1And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying to, 2Speak the sons of Israel and say to them, The appointments of Jehovah, which ye shall call them holy callings, these my appointments. 3Six days shall work be done; the seventh day a Sabbath of rest, a holy calling: ye shall not do any work: it is a Sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings. 4These the appointments of Jehovah called holy, which ye shall call them in their appointment 5In the first month, in the fourteenth of the month, between the two evenings, the passover to Jehovah. 6And in the fifteenth day of that month the festival of unleavened to Jehovah: seven days shall ye eat unleavened. 7In the first day a holy calling shall be to you: any work of labor ye shall not do. 8And offer ye a sacrifice to Jehovah seven days: in the seventh day a holy calling; any work of labor ye shall not do. 9And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 10Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye shall come into the land which I give to you, and ye reaped its harvest, and brought a handful of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest: 11And he lifted up the handful before Jehovah for your acceptance: on the morrow of the Sabbath the priest shall lift it up. 12And in the day of your lifting up the handful, ye did a blameless lamb, the son of its year, for a burnt-offering to Jehovah. 13And its gift two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil; a sacrifice to Jehovah, an odor of sweetness: and its libation of wine, the fourth of the hin. 14And ye shall not eat bread, and parched, and early groats of grain, till the self-same day till that ye brought an offering to your God: a law forever to your generations, in all your dwellings 15And ye counted to you from the morrow of the Sabbath from the day ye brought the handful of lifting up; seven Sabbaths shall be complete. 16Till from the morrow of the seventh Sabbath, shall ye number fifty days; and ye brought a new gift to Jehovah. 17From your dwellings shall ye bring two loaves lifted up, of two tenths of fine flour shall they be; leavened shall they be, baked, the first-fruits to Jehovah. 18And ye brought upon the bread seven blameless lambs, the sons of a year, and one bullock, the son of a cow, and two rams: they shall be a burnt-offering to Jehovah, and their gift and their libations, a sacrifice, an odor of sweetness to Jehovah. 19And ye did one he goat of the goats for sin, and two lambs the sons of a year, for a sacrifice of peace. 20And the priest lifted them up upon the bread of the first-fruits, a lifting up before Jehovah upon the two lambs: they shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest 21And ye called in this self-same day a holy calling of Jehovah to you: any work of labor ye shall not do: a law forever in all your dwellings for your generations. 22And in your reaping the harvest of your land, thou shalt not finish the extremity of thy field in thy reaping, and the gleaning of thy harvest thou shalt not glean: to the poor and to the stranger thou shalt leave them: I Jehovah your God. 23And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 24Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in one of the month, there shall be to you a Sabbath, a remembrance, shouts of joy, a holy calling. 25Any work of labor ye shall not do; and ye brought a sacrifice to Jehovah. 26And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 27But in this tenth of the seventh month, a day of expiation; shall be a holy calling to you, and ye humbled your souls, and brought a sacrifice to Jehovah. 28And any work ye shall not do in that self-same day, for it is a day of expiation, to expiate for you before Jehovah your God. 29For every soul which shall not be humbled in, that same day, and it was cut off from its people. 30And any soul which shall do any work in that same day, I destroyed that soul from the midst of its people. 31Any work ye shall not do: a law forever to your generations in all your dwellings. 32A Sabbath of rest it is to you; ye humbled your souls: in the ninth of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. 33And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 34Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this seventh month the festival of tents seven days to Jehovah. 35In the first day a holy calling: any work of labor ye shall not do. 36Seven days shall ye bring a sacrifice to Jehovah; in the eighth day a holy calling shall be to you, and bring ye a sacrifice to Jehovah: it is a restraining: any work of labor ye shall not do. 37These the appointments to Jehovah, which ye shall call them callings holy, to bring a sacrifice to Jehovah, a burnt-offering and a gift, a sacrifice, and libations, the word of a day in its day: 38Besides the Sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary gifts which ye shall give to Jehovah. 39But in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, in your gathering the produce of the land, ye shall keep a festival of Jehovah seven days: in the first day a Sabbath, and in the eighth day a Sabbath. 40And take ye to yourselves in the first day the fruit of the tree of ornament, palms of the palm trees, and branches of the tree interwoven, and willows of the stream; and ye rejoiced before Jehovah your God seven days. 41And keep it a festival to Jehovah seven days in the year: a law forever to your generations; in the seventh month shall ye keep it 42Ye shall dwell in tents seven days; all the natives in Israel shall dwell in tents: 43So that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to dwell in tents in my bringing them out of the land of Egypt: I Jehovah your God. 44And Moses will speak the appointments of Jehovah to the sons of Israel.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 OF SUNDRY FEASTS. (
Lev 23:1-
Lev 23:4)
Speak unto the children of Israel, . . . concerning the feasts of the Lord--literally, "the times of assembling, or solemnities" (
Isa 33:20); and this is a preferable rendering, applicable to all sacred seasons mentioned in this chapter, even the day of atonement, which was observed as a fast. They were appointed by the direct authority of God and announced by a public proclamation, which is called "the joyful sound" (
Ps 89:15). Those "holy convocations" were evidences of divine wisdom, and eminently subservient to the maintenance and diffusion of religious knowledge and piety.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest--(See on
Exod 20:8). The Sabbath has the precedence given to it, and it was to be "a holy convocation," observed by families "in their dwellings"; where practicable, by the people repairing to the door of the tabernacle; at later periods, by meeting in the schools of the prophets, and in synagogues.
