Days Set For National Public Worship And Sacrifice
February 24, 2020
Commentary
In this chapter the Lord instructed His people to reserve certain dates on their calendar for national public worship and sacrifice. Calendars are a normal part of our modern busy world, but they weren’t that important to the people of Israel in Moses day. The Jews worked from sunrise to sunset and they counted the months by the different phases of the moon as they watched the seasons come and go. God had promised a seed time and a harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night (Gen. 8:22). Now He is talking to them about special days called “feasts“ for them to celebrate. “Feasts“ did not mean eating but appointed times.
The first of these days was the weekly Sabbath (vv. 1-3). It was not one of the annual “feast“ days but was a very important day and the Jewish people were expected to honor it. To dishonor it meant death (Num. 15:32-36). The first “feast“ was the Passover (vv. 4-5) which marked Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and a celebration that the lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled on the door posts of each Israelite home.
The second “feast“ day was that of Unleavened Bread(vv. 6-8), which began the day after the Passover and continued for a week. It was a time when the Jews ate only unleavened bread with their meals and when they cleansed all the yeast from their homes. During this time a “sheaf of first fruits” of barley was offered (vv. 9-14) as a wave offering before the Lord God and it symbolized the fact that it all came from Him.
Application
As a believer I am not commanded to keep any of these days today. However, each day is a sacred gift from God and I need to live it fully for Him.
Leviticus 23:1– 14 (NET)
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies—my appointed times.
3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.
4 “‘These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the Lord. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month will be the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day there will be a holy assembly for you; you must not do any regular work. 8 You must present a gift to the Lord for seven days, and the seventh day is a holy assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”
9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he must wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for your benefit —on the day after the Sabbath the priest is to wave it. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf you must also offer a flawless yearling lamb for a burnt offering to the Lord, 13 along with its grain offering, two-tenths of an ephah of choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil, as a gift to the Lord, a soothing aroma, and its drink offering, one-fourth of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this very day, until you bring the offering to your God. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live.
Illustration: Fiji Island Visitor Skeptical of Missionaries
A man visited the Fiji islands. He was skeptical of missionaries and told the chief that nobody believed what the Bible had to say nowadays. He concluded his remarks by saying “I am sorry for you that you have been so foolish”. The Fijian chief shocked this visitor when he told him about their old savage ways. The chief said, “Do you see that stone over there? On that stone we smashed the heads of our victims to death. Do you see that native oven over there? In that oven we roasted human bodies for our great feasts. If it had not been for good missionaries, the Bible, and the love of Jesus Christ which changed us from savages into God’s children, you would never leave this spot! You need to thank God for the Gospel, otherwise you would have been killed and roasted in the oven, and we would feast on your body!” (A. Naismith. 1200 Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes. Great Britain: Pickering Paperbacks, 1988, p. 134).