who say so have a most superficial idea of the great work done that day. Undoubtedly salvation was going on, and it was a new fact. Salvation before this was only held out in promise. Now the promise was accomplished. Clearly then those who believe salvation to be no more than promised do not understand the immense step God had taken in His ways. It is really because of the low estimate they have, not perhaps of Christ, but of His work. The root of the mischief lies there; it may seem a distant point, but, when approached, it will be found as the rule to be an inadequate view of redemption. There is not the full reception of God’s testimony within. Of course one speaks here of soul-salvation, as we read in 1Pe 1:9 , “Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of your souls.” The salvation of the body is not come yet; the salvation of the soul is as complete as it ever can be. This is Christianity, in fact; which comes in after the work of Christ was done, to save the soul before He comes again to save the body. It is exactly within that interval that we find ourselves now.
But there is another thing besides salvation, and that is the kingdom of God in mystery, for it is not yet manifested. The Lord Jesus is exalted, but not in a public manner. He is not yet on His own throne, but on His Father’s. He is not therefore in the New Testament spoken of as the King now reigning, but as rejected and glorified on high at God’s right hand. “King of saints,” in Rev 15:3 , is often cited to prove that He now reigns by those who ought to know that it is a clerical error discarded by all critics, and on evidence of the most satisfactory kind. Thus, while there is now a kingdom of God, it is of course in a mysterious way, with its own distinctive principles accordingly. All Christians are priests and kings destined to reign with Christ. None who bear His name can escape the responsibility of such a place of privilege; while those who are in the secret by the Spirit suffer with Him now, as they walk in grace and will be glorified together.
Besides salvation and the kingdom, there is a still more wondrous work going on at the same time – the calling of the church. Let me warn you against confounding these things. This confusion has been one of the early causes of the ruin of Christendom, and essentially characterises popery, which could not subsist without it. Papists abuse the idea of the kingdom to get earthly power. But it is gross ignorance of the word of God; for it is the “kingdom and patience” now, not His power. The Lord Jesus always draws a marked distinction between the church and the kingdom, as in Mat 16 and 18.
These three things then go on now: first, the salvation of the soul; secondly, the kingdom of God, or of heaven, as the case may be (which differ somewhat but are substantially the same great fact); and thirdly also, the church, the body of Christ. This last was in a general way intimated in the portion of the chapter we had before us under the figure of the two Wave-loaves.
On another word of the Spirit we must be brief. In verse 22 we read, ”And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field.” What is the meaning of this? Does it not seem rather singular that, after the two Wave-loaves have disappeared from the scene, good corn should be found still in “thy field?” The Wave-loaves, as all agree, mean the Christian body. Some may go farther back than others, but none deny that it refers to Christians at any rate. How comes it, when these ere gone, that we hear of grain left in the corners of the field? Can the Wave-loaves typify all saints? Does not such an instance as this confirm that true believers will be on the earth after the church has gone on high and before the day of Jehovah? There will be some little good corn. Of course they are not members of the one body then complete. But God has other purposes, and purposes for both the Jew and the Gentile; as here some corn was to be left for the poor and the stranger.
In the corner of the field then corn was to be left. It is not meant by this that members of Christ will be left behind by the Lord when He comes for His own, but that God’s Spirit will work in another way, and that believers will be called after the church is gone. They will be found in the little interval which follows, in the last or seventieth Week of Daniel.
If any one wishes to trace the history of this transitional space, the details of it will be found in the latter half of Daniel and the central parts of the Revelation. The Psalms are full of their sorrowful experience but also of their blessed comfort in faith, and of their aspirations in hope before the day of His appearing. There may be read the full answer to the question of the corn which is to be left in the corners of the field.
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
We find ourselves in presence of an entirely new scene from verse 23. ” 23 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 24 In the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye shall have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 No manner of work of labour shall ye do, and ye shall present a fire-offering to Jehovah.” So far from the gospel being a continuous work to the end of the world, as many suppose, we see here that the Lord will begin a fresh testimony with a suited instrumentality for this new aim when the church is gone. Observe that it is said here ”in the seventh month;” this was the last month in which Jehovah instituted a feast. He here brings to a completion the circle of His ways on the earth and for Israel.
In the very beginning then of this closing period of God’s dealings, what do we read? “A memorial of blowing of trumpets.” God is inaugurating a fresh testimony. The trumpet is clearly a figure of His intervention to announce some signal change. It may be for judgment, as we find in some cases; it may be a distinct testimony in grace, as we know elsewhere. It is clearly a loud summons from God to people on the earth. Here, as we read, it is not merely a blowing of trumpets, but “a memorial” of blowing of trumpets. It is a recall of what had long passed out of memory. It is God calling to mind what had once been before Him, but long dead and gone. What can this be? It is the recall of His ancient people on the earth. The Jew is again brought into remembrance before God. No wonder that there should be such “a memorial of blowing of trumpets.” Hundreds, one might say thousands, of years had passed since they had stood before Him as His people. For the return from Babylon was only a partial work: as a whole, Israel never returned, but remained a dispersion over the world. Where was the bulk of them? They were lost among the Gentiles; and so to this day they have remained in a peculiar condition, unlike any other since the world began. They are in all countries without possessing one of their own, and yet a people; they are without a king or a prince, and yet a people; without the true God and without a false god, yet a people (Hos 3 ): a standing rebuke to the infidel, yet largely and deeply infidel themselves!
But this very people, as the same prophecy lets us know, are yet to return to their land, and seek Jehovah their Lord and David their king; they shall fear Jehovah and His goodness in the latter days. But what does God do in the first place? He awakens them. The day of shadows is gone for ever. The cross of Christ has closed unrealities. By the power of His resurrection the Christian is introduced into the new creation. The old is gone, the new come; and before God we have our place in Christ. When this work is finished, grace will begin to act in Israel, and they shall be awakened.
Nothing more distinctly proves that God will have done with the Christian; for the gospel went out to the Gentiles (though to the Jew first), and in the church, as in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. The Feast of Trumpets is God’s taking up Israel afresh to awaken them. Undeniably then this feast is after and quite distinct from Passover and Pentecost in which we have our interest. Hence the first thing disclosed in it is God’s loud summons to a people who once had a place before Him and again come into remembrance for mercy, not judgment. It is evident that this could not consistently apply to the gospel that has been at work singe Christ’s death and resurrection. We have had His sacrifice, and call to practical holiness, and the gift of the Spirit long ago. But when God has done with our blessing, the chapter reveals that in the seventh month dead Israel is to be raised from the grave by God’s trumpet, as Ezekiel predicted long after (Eze 37 ). As this is clearly a new work for a people long disowned, let us trace what light other scriptures furnish on it.
Let us refer to the Psalms. There you may learn how truly they and the prophets agree with this figure in the law. See Psa 81 . There is a plain enough testimony as to its forge: “Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.” If men were not prejudiced, none could deny the application to Israel. The moon, that luminary which wanes and loses her brightness, once more renews her light, as mercy will do for the rebellious people.
How strikingly is this to be verified in Israel! It could not be said of the world-church, or Christendom. The apostasy of the Gentile is fatal. Take Babylon; and what does scripture teach as to this? Babylon never recovers her old light; Babylon is the corrupt woman who assumes the credit of being the bride whilst false to Christ, a mere harlot with the kings of. the earth. Once the Roman empire carried her, but this she has no more. Once she was drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. Still she has a golden cup in her hand, full of abomination and the unclean things of her fornication. But her end will be judgment and destruction: no renovation for her; no new moon shining out in fresh strength and brightness. Babylon will never rise again. Destruction is determined, and determined from the Lord God, but by the hand of the revived Roman empire and its satellite kings, avenging those she had corrupted too long.
It is quite different with Israel, which never had the privileges of the church. The Jew was under the law: what did he know of being under grace as we are? By and by Israel will be put under the new covenant; but this cannot take place till the trumpets have blown once more, and the new moon is shining, as we hear in the Psalm, the new moon at the set time of God. The language is suited for Israel, and not for the church. They sing and make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob. Why confound this with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Why deny Israel’s hope of mercy?
How mischievous the perversion to apply everything of the sort (the blessing at least, not the curse) to the church! Are we not blessed in heavenly places? We are entitled to take delight in these promises; but it is not truly to enjoy them if we misappropriate them to ourselves. Let us rejoice that they are yet in store for other people, for Israel in the latter days. We have the new covenant in spirit, if not letter; we have also our own special privileges far beyond Israel’s, even in the days of the Kingdom.
If we know any converted, are we to be jealous of their blessing? Are we not to rejoice that the grace of God which visited ourselves reaches out to many others? that it will embrace a larger circle by-and-by? So here, when we see in the scriptures that loved but guilty Israel is to emerge from the grave, from their long sinful and dense darkness of unbelief, why wish to hear only of the church? Indeed it is to lower our character of blessing from heaven to earth. Let us rather rejoice that at length God will awaken His people and accomplish all His earthly purposes not only in them but in all the nations through them.
Here let me briefly call your attention to a passage on this subject poorly enough rendered in the Authorised Version: – “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel’, (Luk 2:32 ). “A light for revelation to the Gentiles” in the R. V. is no better; but the margin is right. It should be “A light for revelation (or, unveiling) of [the] Gentiles.” This means that Christ is a light for bringing Gentiles into divine view; and it is accomplishing now, besides His being the glory of Israel by and by. The Gentiles, instead of being in darkness as they once were in the ways of God, have now, as privilege and responsibility, the true testimony of God. Not before the millennium will He be the glory of Israel. The Gentiles were once in the dark as the Jew is now; ere long the Lord will come for the glory of His people Israel. Luke’s is the only Gospel where we have the coming of Christ thus viewed as present light for revealing the Gentiles and as future glory for Israel. It is important for us to seize the intended and real bearing of God’s word. We must not be too hasty in assuming it; but when assured of it, let us hold it fast and use it for the Lord with one another.
Psa 81 then speaks of the blowing of trumpets distinctly in connection with Israel. No one doubts there is the figure of a trumpet for ourselves – in a general figure now, as in 1Co 14 , or in a precise and future way most impressively given, as in 1Co 15 . But it is never in our case “a memorial of blowing of trumpets.” Thus the “last trump” is a blessed and solemn word as to us. What is its source and bearing? A figure taken from the military usages of the Romans, then familiar to everybody. We must remember that the Romans were at that time masters of the world, and that most people knew too well what their legions were. Few and distant were the places where men did not feel the grinding iron bondage of that imperial power. Josephus is one who describes their encampment, and lets us know the various and successive signals given for the different movements of the army. But finally sounded the “last trump;” and, the moment this was heard, they all moved off. This may serve to explain the Spirit’s application of the phrase to the final summons of His people for meeting the Lord in the air.
Another scripture has its interest here, Isa 27:12 . “And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall beat off from the flood of the river unto the torrent of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.” This is the gathering, not of believers to heaven, but of the children of Israel to their land. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown; and they shall come who were perishing in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” Is not the application evident and sure? “Perishing” would not apply to the gathering of the church to heaven. We shall be glorified in that day, after being objects of grace, as Christians, and Christ’s body on earth. It is equally clear that, just before God interferes, the Jewish people are to be in the last extremity of tribulation, and set upon by all their enemies, when their Deliverer appears.
As long as Israel is unnoticed or chastised by God, the Gentiles can be peaceable. But directly any movement for good is afoot, and God works to make Israel the head and not the tail, the old enmity soon revives. In that day they shall be gathered by God to Jerusalem. It is not Jerusalem above, where our portion is by grace; but Jerusalem on earth, where Jehovah in due time shall reign according to His goodness and many promises. The future awakening of Israel then is clearly what answers to the Feast of Trumpets.
In Mat 24:29-31 it is written, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” The context proves that His elect here are of Israel, not elect Christians. Such a remark may not satisfy some, who, whenever they see good things held out in Scripture, are apt to assume that it must be for the church. But we can well afford to rejoice in the future gathering of Israel. Have our brethren learnt the parable from the “fig tree “? What is its forge? Not more surely is the rose the emblem of one part of our land and the thistle of another one could name, than the fig tree was similarly used of Israel. “When its branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” They have had their long winter, and soon shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings for them.
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
Next, we come to the most solemn of all the feasts, the great Day of Atonement. ” 26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, 27 Also on the tenth of this seventh month is the day of atonement: a holy convocation shall it be to you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and present a fire-offering to Jehovah. 28 And ye shall do no manner of work on the same day; for it is a day of atonement; to make atonement for you before Jehovah your God. 29 For every soul that is not afflicted on that same day, he shall be out off from among his peoples. 30 And every soul that doeth any manner of work on that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 No manner of work shall ye do: an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 A sabbath of rest it shall be to you, and ye shall afflict your souls; on the ninth of the month at even, from even to even, shall ye keep your sabbath.”
But it is well that we should observe how events crowd on during this eventful month. When the day comes and on its fulfilment, God will soon finish His work on the earth. Be will at length put out the evil that had so long ravaged among men, and bring His ancient people into fulness of blessing, with the world blessed also, and both through Christ the Lord.
On this Atonement Day Israel shall be brought under the propitiation of Christ. But first bear in mind how impossible it is to think that in the chronological scheme of the Feasts this can be for us. We have had Christ as our sacrifice in the Passover long ago. There can be no want of it for the Christian a second time. For to repeat the work for us would be to impeach its everlasting value on the principle of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is really therefore the work of Christ applied to Israel. Once they had the testimony to the Lamb; but they refused it. We meanwhile by grace have been brought into the blessing. Are they to be left out for ever? Assuredly for a time only, as Rom 11 , yea Law, Psalms and Prophets assure us. The day of Atonement in the seventh month, so long following the Passover, indicates, not that the work is to be done over again, but that a second and distinct application of that work is to be of course to Israel as God pledged His oath. Do you ask for scripture proof of this? Joh 11:51 sufficiently answers: – “And this spake he not of himself; but, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” In this passage we have most clearly put, the double bearing of the work of Christ. Of old ”that nation,” the Jews, rejected it, for to the Jew first the offer was made. But it was not only for them, but to gather in one the children of God, who are both saved and also gathered into one. This is the church baptised by the Holy Spirit. But the prophets and the N.T. declare that there remains for Israel the blessing by and by. This is suspended for the present; but the precious blood, the death, of the Lord Jesus in all its efficacy cannot fail for them also – for the very people who were of old so unbelieving and rebellious. How patient, yet powerful and victorious is the grace of God!
On the tenth of the seventh month, God’s set time, the day will surely come. But remark the most striking emphasis in the language employed here, compared with that used of old: “And ye shall afflict your souls, and offer a sin-offering to Jehovah.” We do not find such words as these under the paschal lamb; and no wonder. God will make Israel specially feel their sins, as He could not be unobservant of their long unbelief; and when their day of blessing comes, can any one think that they will be insensible? Is it conceivable that the Jews will regard themselves as other than sinners? Certainly not. They will justly say, We are the guiltiest people on earth: the Messiah, the Christ of God, was sent to us after the fullest prophecies, with rich signs, and what a life! Yet we despised and loathed Him; He was not yours, yet you Gentiles bowed to Him and the gospel. For the Messiah rejected by Israel became the suffering yet exalted Son of man, and the Gentiles do hear Him, as Israel will another day.
Joseph rejected by his brethren was in the land of Egypt exalted to the right hand of the throne. There too, while next to the one who set him in the highest place, unknown to his brethren. When the true Joseph presents Himself to the sons of Israel, will they not afflict their souls as Joseph’s brethren did, while the house of Pharaoh heard it? Never was so genuine a mourning as this for the seed of Jacob. So, yet more, yea incomparably, will it be in the day that hastens. It could not be otherwise, if God wrought real repentance as He will in Israel. The day of atonement bears the distinct mark of what will historically and most fully, apply to His people in that future day, when God’s plans for the earth are to be completed.
But this is not all. In verse 28 we read, “And ye shall do no work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement to make an atonement for you before Jehovah your God.” Could this be said so fittingly and emphatically to any other people? For a nation is in question here, the one chosen people of Jehovah. Were they not the people of all others who boasted of their works, and so, going about to establish their own righteousness, “stumbled at the stumbling-stone”? Acceptable works are found only in believers. We know that those who have the Spirit of God working in them really show forth the fruit of the Spirit and do not boast). Where all is felt to he of grace, how could one brag? Others who slight faith and consequently talk of the law do in fact nothing acceptable to God. The Jew boasted but stumbled over the lowly Nazarene, the crucified Saviour; but it will not be so in that day; when the reality of faith will not only work repentance but exclude pretensions of self. Not that works will not follow; but the Day of Atonement for the time shut out everything, if I may so say, but Christ, their propitiation and substitute; so that their self-loathing will be as complete as their abandonment of their own works. The very fact of their then believing what God had done for them in Christ makes them ashamed of the least reference to any of their works: nothing can mix with His work.
These are the two effects of grace: on the one hand, affliction of soul in the confession of their sirs; and, on the other hand, no mingling any thing of their own with that which Christ suffered for them before God. Verses 29, 30, repeat it with solemn emphasis: “For whatsoever soul it shall be that shall not be afflicted on that same day, he shall be cut off from among his peoples. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” Again, in verse 32, “It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls.” The two moral realities, no work of man and true affliction of soul, mark the Day of Atonement for Israel.
How blessed when Israel know and feel thus! And here again one may appeal to other parts of scripture. Listen then to one of the prophets in connection with the still unfulfilled day of Jehovah, Zec 12:9 . “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” For then the nations will be again jealous of and hostile to Israel. “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications.” Is not this their Day of Atonement? “And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him.” It is a day of afflicting their souls, “As one mourneth for an only one, and shall he in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for a first-born.” “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, and their wives apart.” Conscience leads one to be alone with God, that confession may he true and deep. Such is the effect of real Spirit-wrought sorrow; for the conscience, when it is thus truly reached by the Spirit of God, always isolates itself, and makes the soul desire to go alone to God. To whom, alas! could one tell out honestly all he is? What good would it do any one else? It might do harm. It is to God then we must go, and to God we must confess. It is good for the soul; for God will have sterling honesty; He will have guile taken away; and this is accomplished by His own grace and truth. It is their Day of Atonement, when Israel hide not like Adam, but pour out their sins into the bosom of God. The Lord Jesus gives them the boldness of faith. They see Him Whom they pierced.
“Every family apart.” So close, so real, is the work that we hear of even “their wives apart”: the nearest and closest relationships are severed, that there may be now, for the first time, “truth in the inward parts.” And which are the families named? “The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart.” Why David and why Nathan? Once there was a time when the king trembled as he stood thoroughly convicted, and the faithful prophet was strengthened of God to convict him: “Thou art the man.” Now what a change! It is no humbled king nor convicting prophet. All are convicted, and so profoundly filled with the sense each of his own sins, that they feel thoroughly the need to be alone with God It is not only real but deep work; it is not the mere effect of feeling or sympathy fed by a weeping crowd. They go alone, each before God’ that all may be out and clear. Surely this should be a word of warning as to the danger in these days of multitudinous meetings, revivals etc. This is not said to weaken any one’s confidence, but that all may see how momentous it is for souls to be alone with God as to their sins.
Nor is this the only picture; we have two others to complete the scene. “The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart.” The margin gives “Symeon “as the alternative, and so does the oldest version, the Septuagint. Of course there is a difference of opinion as to this as in most things. Then it is a common thing in Scripture to find two names for the same person, as, for instance, Paul and Saul, Silas and Silvanus, Jude and Thaddeus. But if we accept the view of the Greek translators, it recalls two sons of Jacob painfully notorious in their earliest history. Revenge then brought them together. No doubt the Gentile was guilty of gross wrong, and dishonoured their sister; but the brothers’ wrath was cruel, and their revenge as deceitful as outrageous. Therefore was Jacob also full of shame at his unworthy sons, who had been united in deadly purpose under the guise of religion. But now they (that is, in their offspring who are then alive) have found the Saviour, or rather the Saviour has found them, and they are confessing each his own sins. Thousands of years had passed over; but here, it would seem, are the descendants of these two fathers in Israel bowing down before the Lord who died for them.