4 These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons--Their observance took place in the parts of the year corresponding to our March, May, and September. Divine wisdom was manifested in fixing them at those periods; in winter, when the days were short and the roads broken up, a long journey was impracticable; while in summer the harvest and vintage gave busy employment in the fields. Besides, another reason for the choice of those seasons probably was to counteract the influence of Egyptian associations and habits. And God appointed more sacred festivals for the Israelites in the month of September than the people of Egypt had in honor of their idols. These institutions, however, were for the most part prospective, the observance being not binding on the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness, while the regular celebration was not to commence till their settlement in Canaan.
5 THE PASSOVER. (
Lev 23:5-
Lev 23:8)
the Lord's passover--(See
Exod 12:2,
Exod 12:14,
Exod 12:18). The institution of the passover was intended to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances attending the redemption of the Israelites, while it had a typical reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual people. On the first and last days of this feast, the people were forbidden to work [
Lev 23:7-
Lev 23:8]; but while on the Sabbath they were not to do any work, on feast days they were permitted to dress meat--and hence the prohibition is restricted to "no servile work." At the same time, those two days were devoted to "holy convocation"--special seasons of social devotion. In addition to the ordinary sacrifices of every day, there were to be "offerings by fire" on the altar (see
Num 28:19), while unleavened bread was to be eaten in families all the seven days (see
1Cor 5:8).
10 THE SHEAF OF FIRST FRUITS. (
Lev 23:9-
Lev 23:14)
ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest--A sheaf, literally, an omer, of the first-fruits of the barley harvest. The barley being sooner ripe than the other grains, the reaping of it formed the commencement of the general harvest season. The offering described in this passage was made on the sixteenth of the first month, the day following the first Passover Sabbath, which was on the fifteenth (corresponding to the beginning of our April); but it was reaped after sunset on the previous evening by persons deputed to go with sickles and obtain samples from different fields. These, being laid together in a sheaf or loose bundle, were brought to the court of the temple, where the grain was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a mortar. Then, after some incense had been sprinkled on it, the priest waved the sheaf aloft before the Lord towards the four different points of the compass, took a part of it and threw it into the fire of the altar--all the rest being reserved to himself. It was a proper and beautiful act, expressive of dependence on the God of nature and providence--common among all people, but more especially becoming the Israelites, who owed their land itself as well as all it produced to the divine bounty. The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole harvest (
Rom 11:16). At the same time, this feast had a typical character, and pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ (
1Cor 15:20), who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.
15 FEAST OF PENTECOST. (
Lev 23:15-
Lev 23:22)
ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath--that is, after the first day of the passover week, which was observed as a Sabbath.
16 number fifty days--The forty-ninth day after the presentation of the first-fruits, or the fiftieth, including it, was the feast of Pentecost. (See also
Exod 23:16;
Deut 16:9).
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals, &c.--These loaves were made of "fine" or wheaten flour, the quantity contained in them being somewhat more than ten pounds in weight. As the wave-sheaf gave the signal for the commencement, the two loaves solemnized the termination of the harvest season. They were the first-fruits of that season, being offered unto the Lord by the priest in name of the whole nation. (See
Exod 34:22). The loaves used at the Passover were unleavened; those presented at Pentecost were leavened--a difference which is thus accounted for, that the one was a memorial of the bread hastily prepared at their departure, while the other was a tribute of gratitude to God for their daily food, which was leavened.
21 ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein--Though it extended over a week, the first day only was held as a Sabbath, both for the national offering of first-fruits and a memorial of the giving of the law.
22 thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, &c.--(See on
Lev 19:9). The repetition of this law here probably arose from the priests reminding the people, at the presentation of the first-fruits, to unite piety to God with charity to the poor.
24 FEAST OF TRUMPETS. (
Lev 23:23-
Lev 23:25)
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath--That was the first day of the ancient civil year.
a memorial of blowing of trumpets--Jewish writers say that the trumpets were sounded thirty successive times, and the reason for the institution was for the double purpose of announcing the commencement of the new year, which was (
Lev 23:25) to be religiously observed (see
Num 29:3), and of preparing the people for the approaching solemn feast.
27 there shall be a day of atonement . . . and ye shall afflict your souls--an unusual festival, at which the sins of the whole year were expiated. (See
Lev 16:29-
Lev 16:34). It is here only stated that the severest penalty was incurred by the violation of this day.
34 the feast of tabernacles, for seven days unto the Lord--This festival, which was instituted in grateful commemoration of the Israelites having securely dwelt in booths or tabernacles in the wilderness, was the third of the three great annual festivals, and, like the other two, it lasted a week. It began on the fifteenth day of the month, corresponding to the end of our September and beginning of October, which was observed as a Sabbath; and it could be celebrated only at the place of the sanctuary, offerings being made on the altar every day of its continuance. The Jews were commanded during the whole period of the festival to dwell in booths, which were erected on the flat roofs of houses, in the streets or fields; and the trees made use of are by some stated to be the citron, the palm, the myrtle, and the willow, while others maintain the people were allowed to take any trees they could obtain that were distinguished for verdure and fragrance. While the solid branches were reserved for the construction of the booths, the lighter branches were carried by men, who marched in triumphal procession, singing psalms and crying "Hosanna!" which signifies, "Save, we beseech thee!" (
Ps 118:15,
Ps 118:25-
Ps 118:26). It was a season of great rejoicing. But the ceremony of drawing water from the pool, which was done on the last day, seems to have been the introduction of a later period (
John 7:37). That last day was the eighth, and, on account of the scene at Siloam, was called "the great day of the feast." The feast of ingathering, when the vintage was over, was celebrated also on that day [
Exod 23:16;
Exod 34:22], and, as the conclusion of one of the great festivals, it was kept as a sabbath.