Teks -- Leviticus 23:1-44 (NET)

Regulations for Israel’s Appointed Times

23:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies– my appointed times:

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘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.

The Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread

23:4 “‘These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time. 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the Lord. 23:6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month will be the festival of unleavened bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 23:7 On the first day there will be a holy assembly for you; you must not do any regular work. 23:8 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.’”

The Presentation of First Fruits

23:9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:10 “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, 23:11 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. 23:12 On the day you wave the sheaf you must also offer a flawless yearling lamb for a burnt offering to the Lord, 23:13 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. 23:14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this very day, until you bring the offering of your God. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live.

The Festival of Weeks

23:15 “‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks. 23:16 You must count fifty days– until the day after the seventh Sabbath– and then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 23:17 From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as first fruits to the Lord. 23:18 Along with the loaves of bread, you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 23:19 You must also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two yearling lambs for a peace offering sacrifice, 23:20 and the priest is to wave them– the two lambs– along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest. 23:21 “‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations. 23:22 When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’”

The Festival of Horn Blasts

23:23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a complete rest, a memorial announced by loud horn blasts, a holy assembly. 23:25 You must not do any regular work, but you must present a gift to the Lord.’”

The Day of Atonement

23:26 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves and present a gift to the Lord. 23:28 You must not do any work on this particular day, because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves before the Lord your God. 23:29 Indeed, any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. 23:30 As for any person who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate that person from the midst of his people! 23:31 You must not do any work. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live. 23:32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.”

The Festival of Booths

23:33 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days to the Lord. 23:35 On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work. 23:36 For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; you must not do any regular work. 23:37 “‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord– burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, each day according to its regulation, 23:38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord and all your gifts, votive offerings, and freewill offerings which you must give to the Lord. 23:39 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. 23:40 On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees– palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook– and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 23:41 You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month. 23:42 You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in temporary shelters, 23:43 so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 23:44 So Moses spoke to the Israelites about the appointed times of the Lord.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Lev 23:2 - Ye shall proclaim

Cause to be proclaimed, by the priests.

Wesley: Lev 23:2 - Holy convocations

Days for your assembling together to my worship in a special manner.

Wesley: Lev 23:3 - Ye shall do no work therein

So it runs in the general for the sabbath day, and for the day of expiation, Lev 23:28, excluding all works about earthly employments whether of profit or of pleasure; but upon other feast days he forbids only servile works, as Lev 23:7, Lev 23:21, Lev 23:36, for surely this manifest difference in the expressions used by the wife God must needs imply a difference in the things.

Wesley: Lev 23:3 - In all your dwellings

Other feasts, were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, both in synagogues, and in their private houses.

Wesley: Lev 23:4 - These are the feasts of the Lord

Or rather, the solemnities: (for the day of atonement was a fast:) and so the word is used, Isa 33:20, where Zion is called the city of our solemnities.

Wesley: Lev 23:10 - An omer

They did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf or handful, but, as Josephus, 3. 10 affirms, and may be gathered from Lev 2:14-16, purged from the chaff, and dryed, and beaten out.

Wesley: Lev 23:11 - He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord

In the name of the whole congregation, which as it were sanctified to them the whole harvest, and gave them a comfortable use of all the rest. For then we may eat our bread with joy, when God hath accepted our works. And thus should we always begin with God; begin our lives with him, begin every day with him, begin every work and business with him: seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Wesley: Lev 23:11 - The morrow after the sabbath

After the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a sabbath or day of rest, as appears from Lev 23:7, or upon the sixteenth day of the month. And this was the first of those fifty days, in the close whereof was the feast of pentecost.

Wesley: Lev 23:13 - Two tenth deals

Or, parts, of an ephah, that is, two omers, whereas in other sacrifices of lambs there was but one tenth deal prescribed. The reason of which disproportion may be this, that one of the tenth deals was a necessary attendant upon the lamb, and the other was peculiar to this feast, and was an attendant upon that of the corn, and was offered with it in thanksgiving to God for the fruits of the earth.