However it be as to the last names, the true meaning of the Day of Atonement here is its application to Israel; and let us rejoice that God will extend thus His grace, through our blessed Saviour, to His guilty people, kept for this and other great ends of God.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
The last feast begins in verse 33 ” 33 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ” 34 On the fifteenth day of this seventh month [is] the feast of tabernacles (or, booths) seven days to Jehovah: 35 on the first day is a holy convocation: no manner of work shall ye do. 36 Seven days ye shall present a fire offering to Jehovah: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you: and ye shall offer a fire offering to Jehovah: it [is] a solemn assembly; ye shall do no work of labour. 37 These [are] the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations, to offer a fire offering to Jehovah, a burnt offering and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each in its day; 38 besides the sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary offerings which ye give to Jehovah. 39 Surely on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days: on the first day a sabbath, and on the eighth day a sabbath. 40 And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palms, and boughs of bushy trees and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. 41 And ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year: an everlasting statute throughout your generations: in the seventh month shall ye keep it. 42 In tabernacles shall ye dwell seven days, all born in Israel shall dwell in tabernacles; 43 that your generations may know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God. 44 And Moses declared the set feasts of Jehovah to the children of Israel.”
First then it is to be remarked that we have had nothing about seven days since the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and this, as was shown, signified our walking in sincerity and truth, in Christian holiness, the true import of that feast, because Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. It is the pilgrim course of those who are under the privilege of grace. Now here are seven other days for a different purpose; and what are they, Seven days of glory on the earth. This may startle some; for there are very many Christians who, when they think of glory, always connect it with heaven. So they speak of souls having gone to glory at death. Now we are very far from denying that the Christian is destined to heavenly glory. We do belong distinctly to Christ on high; we depart at death to be with Him.
But we are far from thinking, with a celebrated Scotch divine (Dr. Chalmers), that the glorified church is to live and reign on the earth. It is not in a likeness of heaven we are to dwell for ever; we are going to the true – to heaven itself. The Father’s house does not mean the earth, however sublimated or etherealised, but the brightest part of the heavens. Look not for some distant corner or outskirt of glory, but where the Son abides now, where the Father’s love satisfied itself in receiving the Son. There shall we be with Him, in the Father’s house of many mansions. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” We go where He is. The portion of the Christian is Christ in the Father’s house; so we shall be ever with the Lord. He would not tell us so if it would raise our hopes too high. He did so tell us that He might inspire us with the same expectation that filled His own breast. The bride is to be with the Bridegroom. The notion therefore, is altogether unfounded, that the scene of our glory is to be on the earth. No matter what the piety of men who have such views, we must reject them as low and doubly injurious. They deny the church’s glory to be distinctively heavenly, and they leave no due room for Israel’s future glory, according to promise, on the earth. It is really therefore a mistake of grave consequence, which affects our interpretation of the Bible, and deprives of an adequate scheme of God’s ways.
Hear what the New Testament teaches: ”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” We are blessed there in title already in Christ, as we shall be there in fact with Him when He comes for us, and we shall be changed, caught up, and ever with the Lord. But in the portion before us quite another truth is brought out. Here it cannot mean our going to heaven, for we do not speak of time there. It is one eternal day in that sphere of unchanging light and blessedness; and by a figure it may be very well called the “day of eternity.” Indeed this is the way the apostle Peter does speak in the last verse of his Second Epistle: “To Him be glory, both now and to the day of eternity.” But glory will assuredly come to the earth. Thus “Arise, shine; for thy light is come,” etc. Where is this to be? In heaven? No; Zion is here on the earth. Was it not that mountain on which the king’s palace was built? and how significant of grace yet to build up the broken house and realm of Israel, when God will give them the true David!
Let me draw your attention here to two schools of theology, as the truth in question is of practical moment as well as doctrinal. It may be instructive to see how they both come short of what the Holy Spirit reveals for the glory of God. As to the future we find each of these schools in opposition. One says that the scene of future glory is to be the earth, where Christ died and God has wrought so graciously, and as to which He has promised such glorious things. Fully is this admitted; but the inference that we shall be glorified there is unsound. The other school holds that heaven will be the only scene of glory; and this so exclusively as almost, if not quite, to forget the body and its future resurrection from the grave. They are in danger of thinking only of the soul, and of heaven as a place for pure spirit; which is a poor substitute for the Christian’s hope, and not at all what the word of God teaches. It is quite true and blessed that even now the separated spirit goes to be with Christ; and no believer should seek to weaken this truth. The just converted robber was to be that day with Him in paradise. It is lamentable to know how little this is believed by modern theologians; and no doubt their feebleness here is due to their scanty knowledge of Christ and redemption. But this intermediate blessedness is not resurrection; though departed saints, when risen, shall be, as now, in the ”paradise of God” (Rev 2:7 ). As the paradise of Adam was the brightest spot on earth, so the “paradise of God” is the brightest portion in heaven. Sinful man was cast out of the one; believing man is received into the other. Christ was the first-fruits, as but due to Him, the Son and Saviour; afterward those that are Christ’s at His coming.
But there is another thing, the kingdom of God, which has “earthly things”; and for these man needs new birth (Joh 3 ), as well as for “heavenly things.” So it will neither be heaven alone, nor the earth alone, but troth in harmonious yet suited blessing (compare Eph 1:10 and Col 1:20 ). In scripture faith finds no real difficulty, though it be far larger than theology, which invariably stops short of the truth of God. For theology is an attempt on man’s part to reduce the word of God to a science, and a science for man, converted or not, to learn. No wonder that this always proves a failure, as it deserves to be. You cannot squeeze what has life into this iron vice of theirs without destroying its strength and tissues and beauty. Heaven, earth and sea, and all creatures in them, are to be under Christ, the distinct but united spheres of His reign to God’s glory. In the fulness of the times, God is going to gather “all things” under Christ; not all persons, for this will never be; Alas! those who despise the Lord Jesus must, at the end, be cast into the lake of fire. But “all things,” the groaning creation, guilty of no sin, but suffering from the sin of man, shall be delivered through the victory of the Second Man. For this we and it are waiting, as Christ Himself is.
It is not true, therefore, that the earth is to be the only scene of glory, but also heaven. One might prove this from other scriptures besides the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. But remember well that it is no good sign to require many passages. One scripture, if plain, is conclusive. Who would admire the state of soul that, when one scripture is given, asks for another? Even if one had only to do with a man’s word, would any wish him to repeat the same thing half-a-dozen times over? In fact, if he habitually did so, might it not arouse suspicion. But, if such be the case with man, is it not most dishonouring to God to look for ever so many assurances from Him? Granted that in certain cases He may present the same thing in various forms; but this is only pure grace in consideration of the weakness of man.
Take as an instance Psa 73:24 ; and it is chosen in order to clear out a singular mistake of our translators. There we read these words, a favourite text with many: “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” It may be good Christian doctrine; but is it the object of the Psalm to teach anything of the sort? Let us be subject to scripture. You see the word “to” is inserted. And what is the reason for it? “To” or “with” would require authority, for it cannot be inserted or left out in this sort of way The truth is that our translators did not understand the meaning of the words as they stand, especially as it was taken for granted that the Psalm speaks directly of our Christian comfort; hence they conjectured it must mean, “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me [to] glory.” They never thought of the peculiar hopes of Israel, and so they could not find out the bearing. It was confusion to apply these words to the church now, but natural, as they did not know anything worth mentioning of God’s ways for the future, when Christ shall reign over the earth.
*In the Revised Version the case is still worse; for the unlearned reader cannot see that it is a guess, as they often omit to mark their conjectural insertions in italics.
Now, people are learning to translate accurately, whether they understand the meaning or not. This may not be pleasant; still it is more honest; and thus grace may the sooner use some one else to help toward the meaning. Further, years ago, one of our American kinsmen brought out a new translation of the Psalms. The late Dr. J. A. Alexander, of Princeton, was a man not to be despised. His book on the Psalms, as a version, is respectable, though some of us might think its exegesis rather dark. He did not understand the Jewish relations of Christ; yet he was a scholar, and translates uprightly his text. But being a pious scholar only will never enable one to understand the scriptures. The one and only means of understanding is by the Holy Spirit, Who gives us God’s mind there. If it be the church in the New Testament, we must see it in it. relation to the Head; if it be Israel in the Law or the Psalms, we must see them as they are related to their Messiah.
Now the late Dr. Alexander never saw the true distinction between Israel and the church, but being honest and conscientious, though he did not know what the passage meant, he translated it as it really stands, “In (or, By) Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, and after glory Thou wilt take me.” But what is the meaning of this? The last clause is obscure, he says; and no wonder: he had no notion of the special hopes of the ancient people of God, which are here presupposed.
The Christian, no doubt, is received now, and will be caught up at the coming of Christ to heavenly glory; but His dealings with Israel are quite different. He will come in glory to the destruction of their enemies, and bring them in deep penitence to Himself; and then they will be received as His people before the universe. This will only be “after glory.” The glory will have shone first. Take Saul of Tarsus for instance, though he was a pattern not only of the Jew but for the Gentile. All will remember that he had a vision of the Lord in glory, and also after that, he was given acceptance before God.
When we see this, it helps us to understand how the children of Israel will be brought into their blessedness. There were to be “seven days” of suffering in grace, as we have them now under the type of the Unleavened bread; and seven days of glory in the age to come. This will be the Feast of Tabernacles in its ordinary character for Israel on earth. How plain is the truth! Further, verse 39 adds, “Surely on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto Jehovah seven days.” It was when they had gathered in the produce of the land, when the harvest was past, and the vintage over. Why should a believer doubt its meaning? God’s judicial dealings on the quick will have taken this course. The harvest is that character of judgment where the Lord discriminates the good from the bad. The vintage is where He will trample down wicked religion unsparingly. It is the infliction of divine judgment, and, mark, it is on the living. The judgment of the dead is at the end of the kingdom, which is not spoken of here. This is the judgment of the quick at the beginning of the Lord’s reign. Of this men speak constantly in the creeds: do they really believe what they confess?
We get something further in verses 39, 40: “Ye shall keep a feast unto Jehovah seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath:” an earthly rest for a long while, a heavenly one for ever.
It is not only that there shall be a complete term of glory then on the earth as we are now going through a complete term of grace. In this one feature, we may see, the Feast of Tabernacles stands distinct from all the others; it has an eighth day. There has been no mention of this in the other feasts. The seven days, we said, were glory for the earth but there is the “eighth day” too. This opens heavenly and eternal glory! So it is not “days” now, but this one! day,” “the eighth day.” Therefore it has a beginning, but it shall never have an end. If it be objected that for the Wave-sheaf there was “the morrow after the sabbath” (ver. 11), it only confirms the principle. For as that morrow beheld Christ risen, so the eighth day points to a new scene of resurrection glory above that of the “seven days.”
But this is not all. ” 40 And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palms, and boughs of leafy (or, bushy) trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. 41 And ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year; an everlasting statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month shall ye keep it. 42 In tabernacles shall ye dwell seven days, all born in Israel shall dwell in tabernacles; 43 that your generations may know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God “(vers. 40-43). Indeed it was this dwelling in booths for seven days, not on the eighth, which gave this Feast its ordinary name. It was the Feast of Ingathering; but Israel dwelt thereon in booths. Yet the booths consisted, not of tents but of the fruit of goodly trees with all latitude, of branches of stately palms so characteristic then of the land, not only on its north-western border, but in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, even to the Dead Sea on the east, and generally. Boughs of leafy trees or brushwood, as myrtle, etc. were to be used, and willows of the brooks.
It was the solemn recognition in the days of glad fruition when they had gathered in the fruit of the land, that they had been, after deliverance from Egypt, sojourners so long in the dreary desert. Thankful joy it testified that they once knew the wilderness who were now in the promised land. Then alas! was the provocation during the day of temptation in the wilderness where their fathers tempted by proving God instead of walking dependent and obedient and thankful, to the ruin of that generation. Now they are surely to keep the feast with rejoicing, but with the memorial of wilderness shame and sorrow to chasten yet enhance the joy. It was for Israel still on earth, for man not risen though in a day of glory, when joy needs such a remembrance, lest even joy alone might be a danger if not death.
But the eighth day is the link with the heavenly places and the higher glory of resurrection, not of Christ now but of those who are His reigning with Him. This of course is not set out, but an implied allusion. It was the last day, the great one, of the feast; and the Lord in Joh 7:37 stood and cried, saying, If any one thirst, let him come unto He and drink: he that believeth, as the scripture said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He, says the Evangelist, of the Spirit which those believing on Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Thus the rejection of our Lord by the Jews postponed for them the blessing, and they therefore meanwhile have no part in the Passover and Pentecost, to speak only of great Feasts; and need the rich mercy which provides specifically for them in those of the seventh month, as we have seen. But in John vii. we also learn that for us who do believe during their eclipse, grace gives us characteristic blessing even according to that final Feast of Tabernacles which of course remains to be fulfilled for heavenly as well as earthly men. It is not that we are in the glory yet, but Jesus is, and He has already sent the Spirit for the believer to receive Him, not only as the Spirit of grace to spring up in worship (as in Joh 4 ), but as the Spirit of glory (compare 1Pe 4:14 ), and not to drink simply but to be as rivers of water flowing from his inward affections in testimony of Christ to perched and weary and wretched mankind. How this shows that all things are ours by the grace of Him to Whom we owe all we boast!
We have seen then in this chapter; – first, the purpose of God generally sketched, next, the work of the Lord Jesus for eternity, with the holy call it involves for all blessed by it, and the witness to Christ’s resurrection for those risen with Him. But the application of that work has been in the main to the Gentiles now called in, or rather to the effacing of all distinction as in the church. In the “seventh” month ”Israel shall be awakened to confess their sins, when the day of glory dawns on earth: and not only this, but a glance at that which is heavenly and eternal on the eighth day.”
” 44 And Moses declared to the children of Israel the set feasts of Jehovah.” If these Feasts have been truly expounded, they carry no slender evidence of a genuine prophet. But what a witness are they not to Him Who is not only the Prophet greater than Moses, but the Lord God of the prophets, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!
May the Lord bless His own word, so that you may be simple and clear and wise in the truth unto salvation! And may we have our faith strengthened as we see how God has given a complete cycle of His ways in one of the most ancient books of the Bible. When the theological professors of our day are misusing their position to give currency to the cavils of unbelief, which have lost much of their acceptance even in free-thinking Germany, it is time for men whose fathers valued revealed truth, assuredly for God’s children, to wake up to these insidious efforts at undermining their faith under the pretentious claims of learning and science. The best of all answers to Satan is a deepening entrance by the Holy Spirit into the truth, and an enlarged sense of that divine wisdom and grace in the word, which is as much superior to Elohistic and Jehovistic theories, or such like vanities and speculations, as the Second man is above the first. “Sanctify them by Thy word: Thy word is truth.”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
spake. See note on Lev 5:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three, God outlines the various holidays, the feast days for the children of Israel. First of all in the first three verses, God deals with the Sabbath day once more.
The seventh day is a sabbath day of rest, a holy convocation; you shall not do any work: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. [Now there are seven feasts that are listed here.] On the fourteenth day of the first month [The month of April in the Jewish calendar, the fourteenth day] is the Lord’s passover. [So then is when the Passover feast was celebrated, the fourteenth day of the first month.] And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: [So the fourteenth day is Passover, then the next day begins a seven day feast period of unleavened bread in which they were to cleanse their house of all leavened bread, and they were to have this week of vacation, resting, feasting unto the Lord They’re not to do any work during that week’s time. So they were vacations, actually.] And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, [verse ten] when you’ve come into the land that I’ve given it unto you, and you shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the firstfruits 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 ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf of the he lamb without blemish of the first year a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meal offering [and they tell how it should be given] and the drink offering ( Lev 23:3-6 , Lev 23:9-14 )
So this was the offering of firstfruits unto God, which was separate from the Feast of Pentecost. But this was just bringing to God when they come into the land, the firstfruits of the harvest. The firstfruits belonging to God and recognizing that the firstfruits are God’s, not the leftovers, but that which is first.
Then God deals with the Passover Feast.
And then you shall count from the day after the sabbath [That is the final sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.] that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; for seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even on the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer the new meal offering unto the Lord. And ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: and they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked [notice] with leaven ( Lev 23:15-17 );
Now each of these feasts had its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and in the church, and in the New Testament. Of course, the Feast of the Passover, we have no problem with that, Christ becoming our Passover, Christ the bread of life, unleavened, so the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.
Then we have the Feast of Pentecost of fifty days. Interestingly enough, the bread is to have leaven; offer the whole loaf leavened. Now the Feast of Pentecost was the foreshadowing of the church actually, so it was significant that in Acts chapter two, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, the disciples were gathered together in one accord, in one place. And suddenly there was a noise from heaven that sounded like a mighty rushing wind. And there were cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them the ability, or prompted their speech. So the descent of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church was foreshadowed by the Feast of Pentecost, which was really the ingathering of the firstfruits unto the Lord. Which on the day of Pentecost, the first of the multitude that were to be saved through the preaching of the gospel and through the ministry of the church were brought in. Some three thousand souls were added to the church that day; that was the firstfruit.
Now Jesus knew that His church would never be perfect or pure. He gave parables that indicated this, and God knew it in the Old Testament. That’s why the loaves were to have leaven in them, because leaven is always a symbol of sin actually. So in this offering, which was a foreshadowing of the church, there was leaven in it. Don’t let anybody tell you that the church history is pure, it isn’t; it’s horrible. That’s one reason why I’m glad I’m not really related to any human, organized effort called a church, because I don’t have to answer for the corrupt history of the church. Believe me, its history is corrupt. I blush when I read of some of the things that the Popes have done in the past. If they made movies out of them they would be worse than Hollywood has come out with yet. The history of the church is not pure. God knew that there would be a corrupting influence in the church.
Jesus gave parables of the kingdom of heaven, and people have misinterpreted these parables, completely twisting them around. For instance, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a woman hiding a bit of leaven in the meal, and in the loaf”, you know making her dough, putting a bit of leaven in it, “until the whole loaf is leavened” ( Mat 13:3 ). “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that is very small, and yet it grew up into a great tree, and the birds of the air came and nested in it” ( Mat 13:31-32 ), and people found shelter in the shade underneath.
So there were those theologians that interpreted those parables as being wonderful. The church was the leaven in the loaf, which was the world, and the church is going to gradually bring its good influence until the whole world is going to be converted. The church was the mustard seed planted in the world growing up into a great tree that everything can find shelter underneath. It was going to just cover the earth and shelter all men and they would all be benefited by the shade. But wherever you find birds in the scripture, you find them in an evil sense, “where birds were lodging in its branches”. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of birds lodging in the branches of the church.
Now the Lord knew that the church’s history wasn’t gonna be pure, wasn’t gonna be ideal; and thus, even in the preshadowing of the church in the Old Testament, God had them make loaves. Now it isn’t just sheaf the wheat, but now it is baked in a loaf which is a cohesive kind of a unit, but yet it has the leaven within it as it’s offered to God; so the feast of Pentecost.
Then God gave a special little rule in verse twenty-two, which I find very fascinating.
When you reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when you reap, neither shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: for I am Jehovah your God ( Lev 23:22 ).
So the welfare program in the state of Israel was a very interesting welfare program. It wasn’t a give-away. If you were poor, what you could always do is go and gather from the corners of the field. The people in the harvesting of their fields weren’t to harvest the corners. Also, they weren’t to go back through the second time for gleaning purposes. When they went through and picked the apricots or the peaches or whatever, once through that was it. Whatever was left, whatever wasn’t ripe in the first pickings had to be left on the tree for the poor people to come in and gather. So the gleaners who would go in and gather after the harvesters. And thus, it was a welfare program for the poor people in the land, and the strangers; I feel a very excellent welfare program.
