Leviticus 23:23-44 ~ 20170305 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
03/05 Leviticus 23:23-44; Holy Time - the Fall Feasts; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20170305_leviticus-23_23-44.mp3
Leviticus 23 deals with holy time, from the weekly Sabbath to the annual holy convocations at which every male in Israel was required to make a pilgrimage to the temple to attend. God's holy people are to set aside regular time to reflect, to remember, to anticipate, to worship. God has set apart days and seasons to make space in our schedules to reflect, to focus our attention on him. These are to be times that communicate truth, times to remind us to look back on his past faithfulness, times to point us forward to the promise of his future grace.
All this is founded on the weekly Sabbath, the rest God prepared for his people, to cease from labor and enjoy his good gifts and faithful provision.
Three of these feasts, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and the Feast of Booths were to be pilgrim festivals where every male was to come up to the temple to worship.
Deuteronomy 16:16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. (cf. Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-23)
Last time we looked at the spring feasts, taking place in the first month of the Jewish calendar, our March or April, and 50 then days later the feast of Pentecost. This section concluded with the phrase at the end of verse 22 "I am YHWH your God."
1-8 Sabbath, Passover & Unleavened Bread
9-22 Firstfruits and Weeks
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23-25 Trumpets
26-32 Day of Atonement
33-44 Booths [Ingathering, Tabernacles]
Today we will look at the fall feasts, in the seventh month, our September or October. This was the time when all the produce had been gathered in, and the ripe olives and grapes had been gathered, a time of joyous celebration. This section also closes with this phrase in verse 43 "I am YHWH your God."
Trumpets
Leviticus 23:23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.”
Not much is said about this day of solemn rest. It is to be a memorial, a day of remembering. What is remembered and who is doing the remembering? In Exodus 28, we see some of the precious stones engraved with the names of the tribes were to serve as a memorial or 'stones of remembrance' to bear their names before the LORD 'for remembrance' (Ex.28:12, 29). This was a way God gave for the names of his people to be brought before him as a reminder to him to be gracious to his people. We could see this as a memorial for God's people to remind themselves of God and his faithfulness, or we could see this as a way God gave his people to call his attention to them and remind him of his promises to his people. Numbers 10 describes the two silver trumpets to be used for summoning the congregation.
Numbers 10:8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 9 And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. 10 On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”
This was to be a day of solemn rest. The people were to do no ordinary work. The trumpet was a summons to worship, probably a preparation for the day of Atonement 10 days later.
Day of Atonement
Leviticus 23:26 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”
The Day of Atonement was a solemn day. It was the one day the High Priest entered into the Most Holy Place to present sacrificial blood on the Mercy Seat to make atonement for all the people. The procedure for the priests and the sacrifices to be offered on this day were detailed in chapter 16. Here the day is summarized for the people, what they were to do. It was a day to afflict yourself. It was a Sabbath of solemn rest. From evening to evening they were to fast. There were grave consequences laid out on that day. Whoever was not afflicted on that day was to be cut off from his people. Whoever did any work on that day would be destroyed by the LORD himself. Three times in these few verses, the people were told to afflict themselves, and to do no work. Other days of rest the people were to do no ordinary or heavy work. No heavy labor was to be done on the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread, on Pentecost, on Trumpets, and on the first and eighth days of Booths. It seems light tasks like fire lighting and meal preparation were allowed on these days. No work at all was to be done on the weekly Sabbath, and on the Day of Atonement. These were Sabbaths of solemn rest. On the Day of Atonement the High Priest alone was to do the work of atoning for sins. The people were to rest in his work for them.
Booths
Leviticus 23:33 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. 37 “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 besides the LORD's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. 39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” 44 Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD.
In contrast to the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths was a joyful occasion. Where the Day of Atonement was a day to afflict yourselves, the Feast of Booths was a seven day feast where the people were commanded to 'rejoice before the LORD.'
It is interesting to note that appropriate emotional responses are required. Failure to lament and grieve over sin was punished by God. Here, joy and celebration are expected as a response to God's deliverance. We are not to be driven or ruled by our emotions, yet if healthy emotions do not follow, if there is no grief over sin, if there is no joy in our salvation, something is broken; something is not healthy.
Spring Feasts and Jesus' First Coming
Last time we saw that the feasts were commemorative of a past deliverance by God, they were to serve as a time of present reflection on the goodness of God, and they were also pointers to Jesus, the fulfillment of all the types and shadows. The Passover pointed us to Good Friday, where Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. The Firstfruits, the first portion of the barley harvest, a promise of more to come, pointed us forward to resurrection Sunday, to Christ the firstfruits of the resurrection, and the promise of our resurrection. Pentecost, or the feast of Weeks or Harvest, 7 weeks after Firstfruits, the first portion of the wheat harvest was presented to the Lord, pointing us forward to the birth of the Church in Acts 2, where God poured out his Holy Spirit, and 3,000 people believed and were added to the church. From the Passover lamb sacrificed as a substitute, to the Firstfruits of those raised from the dead, to the Holy Spirit poured out on believers, beginning the time of harvest for the church, the Spring feasts pointed us to coming of Jesus to die for our sins and rise again; they pointed to the gospel message of forgiveness of sins to all who trust in him.
The Fall Feasts and the Second Coming
As we look to the significance of the fall feasts, the picture is less clear, because, I believe, we are looking primarily forward to things yet to come, so it is wise to proceed with caution. Yet there are some biblical passages that give us an idea of what these things might point to.
Trumpets
It seems this Feast of Trumpets was a call of preparation to the mourning of the Day of Atonement. We read in Joel 2:
Joel 2:1 Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
...12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
This trumpet seems to be a preparation for the fasting and mourning of the Day of Atonement.
Day of Atonement
Revelation
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Zechariah 12 says:
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
This seems to fit the tone of mourning on the Day of Atonement. Then in 13:1 we are told:
Zechariah 13:1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Booths
Zechariah 14 goes on to say that "all the nations ...shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of Booths" (Zech.14:16).
It seems we get a glimpse into this future glory on the mount of transfiguration, when Jesus was revealed in his kingdom glory.
Matthew 17:4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
Peter was connecting this foretaste of future glory with the feast of booths, offering to make temporary dwellings for them.
These booths were to be a reminder of the temporary dwellings during the wilderness sojourn after the people were set free from Egypt, but before they entered the land of promise. They were a reminder that we are yet strangers and aliens, longing for our permanent home.
But the booths were to be made of plants, an echo back to the garden, that one day paradise would be restored, and we will be restored to fellowship with God. Revelation 21 says:
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
We see this fulfilled in Jesus.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He dwelt among us; literally pitched his tent or tabernacled among us.
The feast of Booths was a time of celebration, where rejoicing was commanded. There were echoes of this on Palm Sunday, when the King came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people spread out leafy branches before him, shouting 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Mt.21:9).
In the time of Jesus, during the Feast of Booths, the priests would go out and gather leafy branches and bring them up to the temple area to make a booth around the altar. They would also go down to the pool of Siloam, fill up jars with water, and carry the water back up to the temple, and pour the water down the steps of the temple while reciting Isaiah 12
Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
This processional of the priests during the Feast of Booths is the context of John 7,
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jesus proclaimed himself the fulfillment of the feast. Jesus is the Passover Lamb slain for us, Jesus is the Firstfruits of the Resurrection. Jesus ascended to the right hand of his Father and poured out the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and began the harvest. Jesus is coming again in power and great glory, announced by trumpet blasts. Those who pierced him will mourn, but their mourning will be turned into rejoicing when a fountain is opened to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. God will indeed dwell with his people. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus invites us to come. Come to me! If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink!
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org