Wesley: Lev 23:14 - Bread

Made of new wheat.

Wesley: Lev 23:14 - Nor green ears

Which were usual, not only for offerings to God, but also for man's food.

Wesley: Lev 23:15 - From the morrow

From the sixteenth day of the month, and the second day of the feast of unleavened bread inclusively.

Wesley: Lev 23:16 - A new meal-offering

Of new corn made into loaves.

Wesley: Lev 23:18 - One bullock and two rams

In Num 28:11, Num 28:19, it is two young bullocks and one ram. Either therefore it was left to their liberty to chuse which they would offer, or one of the bullocks there, and one of the rams here, were the peculiar sacrifices of the feast day, and the other were attendants upon the two loaves, which were the proper offering at this time. And the one may be mentioned there, and the other here, to teach us, that the addition of a new sacrifice did not destroy the former, but both were to be offered, as the extraordinary sacrifices of every feast did not hinder the oblation of the daily sacrifice.

Wesley: Lev 23:19 - One kid

In Lev 4:14, the sin-offering for the sin of the people is a bullock, but here a kid; &c. the reason of the difference may be this, because that was for some particular sin of the people, but this only in general for all their sins.

Wesley: Lev 23:20 - Wave them

Some part of them in the name of the whole; and so for the two lambs, otherwise they had been too big and too heavy, to be waved.

Wesley: Lev 23:20 - For the priests

Who had to themselves not only the breast and shoulder as in others, which belonged to the priest, but also the rest which belonged to the offerer; because the whole congregation being the offerer here, it could neither be distributed to them all, nor given to some without offence to the rest.

Wesley: Lev 23:21 - An holy convocation

A sabbath or day of rest, called pentecost; which was instituted, partly in remembrance of the consummation of their deliverance out of Egypt by bringing them thence to the mount of God, or Sinai, as God had promised, and of that admirable blessing of giving the law to them on the 50th day, and forming them into a commonwealth under his own immediate government; and partly in gratitude for the farther progress of their harvest, as in the passover they offered a thank-offering to God for the beginning of their harvest. The perfection of this feast, was the pouring out of the holy spirit upon the apostles on this very day, in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the spirit, begat three thousand souls thro' the word of truth, as the first-fruits of the Christian church.

Wesley: Lev 23:22 - When ye reap, thou

From the plural, ye, he comes to the singular, thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who hath an harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to shew that our devotion to God is little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.

Wesley: Lev 23:24 - A sabbath

Solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests, not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel.

Wesley: Lev 23:24 - They began to blow at sun

rise, and continued blowing till sun - set. This seems to have been instituted, To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof as to civil matters and particularly as to the Jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God's blessings in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs. To put a special honour upon this month. For as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year, so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, for the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well as that of atonement and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God's mercies.

Wesley: Lev 23:27 - Afflict your souls

With fasting, and bitter repentance for all, especially their national sins, among which no doubt God would have them remember their sin of the golden calf. For as God had threatened to remember it in after times to punish them for it, so there was great reason why they should remember it to humble themselves for it.

Wesley: Lev 23:28 - Whatsoever soul

Either of the Jewish nation, or religion. Hereby God would signify the absolute necessity which every man had of repentance and forgiveness of sin, and the desperate condition of all impenitent persons.

Wesley: Lev 23:32 - From even to even

The day of atonement began at the evening of the ninth day, and continued till the evening of the tenth day.

Wesley: Lev 23:32 - Ye shall celebrate your sabbath

This particular sabbath is called your sabbath, possibly to note the difference between this and other sabbaths: for the weekly sabbath is oft called the sabbath of the Lord. The Jews are supposed to begin every day, and consequently their sabbaths, at the evening, in remembrance of the creation, as Christians generally begin their days and sabbaths with the morning in memory of Christ's resurrection.