I notice that after they thresh the beans around here, that you’ll see sometimes people going through and picking up the beans in the fields out here. I used to do that every year when I was a child. We had right behind our house a walnut orchard, and they always planted beans between the trees. We would go out and gather several quarts of beans when we were kids. Then we’d have those neat baked lima beans in the wintertime. Then my hands were always black because I’d go out after the harvesters, cause they always went through the walnut crop twice, but after the second time through, then whatever was left was ours. We were kids; we used to get a gunnysack of walnuts every year, sort of gleaning after them. A very excellent provision that God put in the law that they weren’t to glean their fields. They were to leave that for the poor in the land.
Now we continue with the feast in verse twenty-three, or verse twenty-four.
In the seventh month, the first day of the month, there shall be a memorial of the blowing of the trumpets, a holy convocation. [You weren’t to do any work on that day. Again it was just a holiday, the first day of the seventh month, because it marked actually the most holy month of the calendar, the Blowing of the Trumpets.] And then on the tenth day of the seventh month shall be the day of atonement: [Yom Kippur the day that the priest was to make an offering before the Lord for the sins of the people. And then also in the seventh month they were to have the feast of tabernacles] ( Lev 23:24 , Lev 23:27-28 ).
Now in verse thirty-two God is talking about this Yom Kippur.
It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, and from even unto even, ye shall celebrate your sabbath ( Lev 23:32 ).
That is why the Jews celebrate and count days not from midnight, they count days from sundown to sundown. So they celebrate their Sabbaths from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Then Saturday night the big sort of a celebration. They all take to the streets. They have street dances and everybody’s cruising on their feet up and all walking up and down the streets. In fact, it’s so crowded that you just have a hard time. It takes almost an hour to walk a block. You’re just moving with the people but it’s just everybody’s out on Saturday night, because the Sabbath is now over. But this is where they get it. They were to celebrate “from even to even”. They were to start on the evening on the ninth day, and they were to celebrate through the evening of the tenth day. So their day began at sundown and begins at sundown.
Now the Feast of Tabernacles was to take place on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The tenth day was to be Yom Kippur, the first day, the Blowing of Trumpets. You’re announcing, “This is the holy month”, being the seventh month. On the first day of the Feast of the Tabernacles there was to be a holy convocation, not to do any work, on the eighth day a holy convocation. So the Feast of Tabernacles went for eight days that whatever day the Sabbath fell on was in that period, but also there were two extra Sabbaths. The first day of the feast and the last day of the feast were always Sabbath days, and considered as the Sabbath where there was no work to be done and to be observed just as any Sabbath day is observed.
Now at this Feast of Tabernacles this was a feast, which was a memorial to remind them of how God preserved their fathers through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. So during this feast in the latter portion of the chapter, they were to build little booths. They were to move out of the house and live in these booths for the eight days of this feast. After you come in the land, you build houses and so forth, then you’re to build these little booths beside your house. And you’re to move into these booths and live in them for these eight days just to remind yourself of the hardships that your ancestors went through when they were coming out of Egypt, and coming into this land that God had promised unto them. So it was going back to rugged living for one week out of the year. I imagine the kids really had a great time with that. I don’t suppose the parents appreciated it too much, but it was probably an exciting adventure, just like kids like to sleep out in tents and all. So they would make these booths and move out during this particular feast.
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Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
The feasts of Jehovah were national l signs and symbols. These were now dealt with. The foremost place was given to the Sabbath. Its constant recurrence, governed not by the natural order, but by the divine enactment, spoke ever of infinite things and eternal values.
The year commenced with the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, thus ever reminding the people of the fundamental truths concerning their national existence.
The feast of Firstfruits was to be observed in the land. It marked the fact of possession and was to be characterized by joyfulness.
After a lapse of seven full weeks during which harvest was gathered, the feast of Harvest was observed, this being a recognition that all came from God.
The seventh month was the most sacred month of the year. In it two great ordinances were observed: the Day of Atonement and the feast of Tabernacles, these being preceded by the feast of Trumpets. The Day of Atonement has already been described (chapter 16). Here it is placed among the feasts of Jehovah. All the other feasts were seasons of joy. This was to be a day of diction. Nevertheless, in the profoundest sense it was a day of feasting and rejoicing. The mourning was the method, but joy was the issue.
The final feast of the year was that of Tabernacles. By dwelling in booths the people were reminded of the pilgrim character of their life under the government of God. It was to be preeminently a feast of joy. Readiness to obey the will of God is the occasion of songs rather than dirges.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Sabbath, Passover and First-Fruits
Lev 23:1-14
The year of Israels national life was marked out by high and blessed convocations, which preserved its unity, kept the people in mind of the great past, and kindled high ideals and enthusiasms. There is a divine precedent, therefore, in the observance of the Christian Year, with its holy services and commemorations. In its earlier stages the religious life requires the help of special times and seasons, when it may realize itself and catch sight of the Delectable Mountains or the Golden City.
A pause must be called in lifes busy haste, and families should have an opportunity of gathering at solemn ceremonials, participation in which will leave lasting memories with the coming generation. Probably the mature soul outgrows these, and ceases to observe days. See Col 2:16. But remember that the absence of the temple in the New Jerusalem did not imply that there was no worship, but that every moment was worship.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter VII, The Parenthetical Period In Israel’s Ecclesiastical Year
Before going on to examine the parenthetical part of the Epistle to the Romans which deals with Gods past, present and future ways with Israel, there is another Old Testament Scripture to which we should turn our attention for further corroboration of the undisclosed present period which we have been considering.
In the twenty-third chapter of the book of Leviticus we have the feasts or set times of Jehovah. This chapter has well been called Israels ecclesiastical year, using the term ecclesiastical in the sense in which it is often used today as designating the special festivals of the professing Church. So far as Christians are concerned, the Word of God does not indicate any such festivals for their observance, and the more we make of them the more we are likely to come under the censure of the Apostle to the Gentiles as set forth in the Epistle to the Galatians: Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain (Gal 4:10-11).
But with Israel it was otherwise. In the legal dispensation God Himself appointed certain weekly and annual festivals which were to be faithfully observed during all that dispensation, and each of which had a typical significance. In the third verse of this twenty- third chapter of Leviticus we have the sabbath of rest, which is called a holy convocation, in which no work was to be done. This, of course, was the weekly set time and was observed with a double purpose. First, it was a recognition of Jehovahs creation rest as indicated in Exodus 20, verses 8 to 11:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it (Exo 20:8-11).
Then in Deuteronomy 5, where we have the reiteration of the Ten Commandments, another reason is given for the observance of the Sabbath. We read in verse 15: And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. This second reason makes one thing very definite, namely, that the Ten Commandments as such were never given to the Gentiles but solely to Israel, the covenant people. Of course, when the Gentiles became familiar with them, it was their responsibility to maintain the high moral standards there set forth, but nowhere are we told that the Sabbath was a sign of Gods covenant with the nations.
It had both a backward and a forward aspect. Looking forward, it typified the rest that remains for the people of God, a Sabbath Rest which will be enjoyed eternally by all who know Christ as Saviour, as indicated in Hebrews 4, verses 4 to 9.
The reason that the Sabbath occupies the first place in this list of the feasts of Jehovah is because Gods first thought for mankind is His last. He has ever had before Him the time when in the new heavens and the new earth He will dwell with His people in a condition of perfection, after all the varied experiences through which men shall pass during their sojourn in this world.
In verse 4 we read: These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. The word feasts here is somewhat misleading. We think of a feast as a time of merriment and enjoyment, possibly even as an occasion when we regale ourselves with toothsome viands; but no such thought is necessarily connected with the word used here. It would be better to translate it set times or appointed seasons, because some of these so-called feasts were actually fasts, when the people were to refrain from food and drink as they meditated upon their sins and transgressions. They were, however, definite, appointed seasons to be observed from year to year.
As we read through the chapter, we notice that three of these set times were to be observed in the spring of the year, and all of these were types of great events which have already had a glorious fulfillment. First we are told:
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lords passover. 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. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 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 (Lev 23:5-8).
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were intimately connected. We do not have to guess at the meaning of either for when we turn to I Corinthians 5, verses 6 to 8, we read:
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore 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 (1Co 5:6-8).
The Passover, then, typified the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, Gods unblemished, spotless Lamb who gave Himself for us in order that divine judgment might never fall upon us. To Israel in Egypt, in connection with the first Passover and the sprinkling of blood, Jehovah said: When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This points to the cross of Christ, and is the great truth that gives rest to every believing heart.
The fourteenth day of the first month was in the early spring, for Israels sacred year began at that time. The month Abib, or Green Ears, answers, generally speaking, to the last part of our March and the first half of April. It was then that the Passover was to be observed, and when we come to the New Testament we find that our Lord Jesus Christ observed this feast Himself with His disciples on the first evening of the fourteenth of Abib, and in the morning of the same day He was nailed upon the cross, and in the afternoon He died as the great Paschal Lamb. The Jewish day was from sunset to sunset, and the Passover was to be slain between the two evenings, as we are told in Exodus 12; so our Lord ate the Passover and died as the Paschal Lamb between the two evenings. Thus the type was completely fulfilled.
Now we who have put our trust in Him are called to purge away all leaven, and leaven is ever in Scripture a type of evil. Our Lord warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy and self-righteousness; of the leaven of the Sadducees, which is false doctrine; and of the leaven of Herod, which is worldliness and political corruption. And in the passage already referred to in First Corinthians, we read of the leaven of malice and wickedness. In Galatians and in First Corinthians, Paul uses the expression, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. In the one case he refers to false doctrine which, if not checked, permeates the mass, and in the other to immorality which, if not judged in the light of the cross of Christ, will have a most devastating effect upon those who are inclined to be led astray. It is for us, therefore, as the redeemed of the Lord, redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ, to be careful to put all leaven out of our lives and so to walk before God in holiness and truth. This is to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread according to the divine appointment for our dispensation.
We come next to the Feast of Firstfruits. In verses 9 to 14 we read:
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 a sheaf of the firstfruits 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 ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf and the lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto the Lord. 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. 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 (Lev 23:9-14).
Again we are not left to our own imagination when we ask: What is the meaning of this feast? For when we turn to First Corinthians 15, that great resurrection chapter in which the Apostle is emphasizing the importance of the truth of Christs having been raised from the dead, we see that in verse 20 he says: But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Then again in verses 22 and 23:
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christs at his coming (1Co 15:22-23).
The presentation of the firstfruits, then, typified the rising of Christ from the dead and His acceptance by God the Father after He had completed the work upon which our redemption rests.
And notice in verse 11 of our chapter, it was on the morrow after the Sabbath that the priest was to present the firstfruits before God. Now remember that our Lord Jesus Christ died on Passover Day and was raised again at the beginning of the first day of the week following. We can see how God here pictures the setting aside of the Sabbath of the Law and the bringing in of what the Apostle John calls, in Revelation 1, the Lords day. From Psalm 118, we infer that the Spirit of God puts special honor upon this day because of the glorious event which was then to take place. In verse 22 we have the rejection of Christ involving His crucifixion: The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. His resurrection and the sanctity of the new day are implied in verses 23 and 24: This is the Lords doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Throughout the last Sabbath of the Jews which God ever recognized, no one on earth could possibly know whether redemption, was a success or not. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ after His death upon the cross lay in Josephs new tomb. Had He not come forth in resurrection on the first day of the week, all His declarations in regard to the great work He came to do would have been proved false. It was His resurrection which made it manifest that He was indeed the promised Saviour of mankind. He was delivered up to death for our offences and was raised again for our justification. Christ having completed the work that saves, God bore witness to His delight in His Son and His satisfaction in the work he had accomplished by raising Him from the dead. The Lord Jesus as the risen One has been accepted of the Father, and all who believe are accepted in Him.
There is much more in this section that we could dwell upon, but I pass over it now because my chief object is to show how what we have here links up with what we have already been considering.
In the next section we have the Feast of Pentecost. Note verses 15 to 22:
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: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the Lord. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 (Lev 23:15-22).
This feast took place fifty days after that of the first-fruits. The word pentecost, of course, indicates this, and we are told definitely that the Israelites were to count from the morrow after the Sabbath when they brought the sheaf of the wave offering until seven Sabbaths had passed. Then upon the morrow after the seventh Sabbath they were to bring a new meal offering unto the Lord. This is the better translation here. We generally think of meat as flesh, but when the Authorized Version was translated, the word still had its original meaning of food, so that this was the food offering and was composed of meal. Two wave loaves were to be presented before the Lord. Unlike the ordinary meal offering, which typified our Lord Jesus Christ and in which there was to be no leaven, these wave loaves were to be baked with leaven, and they are called also first-fruits unto the Lord. It is clear, then, that they typify not Christ Himself but believers in Christ in whom there is a sinful nature (as there was not in Him), but that nature has been judged in the light of the cross of Christ and therefore the leaven is conceived of as baked. They represent, then, redeemed sinners who have been born of God, even as we read in James 1, verse 18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Now, we have the fulfillment of this feast on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of the book of Acts. It was then that our Lord baptized believers by the Holy Spirit, and this baptism, we are told in First Corinthians 12, verse 13, formed the one body which is the Church of this dispensation. It is well to notice the full statement in First Corinthians:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1Co 12:12-13).
The two loaves undoubtedly picture the two groups-Jew and Gentile. Both alike were sinners; both had to judge their sins in the light of the cross; both are accepted by God in all the value of the work of His Son. There is no intimation here, however, that both would form one body, nor was that made known on the day of Pentecost, but through the Apostle Paul, as the chosen vessel of testimony to the Gentiles, this truth was later made known as the dispensation progressed.
And now we come to something of intense interest for those who have followed me in this series of studies thus far. These three feasts, which all have to do with the blessing of the people of God in this age, all took place in the spring of the year. There were no more such set times until the seventh month, which would answer to our September-October, and then there were three more feasts following one another in quick succession and intimately linked together. But all of them have to do particularly with Gods future dealings with the nation of Israel, so that we have a period of some five months in which there were no special set times indicated. This long period fits in perfectly with the parenthesis in Gods prophetic plan which we have seen must be taken into account in so many places if we are to rightly apprehend what God is doing now.
When the summer was over and the close of the year had come, God commanded His people to observe the Feast of Trumpets. Notice verses 23 to 25. This ordinance of the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month is observed by the Jews today for the ushering in of the new civil year as distinguished from the ecclesiastical year. It is called the Feast of Rosh-Hashana. On this day the trumpets are blown, indicating the ushering in of a new period of time. This has to do entirely with Israel. It signifies the blowing of the great trumpet when Gods earthly people who have wandered from Him for so long will be called back to Himself and to their land to enter upon Millennial blessedness. Many Scriptures refer to this, a few of which we will mention here:
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion (Isa 18:3-7).
This passage clearly refers to the call which will go out from the Lord after the Church Age is past, summoning His scattered people Israel to return to Himself and to their inheritance. Again in Isa 27:12-13 we read:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Surely these words need no explanation. They are absolutely clear and tell us in no uncertain way that the blowing of the trumpet has to do with Israels return.
In the second chapter of Joel, verses 1 and 2, we see that when this trumpet is blown, the people of Israel will be in the midst of great tribulation and distress such as they have never previously known. The attempt has often been made by various interpreters of prophecy to connect the Feast of Trumpets with the Rapture of the Church because at that time we are told the Lord will descend from heaven, . . . with the trump of God, but the context here shows us that the Feast of Trumpets does not in any sense typify anything connected with the heavenly calling, but has to do with the ingathering of Israel to their earthly inheritance. With this agree the words of our Lord which we noticed in a previous study, where He declared that at His Second Coming He would send forth His angels with a sound of a trumpet and gather together His elect from the four quarters of the earth. This makes the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets crystal clear and shows its direct application to the regathering of Israel.
If the Feast of Trumpets had to do with the Rapture of the Church, there would be no place for that which follows in Leviticus 23 because immediately afterwards we have the second set time in this latter series for Israel-the great Day of Atonement, when Israel shall recognize in the Lord Jesus Christ the One who made atonement for their sins but whom up to that time they will not have known. Let us read carefully verses 26 through 32:
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 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 (Lev 23:26-32).
These verses can have no reference to the Church as such for already we have seen set forth in the Passover the same truth which is now brought before us here, but the great point of the type is that inasmuch as Israel failed to apprehend the meaning of the Passover, it will not be until the coming day of tribulation when they are in distress and sorrow that they will realize the fact that the Saviour whom their fathers rejected was the One who actually made atonement for their sins. This great Day of Atonement as observed by Israel in the latter day is set forth in Zechariah 12, verses 10 to 14:
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
In that day when Israel shall realize how terribly they have blundered in refusing the Lord Jesus Christ when He came in lowly grace, they will bow before God in bitterness of soul and confess their sin. In the first verse of chapter 13 we are told the result:
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zec 13:1).
In other words, Israels cleansing will come when in spirit they reach the true Day of Atonement and recognize the once rejected Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Then they will cry, in the words of Isaiah 53, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. That entire wonderful chapter will open up to them in a marvelous way as the Holy Spirit reveals to them their sin and their Saviour.
One feast remains ere the year is closed-the Feast of Tabernacles or of Ingathering. This was for Israel the happiest festival of all the year. It was the time when they dwelt in booths as a reminder of the tents of the wilderness and when they all rejoiced together in the good things God had given them through the vintage and the harvest. We have quoted before and so it will be well to quote again here the actual instruction given in this chapter in Leviticus:
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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, On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 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. 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: 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. 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. 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. 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. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 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. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord (Lev 23:33-44).
Surely anyone familiar with the Word of God can see in this the picture of that wonderful day when the Lord Jesus shall return in power and glory, and His earthly people will be brought into blessing here in the world and will dwell beneath their own vine and fig tree, rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord. Then the prophecy of Zechariah will have its perfect fulfillment. The Feast of Tabernacles and the deliverance of the people are identical. This is set forth clearly in Zechariah 14, verses 16 to 21:
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
And so the wonderful story comes to an end, and Israel, for so long the nation of the wandering foot, will at last have found their rest in subjection to and glad recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ who was not recognized by them when He came to fulfill the type of the Passover and the firstfruits, but who in that day will be manifested to them as the One who made atonement for their sins upon the cross and under whose righteous rule they shall find rest after all the sorrows and trials they have endured throughout the centuries since they cried, Away with Him, away with Him; crucify Him, crucify Him.
The break between the two sets of feasts is clear and definite, and is corroborative evidence that our interpretation of the parenthesis in Daniel 9 is the very truth of God in regard to His prophetic dealings with Israel and the world.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Lev 23:43
God made the children of Israel to dwell in booths,-made in the sense of causing to dwell safely. And God would have the children of the people who dwelt in booths keep this fact in remembrance generation after generation.
I. The text reminds us of conditions of life very like this dwelling in booths. (1) A feeble body, answering its purpose many years, is like dwelling in booths. (2) Providing by slender means all that is really needful for a large family is like dwelling in booths. (3) A morbidly sensitive spirit kept sound is like dwelling in booths. (4) A nature prone to gross evil and kept from the power of temptation is like dwelling in booths. (5) A Church preserved in peace and unity, with the elements of evil within it and evil influences around it, is another example of God making to dwell in booths. (6) To have lived in a day of small things, and gradually to have come into a day of great things, is to have been made to dwell in booths.
II. The text exhibits God as sufficient for us in the most necessitous and dangerous circumstances. (1) God hath in Himself all that is necessary for the working out of His will. (2) God uses agents and instruments, but is not dependent on any of the agents and instruments which He employs. (3) God is conscious of His sufficiency. (4) There is but one thing which prevents our fully experiencing the sufficiency of God, and that is sin, wilful and persistent sin.
III. The text points out a duty of remembrance which we are all liable to neglect. God’s mercy to a family in previous generations places the present members of that family under obligation: “That your generations may know.” The knowledge which God requires is (1) knowledge in the sense of information, and (2) knowledge in the sense of recognition. The recognition is of mercies in the past. To this God attaches so much importance that He founds a festival as a means of securing it.
