1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, The appointed feasts of Jehovah which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, shall be these: These are My appointed seasons: 3Work is to be done six days, and in the seventh day shall be a sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings. 4These are appointed seasons of Jehovah, holy gatherings which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons: 5In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the evenings is the Passover to Jehovah. 6And on the fifteenth of this month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Jehovah; you shall eat unleavened things seven days. 7On the first day you shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no work of service; 8and you shall bring near a fire offering to Jehovah seven days; and the seventh day shall be a holy gathering; you shall do no work of service. 9And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 10Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, When you come in to the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have brought in the sheaf, or the beginning of your harvest, to the priest, 11then he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance; on the morrow of the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12And you shall prepare a he-lamb in the day you wave the sheaf, one without blemish, a son of a year, for a burnt offering to Jehovah. 13And its food offering shall be two tenths part of flour mixed with oil, a fire offering to Jehovah, a sweet fragrance; and its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14And bread, and roasted grain, and fresh ears, you shall not eat until this self-same day, until you have brought the offering of your God; it is a never-ending statute for your generations in all your dwellings. 15And you shall number to you from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring in the sheaf of the wave offering; they shall be seven complete sabbaths; 16the next day after the seventh sabbath, you shall number fifty days; and you shall bring near a new food offering to Jehovah; 17you shall bring in bread out of your dwellings for a wave offering, two loaves; they shall be of two tenth ephah of flour; they shall be baked with leaven; firstfruits to Jehovah. 18And besides the bread, you shall offer seven lambs, without blemish, sons of a year, and one bull, a son of the herd, and two rams; they are a burnt offering to Jehovah, with their food offering and their drink offerings, a fire offering of soothing fragrance to Jehovah. 19And you shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two lambs, sons of a year, for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20And the priest shall wave them, besides the bread of the firstfruits, a wave offering before Jehovah, besides the two lambs; they are holy to Jehovah for the priest. 21And you shall make a proclamation on this same day; it is a holy gathering to you. You shall do no work of service. It is a never-ending statute in all your dwellings for your generations. 22And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not finish the corner of your field; and when you gather the gleaning of your harvest, you shall leave them for the poor one, and for the alien: I am Jehovah your God. 23And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 24Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, a sabbath shall be to you, a called memorial, a holy gathering. 25You shall do no work of service and you shall bring a fire offering to Jehovah. 26And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, 27Also, on the tenth of this seventh month shall be a day of atonement; there shall be a holy gathering, and you shall humble your souls and shall bring a fire offering to Jehovah. 28And you shall do no work in this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to atone for you before Jehovah your God. 29For any person who is not humbled in this same day shall be cut off from his people. 30And any person who does any work in this same day, I shall even destroy that person from the midst of his people. 31You shall do no work; it is a neverending statute throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. 32It is a sabbath of rest to you, and you shall humble your souls in the ninth of the month at evening; from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath. 33And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 34Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be a Feast of Booths seven days to Jehovah. 35On the first day shall be a holy gathering; you shall do no work of service. 36Seven days you shall bring a fire offering to Jehovah; on the eighth day you shall have a holy gathering; and you shall bring the fire offering to Jehovah; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no work of service. 37These are the set feasts of Jehovah which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, to bring a fire offering to Jehovah, a burnt offering, and a food offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, the thing of a day on its own day; 38besides the sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you shall give to Jehovah. 39Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the increase of the land, you shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days; on the first day a sabbath, and on the eighth day a sabbath. 40And you shall take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, palm branches, and boughs of oak trees, and willows of the valley, and shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. 41And you shall keep a feast to Jehovah, seven days in a year, a never ending statute for your generations; in the seventh month you shall keep it. 42You shall live in booths seven days; all who are native in Israel shall live in booths, 43so that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Jehovah your God. 44And Moses proclaimed the appointed feasts 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.