Wesley: Lev 23:34 - Of tabernacles

Of tents or booths or arbours. This feast was appointed to remind them of that time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, and to stir them up to bless God, as well for the gracious protection then afforded them, as for the more commodious habitations now given them; and to excite them to gratitude for all the fruits of the year newly ended, which were now compleatly brought in.

Wesley: Lev 23:36 - Ye shall offer

A several-offering each day.

Wesley: Lev 23:36 - The eighth day

Which though it was not one of the days of this feast strictly taken. Yet in a larger sense it belonged to this feast, and is called the great day of the feast, Joh 7:37. And so indeed it was, as for other reasons, so because, by their removal from the tabernacles into fixed habitations, it represented that happy time wherein their 40 years tedious march in the wilderness was ended with their settlement in the land of Canaan, which it was most fit they should acknowledge with such a solemn day of thanksgiving as this was.

Wesley: Lev 23:37 - A sacrifice

A sin-offering, called by the general name, a sacrifice, because it was designed for that which was the principal end of all sacrifices, the expiation of sin.

Wesley: Lev 23:38 - Beside the sabbaths

The offerings of the weekly sabbaths.

Wesley: Lev 23:38 - God will not have any sabbath

sacrifice diminished because of the addition of others, proper to any other feast. And it is here to be noted, that though other festival days are sometimes called sabbaths, yet these are here called the sabbaths of the Lord, in way of contradistinction, to shew that this was more eminently such than other feast - days.

Wesley: Lev 23:38 - Your gifts

Which being here distinguished from the free - will-offerings made to the Lord, may note what they freely gave to the priests over and above their first-fruits and tithes or other things which they were enjoined to give.

Wesley: Lev 23:39

This is no addition of a new, but only a repetition of the former injunction, with a more particular explication both of the manner and reason of the feast.

Wesley: Lev 23:39 - The fruit

Not the corn, which was gathered long before, but that of the trees, as vines, olives, and other fruit - trees: which compleated the harvest, whence this is called the feast of in - gathering.

Wesley: Lev 23:40 - Of goodly trees

Namely, olive, myrtle and pine, mentioned, Neh 8:15-16, which were most plentiful there, and which would best preserve their greenness.

Wesley: Lev 23:40 - Thick trees

Fit for shade and shelter.

Wesley: Lev 23:40 - And willows

To mix with the other, and in some sort bind them together. And as they made their booths of these materials, so they carried some of these boughs in their hands, as is affirmed by Jewish and other ancient writers.

Wesley: Lev 23:42 - In booths

Which were erected in their cities or towns, either in their streets, or gardens, or the tops of their houses. These were made flat, and therefore were fit for the use.

Wesley: Lev 23:44 - The feasts of the Lord

We have reason to be thankful, that the feasts of the Lord, now are not so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly; but more spiritual and significant, and surer and sweeter earnests of the everlasting feast, at the last in - gathering, which we hope to be celebrating to eternity.

JFB: Lev 23:2 - 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" (Psa 89:15). Those "holy convocations" were evidences of divine wisdom, and eminently subservient to the maintenance and diffusion of religious knowledge and piety.

JFB: Lev 23:3 - Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest

(See on Exo 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.

JFB: Lev 23:4 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:5 - the Lord's passover

(See Exo 12:2, Exo 12:14, Exo 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 23:7-8]; 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 1Co 5:8).

JFB: Lev 23:10 - 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 (1Co 15:20), who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.

JFB: Lev 23:15 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:16 - 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 Exo 23:16; Deu 16:9).

JFB: Lev 23:17 - 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 Exo 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.

JFB: Lev 23:21 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:22 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:24 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:24 - 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.

JFB: Lev 23:27-32 - 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 16:29-34). It is here only stated that the severest penalty was incurred by the violation of this day.|| 03437||1||11||0||@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!" (Psa 118:15, Psa 118:25-26). 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 (Joh 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 [Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22], and, as the conclusion of one of the great festivals, it was kept as a sabbath.