S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 47.
References: Lev 23:42.-Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the Old Testament, p. 1. Lev 23:44.-Parker, vol. iii., p. 119. Lev 23-27-J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 223. Lev 24:5-6, and Lev 25:9, Lev 25:10.-J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, pp. 91, 123.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
VI. THE HOLY FEASTS AND SET TIMES
1. The Holy Feasts and Set Times
CHAPTER 23
1. The Sabbath (Lev 23:1-3)
2. The feast of Passover and feast of unleavened bread (Lev 23:4-8)
3. The firstfruits (Lev 23:9-14)
4. The feast of weeks (Lev 23:15-22)
5. The blowing of trumpets (Lev 23:23-25)
6. The day of atonement (Lev 23:26-32)
7. The feast of tabernacles (Lev 23:33-44)
This is one of the grandest chapters in Leviticus, filled with the choicest truths and prophetic from beginning to end. The holy feasts and set times, appointed by Jehovah, to be kept yearly by Israel, cover indeed the entire realm of redemption facts. The dispensational dealings of God with Jews and Gentiles are clearly revealed in these feasts. We have to look at each of these divisions separately to point out the way to a deeper study, which no child of God should neglect.
1. The Sabbath–This is in itself no feast, but set time, a holy convocation after the six work days. What it signifies we have already seen in the study of Genesis and Exodus. The reason why the Sabbath is put here first is on account of its prophetic meaning. There remaineth a rest for the people of God. The Sabbath is the type of that rest yet to come, when redemption is consummated. When all the work is accomplished, foreshadowed in the feasts and set times of Israel, the great rest-keeping will begin. Faith can enjoy it even now. In the Sabbath the blessed outcome of all is revealed.
2. The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread–The Passover, with the lamb slain and its body eaten, occupies the first place. It typifies the blessed work of the Lamb of God, His redemption work on the cross. And this is the foundation of every thing, as we have seen in the levitical offerings and ceremonial. In this finished work, and the shed blood, God rests, and here the believing sinner has found his rest. The feast of unleavened bread is closely connected with the Passover, so that it cannot be separated from it. Leaven stands for sin and unleavened bread for holiness. The feast of unleavened bread therefore typifies the result of the work of Christ on the cross, which is holiness. Again we meet the great truth that Jehovah has redeemed His people to be separated unto Himself. They were not to do a servile work, but to bring an offering by fire unto Jehovah. On the first and on the seventh day no servile work was to be done. It typifies the fact that in redemption there is no servile work, but a joyous manifestation of Christ, the sweet savour in the power of the Holy Spirit.
3. The Firstfruits–While the Passover-feast foreshadows the death of Christ, the waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits is the blessed type of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was just one sheaf waved before Jehovah, the earnest of the harvest which was to follow. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept (1Co 15:20). But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christs at His coming (1Co 15:23). The grain of wheat had fallen into the ground and died. But He liveth; the full ear of the sheaf waved before Jehovah typifies the abundant fruit which He brings unto God. And it was waved before Jehovah on the morrow after the Sabbath. The morrow after the Sabbath is the first day of the week, the glorious resurrection morning. In connection with the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits there were offerings. But of what kind? A he lamb without blemish for a burnt offering unto the LORD, a meal offering and a drink offering. No sin offering was demanded, for that was accomplished when He died. The offerings were a sweet savour, telling forth once more the blessedness and value of His own person and work. And in Him we are accepted; with Him the firstfruits we shall be forever.
4. The Feast of Weeks–After seven Sabbaths had passed by, fifty days counted, a new meal offering was brought and two wave loaves baken with leaven. This is the feast of Pentecost (named on account of the fifty days). It is also called the feast of weeks, as seven weeks had passed by. Exactly fifty days after the waving of the firstfruits, on the morrow of the Sabbath, when Christ arose, the Holy Spirit came down out of heaven to form the church on earth. The meal offering as we saw in the first part of the book is the type of Christ in His perfect humanity. Pure flour, oil mingled with it, and oil poured upon it. Here is a new meal offering. It does not typify Christ, but those who are one with Him, His believing people. The oil, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost upon them, as the oil was poured upon the meal offering.
The two loaves, baken with leaven, typify also the church. Sin is still there. Pure flour was in the loaves (the new nature), but baken with leaven (the old nature). The two loaves, no doubt, refer us to the Jews and Gentiles, which compose the new meal offering. And here is the sin offering, which was absent at the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits on the morrow after the Sabbath. The leaven and the sin offering indicate the presence of sin, as it is the case. Yet the loaves are waved in the presence of Jehovah and fully accepted.
The two loaves were a wave offering before Jehovah. Thus the church is presented unto Him a kind of firstfruits (Jam 1:18); the two loaves, the product of the wheat, the firstfruits of Christs death and resurrection.
We must not overlook verse 22. The harvest here, we doubt not, is the same as in Mat 13:39. When that end of the age comes, the church will be taken into the garner, the firstfruits will be with Christ. The poor and strangers, Gentiles, will even then be remembered in mercy.
5. The Blowing of Trumpets–With this holy convocation we are led upon new ground. The feasts we have followed typify that which is past; the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the formation of the church by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The three set times which follow, the memorial of blowing of trumpets, the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles await their great fulfillment in the near future. The first thing after the two wave loaves are completely presented unto Jehovah, when this age is about to close, will be the blowing of the trumpets. It is the call of God to the remnant of His people, their regathering. A long period of time is between Pentecost and the blowing of the trumpets. This interval is the present age. The Lord does not regather His earthly remnant till His heavenly people, the church, is complete. Read and carefully consider Isaiah 27:13; 58; Joe 2:1. Mat 24:31 is the regathering of His elect earthly people after He has come. But the blowing of the trumpets on the first day of the seventh month precedes the great day of atonement and is the heralding of that approaching day. All this, studied with the light God has given to us in the entire word of prophecy, is intensely interesting.
6. The Day of Atonement–We have already pointed out the dispensational meaning for the people of Israel in our annotations on the sixteenth chapter. When the great high priest, our Saviour and Israels King, comes forth out of the Holiest, when He comes the second time in power and glory, Israel will look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him. And He will take away their sins, typified by the scapegoat. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness (Zec 13:1). Their great day of atonement will be a Sabbath of rest unto them and glory will cover their long desolate land once more.
7. The Feast of Tabernacles–The final feast began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. It is the feast, which comes after the sin of Israel has been removed. It was the feast of ingathering of the products of the year and a memorial of Israels dwelling in booths in the wilderness. The feast of tabernacles foreshadows the coming glory of the millennium, Israels glorious inheritance and the Gentiles gathered with redeemed Israel in the kingdom. It will be the time of the complete harvest, the time of rejoicing, when sorrow and sighing will flee away. It comes after the harvest (the end of the age) and the vintage (the winepress of the wrath of God). How beautiful is the order in these three last holy convocations! The blowing of the trumpets; the remnant of Israel called and gathered; the day of atonement; Israel in national repentance looking upon Him, whom they pierced, when He comes the second time; the feast of tabernacles; the millennium. And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles (Zec 14:16). It is the great memorial feast of millennial times. Perhaps it will be during that feast that the King of Israel, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, will appear in visible glory in Jerusalem to receive the homage of the representatives of the nations of the earth. What a day that will be! The eighth day which we meet here again points us to that which is beyond the millennium. The story of the twenty-third chapter is marvellous! Only God in His infinite wisdom could give us such an unfolding and foreshadowing of His eternal counsels and purposes. We rehearse it briefly. The Sabbath is the type of the end, which will come after the accomplishment of all His purposes; the eternal rest. Passover, the type of the death of Christ; the waving of the firstfruits, the type of the resurrection of Christ; Pentecost, the type of the coming of the Holy Spirit for the formation of the Church. Then Israels restoration and fullest blessing comes in. How blind men must be who can call all these beautiful things fable and legends! In these poor critics there is once more fulfilled the Word of God, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools (Rom 1:22).
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Reciprocal: Lev 23:44 – General 1Ch 23:31 – set feasts 2Ch 2:4 – the solemn feasts 2Ch 8:13 – every day Isa 1:13 – the new Eze 44:24 – in all Eze 45:17 – in the feasts Eze 46:11 – in the feasts Gal 4:10 – General Col 2:16 – of an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter 22 ended with a solemn reminder to Israel of the holiness of Jehovah, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt to be their God. Chapter 23 opens with the fact that He desired to have the people, whom He had thus redeemed, assembled before Him. A “convocation” is a “calling together,” and this was to mark the feasts of the Lord.
The weekly sabbath is mentioned first of all. For six days work was to be done, but every seventh day was to be a time of complete rest. Other scriptures indicate the special character of the sabbath. For instance, Deu 5:15, states that it was to act as a reminder of their deliverance from Egypt. Again, Eze 20:12, shows that it stood as a sign between God and Israel, that there was a covenant between them. It signified rest after work accomplished. This was the case in creation when, after six days of work which was very good, God rested. Under the law Israel was to work for six days, and so earn a rest on the seventh.
In reading the Gospels, we cannot but be struck with the frequency with which our Lord’s recorded works of mercy were done on the sabbath, incurring the anger of Pharisees and scribes. Israel had wholly broken the covenant, so He was setting aside the sign of it, and showing also that there was no rest for God in a creation that had been ruined by sin. Hence that great word of His, recorded in Joh 5:17, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” We are delivered from the law, and it no longer forms the basis of our relation with God. We stand before God in righteousness, accomplished by the work of Christ, and therefore we begin with rest on the first day of the week, instead of reaching it at the end by works of our own.
The sabbath however had a typical significance, foreshadowing the rest of God, into which ultimately we shall be introduced, according to Heb 4:1-16. When we read, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Heb 4:9), the margin tells us that the word used there for “rest” is literally “a keeping of a sabbath” – the only place in Scripture where that particular word is used. In our chapter therefore the sabbath is prophetic of that rest into which God will ultimately bring the true Israel, and the feasts of the Lord, which follow, are prophetic of the steps by which that rest is to be reached.
Of these feasts the passover stands first, as typifying that which forms the basis of all God’s work toward that end – the death of Christ. Full details of this we had before us in Exo 12:1-51 and so in verse Lev 23:5 it is mentioned without detail; and we may pass on to the consideration of the feast of unleavened bread, in verses Lev 23:6-8.
Leaven being a type of sin in its fermenting activity it was to be wholly excluded from their bread for seven days. Here we have something that is applied to ourselves in 1Co 5:6-8. We know that Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us, though we are not of Israel, and the seven days of unleavened bread picture the complete period in which we now live, when it is incumbent on us to have done with the sin for which, and to which, Christ has died. We are to “keep the feast… with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
There will be no doubt a special application to Israel in the day to come, when they discover how their Messiah has died for them, and learn to abhor and forsake their sin. It stands true indeed in every connection, that if a soul is released from the penalty of sin, which has been expiated in the death of Christ, that soul repudiates the sin for which Christ died. The principle of it is clearly stated in Rom 6:2.
Our chapter is divided into paragraphs, beginning respectively with verses Lev 23:9, Lev 23:23, Lev 23:26; Lev 23:33. The first paragraph contains the feasts that have the character of “firstfruits,” see, verses Lev 23:10; Lev 23:17. As a matter of fact, though the words are identical in our version, the words in the original differ. In verse Lev 23:10. the significance of the word is “principal fruits,” and in verse Lev 23:17, it is “earliest fruits;” another mark this of Divine inspiration, inasmuch as we can now see that here were types and predictions of, first, the resurrection of Christ, and second, of saints who are His followers.
The New Testament antitype of the first we find in such a scripture as, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1Co 15:20). The sheaf of the firstfruits, that was to be offered by being waved before the Lord, and which would be accepted on behalf of the people, was in an absolute sense the beginning of the harvest. Until it was offered the produce of the harvest was not in any form to be touched by the people, as verse Lev 23:14 shows. When offered it was to be accompanied only by a burnt offering and a meat offering with the corresponding drink offering.
How accurately all this foreshadowed the great Antitypical event we can plainly see. Christ risen is before us, so no sin offering is suitable here. Nor has the peace offering a place, since. the thought of communion does not enter. The two offerings that do appear set forth the sweet savour of both His spotless life and His sacrificial death.
And further, the sheaf of firstfruits was not to be waved before the Lord on the sabbath, but on the day after the sabbath, that is, on the first day of the week. True to this type, Christ lay in the tomb all the sabbath, and on the first day of the week He rose from the dead. The sheaf was waved “to be accepted for you,” as verse Lev 23:11 says, and in keeping with this Jesus our Lord, who was delivered for our offences, “was raised again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). The believer today stands before God in the acceptance of the risen Christ; and indeed for any saint at any time no other acceptance is possible.
The succeeding feast had its date fixed in reference to this one. Fifty days had to be counted, which according to Jewish reckoning, brought them to the morrow after the seventh sabbath – the feast of Pentecost. The offering on this occasion of two wave loaves is spoken of as “a new meat offering.” This it was indeed, inasmuch as from every other meat offering leaven had to be rigidly excluded, and here it had to be introduced. Yet though introduced its fermenting action was to be ended by the action of fire, since the loaves were to be baken.
Here then we see foreshadowed that which first took place on that day of Pentecost, recorded in Act 2:1-47. On that great occasion, fifty days after the resurrection of our Lord, three thousand Jews, gathered out of many nations, were converted, and offered as “earliest fruits” to God. Not until Act 10:1-48 is reached do we get Gentiles offered as ” earliest fruits.” But they were so offered, for later we find the Apostle Paul speaking of himself as “ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom 15:16).
In our type there were two loaves, setting forth the two classes, and both, the sin that was in them being judged and thus set aside, were equally accepted, when presented to God. What is not typified here is the fact that in the Church both are made one before God. But that fact is a part of “the mystery” which has now been revealed and which, we are expressly told, was not made known in earlier ages. What is foreshadowed is the fact that the saints today are not the complete harvest that is to be reaped as the result of the death and resurrection of Christ but rather, “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (Jam 1:18).
In keeping with all this, the accompanying offerings were to include both sin and peace offerings as well as burnt offerings. The two loaves themselves were the meat offering but representing as they did redeemed sinners, they could not be presented save on the basis of a sin offering, the leaven that was in them having been typically judged by the fire. Again, we meet with the words, “Ye shall do no servile work therein.” We had them in connection with the feast of unleavened bread, but they were absent in connection with the sheaf of firstfruits. If saints are to be presented to God, all human effort is totally excluded.
Verse Lev 23:22 is really a parenthesis, brought in to show that God, while ordaining these feasts in which He was to be honoured and exalted, had a heart full of compassion for the needy among His people, and even for the stranger. In the Book of Ruth we are permitted to see how a God-fearing Israelite, Boaz, observed this command; and his observance of it was over-ruled of God to bring Ruth’s name into the genealogy, not only of David but also of Christ Himself, as mentioned in Mat 1:5.
The feasts of the Lord were not equally distributed throughout the year. After Pentecost came a pause until the seventh month, and then in quick succession came three feasts, which closed the series. On the first day of the seventh month the feast of trumpets was to be observed, which in its prophetic bearing still awaits fulfilment. It foretells the gathering together of the elect Israel at the second Advent, according to the Lord’s words, recorded in Mat 24:31.
Verse Lev 23:24 of our chapter speaks of this feast as “an holy convocation,” and an holy gathering together that day will indeed prove to be. It will be accomplished on the ground of sacrifice, as the next verse indicates, and all “servile work” is eliminated, for this predicted gathering together of Israel will not be achieved by works of law, but wholly based on the mercy of God, as declared in Rom 11:26-32.
On the tenth day of the seventh month came the day of atonement, details of which we had before us when considering chapter 16. Here we have emphasized the elimination of all work on that day, and even more strongly the affliction of heart and soul that was to characterize the people. Viewing it therefore in its setting amongst the other feasts, it is predictive of that great spiritual awakening in Israel, which will produce repentance of unusual depth and reality, as is predicted in Zec 12:10-14. By this inward work of grace there will be created a nation morally fit to enter upon millennial blessedness.
Just five days later came the feast of tabernacles which lasted for seven days. It was a time of thanksgiving and rejoicing when all the fruits of the year had been gathered in, and that doubtless was all that it conveyed to the people at that time. Now that we have the light of New Testament prophecy we see how it foretold the millennial blessedness, which is the purpose of God for Israel. Had the people known its ultimate meaning they might not have been so careless as to its observance, as is noted for us in Neh 8:17. And a similar carelessness seems to have marked them as to other feasts.
Reviewing the teaching of the chapter, we find that it points to great landmarks in Israel’s history – the death of Christ; His resurrection; the coming of the Spirit; the gathering out of an elect people; their profound repentance; millennial joy and blessing. The first three have found fulfilment: the last three await it. The portion of the church is not found here, but in the New Testament only. We may rest assured that, whether for Israel or for the church, not one predicted thing will fail when its season arrives.
The last words of the chapter repeat the opening words of verse Lev 23:2 – “the feasts of the Lord.” It is sadly instructive to note how John speaks of them in his Gospel. A sample is, “After this there was a feast of the Jews” (Lev 5:1), and so it is all through. They were being more observant of them than their fathers, but only in a ritualistic way. They had lost the kernel while retaining the shell. Consequently their feasts were disowned. Herein is a warning for us. Let us not fail to take to heart the principle involved in it, and the danger disclosed.
Lev 24:1-23 divides into two parts. In the first we have instructions as to the maintenance of the lamps in the holy place and of the cakes upon the golden table, so that all was to be in order before God. In the latter part we discover that there was bad disorder in the camp, when it was a question of the actual state of the people. To view things ideally according to God’s mind is one thing: to view them practically according to the state of the people is quite another. And thus it is of course in connection with ourselves today.
It is worthy of note how often the word “pure” occurs in verses Lev 23:1-9. The pure candlestick had seven lamps to be fed with the pure oil beaten out of olives. The pure table had on it the twelve cakes of fine flour, covered in pure frankincense, renewed sabbath by sabbath before the Lord. Here we see what will yet be realized in the coming age, when the light of the Spirit of God will not only be “before the throne,” but also, “sent forth into all the earth” (Rev 4:5; Rev 5:6). In that age too the twelve tribes will at last be maintained before God in a fragrance which they derive altogether from Christ.
The holiness of all this is emphasized in verse Lev 23:9. The weekly cakes were to be eaten only by the priests, and in the holy place. They were not to be carried forth into the outside world. Yet even this regulation had to give way in the presence of the pressing need of David, who was the Lord’s anointed, as recorded in 1Sa 21:6; and this action of Ahimelech was approved by our Lord in Mat 12:3, Mat 12:4. The true Lord’s Anointed is “greater than the temple,” important though that temple and its arrangements were. David moreover was in rejection when the incident took place; and our Lord was the rejected One when He spoke in Mat 12:1-50. Under these circumstances the needs of the Lord’s Anointed took precedence of legal regulations.
The sin of the man who cursed the name of the Lord is brought in here by way of contrast. The Lord’s mind concerning him was made known and he had to die. In verse Lev 23:17, killing a man is mentioned, and cursing the Lord is as grave a sin as that, for death was to be the penalty of both. Here too we have mentioned lesser evils, and we get the legislation, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” mentioned also in Exodus and Deuteronomy, and referred to by the Lord in Mat 5:38. He referred to it to throw into relief the grace that He was beginning to reveal, which would entail upon His disciples the showing of grace to others.
Lev 25:1-55 introduces a fresh subject. The previous chapters have dealt mainly with matters that specially concerned the priests, and were spoken “out of the tabernacle” (chap. Lev 1:1). We now have a matter that concerned rather right government in Israel, when they were come into the land, and so it was spoken “in Mount Sinai.” In this connection the basic fact they had to remember is stated in verse Lev 23:23, – “the land is Mine.” Consequently Israel had to deal with the land, when they possessed it, in the way prescribed in the earlier verses.
