Feast Days of a People

Leviticus 20:7, 8; 23:4-6, 15, 16, 24, 27, 28, 34, 39-44

GOLDEN TEXT: “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”—Psalm 126:3

THE various feast days which the Lord commanded Israel to observe were to be occasions of thanksgiving, when the people would recall the mercies and blessings of God and give praises to him in appreciation thereof. The thought is beautifully expressed in the Golden Text—“The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”

Israel’s feast days were also typical, or illustrative, of “good things to come.” (Heb. 9:11; 10:1) Some of the antitypical “good things” pertain particularly to the church of this Gospel age, while others belong to the world in the age to come. Concerning a great anti-typical “feast day” of the future in which all mankind will participate, the prophet declares, “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”—Isaiah 25:6

After describing the nature of the blessings which will constitute such a bounteous feast for the people, explaining that they will include the abolishing of sickness and death and the wiping away of all tears, the prophet describes the joyous response of the people, who will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—Isaiah 25:9

Leviticus 23 first mentions the “feast of unleavened bread” associated with the Passover. The Passover celebration was itself somewhat in the nature of a feast, in that it included the eating of the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month; that is, Nisan. The feast of unleavened bread began the next day, and continued through seven days. No leaven was to be eaten during this entire period. This was a fitting symbol of the eternal joy of all those, who, delivered from the leaven of sin, partake thereof no more, and devote themselves entirely to the Lord in a feast of continuous thanksgiving to him.

The Feast of Pentecost was on the fiftieth day following the ceremony of bringing to the Lord a “sheaf of the firstfruits” of their harvest. Beginning with the time they entered the land and started to gather their harvest, a sheaf of the “firstfruits” was to be offered to the Lord on the first day after the sabbath. Then they were to count seven periods of seven days, making forty-nine days, and on the fiftieth day they were to offer two wave loaves to the Lord.

The Apostle James alludes to this general picture when he speaks of the church as being a “kind of firstfruits” unto God of his creatures. (James 1:18; Rev. 14:4) Paul also applies the type, saying of the resurrection that Christ will be the “firstfruits.” (I Cor. 15:23) Inasmuch as the offering made on the fiftieth day was evidently intended to be associated with the “sheaf of the firstfruits” through its time connection, it may be that the two loaves then offered were intended to be a type of the church, which began to be offered in sacrifice just fifty days after Jesus the “firstfruits” had completed his offering. (I Cor. 15:20) The church, of course, is but one offering, but the two classes of spirit-begotten ones within the church could well be represented by the two loaves, even as they are represented by the two goats which were offered in the typical day of atonement sacrifices:.

Other important days in Israel’s relationship to the Lord were in their seventh month, about October of our calendar year. The first day of this month was to be a “memorial of blowing of trumpets.” The tenth day was to be their national and yearly “day of atonement.” On this day each year the high priest offered a bullock in. sacrifice (representing Jesus) and a goat (representing the members of Christ’s body).

Five days later, that is on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the “Feast of Tabernacles” was to begin. This seems to have been intended particularly as a feast of thanksgiving. Following as it did the full ingathering of the harvest, the people would have much cause for gratitude as they turned aside from secular affairs for seven days to recall the Lord’s goodness to them throughout the year, a most important manifestation of which was the atonement from sin which he had provided. The seven days of this feast might well portray the eternity of thanksgiving on the part of humanity whose sins have been atoned for by Jesus, and for whom divine love has provided everlasting life.

QUESTIONS:

What was one of the typical lessons of Israel’s feasts?

What was foreshadowed by the feast of unleavened bread?

What typical lesson is portrayed by the Feast of Tabernacles?

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