Clarke: Lev 23:2 - These are my feasts

These are my feasts - The original word מועד moad is properly applied to any solemn anniversary, by which great and important ecclesiastical, political, or providential facts were recorded; see Clarke on Gen 1:14 (note). Anniversaries of this kind were observed in all nations; and some of them, in consequence of scrupulously regular observation, became chronological epochs of the greatest importance in history: the Olympiads, for example.

Clarke: Lev 23:3 - The seventh day is the Sabbath

The seventh day is the Sabbath - This, because the first and greatest solemnity, is first mentioned. He who kept not this, in the most religious manner, was not capable of keeping any of the others. The religious observance of the Sabbath stands at the very threshold of all religion. See Clarke’ s note on Gen 2:3.

Clarke: Lev 23:5 - The Lord’ s passover

The Lord’ s passover - See this largely explained in the notes on Exo 12:21-27 (note).

Clarke: Lev 23:11 - He shalt wave the sheaf

He shalt wave the sheaf - He shall move it to and fro before the people, and thereby call their attention to the work of Divine Providence, and excite their gratitude to God for preserving to them the kindly fruits of the earth. See Clarke’ s note on Exo 29:27, and Exodus 7 at end.

Clarke: Lev 23:14 - Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears

Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears - It is right that God, the dispenser of every blessing, should be acknowledged as such, and the first-fruits of the field, etc., dedicated to him. Concerning the dedication of the first-fruits, see the note on Exo 22:29. Parched ears of corn and green ears, fried, still constitute a part, and not a disagreeable one, of the food of the Arabs now resident in the Holy Land. See Hasselquist.

Clarke: Lev 23:15 - Ye shall count unto you - seven Sabbaths

Ye shall count unto you - seven Sabbaths - That is, from the sixteenth of the first month to the sixth of the third month. These seven weeks, called here Sabbaths, were to be complete, i. e., the forty-nine days must be finished, and the next day, the fiftieth, is what, from the Septuagint, we call pentecost. See the note on Luk 6:1.

Clarke: Lev 23:22 - Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning

Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning - See the note on Lev 19:9.

Clarke: Lev 23:24 - A memorial of blowing of trumpets

A memorial of blowing of trumpets - This is generally called the feast of trumpets; and as it took place on the first day of the seventh month, Tisri, which answers to September, which month was the commencement of what was called the civil year, the feast probably had no other design than to celebrate the commencement of that year, if indeed such a distinction obtained among the ancient Jews. See the note on Exo 12:2. Some think creation began at this time.

Clarke: Lev 23:28 - A day of atonement

A day of atonement - See the note on Lev 16:2, etc., where this subject is largely explained.

Clarke: Lev 23:34 - The feast of tabernacles

The feast of tabernacles - In this solemnity the people left their houses, and dwelt in booths or tents made of the branches of goodly trees and thick trees, (of what kind the text does not specify), together with palm-trees and willows of the brook, Lev 23:40. And in these they dwelt seven days, in commemoration of their forty years’ sojourning and dwelling in tents in the wilderness while destitute of any fixed habitations. In imitation of this feast among the people of God, the Gentiles had their feasts of tents. Plutarch speaks particularly of feasts of this kind in honor of Bacchus, and thinks from the custom of the Jews in celebrating the feast of tabernacles, that they worshipped the god Bacchus, "because he had a feast exactly of the same kind called the feast of tabernacles, Σκηνη, which they celebrated in the time of vintage, bringing tables out into the open air furnished with all kinds of fruit, and sitting under tents made of vine branches and ivy."- Plut. Symp., lib. iv., Q. 6. According to Ovid the feast of Anna Perenna was celebrated much in the same way. Some remained in the open air, others formed to themselves tents and booths made of branches of trees, over which they spread garments, and kept the festival with great rejoicings

" Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt

Sunt, quibus e ramis frondea facta easa est

Pars sibi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis

Desuper extentas imposuere togas .