Every seventh year was to be a sabbatical year, when the land was to be given a rest. And when seven of these sabbatical years had passed the fiftieth year was to be a jubilee, when not only no sowing was to be done but every man was to return to his inheritance. This law must have been a great test to the people.
In verse Lev 23:20, it is anticipated that they would say, “What shall we eat…?” In answer to that they had to rely on God’s pledged word that the sixth year should bring forth enough for three years. This being so there would be a sufficiency of supply even when they did not sow on the fiftieth year as well as the forty-ninth. The question became simply this – Would they take God at His word? It is a rather ominous fact that there is no record in the history of the people of the jubilee year being observed, though we do have a reference to a kinsman redeeming an inheritance.
What is made very plain is that since the land was God’s, those to whom He gave it might only dispose of it on the leasehold principle, selling it until the jubilee came; the value of the lease decreasing as the jubilee drew near. Thus each inheritance was not to be permanently alienated from the family that originally had it. In this way any accumulation of landed property by men of a grasping nature was prevented and, what was even more important, Israel had a continual reminder that all they were to possess they held from the Lord, and they were dependent upon Him. Do we who are Christians need this reminder any less than they? Do we not rather need it more?
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Division 5. (Lev 23:1-44; Lev 24:1-23; Lev 25:1-55; Lev 26:1-46; Lev 27:1-34.)
Man with God: the way and the end.
The last division is, according to its numerical place, the summary of God’s ways with men: in which also how His heart is with them is brought out fully. The way -devious as it may seem -leads to the end assured from the beginning: for it is the Almighty God with whom (often unknowing) man His creature is.
The contents of this division are of very various character, and the relation of the different parts to one another will be better seen as we take them up in detail, than from any outline that could be given here.
1. The first subdivision gives us Jehovah’s “set times” -not “feasts,” for they are not all this: God’s ways conduct us through shadow as well as sunshine, and necessarily, not arbitrarily. They end in the perfect day, to which in His wisdom they have been ever leading on.
“Set times” are times of His appointment, to whom as the Eternal all times belong, and who is able to adjust them to His purpose. They speak of almighty power, and determinate counsel vindicating thus their place here. But they are “holy convocations” also, gathering times, when the voice of God arouses and assembles His people. His voice unites those who listen to it in obedience, and calls also to Himself.
They are as “set times” annual, together the sum of the sacred year, (the cycle of the divine dealings in this way,) the Sabbath, however, having an exceptional place, as occurring with much greater frequency, and on this account also, as well as for much deeper reasons, being put by itself at the beginning of the series, and in some sense apart.
Of these set times there are seven, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread being taken together, as in fact they were connected, as we know, in the most intimate way. This sevenfold division has, it will be seen also, the clearest numerical justification. The number seven tells of the completeness of these actings of grace, the sheaf of first-fruits as the type of the resurrection of Christ filling plainly the third place. The series divides also like other septenary ones, into four and three, the last three coming all near together in the seventh month, and applying to special dealings of God with Israel in the last days; while between the preceding ones and these there is a distinct pause, the former clearly speaking of Christ’s work and resurrection, and of Pentecostal blessing, when the Church began. Thus the 4 + 3 is distinctly marked.
While this is true, there is another division which is indicated by the recurrence of the words, “And Jehovah spake unto Moses,” the significance of which we have often seen. This, however, in no wise conflicts with the former division, but only parts the first four feasts into two and two, and thus connects respectively the Sabbath with the passover and unleavened bread, and the first-fruit sheaf with Pentecost. All these connections have their importance, and we shall miss something of the significance of the type if we overlook any of them; yet the septenary character is after all that which predominates, and gives the fundamental structure of the chapter, and this we might expect in God’s set times. How beautifully does all this numerical division preach to us of the perfect command He has over all man’s history, and of the spiritual order which shines through that, which at first sight seems to be but thorough disorder! And how good a lesson, this! The ragged end of God’s creation lies always beyond the microscope; and where His creation is, though the creature may be revolted, still His kingdom is. Blessed be God!
(1) We begin with the Sabbath, which occupies, as has been said, a unique place among these times of Jehovah. We have seen at the beginning of Genesis what it prefigures: it is the rest of God into which we yet shall enter, as the apostle says: there remaineth a rest” -a “Sabbatism,” or Sabbath-keeping” to the people of God.” (Heb 4:9.) Though coming at the end of all, (for everything else shall end but this shall not,) it is that which, to speak humanly, is first with God; and put first here as that which governs as final cause all the rest. All else are way-stages, anticipations of the final goal, into which they introduce successively the features which are thenceforth to abide with us in hope, and at last greet us as familiar things. Heaven is filled up thus for us: the rest becomes such as befits God, as satisfies His nature, therefore reflects Himself.
The frequency of the observance of the Sabbath, when compared with other feasts of the law, is proof of how God would remind His people of the truth which it enshrines; while the prophets characteristically insist upon its importance. It connects the rest of God with His delight in His work, through the disturbance which sin has caused only lifted to a higher sphere, and deepened into an infinite meaning. It is a “rest in His love,” but a holy love, which has moreover displayed itself in sacrifice, in deed as well as word, that grace might reign through righteousness: and this is why the passover and the unleavened feast are linked, as we have seen them to be, with the Sabbath. Here too the labor which sin has brought in, (not activity, which is but the vigor of healthful life, but the enforced necessity of toil,) is to be set aside, as when it was first given to Israel we have seen the manna, which provided bread for them without labor, to have preceded it.
The Sabbath is thus the end seen from the beginning: as enjoyed by faith that wherewith we begin. God Himself taking His place in it for the soul as the One who controls the whole course of human history to bring His people to the appointed end, in which He is glorified and they are blessed forever.
(2) Now follow in the closest connection, but in an order which is deeply instructive, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread. The separation between them is singular, and must be for a purpose; for the actual eating of unleavened bread began with the passover itself, and so it is stated in Exo 12:18, “in the fourteenth day of the month at even,” -the passover-day. Here the passover comes prior to the feast: the lamb is assigned the first place, and even the feeding on the lamb; though in fact the leaven and the lamb cannot be permitted together on the same table.
All holiness is grounded on redemption, and the knowledge of it in the soul. Christ’s precious work is first and alone for salvation, and holiness is the fruit of it in the saved soul. Both are needed absolutely for that rest of God with which they are connected, but the importance of the order is what is insisted on in this character, -faith in Another that which, drawing the soul to God, draws it out of sin. There is no other way. And thus our rest already has God in it, righteous and holy, and for us absolutely, while we wait for the rest of God, not ours simply, but His own.
(3) The third section brings us to the land and to the first-fruits of the harvest. The corn of wheat has fallen into the ground and died, and here is the fruit of this, the easily read type of resurrection. “Christ is risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep,” says the apostle. The first-fruits imply the harvest which is to follow. “The morrow after the Sabbath” is, of course, the first day of the week, and then it is waved before Jehovah, while a ram of the first year with its meal-offering and drink-offering is offered for a sweet savor. It is in all the value of what He is, and what His work is, that Christ was raised from the dead, and in this one sheaf is the acceptance of the whole harvest: He was “raised again for our justification.”
(4) This is in the land, not in the wilderness: resurrection is necessarily connected with the land, our entrance, as typified in Joshua, into the heavenly places. It is as heavenly we enjoy this portion: accepted in Christ we belong to another sphere than that of earth; and that is what is brought out in the next feast, the fiftieth day after, -Pentecost. Seven Sabbaths are now complete, perfect rest as to all the past is found, and again the first day is come, the beginning of a new condition, the unvailing of a new creation, -a fiftieth day, (5 x 10,) in which man begins with Almighty God indeed, the “new meal-offering” speaking of a new measure of capacity in devotedness to the Lord. Two wave-loaves of first-fruits show us again what the “corn of wheat” dying has produced: it is the Church, although not in its unity as the body of Christ, but two loaves, implying, perhaps, the fellowship of Christ’s people, a “fellowship with the Father and the Son.”
It is certain we are in the range of practical life, as the number of the section clearly intimates, no less than the number of the loaves. These do not speak of position, and almost the next words are decisive proof: “they shall be of fine flour,” true, and so far like Christ Himself, (for we have had already this type,) but “they shall be baken with leaven,” and here at once we know we have practical condition, and the condition, of fallen men. The consequence is their position must be indicated otherwise, and the sin thus found in them met by a sin-offering, a shaggy goat, with two yearling he-lambs for a peace-, and with seven he-lambs, and a bullock, and two rams for a burnt-offering. Perfect acceptance is here very strongly emphasized, but the presence of sin in the accepted ones also, which does not touch their acceptance, God’s grace, according to perfect righteousness, putting it away.
Here, then, are Christians, and according to God’s ideal of them (for they are a wave-offering to Him,) but as redeemed, yet upon the earth. We find in them the nature of Christ, the fine flour, but sin in them also in the old nature; not indeed working (for it is God’s ideal) but yet there. That the leaven may work, alas, and does, more or less, in all, we have from many scriptures ample assurances. Reckoning ourselves dead to it, it is subdued, not cast out, but yet not marring communion, as the two loaves seem beautifully to assure us. How perfect are these combinations of contrasted features; and how great a fullness is there in the type here!
The third and fourth sections are, as already said, united together as one communication from Jehovah, and it is easily seen how really united they are.
At the close of the fourth section we have a word dropped as to the harvest, which seems designed to intimate on the one hand that God’s mercy to the Gentiles, which has been shown so fully in the Church, is not exhausted with this, but will shine out in blessing to them at a future day; while on the other hand it will not be the wondrous blessing which is manifested in those who are associated as first-fruits with the risen Christ. Here, when Israel’s harvest is being reaped, the corners of the fields are left to the poor and to the stranger. It is in this way in the millennial day the Gentiles will participate in Israel’s blessings. And this is plainly how the Old Testament prophets everywhere speak. Yet the least of these blessings are wondrous blessings, and the Lord’s mercies to all are tender mercies. Tenderness is manifested in this special mention of the poor and stranger.
But Israel’s own blessing has yet to be brought before us, and this notice brings us anticipatively to the end: another indication that with the fourth section one division of these “times” closes. As already said, an interval occurs here which still further separates between the two divisions, Pentecost being in the third, and the rest of the feasts together in the seventh month, the significance of which is easily recognized. It is the time of the consummation of blessing for Israel, according to the unchanging purposes of love regarding them.
(5) The fifth section therefore is a memorial of blowing of trumpets on the first of the seventh month, the day of the new moon, that is, when in the due course, according to the divine order, the sun begins to shine on them once more, and they therefore to reflect its light. The number of the section may point to this due time in divine government, and also to its character, as when man in his weakness begins once more to walk before Almighty God -always the due time for blessing. In fact the little thread of silver light, suggestive in its sheen of that atonement through which alone the divine glory shines on man, suggests also the little remnant in Israel, in whom grace manifests itself, before the full national repentance and turning to God of Zec 12:1-14. With a remnant only is this blowing of trumpets for remembrance, to make Israel think upon their ways and turn to Him they have forsaken. Indeed, here begins a note which is yet to waken a dead world: for the world’s blessing waits on Israel’s restoration. Here, then, restoration and an offering and a holy convocation come fittingly together. As soon as God begins working, faith may rest in assurance that He who has undertaken will go through with it. An unfinished work can be but man’s reproach, and never God’s.
(6) Atonement brings the glory back, but man must be made to know also his need, and to receive it humbly. This will be for the nation when “He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him;” and, when “they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son:” and “in that day shall there be a fountain opened” to them “for sin and for uncleanness.” (Comp. Zec 12:1-14; Zec 13:1; Rev 1:7. ) Beautifully all fits here with this day of atonement already entered into, when they have a Sabbath of rest and afflict their souls, and present their offering by fire unto Jehovah. Here indeed is our Joseph’s victory over His brethren, the victory of divine grace.
(7) All closes, then, with the feast of tabernacles, which begins with the fifteenth day of the month (3 x 5) the due time in government, but of divine manifestation and glory. And the week of joy now passes over to the eighth day, that is, the new age; which is not a week but a “day,” yet a day eternal. Here rest is complete, while offerings multiply, and the wilderness is only a memory, not marring, but helping, the constant praise.
With the eighth day the eternal Sabbath with which we began is reached, and the cycle of God’s dealings is now complete.
2. The second subdivision comprises two sections which are in striking contrast with one another. We have learned that under this number we may look for contrasts; and here the lesson before us is the contrast itself, which is yet in the ways of God necessarily a harmony, the twofold witness to Himself, as able to maintain the light and communion of His Spirit through the darkest night that man has known, while surely judging the impenitent transgressor. We are in the fifth division of the book, let us remember, in which God’s ways are ever the subject.
(1) In the first section, evidently, it is the perpetuity, as maintained by the priest, of the light and of the show-bread, that is insisted on, and this according to the command of God. His will, supreme, and which cannot lack ability to express itself; is that upon which all depends. Christ, ministering in the heavenly sanctuary, is the One to whom all is committed. In His hands there can be no failure; and blessed it is to know this. We must consider the two parts of this section, however, separately.
And first, the perpetuity of the light. The children of Israel are to furnish the oil by which it is maintained: blessed necessity! the people of God it is through whom the light of the Spirit is to be sustained, for it is through and in man the Spirit works. So the lamp burns from evening to morning before Jehovah continually: nothing is said but of the night, for in the world it is ever night; but there are other features in this picture that will lead us further. The light is in the house of God, and Israel were not that house; the lamp-stand that bears this light is Christ, the first-born from the dead; and Aaron’s ministry in the sanctuary points to His present priesthood over the house of God. We are, therefore, typically in Christian times, and we see well that it is not only night in the world, but night in Israel. God, then, has indeed maintained the light while Israel has departed from Him; but He has not only maintained it, He has lifted it up to a higher and a heavenly sphere. Christianity has taken the place of Judaism; and this corresponds with the view given us in the chapter previous, in which the passover, the first-fruits sheaf and Pentecost tell us unmistakably the same thing. The line of truth is different here, but parallel to the former.
The second part speaks of the show-bread. As the light abides so does communion go on; and here the twelve loaves have led many to believe that Israel herself is represented. Undoubtedly these twelve loaves speak of the twelve tribes, but fellowship in the sanctuary does not pertain to the nation here but to the priests. To the priests the show-bread belongs, and the priests, as we have again and again seen, represent the people of God, who are all priests. Christians are the “holy priesthood” (1Pe 2:5); and the twelve tribes represented in the show-bread may typify Christians also. Actually, the bread as the food of the priests must be Christ, and as the presence-bread (or show-bread) Christ gone up to God. We have seen that the table, equally with the ark of the covenant, speaks of Christ also, and glorified, maintaining communion, the loaves resting upon it; and here as we feed upon Him we are called to realize at the same time our identification with Him. It is presence-bread, with the incense of His acceptability upon it, and the twelve loaves making us to know His representation of His people, their identification with Him before God. Perhaps the “twelve” here, like the twelves of the heavenly city, may intimate that perfect rule of God which in our subjection to it shows the practical outcome of communion, as the joy of eternity -“God all in all.”
(2) Thus the light and the show-bread, both in the house of God, both ordered by our risen Priest, tell the same tale of Christianity having replaced Judaism upon the earth -for this is upon the earth. Now on the other side what does the judgment of the blasphemer tell? “Israel themselves as a whole have fallen under this dreadful curse. . . . That is, we have the solemn fact that the people, who ought to have been the means of blessing to all others have themselves passed under this curse, and been guilty, in the most painful form, of ‘blaspheming the Name.’ We know how this has been; we know how they treated Him who is the Word of God and declared the Father, who was and is Jehovah Himself. We know how Israel, yielding to thoughts of the world (as it is said here, the son of an Israelitish woman whose father was an Egyptian) having fallen thoroughly a prey to carnal wisdom as to the Messiah, were guilty of rejecting God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and of blaspheming the Name. Accordingly they have fallen under the curse, which would be final but for the grace of God, who knows how to meet the most desperate case. But indeed, as far as regards the mass of the nation, that judgment is definitive. It is the remnant that will become a strong nation in the day that is at hand. On the apostates wrath will come to the uttermost.”*
{*”Lectures Introductory to the Pentateuch,” by W. Kelly.}
The addition to this of the punishment of him who should slay a man gives another feature of similarity to the case of those who slew the Lord of glory; and the name of Dan points forward to the apostasy of the last days. Thus the rejection of the nation of Israel during the present day of grace to the Gentiles seems plainly indicated, and the two sections of this twenty-fourth chapter are in perfect harmony.
Yet the rejection of Israel is neither complete nor final. There is still as the apostle says, an election of grace; while in the future, their unbelief being repented of, they will again be accepted of the Lord. Of this the next subdivision fully assures us.
3. The Sabbatical year and the jubilee are plainly in connection with one another, and with that septenary series which, whether in days or months or years, continually preached of a rest as to come which should be blessing to the people, holiness to Jehovah. But this for sinners must be found in grace and through redemption, and that is what the jubilee above all witnesses of, in which the land, lost through poverty (and poverty in Israel could only be through sin), was restored to him who had lost it according to the sovereign will of God alone. How this applies to Israel as a nation is quite evident. Just as every individual in all the tribes (save Levi) had birthright title in the land, in this very way, Israel as a whole had title to her land, and if she had not possession of it, it was for sin that she was dispossessed. Her present dispersion, without any room for doubt, means that for the present she is thus disowned of God. On the other hand, as the jubilee unfailingly restored his land to the individual Israelite, so does it speak typically of God’s purpose that the land as a whole -and we may add, according to the full extent of the original promise never yet realized by them -will be restored to the nation, and they therefore be restored to the favor of God. Upon a passover, the antitype of the passover was fulfilled, as we well know; upon a pentecost came what we still call Pentecost: so assuredly will come a jubilee yet that shall be in the full meaning “jubilee,” and Israel shall return to the undisturbed possession of her heritage from the Lord: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” (Isa 27:12-13.)
(1) The relation of the Sabbatical year to the year of jubilee is in this way. The land was the Lord’s, as all land is, but here the Lord asserts His claim to it. In the yielding up the right of property every seventh year, the Israelite owned from whom he held it. For that year he was not proprietor: the harvest belonged to any one as much as to him, and it was expressly as a Sabbath to Jehovah that this was appointed. That year Jehovah entertained all freely with that which sprang up under His hand apart from human cultivation. It was upon this recognition of the divine lordship Israel’s tenure of it all depended. For the violation of this command the land was to enjoy its Sabbaths that had been wrested from it, lying vacant while the people were cast forth (Lev 26:35). And this clearly gives meaning to the jubilee-restoration. Moreover in His parable of the husbandmen, the Lord expressly connects their rejection of Himself with the rejection of Jehovah’s rights over the vineyard which He had let out to them. Here the idea conveyed in the Sabbatical year is extended and developed (Mat 21:33-41). The prophets had been His servants sent to receive His fruits: “Afterward He sent unto them His Son, saying, They will reverence My Son. But when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance.” Hence comes the righteous sentence upon them.
But how blessed a foretaste of paradise restored, this whole year of enjoyment without toil, and community of blessing which banished poverty from the land! Though it be but a moment’s glimpse of what is in His heart, how good to realize, such is our God! But we know Him how much better! and in this Son of His love, whom man’s unbelieving greed rejected.
(2) The jubilee is the fiftieth year, following the seventh Sabbatical one, as Pentecost, the fiftieth day, followed the seventh Sabbatical day from the sheaf of resurrection. It is the Jewish Pentecost, as ours is the Christian. The effort that has been made to show it to be the forty-ninth year, or the seventh Sabbatical year itself, would, if successful, rob the type of much of its significance. Pentecost is the day after the Sabbath, -an eighth day, first of a new week, a type of new creation blessing. This Pentecost of years is similarly an eighth year, and the type of new covenant mercies. It is in the grace of the new covenant, the sweet expression of the “I will’s” of God, that the nation can and will be restored; and thus it is, as the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles has assured us, that the blessing runs on without break from time into eternity.