Ovid, Fast., lib. ill

Concerning this feast of tabernacles, see the note on Joh 7:37, Joh 7:38; and for the various feasts among the Jews, See the note on Exo 23:14.

Clarke: Lev 23:40 - Boughs of goodly trees

Boughs of goodly trees - The Jews and many critics imagine the citron-tree to be intended, and by boughs of thick tree the myrtle.

Clarke: Lev 23:43 - That your generations may know, etc.

That your generations may know, etc. - By the institution of this feast God had two great objects in view

1.    To perpetuate the wonderful display of his providence and grace in bringing them out of Egypt, and in preserving them in the wilderness

2.    To excite and maintain in them a spirit of gratitude and obedience, by leading them to consider deeply the greatness of the favors which they had received from his most merciful hands

Signal displays of the mercy, kindness, and providential care of God should be particularly remembered. When we recollect that we deserve nothing at his hands, and that the debt of gratitude is all the debt we can pay, in it we should be cheerful, fervent, and frequent. An ungrateful heart is an unfeeling, unloving, unbelieving, and disobedient heart. Reader, pray to God that he may deliver thee from its influence and its curse.

Calvin: Lev 23:4 - These are the feasts of the Lord

4.These are the feasts of the Lord The other festivals which Moses here enumerates have an affinity to the Sabbath. In the first place the Passover is put, the mystery of which I have annexed, not without reason, to the First Commandment, for its institution was there explained, inasmuch as it acted as a restraint on the people from falling away to strange gods. In that rite they were initiated to the service of God, that they might abandon all the superstitions of the Gentiles, and acquiesce in the pure instruction of the Law. The Passover, therefore, in itself was a supplement to the First Commandment; yet the day recurring from year to year is fitly enumerated amongst the other festivals. And surely it is plain that the Fourth Commandment had no other object or use except to exercise the people in the service of God; but since the killing of the lamb represented the grace of adoption whereby God had bound them to Himself, it was necessary to annex it to the First Commandment. Let my readers therefore now be content with the other part, i.e., that its annual celebration was a help to the perpetual recollection by the Israelites of their redemption.

Calvin: Lev 23:10 - When ye be come to the land

10.When ye be come to the land Moses now lays down rules as to the second day of festival, which was dedicated to the offering of the first-fruits. The ceremony is described that they should deliver a handful into the hand of the priest; though some think that the measure is signified which was the tenth part of an Ephah. The word Omer ³⁴⁵ means both. But in this passage the expression “handful” is most appropriate, since it represented in a lively manner the beginning of the harvest; inasmuch as it was not lawful to taste even of parched grain before the offering of the firstfruits. The priest lifted it up before the altar, but with a waving motion; for thus the Hebrews distinguish between the two modes, ³⁴⁶ תרומה , therumah, which was lifted up, and תנופה , thenuphah, which is mentioned here, and which was waved towards the four points of the compass, and then a sacrifice and libation were made. We know that heathen nations ³⁴⁷ thus invented gods and goddesses presiding over the fruits, so that the earth was the great and common mother of gods and men. Into this error the Jews would have straightway fallen, or would have gorged themselves without thinking about God, unless they had been reminded by this ceremony that the Father of their subsistence was in heaven, whose minister the earth was for providing their food. For since the whole harvest was consecrated in the single handful, it was as if they had shewn that whatever the earth produced altogether belonged to God. But thus the admirable goodness of God was conspicuous, when, in claiming what was His own, He did not at all diminish the food of the people; afterwards they received, as if from His hand, whatever each individual had stored at home, just as though it had come out of His sanctuary. Paul’s statement is well known, “For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy,” (Rom 11:16,) wherein he alludes to this ancient ceremony of the Law. The word which they translate “unto your acceptance,” ³⁴⁸ is the same which interpreters elsewhere render “good pleasure,” and refer to the people, as if it were said, “at your own will,” or “ ad libitum,” as it is barbarously said. But I have before shewn that it must be understood of the favor and good-will of God, although it is transferred in a passive sense to the people, as in Psa 106:4, רצון , ratson, or the favor of the chosen people, means the gratuitous love wherewith God regards His Church. But Moses signifies that the fruits of the earth cannot otherwise be eaten with a clear conscience, because they would not feel that God accepted them, and looked upon them with paternal affection. The ceremony, now abolished, still remains in full force amongst us as regards its substance, for nothing but the acknowledgment of God’s bounty, which springs from faith and thanksgiving, sanctifies whatever we receive of His hand.

Next to the first-fruits comes the feast of seven weeks, which the Greeks have rendered Pentecost, having reference to the same object; for after they had offered the first-fruits from the standing harvest, they added another token of gratitude in the shape of the loaves and the greater sacrifice. It must however be observed, that the two loaves are required of every family, and that they consist of two-tenths; but that the sacrifices of seven lambs, one bullock, and two rams, and also of a goat and two lambs, is enjoined upon the whole people. This is in fact the legitimate acknowledgment of God’s liberality, because the waving of the sheaf, as being performed in haste, was but a trifling one; since we have seen that before they touched the grain, God required that the first-fruits should be offered to Him, until at leisure and in a more convenient season they might more fully discharge their duty. Thus what we have above observed respecting the first-fruits, was only a preparation for the day of Pentecost, on which the holy oblation was not ears of wheat, but loaves made of the new wheat.

Calvin: Lev 23:24 - In the seventh month, in the first day of the month

24.In the seventh month, in the first day of the month I wonder how it ever entered the mind of the Jews ³⁴⁹ that in the feast of trumpets the deliverance of Isaac was commemorated, when a goat was substituted to be slain in his stead; ³⁵⁰ but they have invented this with their wonted audacity. Surely it is as baseless as it is unreasonable. Others more rightly suppose that it was a preparation for the approaching feast of atonement, on account of the slight interval of time; for since this day is distinguished by no peculiar mark, it is probable that it ought not to be separated from the other which follows soon afterwards, viz., on the tenth day. Unless, perhaps, it is more probable that they were thus called together once a year by the sound of trumpets, first of all, that they might learn that all their sacred assemblies were appointed by the voice of God; and secondly, that this His voice was thus renewed, that they might always be ready to obey Him. And this seems to signify by the expression, “a memorial of blowing of trumpets;” as if He had said that the trumpets sounded in their ears once a year, that they might be attentive to God’s voice throughout their lives, and ever willing to follow whithersoever He should command them to go. Others think that the trumpets sounded at the beginning of the month, that they might prepare themselves for the three festivals, and also because this month was remarkable both in the Sabbatical year and in the Jubilee. But what, if when God displaced this month from being the beginning of the year to stand seventh, He chose to leave it some traces of its original dignity? for by general consent it is admitted that, until the people came out of Egypt, this was the first month. Some even think that the world was created in it, which is not without probable show of reason. And the Jews now also, in political matters and in things which relate to this earthly life, retain this original computation in accordance with unbroken custom: it is only in sacred matters that they commence the year in March. This indeed seems to me the probable reason why, on the day now referred to, God renewed the memory of His dominion by a solemn proclamation, and assigned this seventh month both to the Jubilee and the Sabbatical year. ³⁵¹ The solemnity was completed in one day, differing very little from an ordinary Sabbath, except by the trumpet-blowing and the sacrifice, as is described in Num 29:0. For Moses there speaks of more than he does here; he there enumerates a calf, a ram, seven lambs, a goat for a sin-offering, with its accompaniments, besides the burnt-offering of the new moon, and commands an offering to be made by fire of them all. Here he speaks generally in a single word.