And then this fiftieth year, how beautiful an overflow of the Sabbatic is it in its meaning (5 x 10), man with Almighty God, and capacity in grace to walk before Him!
On the day of atonement that trumpet of jubilee sounds, after the scapegoat has carried away the people’s sins where they are never more found; and again, how beautifully its birthday shows its gracious character! Now the whole year is sanctified, and as such liberty is proclaimed to all; and still Jehovah entertains, without stint for any one, or restriction to the abundance, all the inhabitants of the land: spontaneously the fruits grow; there is no curse any where. “In the year of this jubilee shall ye return every man unto his possession.”
Meanwhile, before it came, the jubilee regulated the value of all possessions of this sort that were not secured by birthright to the possessor. For so long only the purchaser possessed these, and much was he wronged who bought such things at a high price when the jubilee was near! Jubilee was after the high-priest appeared again out of the sanctuary, and is there nothing parallel for us? no buying too high things that (however secure our birthright possessions) are certain to pass when Christ our Lord appears?
Thus we see that God’s principle as to the land is, that “the land cannot be alienated:” and why? for it is His, and He is gracious. True of Israel’s land, so that they shall certainly return to it; true of our heavenly inheritance. We are “begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1Pe 1:3-5.) Israel for the land, and the land for Israel! is it not even now a fact evident? And just so the saint now for heaven, and heaven for the saint. Lord, keep us mindful of our jubilee, -Thy coming for us!
4. We have in the fourth subdivision Israel in plain words put under test. Blessing and curse are set before them, with a promise of restoration conditional upon repentance, even after their dispersion in their enemies’ land. These three things plainly give us the three sections of the chapter. The perpetuity of the covenant with their fathers is affirmed at the end.
(1) First, the blessing promised to obedience: abundance, peace, victory in conflict, God’s tabernacle among them, His who has broken the bond of their yoke, and delivered them from other service.
(2) Then the effect of the broken covenant detailed at length: graduated judgments, ever increasing as they continue unrepentant, ending in total dispersion, and consumption in their enemies’ land.
(3) Then on their confession and humbling themselves before God, He will remember His covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and will remember the land. Utterly destroyed they never shall be, for their God is that Jehovah who brought them out of the land of Egypt, to be their God.
With the closing verse of this chapter the statutes and judgments at Mount Sinai end; so that the following chapter must be looked at as an appendix to the book.
5. The closing chapter speaks of special vows. These were voluntary in their undertaking, but not as to their fulfillment when undertaken. They were then necessarily a part of simple righteousness to fulfill, and their fulfillment was a matter subject to the judgment of Him to whom they were made. Man might repent of his promise and let himself off easily as to the performance. The estimation of his vow was not therefore left to the maker of it. God Himself, or the priest as His mouthpiece, settled all.*
{*Thine estimation” of the A.V., though supported by the Revised, and what would seem the pronominal suffix, is at least questionable: see Gardner’s Leviticus in Lange’s Commentary. He quotes Horsley, and Delgado, in evidence that the cha is not in fact the pronoun, and cites the Septuagint, Onkelos, the Vulgate and Syriac versions as omitting it. There are difficulties with the common reading, for the estimation is after all fixed, where apparently referred to Moses, as in vers. 3-7, and then where there could be a need for personal judgment, it is referred not to Moses, but to the priest (v. 8). And so with the beast, the house, and the field.}
With this estimation of the vow the chapter is largely occupied. If it were a personal dedication, it was fulfilled by paying the amount, and where there was poverty this was tenderly considered. So the vow of house or land could be settled by a money payment; only here, as a redemption, which the payment for the person is not said to be, a fifth part of the value has to be added. A clean beast for sacrifice on the other hand could not be redeemed or exchanged for another, even for a better: to attempt such an exchange was only to forfeit the substitute.
(1) Now, in the adoption of the legal covenant, Israel had in fact made such a vow of self-devotion to the Lord; and God had fixed in those commandments as to sanctification which had been now laid down the estimate of what that vow implied. Nay, He had been gracious also to the poverty of the people, as all the provision as to priesthood specially assures us. The priest is, indeed, the special witness of such merciful consideration of spiritual poverty. Yet it was still a “law” that “made nothing perfect,” and could not avail. Israel did not perform their vow, whatever might be the merciful release. On the legal ground they (and we) are but bankrupt and ruined sinners.
It is thus that in the sermon on the mount the Lord now distinctly forbids vowing: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; but I say unto you, Swear not at all.” And this is grounded upon that feebleness of man which the law demonstrated to be his moral condition. It is plain, then, that real sanctification by law was an impossibility; and what a light this sheds upon this chapter, and its relation to the whole book of Leviticus, whose theme is sanctification throughout! Grace is thus shown to be the only power for it: the weak must be with the Strong, the beautiful lesson of all these Deuteronomic summaries. May we learn it well!
(2) But now comes in the provision of grace in sacrifice. Man had after all his value, and though for himself he could not pay it, it might be paid. For man there might be escape; for the devoted Victim there was no escape. No substitute could be provided for Him, and who could estimate aright His value? To seek to stand where He alone could stand would be simple and hopeless forfeiture and ruin. The unclean might be redeemed -redeemed with more than the full value; not so the pure offering. How plainly and convincingly all here speaks to us of Christ!
(3) Next comes the dedicated house, and Israel had such a house, a holy and beautiful house, made, as we have seen, of the devoted things. It was the sign of their great distinctive blessing, the dwelling of God among them, that house sanctified to the Lord, and yet theirs, but only made so by redemption. Slight as the sketch is, its features can be recognized. And it is only after and through the sacrifice that their house can be, as it yet shall be, their own.
Thus all is in harmony; while for us also as Christians there is a house, a redeemed house, in which God dwells; but not a house made with hands, -a heavenly one, yet redeemed from earth: “whose house are we.” Israel and Christ’s people now thus answer to one another, so that we can scarcely say to which most fully the type belongs.
(4) Then we have the land; and Israel’s land, though sanctified to the Lord, they had indeed sold to another; hence at the jubilee it shall be entirely Jehovah’s and the priest’s. Thus divine grace will take the inheritance they have so lost out of their keeping. It shall be Immanuel’s land; and His arm shall henceforth preserve it. Nevermore shall it know desolation; never shall the finger of scorn be pointed at its waste places, nor at those who shall at last fly there to their rest as doves to their windows; when the unknown, well-known Voice shall say at last, “The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is MINE: for ye are strangers and sojourners with ME.”
(5) We now have a different set of commandments. As in all septenary series, -and this is one, -the last three sections have another character from the preceding ones. They give us things which cannot be the subject of vows, on account of their already belonging to the Lord. The first-born of beasts are the first class of these, His by birth and as the fruit of redemption, claimed by Him, and therefore His: free from the uncertainty attaching to man’s will in the matter. He claims, who can make good His claim.
Is not this too our certainty as to ourselves, in the sense of our responsibility, and in the consciousness of the weakness of our human wills to yield ourselves to Him? just that we are His by birth, His by redemption, formed for His service as the beast for man’s, and claimed by Him who will not be defrauded of His claim? Thank God, we can look our responsibilities in the face with this assurance, that we are His, not in the weakness of our poor human wills, but in the might of His will for us! “Created in Christ Jesus unto good works;” “chosen to sanctification;” “God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure;” “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation!”
(6) But the same strong hand is also upon the evil; and this is the significance of the cherem, or ban, according to which that which was evil or defiled with evil was sanctified to God in its destruction. “For there can be no doubt that that which lay at the foundation of the ban was that of the compulsory dedication of something which resists or impedes sanctification; so that in all cases in which it was carried into execution by the community, or the magistracy, it was an act of the judicial holiness of God, manifesting itself in righteousness and judgment.” (Keil.) Here ransom could not be. Things that are evil, and persons most unholy, shall thus in a coming day be holy to the Lord. All this also depends not on weak human will to accomplish it: it is the judgment of the Lord, and love will acquiesce in it as a necessity of holiness.
(7) We close here with the tithe. The tithe was the owning of the sovereign rights of God as to all their possessions. Ten we have seen to be the measure of capacity, and so of responsibility; of which one part given up owns divine sovereignty. This is the tithe; and here too God will have His claim. When this is accomplished the full blessing will have come. For God to have His own means all holiness, all joy, all stability. God shall be God, all and in all: and that is, as it were, the definition of the eternal state in the last book of Scripture. Let us remember that even now there is an application of this, which is not confined to Israel: “Bring Me all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room to receive it.” (Mal 3:10.)
What, then, shall be the final blessing, when this is every where in fact accomplished? What tongue can speak aright the overflowing, eternal blessedness? And this too is not left to the weakness of man’s “vow” to bring to pass. The arm of Him who bringeth salvation is that which shall accomplish it, and the day predicted hastens fast.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
FEASTS OF THE LORD
There is nothing more affecting in all this legislation than the provision God makes for the physical happiness and the temporal welfare of His people. He wants them to rejoice if only they rejoice in Him (Php 4:4). This chapter sets this forth.
Compare the Revised Version and observe that the word in Lev 23:2 is set feasts or appointed seasons.
Why are they called set feasts of the Lord? Is it not because He appointed them, and because He would be glorified in them? What other title do they receive (Lev 23:2)? When holy convocations are mentioned we think of public gatherings at the tabernacle, or later on, at the temple; but these were commanded only for the three occasions, the Passover in the spring, and the feast of weeks (Pentecost), and atonement in the autumn (Exo 34:22). Probably, therefore, the other convocations were local gatherings crystallized afterwards in the weekly synagogue.
THE WEEKLY SABBATH (Lev 23:3)
What is the first feast mentioned (Lev 23:3)? Although the weekly Sabbath is included among these appointed seasons, yet it is distinguished from them by the fresh heading of Lev 23:4, and by verses 37-38. It is indeed an appointed season, but dating from the creation of man, and not here first prescribed. It is in this sense a kind of germ of all the other appointed seasons.
How is the sanctity of the weekly Sabbath expressed in the Revised Version? What was prohibited on this day? Did this prohibition extend only to outside work, or what we would call in our day business affairs?
Do you remember what was taught previously about the two reasons for the weekly Sabbath? A memorial of Gods rest in creation it was, and yet also a memorial of redemption (Exo 31:13; Deu 5:15). While the redemption specifically in mind is the Jews deliverance from Egypt, yet it is a type of our spiritual deliverance from sin through Christ.
The original Sabbath rest of God, in which man participated, was marked by sin, so that the whole creation became subjected to vanity (Rom 8:20). God could not rest in this state of things, and began a work of new creation. The object of this is the restoration of that Sabbath rest which thus was interrupted; hence, the weekly Sabbath looked forward as well as backward.
THE PASSOVER AND UNLEAVENED BREAD (Lev 23:4-8)
The feasts of the Passover and unleavened bread we met in Exodus, but here we learn how the latter shall begin and end with a holy convocation, and be characterized by the omission of servile work. This last seems to refer to labor in the field and otherwise, outside of the home.
The spiritual meaning of these two feasts we have considered. Through the slaying of the lamb and sprinkling of its blood Israel secured deliverance from Egypt, and by eating its flesh strength for the journey before them. The unleavened bread, however, had more than an historic reference. Leaven is the type of evil or moral corruption, and its removal signifies that the redeemed nation must be a holy and separate people.
THE SHEAF OF THE FIRSTFRUITS (Lev 23:9-14)
In connection with the two feasts just named, what further ceremony is established (Lev 23:10-11)? With this what offering should be presented (Lev 23:12-13)? What prohibitions are entailed (Lev 23:14)?
We have here a preliminary feast of the harvest. The waiving of the sheaf of the firstfruits indicates that the whole harvest to follow belonged and was consecrated to God. Until this action was taken they were not at liberty to use the harvest. In this we have another symbol. Israel is Gods firstborn among the nations (Exo 4:22), of the redeemed earth. She is the earnest of the redemption of all these nations the beginning of the worlds harvest, which shall be realized in the millennial age.
And the idea is not exhausted yet, as we judge by 1Co 5:7-8. Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, and the sheaf of the firstfruits in His resurrection was presented unto God as a type of the resurrection of all His people (1Co 15:20).
PENTECOST, OR THE FEAST OF WEEKS (Lev 23:15-22)
How long after the presentation of the sheaf of the firstfruits came the next feast (Lev 23:15-16)? What should be offered on this day (Lev 23:17-20)? With what should these loaves be baked (Lev 23:17)? What was the design of this offering (Lev 23:17)? Because this feast came on the fiftieth day after the presentation of the sheaf of the firstfruits, it is called the Feast of Pentecost, from the Greek numeral meaning fifty; and the Feast of Weeks, because it followed seven weeks after that of the sheaf.
The former festival marked the beginning of the harvest with the first sheaf of barley, and this, 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, but in this the offering was of the grain as prepared for food. Why it might be baked with leaven we do not know.
Speaking of the typical aspect of this feast, and comparing it with the Passover, there God was seen to be the Redeemer of Israel, here He is seen to be her preserver.
Comparing it with the sheaf of the firstfruits, there we see a type of Christs resurrection as the firstfruits of them that sleep, but here a type of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost when the church of the firstborn was formed as the beginning of the great ingathering of the whole number of the elect (Act 2:1-4; Col 1:18; Jam 1:18).
As compared with the weekly Sabbath, this feast, in celebrating the rest after the labors of the harvest, became a type of the great rest to follow the harvest at the end of this age (Mat 13:39).
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS (Lev 23:23-25)
We have seen that the Feast of the Sabbath on the seventh day of each week was a germ of the whole series of septenary feasts. The Feast of Pentecost on the seventh week, and now the Feast of Trumpets at the
beginning of the seventh month carry forward the idea. Spring, summer and autumn each has its feast. This seventh month, corresponding to that period of our year from the middle of September to the middle of October was the great month of the Jewish year in that three great events occurred in it the Feast of Trumpets, the great Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The blowing of trumpets was an announcement from God to His people that the great glad month had come, the month of atonement and of the greatest festivity of the year resulting from that atonement, and the earthly blessing accompanying it.
On other occasions trumpets were blown only by the priests and at the central sanctuary, but in this case they were blown by everyone who would throughout the whole land.
How reconciled we could be to the noises preceding New Years Day, or the 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day, if only the blowing of the horns were an act of worship in recognition of the goodness and faithfulness of God!
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (Lev 23:26-32)
The Day of Atonement has been considered in chapter 16. Coming at this season of the year it demonstrated the complete rest brought in, both for God and His people, through the expiation of their guilt.
How were the people on this day to express penitence for their guilt (Lev 23:27)? (Compare Isa 58:3-7; Zec 7:5.) What penalty followed the absence of such penitence (Lev 23:29)? How do these great truths of sin, repentance, expiation, and rest apply to the people of all ages?
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Lev 23:35-43)
This is the greatest of the feasts. When did it begin, what is it called, and how long did it last? On what two days were holy convocations called?
What reference to the complete harvest is found in this enactment (Lev 23:39)? With what unusual feature was this feast to be celebrated (Lev 23:40)? What did the dwelling in booths commemorate (Lev 23:42-43)? As the Passover typified our redemption through Christ, the unleavened bread our feeding upon Him for strength, the first sheaf His restoration from the dead, Pentecost the descent of the Holy Ghost, or the spiritual ingathering of the first fruits of the worlds harvest in the formation of the church, so the Feast of Tabernacles is thought to typify the completion of that harvest in the final ingathering of the elect at the end of the age. Then all that are Christs shall either rise from the dead or be translated to meet Him in the air at the second coming (1Th 4:13-18).
The eighth day after the feast is a type of that new week ushered in by the millennial age, when the earth and all that is therein shall experience the rest promised to the people of God (Zechariah 14; 16; 21).
QUESTIONS
1. Quote Php 4:4.
2. What feast may be said to be the germ of all the others?
3. To what does the weekly rest day look forward?
4. Of what is leaven always the type in Scripture?
5. Of what is the sheaf of the firstfruits the type?
6. What is the Feast of Weeks the type of, compared with that of the firstfruits?
7. What was the great month of the Jewish year and why?
8. Give the name, history and typical significance of the greatest of the feasts.
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Lev 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 23:3. Convocation. , mickra is rendered ecclesia, or church, seventy times, and synagogue thirty seven times. In the next phrase it is changed for the word dwellings, for the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellingplaces of Jacob. Though his throne was fixed in the temple, he was present also in every holy convocation, whether called synagogue or church. An apostle gives the name of synagogue to a christian assembly. Jas 2:2. The churches were all synagogues reformed to Christ.
Lev 23:10. The first-fruits of your harvest. The barley harvest was about Easter, or a little after. Exo 9:31-32. Rth 2:23. The harvest could not be touched till this offering was made to the Lord.
Lev 23:18. Their drink-offerings, accompanying the victims, were oil and wine. Salt, meal, flour, and frankincense were superadded.
Lev 23:44. The feasts; all the feasts, except the feast of the new moon.
REFLECTIONS.
The repetition of the festivals in this place is regarded as a privilege, and a mark of the divine care; for Israel had line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, that no man might be unacquainted with the laws of God. The institution of religious festivals was a most salutary display of the divine wisdom. Acquaintance with revelation, and the various acts of personal and national devotion, require time and opportunity. These holy festivals diverted the people from all the idleness and unbounded wickedness attendant on the gentile feasts.
In the arrangement of the Hebrew festivals, the sabbath holds the first place, as the highest and holiest of days for devotion. Let us learn to hallow and devote it to God. Being a type of heaven, it is of everlasting obligation, and a day of holy convocation. Let the giddy crowds, let the haunters of tea gardens, let the sordid venders and drudges of toil be confounded, as open profaners of a day honoured by a thousand marvels; and as tramplers on the divine precepts, who shall not go unpunished. Next is the passover, in memory of the deliverance from Egypt. Oh it is good to remember the mercies and lovingkindnesses of the Lord; by so doing, our covenant with him is renewed, and accompanied with an increase of blessings.
Before the paschal feast expired, fresh joy was added to Israel; the priest was seen swinging round a sheaf of barley, the earliest fruit of the year, as an acknowledgment that the whole harvest was the gift of heaven. The christian also has a double feast to celebrate at once; the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, and the gift of all temporal and eternal blessings in him. What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits? Let us never forget his mercies, but offer unto him the firstfruits of our youth, and the firstfruits of devotion every morning.
The feast of weeks, Deu 16:10; that is, of the seven weeks or pentecost, from the passover to the giving of the law, was next celebrated; and now they could present oblations of their wheat harvest, and rejoice over the added mercies of a fruitful year. How good is the Lord: his hands are never weary of scattering gifts on man. The christian Israel may here keep pace, and even triumph over Israel according to the flesh. Our pentecost is not merely the blessings of the year, but the descent of the Holy Spirit, with all his graces, to prove the glorification of Christ, and to give effect to the preaching of the gospel. God had reserved some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
The trees were scarcely relieved of their heavy load, and the tender vine of its purple clusters, before the month of Tisri ushered in a group of festivals. (See the table, Exodus 12.) The feast of trumpets was the first day of that month; for the earth was created about that time of the year, when the fruits were ripe and ready for man. It was about the same time of the year that our blessed Lord began his ministry, and sounded the gospel trumpet, or glad tidings of great joy through all the land of Israel.
The tenth day of the above month was the great day of national atonement, a day of recollection, seriousness and prayer. Oh my soul, never forget the day when Jesus by the direct witness of his Holy Spirit, or by some encouraging drawings of his love, first vouchsafed to assure thee of a pardon: no day of all thy life is more to be remembered than that.