Calvin: Lev 23:27 - Also on the tenth day of this seventh month

27.Also on the tenth day of this seventh month The word כפר , caphar, whence the noun כפרים , cephurim, signifies both to propitiate and to blot out guilt and accusation by means of expiation; כפרים , therefore, are atonements ( libationes) for appeasing God; and the word is used in the plural number, because they were not under the imputation of a single kind of guilt, but had need of manifold reconciliations on account of their many and various transgressions. This was indeed done both publicly and privately throughout the rest of the year, for all the victims they offered were so many satisfactions in order to obtain pardon and to reconcile God. Still to these daily exercises was added also a yearly feast-day as a special memorial, and as a sharper spur to repentance: for it was fit that they should be stirred up to pious grief by solemn fasting and sacrifices, inasmuch as they had provoked God’s wrath against themselves through the whole year. Therefore on this feast-day they were cited before His tribunal, in order that, placing themselves there, they should acknowledge that they deserved this judgment, and yet prayed that they might escape punishment; and this was the object of the fast. Meanwhile they learnt from the sacrifices that they were restored to His favor, since simple confession would have been only a ground for despair. Thus, therefore, God required of them sorrow and other indications of penitence, that on His part He might testify that He was duly appeased so as to be propitious to them. The expression, “ye shall afflict your souls,” here refers to the fast, which was required as an outward profession of repentance. And assuredly there was no weight in the fast of itself, since God plainly shews through Isaiah that He makes no account of hypocrites, who trust that they appease him by fasting, (Isa 58:3;) but being withdrawn from mere luxurious food and all delicacies, they were reminded of their misery, so that being cast down by grief and humbled, they might more ardently and zealously seek for the remedy. For remission of sins is promised to none but those who, affected with serious sorrow, feel themselves to be lost and miserable, and acknowledge and confess what they have deserved. In this way a door is opened for imploring God’s mercy. Still it is not to be supposed that those who are thus dissatisfied with themselves deserve pardon by their preparation for it. ³⁵² But since it would be contrary to God’s nature to embrace men with His favor who are plunged in their iniquities and obstinate in sin; and again, since it would be most unreasonable that by His clemency license to sin should be given under the pretext of impunity, it is needful that penitence should precede our reconciliation to God. Whence also it appears that He so pardons sinners as still to hate their sins, since He only absolves those who voluntarily condemn themselves, nor admits any into His favor except those who forsake their sins; not that any one perfectly renounces himself or his sins, but through indulgence that penitence is acceptable to God, ³⁵³ which might justly be rejected on the ground of its deficiencies. Whereby also what I have just said is confirmed, that it is not on account of the merit of our penitence that God acquits us of our sins; as if we redeemed ourselves from guilt and punishment by weeping, sorrowing, and confession, whereas in the best of us all penitence will always be found to be weak and imperfect. Wherefore the cause and the honor of our pardon must only be ascribed to the gratuitous goodness of God. Hence I have said that in their fast the Israelites professed their guilt and condemnation, whilst they were expiated by the sacrifice, since there is no other means of satisfaction.

Calvin: Lev 23:29 - For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted

29.For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted Hence let us learn how greatly the sacrifice of an afflicted and humbled heart pleases God; since He commands so severe a punishment to be inflicted for the contempt of this ceremony. And surely this would have been a proof of most gross indifference, if, when God was inspiring men with the dread of His wrath, and inviting them to tears, they should rest in security and ease, and give themselves up to luxuries. On this account He declares with a terrible oath in Isaiah, that will never pardon the Jews, to whom the hour of repentance never came, but, when he reprovingly called upon them by His prophets to make haste “to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth,” merrily feasted and drank together, and said, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” (Isa 22:12.) And no wonder, since this is the extreme height of impiety, to stupify our consciences in brutal contumacy, and to rob God of His judicial power. As long as the sinner is so far affected, and pricked by a sense of sins, as anxiously to sigh for a remedy, there is some hope of his recovery; whilst he who shakes off fear as well as shame, is in altogether a desperate state. Now, since it was not without reason that God exercised His ancient people under the Law with external rudiments, it was an act of profane and intolerable carelessness to omit what was so necessary; and of still greater hardness of heart purposely, as it were, to despise it, so that no one need wonder at the severity of the punishment. In Num 29:0 the number of the victims is stated; but I pass over this point, as not requiring to be expounded.