This day of atonement was followed with a season of the greatest joy, for on the fifteenth day the feast of tabernacles commenced. The labours of the harvest and the vintage being closed, leisure was afforded for the people to rejoice seven days before the Lord. The fields around Jerusalem exhibited a nation encamped in tents and booths, to perpetuate the recollection of ten thousand mercies, which their fathers received while encamped and wandering in the desert. On the first day the altars of God smoked with two hundred and fifteen victims, according to the number of years which Israel had dwelt in Egypt, besides a multitude of oblations arising from vows and gifts. The worship of the temple was adapted to the day; and the young people, loaded with green boughs and fruits, paraded the streets, singing Hosannas to the Lord.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Leviticus 23
One of the most profound and comprehensive chapters in the inspired volume now lies open before us, and claims our prayerful study. It contains the record of the seven great feasts or periodical solemnities into which Israel’s year was divided. In other words, it furnishes us with a perfect view of God’s dealings with Israel, during the entire period of their most eventful history.
Looking at the feasts separately, we have the Sabbath, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the first-fruits, Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. This would make eight, altogether; but it is very obvious that the Sabbath occupies quite a unique and independent place. It is first presented, and its proper characteristics and attendant circumstances fully set forth; and then, we read “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” (Ver. 4) so that, strictly speaking, as the attentive reader will observe, Israel’s first great feast was the Passover, and their seventh was the feast of tabernacles. That is to say, divesting them of their typical dress, we have, full, redemption; and, last of all, we have the millennial glory. The paschal lamb typified the death of Christ; (1 Cor. 5: 7;) and the feast of tabernacles typified “the times of the restitution of all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began.” (Acts 3: 21)
Such was the opening and such the closing feast of the Jewish year. Atonement is the foundation, glory the top-stone; while, between these two points, we have the resurrection of Christ, (ver. 10-14,) the gathering of the Church, (ver 15-21,) the waking up of Israel to a sense of their long-lost glory, (ver. 24-25) their repentance and hearty reception of their Messiah. (Ver. 27-32.) And that not one feature might be lacking in this grand typical representation, we have provision made for the Gentiles to come in at the close of the harvest, and glean in Israel’s fields. (Ver. 22.) All this renders the picture divinely perfect, and evokes from the heart of every lover of Scripture the most intense admiration. What could? be more complete? The blood of the Lamb and practical holiness founded thereon – the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His ascension into heaven – the descent of the Holy Ghost, in Pentecostal power, to form the Church – the awakening of the remnant – their repentance and restoration – the blessing of “the poor and the stranger” – the manifestation of the glory – the rest and blessedness of the kingdom. Such are the contents of this truly marvellous chapter, which we shall, now, proceed to examine in detail. May God the Holy Ghost be our Teacher!
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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.” The place which the Sabbath here gets is full of interest. The Lord is about to furnish a type of all His dealings in grace with His people; and, ere He does so, He sets forth the Sabbath as the significant expression of that rest which remaineth for the people of God. It was an actual solemnity, to be observed by Israel; but it was also a type of what is yet to be, when all that great and glorious work which this chapter foreshadows shall have been accomplished. It is God’s rest, into which all who believe can enter now in spirit; but which, as to its full and actual accomplishment, yet remains. (Heb. 4) we work now. We shall rest by and by. In one sense, the believer enters into rest; in another sense, he labours to enter into it. He has found his rest in Christ; he labours to enter into his rest in glory. He has found his full mental repose in what Christ has wrought for him, and his eye rests on that everlasting Sabbath upon which he shall enter when all his desert toils and conflicts are over. He cannot rest in the midst of a scene of sin and wretchedness. “He rests in Christ, the Son of God, who took the servant’s form.” And, while thus resting, he is called to labour as a worker together with God, in the full assurance that, when all his toil is over, he shall enjoy unbroken, eternal repose in those mansions of unfading light and unalloyed blessedness where labour and sorrow can never enter. Blessed prospect! May it brighten more and more each hour in the vision of faith! May we labour all the more earnestly and faithfully, as being sure of this most precious rest at the end! True, there are foretastes of the eternal Sabbath; but these foretastes only cause us to long more ardently for the blessed reality – that Sabbath which shall never be broken – that “holy convocation” which shall never be dissolved.
We have already remarked that the Sabbath occupies quite a unique and independent place in this chapter. This is evident from the wording of the fourth verse, where the Lord seems to begin afresh with the expression, “These are the feasts of the Lord,” as if to leave the Sabbath quite distinct from the seven feasts which follow, though it be, in reality, the type of that rest to which those feasts so blessedly introduce the soul.
“These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover.” (Ver. 4, 5) Here, then, we have the first of the seven periodical solemnities – the offering of that paschal lamb whose blood it was that screened the Israel of God from the sword of the destroying angel, on that terrible night when Egypt’s firstborn were laid low. This is the acknowledged type of the death of Christ; and, hence, its place in this chapter is divinely appropriate. It forms the foundation of all. We can know nothing of rest, nothing of holiness, nothing of fellowship, save on the ground of the death of Christ. It is peculiarly striking, significant, and beautiful to observe that, directly God’s rest is spoken of, the next thing introduced is the blood of the paschal lamb. As much as to say, “There is the rest, but here is your title.” No doubt, labour will capacitate us, but it is the blood that entitles us to enjoy the rest.
“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened breed. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 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.” (Ver. 6-8.) The people are here assembled round Jehovah, in that practical holiness which is founded upon accomplished redemption; and, while thus assembled, the fragrant odour of the sacrifice ascends from the altar of Israel to the throne of Israel’s God. This gives us a fine view of that holiness which God looks for in the life of His redeemed. It is based upon the sacrifice, and it ascends in immediate connection with the acceptable fragrance of the Person of Christ. “Ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire.” What a contrast! The servile work of man’s hands, and the sweet savour of Christ’s sacrifice! The practical holiness of God’s people is not servile labour. It is the living unfolding of Christ, through them, by the power of the Holy Ghost. “To me to live is Christ.” This is the true idea. Christ is our life; and every exhibition of that life is, in the divine judgement, redolent with all the fragrance of Christ. It may be a very trifling matter, in man’s judgement; but, in so far as it is the outflow of Christ our life, it is unspeakably precious to God. It ascends to Him and can never be forgotten. “The fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ” are produced in the life of the believer, and no power of earth or hell can prevent their fragrance ascending to the throne of God.
It is needful to ponder deeply the contrast between “servile work,” and the outflow of the life of Christ. The type is very vivid. There was a total cessation of manual labour throughout the whole assembly; but the sweet savour of the burnt offering ascended to God. These were to be the two grand characteristics of the feast of unleavened bread. Man’s labour ceased, and the odour of the sacrifice ascended; and this was the type of a believer’s life of practical holiness. What a triumphant answer is here to the legalist, on the one side, and the antinomian on the other! The former is silenced by the words, “no servile work;” and the latter is confounded by the words, “Ye shall offer an offering made by fire.” The most elaborate works of man’s hands are “servile; “but the smallest cluster of “the fruits of righteousness” is to the glory and praise of God. Throughout the entire period of the believer’s life, there must be no servile work; nothing of the hateful and degrading element of legality. There should be only the continual presentation of the life of Christ, brought out and exhibited by the power of the Holy Ghost. Throughout the “seven days” of Israel’s second great periodical solemnity, there was to be “no leaven;” but, instead thereof, the sweet savour of “an offering made by fire” was to be presented to the Lord. May we fully enter into the practical teaching of this most striking and instructive type!
“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 a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and ye shall wave the sheaf Before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf, an the lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 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. 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.” (Ver. 9-14)
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (1 Cor. 15: 20) The beautiful ordinance of the presentation of the sheaf of first fruits typify the resurrection of Christ, who, “at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” rose triumphant from the tomb, having accomplished the glorious work of redemption. His was a “resurrection from among the dead;” and, in it, we have, at once, the earnest and the type of the resurrection of His people. “Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming.” When Christ comes, His people will be raised from among the dead;” (ek nekron) that is those of them that sleep in Jesus. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20: 5) When, immediately after the transfiguration, our blessed Lord spoke of His rising “from among the dead,” the disciples questioned among themselves what that could mean. (See Mark 9) Every orthodox Jew believed in the doctrine of the “resurrection of the dead,” (anastasis nekron) But the idea of a “resurrection from among the dead,” (anastasis ek nekron) was what the disciples were unable to grasp and, no doubt, many disciples since then have felt considerable difficulty with respect to a mystery so profound.
However, if my reader will prayerfully study and compare 1 Cor. 15 with 1 Thess. 4: 13-18, he will get much precious instruction upon this most interesting and practical truth. He can also look at Romans 8: 11, in connection. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead (ek nekron) dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” From all these passages it will be seen that the resurrection of the Church will be upon precisely the same principle as the resurrection of Christ. Both the Head and the body are shown to be raised “from among the dead.” The first sheaf and all the sheaves that follow after are morally connected.
It must be evident to any one who carefully ponders the subject, in the light of scripture, that there is a very material difference between the resurrection of the believer and the resurrection of the unbeliever. Both shall be raised; but Revelation 20: 5, proves that there will be a thousand years between the two, so that they differ both as to the principle, and as to the time. Some have found difficulty, in reference to this subject, from the fact that, in John 5: 28, our Lord speaks of “the hour in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.” “How,” it may be asked, “can there be a thousand years between the two resurrections when both are spoken of as occurring in an ‘hour’?” The answer is very simple. In verse 28, the quickening of dead souls is spoken of as occurring in an “hour;” and this work has been going on for over eighteen hundred years. Now, if a period of nearly two thousand years can be represented by the word “hour,” what objection can there be to the idea of one thousand years being represented in the same way? Surely, none whatever, especially when it is expressly stated that “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
But, furthermore, when we find mention made of “a first resurrection,” is it not evident that all are not to be raised together? Why speak of a “first” if there is but the one? It may be said that “the first resurrection” refers to the soul; but where is the scripture warrant for such a statement? The solemn fact is this: when the “shout of the archangel and the trump of God” shall be heard, the redeemed who sleep in Jesus will be raised to meet Him in the glory. The wicked dead, whoever they be, from the days of Cain down, will remain in their graves, during the thousand years of millennial blessedness; and, at the close of that bright and blissful period, they shall come forth and stand before “the great white throne,” there to be “judged every man according to his works,” and to pass from the throne of judgement into the lake of fire. Appalling thought!
Oh! reader, how is it in reference to your precious soul Have you seen, by the eye of faith, the blood of the paschal Lamb shed to screen you from this terrible hour? Have you seen the precious sheaf of firstfruits reaped and gathered into the heavenly garner, as the earnest of your being gathered in due time? These are solemn questions, deeply solemn. Do not put them aside. See that you are, now, under the cover of the blood of Jesus. Remember, you cannot glean so much as a single ear in the fields of redemption until you have seen the true sheaf waved before the Lord. “Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the self-same day that ye have brought an offering unto your God.” The harvest could not be touched until the sheaf of first fruits had been presented, and, with the sheaf, a burnt offering and a meat offering.
“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: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 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.” (Ver. 15-17) This is the feast of Pentecost – the type of God’s people, gathered by the Holy Ghost, and presented before Him, in connection with all the preciousness of Christ. In the Passover, we have the death of Christ; in the sheaf of first fruits, we have the resurrection of Christ; and in the feast of Pentecost, we have the descent of the Holy Ghost to form the Church. All this is divinely perfect. The death and resurrection of Christ had to be accomplished, ere the Church could be formed. The sheaf was offered and then the loaves were baked.
And, observe, “They shall be baken with leaven.” Why was this? Because they were intended to foreshadow those who, though filled with the Holy Ghost, and adorned with His gifts and graces, had, nevertheless, evil dwelling in them. The assembly, on the day of Pentecost, stood in the full value of the blood of Christ, was crowned with the gifts of the Holy ghost; but there was leaven there also. No power of the Spirit could do away with the fact that there was evil dwelling in the people of God. It might be suppressed and kept out of view; but it was there. This fact is foreshadowed in the type, by the leaven in the two loaves; and it is set forth in the actual history of the Church; for, albeit God the Holy Ghost was present in the assembly, the flesh was there likewise to lie unto Him. Flesh is flesh, nor can it ever be made ought else than flesh. The Holy Ghost did not come down, on the day of Pentecost, to improve nature or do away with the fact of its incurable evil, but to baptise believers into one body, and connect them with their living Head in heaven.
Allusion has already been made, in the chapter on the peace offering, to the fact that leaven was permitted in connection therewith. It was the divine recognition of the evil in the worshipper. Thus is it also in the ordinance of the “two wave loaves;” they were to be “baken with leaven,” because of the evil in the antitype.
But, blessed be God, the evil which was divinely recognised was divinely provided for. This gives great rest and comfort to the heart. It is a comfort to be assured that God knows the worst of us; and, moreover, that He has made provision according to His knowledge, and not merely according to ours. “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 a sweet savour unto the Lord. (Ver. 18) Here, then, we have, in immediate connection with the leavened loaves, the presentation of an unblemished sacrifice, typifying the great and all-important truth that it is Christ’s perfectness and not our sinfulness that is ever before the view of God. Observe, particularly, the words, “ye shall offer with the bread, seven lambs without blemish.” Precious truth! Deeply precious, though clothed in typical dress! May the reader be enabled to enter into it, to make his own of it, to stay his conscience upon it, to feed and refresh his heart with it, to delight his whole soul in it. Not I, but Christ.
It may, however, be objected that the fact of Christ’s being a spotless lamb is not sufficient to roll the burden of guilt from a sin-stained conscience – a sweet-savour offering would not, of itself, avail for a guilty sinner. This objection might be urged; but our type fully meets and entirely removes it. It is quite true that a burnt offering would not have been sufficient where “leaven “was in question; and hence we read, “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.” (Ver. 19) The “sin offering” was the answer to the “leaven” in the loaves – “peace” was established, so that communion could be enjoyed, and all went up in immediate connection with the “sweet savour” of the “burnt offering” unto the Lord.
Thus, on the day of Pentecost, the church was presented, in all the value and excellency of Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Though having in itself the leaven of the old nature, that leaven was not reckoned, because the divine Sin Offering had perfectly answered for it. The power of the Holy Ghost did not remove the leaven, but the blood of the Lamb had atoned for it. This is a most interesting and important distinction. The work of the Spirit in the believer does not remove indwelling evil. It enables him to detect, judge, and subdue the evil; but no amount of spiritual power can do away with the fact that the evil is there – though, blessed be God, the conscience is at perfect ease, inasmuch as the blood of our Sin Offering has eternally settled the whole question; and, therefore, instead of our evil being under the eye of God, it has been put out of sight for ever, and we are accepted in all the acceptableness of Christ, who offered Himself to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, that He might perfectly glorify Him in all things, and be the food of His people for ever.
Thus much as to Pentecost – after which a long; period is entered to roll on ere we have any movement amongst the people. there is, however, the notice of “the poor and stranger” in that beautiful ordinance which has already been referred to in its moral aspect. Here we may look at it in a dispensational point of view. “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.” (Ver. 22) Provision is here made for the stranger to glean in Israel’s fields. The Gentile is to be brought in to participate in the overflowing goodness of God. When Israel’s storehouse and winepress have been fully furnished, there will be precious sheaves and rich clusters for the Gentile to gather.
We are not, however, to suppose that the spiritual blessings with which the Church is endowed in the heavenlies with Christ are set forth under the figure of a stranger gleaning in Israel’s fields. These blessings are as new to the seed of Abraham as they are to the Gentile. They are not the gleanings of Canaan, but the glories of heaven – the glories of Christ. The Church is not merely blessed by Christ, but with and in Christ. The bride of Christ will not be sent forth to gather up, as a stranger, the sheaves and clusters in the corners of Israel’s fields, and from the branches of Israel’s vines. No; she tastes of higher blessings, richer joys, nobler dignities, than ought that Israel ever knew. She is not to glean as a stranger on earth, but to enjoy her own wealthy and happy home in heaven to which she belongs. This is the “better thing” which God hath, in His manifold wisdom and grace, “reserved” for her. No doubt, it will be a gracious privilege for “the stranger” to be permitted to glean after Israel’s harvest is reaped; but the church’s portion is incomparably higher, even to be the bride of Israel’s king, the partner of His throne, the sharer of His joys, His dignities, and His glories; to be like Him, and with Him, for ever. The eternal mansions of the Father’s house on high, and not the ungleaned corners of Israel’s fields below, are to be the church’s portion. May we ever bear this in mind, and live, in some small degree, worthy of such a holy and elevated destination!
“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 ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work; but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” (Ver. 23-25) A new subject is introduced here, by the words, “the Lord spake unto Moses,” which, let me remark in passing, affords an interesting help in classifying the subjects of the entire chapter. Thus, the Sabbath, the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, are given under the first communication. The wave sheaf, the wave loaves, and the ungleaned corners, are given under the second; after which we have a long unnoticed interval, and then comes the soul-stirring feast of trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month. This ordinance leads us on to the time, now fast approaching, when the remnant of Israel shall “blow up the trumpet” for a memorial, calling to remembrance their long-lost glory, and stirring up themselves to seek the Lord.
The feast of trumpets is intimately connected with another great solemnity, namely, “the day of atonement.” “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. 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 . . . . . 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.” (Ver. 27-32) Thus, after the blowing of the trumpets, an interval of eight days elapses, and then we have the day of atonement, with which these things are connected, namely, affliction of soul, atonement for sin, and rest from labour. All these things will find their due place in the experience of the Jewish remnant, by and by. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jer. 8: 20) such will be the pathetic lament of the remnant when the Spirit of God shall have begun to touch their heart and conscience. “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall Be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for her firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart,” &c. (Zech. 12: 10-14)
What deep mourning, what intense affliction, what genuine penitence there will be, when, under the mighty action of the Holy Ghost, the conscience of the remnant shall recall the sins of the past, the neglect of the Sabbath, the breach of the law, the stoning of the prophets, the piercing of the Son, the resistance of the Spirit! All these things will come in array on the tablets of an enlightened and exercised conscience, and produce keen affliction of soul.
But the blood of atonement will meet all. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” (Zech. 13: 1) They will be made to feel their guilt and be afflicted, and they will also be led to see the efficacy of the blood and perfect peace – a sabbath of rest unto their souls.
Now, when such results shall have been reached, in the experience of Israel, in the latter day, for what should we look? Surely, THE GLORY. When the “blindness” is removed, and The veil is taken away, when the heart of the remnant is turned to Jehovah, then shall the bright beams of the “Sun of righteousness” fall, in healing, restoring, and saving power upon a truly penitent, afflicted, and poor people. To enter elaborately upon this subject would demand a volume in itself. The exercises, the experiences, the conflicts, the trials, the difficulties, and the ultimate blessings of the Jewish remnant are fully detailed throughout the Psalms and Prophets. The existence of such a body must be clearly seen, ere the Psalms and Prophets can be studied with intelligence and satisfaction. Not but that we may learn much from those portions of inspiration, for “all scripture is profitable.” But the surest way to make a right use of any portion of the Word of God, is to understand its primary application.. If, then, we apply scriptures to the Church or heavenly body which belong, strictly speaking, to the Jewish remnant or earthly body, we must be involved in serious error as to both the one and the other. In point of fact, it happens, in many cases, that the existence of such a body as the remnant is completely ignored, and the true position and hope of the Church are entirely lost sight of. These are grave errors which my reader should sedulously seek to avoid. Let him not suppose, for a moment, that they are mere speculations fitted only to engage the attention of the curious, and possessing no practical power whatever. There could not be a more erroneous supposition. What! is it of no practical value to us to know whether we belong to earth or heaven? Is it of no real moment to us to know whether we shall be at rest in the mansions above, or passing through the apocalyptic judgements down here? Who could admit ought so unreasonable? The truth is, it would be difficult to fix on any line of truth more practical than that which unfolds the distinctive destinies of the earthly remnant and the heavenly Church. I shall not pursue the subject further, here; but the reader will find it well worthy of his calm and prayerful study. We shall close this section with a view of the feast of tabernacles – the last solemnity of the Jewish year.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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 . . . . . .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 shall be a sabbath. 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. 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. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days: all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; 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.” (Ver. 33-43)
This feast points us forward to the time of Israel’s glory in the latter day, and, therefore, it forms a most lovely and appropriate close to the whole series of feasts. The harvest was gathered in, all was done, the storehouses were amply furnished, and Jehovah would have His people to give expression to their festive joy. But, alas! they seem to have had but little heart to enter into the divine thought in reference to this most delightful ordinance. They lost sight of the fact that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and hence their long neglect of this feast. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, the feast of tabernacles had never once been celebrated. It was reserved for the feeble remnant that returned from the Babylonish captivity to do what had not been done even in the bright days of Solomon. “And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so. and there was very great gladness.” (Neh. 8: 17) How refreshing it must have been to those who had hung their harps on the willows of Babylon, to find themselves beneath the shade of the willows of Canaan! It was a sweet foretaste of that time of which the feast of tabernacles was the type, when Israel’s restored tribes shall repose within those millennial bowers which the faithful hand of Jehovah will erect for them in the land which He sware to give unto Abraham and to his seed for ever. Thrice happy moment when the heavenly and the earthly shall meet, as intimated, in “the first day” and “the eighth day” of the feast of tabernacles! “The heavens shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.”
There is a fine passage in the last chapter of Zechariah which goes to prove, very distinctly, that the true celebration of the feast of tabernacles belongs to the glory of the latter day. “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.” (Lev. 14: 16) What a scene! Who would seek to rob it of its characteristic beauty by a vague system of interpretation falsely called spiritualizing? Surely, Jerusalem means Jerusalem; nations mean nations; and the feast of tabernacles means the feast of tabernacles. Is there anything incredible in this? Surely, nothing save to man’s reason which rejects all that lies beyond its narrow range. The feast of tabernacles shall yet be celebrated in the land of Canaan, and the nations of the saved shall go up thither to participate in its glorious and hallowed festivities. Jerusalem’s warfare shall then be accomplished, the roar of battle shall cease. The sword and the spear shall be transformed into the implements of peaceful agriculture; Israel shall repose beneath the refreshing shade of their vines and fig-trees; and all the earth shall rejoice in the government of “the Prince of Peace.” Such is the prospect presented in the unerring pages of inspiration. The types foreshadow it; the prophets prophesy of it; faith believes it; and hope anticipates it.
NOTE. – At the close of our chapter we read, “And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” This was their true character, their original title; but in the Gospel of John, they are called “feasts of the Jews.” They had long ceased to be Jehovah’s feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him; and, hence, in John 7, when Jesus was asked to go up to “the Jews’ feast of tabernacles,” He answered,” My time is not yet come;” and when He did go up it was “privately,” to take His place outside of the whole thing, and to call upon every thirsty soul to come unto Him and drink. There is a solemn lesson in this. Divine institutions are speedily marred in the hands of man; but, oh! how deeply blessed to know that the thirsty soul that feels the barrenness and drought connected with a scene of empty religious formality, has only to flee to Jesus and drink freely of His exhaustless springs, and so become a channel of blessing to others.
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Lev 23:1-3. The Sabbath, which is to be kept holy, i.e. unprofaned by any kind of work for individual profit, and marked by a religious gathering, apparently at a synagogue. The term set feast (RV) means an assembly. The same word is used in the name for the shrine, the tent of meeting. The older name for these feasts was hag, properly a pilgrimage; this term, however, would not apply to the Sabbath.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE SET TIMES OF THE LORD (vv. 1-43)
The times of special observance in Israel are called feasts in most translations, yet all were not feasts for Israel, as per the day of atonement (vv. 26-32), which was a day of brokenness and humiliation rather than of feasting. Yet all may be called feasts of the Lord when we think of what pleasure the Lord would have in their proper observance. Sadly, these degenerated into mere feasts of the Jews in which there was no real honor given to God (Joh 2:3; Joh 5:1; Joh 6:4; Joh 7:2; Joh 11:55).
However, from their very inception, God calls these holy convocations My feasts (v. 2). Ought we not therefore to seek to learn in all this chapter how we should please the Lord rather than ourselves? Six of these set times were kept once in the year, but before they are mentioned, there is prior emphasis on
1. THE SABBATH (v. 3)
This was to be observed every week on the seventh day, so that it overspread the whole year. It was to be a day of rest, with no work to be done. It teaches us that we are to rest on the value of God’s work already accomplished, not daring to add any work of our own to this. Such a reminder was necessary for Israel, and is necessary for us.
2. THE PASSOVER AND UNLEAVENED BREAD (vv. 4-8).
The Passover was vitally significant of Israel’s initial relationship with the Lord. They could have no true relationship with Him apart from the blood of the lamb shed and sprinkled on their doorposts. This feast was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month. Its typical meaning clearly extends to believers of the present dispensation of grace, for 1Co 5:7 tells us, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Just as it took place in the beginning of Israel’s year, so the sacrifice of Christ is the beginning of all true blessing for mankind.
Linked closely with the Passover was the feast of unleavened bread. Israel was to eat no leavened bread for a week beginning with the Passover. Leaven speaks of sin in its corrupting character. For if, on the one hand, the Passover teaches the wonderful positive value of the sacrifice of Christ, on the other hand the abstaining from leaven is negative, emphasizing that in the cross of Christ sin is fully judged. The least allowance of sin would be gross contamination where the sacrifice of Christ is concerned, for that sacrifice involved the total judgment of sin.
Believers today are not told to literally eat unleavened bread, as Israel was, but rather to observe the spiritual meaning of this, as told us in 1Co 5:7 : Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
No customary (or servile) work was to be done (vv. 7-8), for this typically tells us that we must not dare to think of gaining God’s favor or blessing by our own work. On the positive side an offering by fire was to be made every day for the seven days (the number of completeness), telling us that we must depend completely on the value of God’s great work in the sacrifice of His Son.
3 THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS (vv. 9-14)
Israel’s harvest began early in their year, so the feast of firstfruits took place not long after the Passover. This was to be observed only in the land, as verse 10 tells us. The land speaks of the heavenly places into which believers are introduced by the resurrection of Christ. Before the harvest was reaped, the children of Israel were to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits to the priest, who would wave this before the Lord. The message here is perfectly plain. The firstfruits picture Christ in resurrection. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1Co 15:20).
While the sheaf speaks of the springing up of life from death, the waving of the sheaf signifies the ascension of the Lord Jesus to heaven. Thus, the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord form the solid basis of blessing for the Church today. This too is the only basis for the blessing of the nation Israel, but that nation has refused this great blessing sent to them by God in the person of His Son. Therefore they are blinded for the time being until the Lord eventually turns away ungodliness from Jacob and Israel’s eyes are opened to receive their Messiah.
On this day of the waving of the sheaf before the Lord, being the first day of the week (v. 11), a lamb (a yearling male) was to be offered as a burnt offering, together with a grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and a drink offering of wine (vv. 12-13). The burnt offering was all for God, speaking of the unselfish adoration of our hearts toward the living God, who has by Himself accomplished the great work of redemption and the exaltation of His beloved Son. The grain offering was not a blood sacrifice, but speaks of the perfection and purity of the Manhood of the Lord Jesus as the only One fitted to become the sacrifice. The drink offering of wine speaks of the joy that the offerer has in contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice. Thus, God is preeminently glorified, Christ is exalted, and the believer wonderfully blessed.
Verse 14 insists that the children of Israel must not eat any of their harvest until they had offered the firstfruits to the Lord. God gave the increase, so He had prior rights, and especially so because the firstfruits symbolize the Lord Jesus as the firstborn from among the dead.
4 PENTECOST (vv. 15-22)
The sheaf of the firstfruits was waved before the Lord on the first day of the week. Then seven weeks were to pass until, on the fiftieth day (also a first day of the week) was the celebration of Pentecost (meaning fifty). Then a new grain offering was to be offered to the Lord. This signifies in some sense a new beginning, for it was on this day (fifty days after the resurrection of Christ) that the Spirit of God came to indwell believers (Act 2:1-47) and to begin the marvelous formation of the Church in unity on earth.
Verse 17 is most interesting at this point. The people were to bring from their homes two loaves of bread, called wave loaves. But in contrast to all other grain offerings, they were to be baked with leaven. Therefore they certainly do not speak of Christ, for in Him there is no sin (1Jn 3:5). They can only signify believers accepted by God in spite of their sinful natures. When the Spirit of God came at Pentecost in divided tongues, as of fire (Act 2:3), those upon whom He came were publicly accepted by God. The Spirit had come upon the Lord Jesus like a dove (Mat 3:16), for in Him personally the Father had pure delight. When the Spirit came at Pentecost it was as of fire, which speaks of God’s holiness in judging evil, so that the effect of the Spirit’s presence in believers is to cause self-judgment of the sin within them.
The two wave loaves picture the acceptance of both Jewish and Gentile believers, who are seen in 1Co 12:13 to be joined together in one body by the baptism of the Spirit. As the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits is typical of the ascension of the Lord Jesus to heaven, so the waving of the two loaves pictures the Church as being raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 2:6). This could not be applied to Israel, for Israel is God’s earthly people, but the Church is identified today with Christ in heaven. Wonderful grace!
These wave loaves are said to be the firstfruits to the Lord. This does not contradict the fact that the wave sheaf (offered 50 days earlier) was the sheaf of firstfruits, typical only of Christ raised and glorified. From this viewpoint Christ stands alone. But when the people are considered, the firstfruits from among mankind focuses upon the Church, which is the first result of the work of Christ. So Jam 1:18 tells us, Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. This has taken place before the general harvest which will involve Israel and the nations.
On that day seven yearling lambs were offered, one young bull and two rams, as a burnt offering, together with grain offerings and drink offerings. In the feast of firstfruits, since the focus is on Christ alone, only one lamb was sacrificed (v. 12), but Pentecost involves the large number who are identified with Christ, so seven lambs (the complete number) were offered, besides a bull and two rams, the bull speaking of the strength of the offering in its capability of atoning for large numbers, the two rams symbolizing the witness that redemption is accomplished. This burnt offering was again accompanied by a grain offering and a drink offering.
More than that, however, a sin offering was required (one kid of the goats) and a peace offering (two yearling lambs). For Pentecost involves the acceptance of all believers, as we have seen, so that a sin offering of the substitutionary goat was imperative, and the peace offering implies the fellowship of believers with the Lord Jesus and with God the Father. Since the feast of firstfruits speaks of the Lord Jesus alone in His resurrection and ascension, only a burnt offering was indicated, for this was all for the glory of God. But Pentecost involves the blessing of those whom the Lord calls, My brethren, the Church of God.
The priest was to wave these offerings also before the Lord, as he had waved the loaves. For we need the insistence that the Church is a heavenly company, identified fully with her glorified Lord. The priest was to consider this a matter of holiness too (v. 20).
Again, in verse 21, customary (or servile) work was forbidden, for Pentecost speaks of another great work of God in which people are blessed by God’s grace without any work on their part
Verse 22 adds a most interesting precept at this point. Though the main harvest was not reaped till much later than Pentecost, yet Israelites are told now that in reaping their harvest they were not to reap the corners of their fields nor gather any gleanings, but leave these for the poor and for strangers to gather. This is consistent with the character of the Church, for being the recipients of God’s grace today, we should show the same grace to others, as Gal 2:10 insists. As well as this, the grace of God by which we have been so greatly blessed, will not be exhausted when the Church is translated to heaven: there will be abundance of grace left for the poor of Israel and for stranger Gentiles who will be brought to God during the tribulation period.
THE THREE FINAL SET TIMES (vv. 23-44)
The three feasts we have considered all took place early in the year, and refer to those great works of God that have already taken place, the sacrifice of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension and the coming of the Spirit of God to introduce the Church period. There follows a long interval before the last three set times were celebrated. These three speak of the future restoration and blessing of the nation Israel, beginning with
5 THE BLOWING OF TRUMPETS (vv. 23-25)
Only three verses deal with this observance, the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month. Israel’s seventh Month would correspond to our October. All three of the last set times were observed in this month. They speak of the revival of blessing for Israel in a coming day, long after the Church was established in the book of Acts. Israel the nation at that time rejected the grace sent to her in Christ, yet God will restore her to great blessing in spite of this, when He works in hearts to bring them to receive the Lord Jesus; for it will be God’s work in their hearts that initiates this great revival, though centuries have passed since that nation had refused Him.
The blowing of trumpets signifies the regathering of Israel back to their land, as is seen in Mat 24:31 : He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. The trumpet speaks of clear, declared testimony, and the Jews, who have been so scattered for centuries, will be awakened to return to their land. Already there are some stirrings of the Jews to this end, and many have returned to the land, but as yet not by any means all of Judah has returned, and we do not even know where the ten tribes are. But God knows, and this great trumpet call of angels will bring them out and back to the land of promise.
Therefore the blowing of trumpets was another holy convocation. Again, no customary work was to be done, for human energy will have nothing to do with this great regathering of Israel (v. 25). It will be exclusively the work of God.
6 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (vv. 26-32)
The tenth day of the seventh month was a great climax for Israel, for it symbolizes the most vital climax of their entire history. We have before considered that Lev 16:1-34 devotes 34 verses to the services of this day, and seven more verses are occupied with this in chapter 23. This day was most holy, but by no means a day of feasting, rather a day in which everyone in Israel was commanded to afflict his soul (v. 27) in severe self-judgment. On the positive side, however, they were to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. Chapter 16 shows this to be the one day of the year when the high priest brought the blood of the sin offering into the holy place, sprinkling it before and on the mercy seat (Lev 16:11-19), Verse 29 of that chapter furnishes the date (the tenth day of the seventh month) on which this was done.
This day is a striking picture of the coming day when Israel will be brought down to a place of deepest humiliation and self-judgment when, at the end of the Great Tribulation, God says, I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications, then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zec 12:10).
After centuries of suffering because of having rejected their Messiah, the change in that nation will be amazing when they look on the One they had pierced. Only then will they use the language of Isa 53:4, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. It will be astonishing to them then to find that Jesus whom they crucified is their true Messiah, the Son of God, and all the world will be astonished at the miraculous change that takes place in Israel as a result of their receiving Christ; and the nations will bring tribute to Israel in the way of much wealth (Isa 61:6).
But only a national repentance and faith will bring national blessing. The one who will not afflict his soul will be cut off from his people (v. 29). He will have judgment rather than blessing. Also the one who did any work was to suffer the same fate. For at the sight of the Lord Jesus every one must cease from his own works, to contemplate the wonder of the sacrificial work of Christ as the only basis of their blessing. It is sad to think that two thirds of Israel will be cut off in death at the time of the tribulation (Zec 13:8) because they have no faith in the Lord Jesus. The other one third will then form the nation Israel, a nation born again in one day (Isa 66:8).
The things seen in these verses on the day of atonement are mainly negative, but the positive things are seen in Lev 16:1-34, which is well worth our careful consideration.
7 TABERNACLES (vv. 33-44)
The Feast of Tabernacles completes the series of set times in Israel, and is therefore connected with the eventual completion of God’s ways in bringing Israel to the fulfillment of God’s promise of blessing toward them. The work will be quickly done, from the time of God’s regathering the nation to the land until His fully establishing them in the blessing of millennial glory.
So, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (v. 34), in which there was to be a holy convocation, an offering was to be made every day through seven days, and on the eighth day was another holy convocation (v. 36).
The Blowing of Trumpets was for one day only, as was the Day of Atonement (over one night and day v. 32), for they were leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles, which, being for seven days, pictures the eventual completeness of blessing that God will give Israel in fulfilling His promise to Abraham, given long before the covenant of law was introduced in the days of Moses.
On the first day and the last day of this observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, no customary work was to be done (vv. 35-36), for the marvelous millennial blessing of Israel will be God’s sovereign work exclusively, just as is true of the spiritual significance of all these set times.
Verses 37 and 38 sum up these set times by insisting again that they are feasts of the Lord, and offerings were to be made to the Lord, all on the days appointed, besides gifts, vows and freewill offerings which they were to give to the Lord. The Lord was to be the Object of their lives.
Also, on the first day of Tabernacles, the 15th day of the seventh month, after the completion of harvest, they were to take the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, bows of leafy trees, and willows (vv. 39-40). These were to be used to make booths (v. 42) in which they were to live during the week they observed. This would be a shade from the heat of the sun, but no protection from rain, wind and cold, which would not be likely at that time of year in the land of Israel.
However, the significance of this is that in the millennium the outward circumstances will be no problem, neither the weather nor the danger of thieves and robbers. All will dwell safely without need of such precautions as we cannot do without today.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
C. Sanctification of the Sabbath and the feasts of Yahweh ch. 23
God considered the Israelites (chs. 17-20), the priests, the holy gifts, and the sacrifices (chs. 21-22) as set apart to Him as holy. He regarded certain days and times of the year in the same way (ch. 23). This chapter contains a list of seven festal days and periods of the year when the Israelites were to celebrate holy meetings. These were normally convocations (Lev 23:2) when the Israelites assembled around the tabernacle area. The recurring phrases "holy convocations" and "rest days" indicate that this calendar was primarily for the benefit of the ordinary Israelites rather than for the priests.
"There must be days set apart from the calendar of ’secular,’ self-serving activity so that the servant people might ponder the meaning of their existence and of the holy task to which they had been called." [Note: Merrill, p. 59.]
The Israelites observed a solar year, which contains 365 days, and a lunar month. Lunar months have 29 and 30 days alternately. The Egyptians followed these alternations carefully giving them six months of 29 days and six months of 30 days. The Israelites followed the Mesopotamians, however, who observed 12 months of 30 days. All three civilizations made up the difference between 12 lunar months and one solar year by inserting another month after several years. [Note: See Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Part I, Chapter 2: "Divisions of Time."]
The chapter begins with an introduction (Lev 23:1-2) that bears repetition at the end (Lev 23:44).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The Sabbath 23:1-3
The Sabbath (Lev 23:3) was, of course, a weekly observance in contrast to the other feasts that occurred only once a year. Moses introduced the annual holidays in Lev 23:4. God had prescribed Sabbath observance earlier (Exo 20:8-11; Exo 31:13-17; Exo 35:2-3; Lev 19:3). Evidently Moses included it in this list because, like the feasts, it was a day set apart to God for holy purposes. The Sabbath was a "convocation" in that the people assembled in spirit to remember God’s work for them that resulted in their being able to rest. For this convocation the Israelites did not assemble around the tabernacle but observed the day in their own dwellings.
The Sabbath was the heart of the whole system of annual feasts in Israel. The other feasts all related to the central idea of rest that the Sabbath epitomized. They focused the Israelites’ attention on other Sabbath-like blessings that Yahweh provided for them. [Note: See Timothy K. Hui, "The Purpose of Israel’s Annual Feasts," Bibliotheca Sacra 147:586 (April-June 1990):143-54.]
"Jesus claimed that ’the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath’ (Mar 2:28); he could therefore abolish the sabbath, and he did in fact do so, for the New Covenant which he brought abrogated the Old Covenant, of which the sabbath was the sign. The Christian Sunday is not in any sense a continuation of the Jewish sabbath. The latter closed the week, but the Christian Sunday opens the week in the new era by commemorating the Resurrection of our Lord, and the appearances of the risen Christ, and by directing our attention to the future, when he will come again. And yet Sunday does symbolize the fulfillment of those promises which the sabbath foreshadowed. Like all the other promises of the Old Testament, these promises too are realized not in an institution, but in the person of Christ: it is he who fulfills the entire Law. Sunday is the ’Lord’s Day,’ the day of him who lightens our burdens (Mat 11:28), through whom, with whom and in whom we enter into God’s own rest (Heb 4:1-11)." [Note: de Vaux, 2:483.]
"Christians are not merely to give one day in seven to God, but all seven. Since they have entered the rest of God, every day should be sanctified. But they have to set apart some time to be used in voluntary gratitude for worship and ministry and for the rest of body, soul, and spirit." [Note: Ross, p. 405.]
"God’s people witness to their participation in the covenant [Old or New] by ceasing their labors and joining the believing community in the celebration of the LORD’s Sabbath rest." [Note: Ibid., p. 403.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE WEEKLY SABBATH
Lev 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 (Lev 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; Gods 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.