Calvin: Lev 23:34 - The fifteenth day of this seventh month

34.The fifteenth day of this seventh month It is shewn in the end of the chapter why God instituted the Feast of Tabernacles, viz, that the children of Israel might remember that they dwelt in tents in the desert, when they had no certain dwelling-place, but, as it were, passed a wandering life. The Passover shewed how they were marvellously rescued from immediate death by the hand of God; but by this other day God magnified the continuous and daily flow of His grace; for it would not have been enough to acknowledge His power in their actual departure, and to give Him thanks for their momentary deliverance, unless they reflected altogether on the progress of their perfect deliverance, which they had experienced during forty years. In allusion to this the Prophet Zechariah, when he is speaking of the second redemption, enjoins upon all the nations which should be converted to God’s worship, that they should go up every year to celebrate this day. (Zec 14:16.) And why this rather than the other festivals? because their return from Babylon by a long and difficult journey, endangered by the violent assaults of enemies, would be equally memorable with the passage of the people from Egypt into the Promised Land. Hence we gather that, though the ceremony is now abolished, yet its use still exists in spirit and in truth, in order that the incomparable power and mercy of God should be constantly kept before our eyes, when He has delivered us from darkness and from the deep abyss of death, and has translated us into the heavenly life. But it behooved that the ancient people in their ignorance should be thus exercised, that all from youth to old age, going forth from their homes, should be brought, as it were, into the actual circumstances, and in that spectacle should perceive what would have else never sufficiently penetrated their minds; whilst at the same time they were instructed for the time to come, that even in the land of Canaan they were to be sojourners, since this is the condition prescribed to all the pious, and children of God, that they should be strangers on earth, if they desire to be inheritors of heaven. Especially, however, God would stir them up to gratitude, that they might more highly estimate their quiet occupation of the Promised Land, and the comfort of their houses, when they recollected that they were brought hither by His hand out of the desert, and from the most wretched destitution of all things.

Calvin: Lev 23:36 - Seven days ye shall offer

36.Seven days ye shall offer They only kept holiday on the first and eighth day, yet they dwelt in huts, and for seven successive days offered sacrifices, of which a fuller account was elsewhere given. What, therefore, Moses distinctly treats of in the book of Numbers, I have preferred to introduce in another place, where I have spoken of the sacrifices in general. All are not agreed about the word I have translated “solemnity.” ³⁵⁴ עצרת , gnatsereth, is derived from עצר , gnatsar, which means both to restrain and to gather together. Some interpreters, therefore, preserve the first etymology, translating it, “it is the retaining or prohibition of God;” but since this meaning is somewhat obscure, I have not hesitated to take it, as in other passages, for a solemnity; for, without controversy, it sometimes means feast days, sometimes assemblies or conventions. Let my readers, however, make choice of whichever sense they prefer. After Moses has prescribed concerning the rest and the offerings, he adds a caution, that there should be no diminution of the ordinary service; for else they might, have transferred fraudulently the sacrifices, which they were already obliged to offer, to the feast days, and thus, as the saying is, have endeavored to whitewash two walls out of the same pot. Wherefore, at the beginning of verse 39, the particle אך , ac, seems to be taken adversatively; ³⁵⁵ for there is an antithesis between the peculiar service of this solemnity and the common rites which were to be observed at other times; as if he had said, that when they had done all which the Law required every day, still they were not to fail in this observance; and hence, that they must comply severally with both the general and special command, if they would properly do their duty. Moreover, by reference to the time, he shews that they ought to be cheerful in its performance, because they would then incur but little loss, as the fruits would all be harvested; and this is what he refers to when he says, “when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land;” as if he had said, that he had regard to their convenience, since otherwise they would have been at leisure at home; and thus he takes away all excuse (for neglect.)

Calvin: Lev 23:40 - And ye shall take you on the first day

40.And ye shall take you on the first day By this symbol the Jews were instructed that this day was to be celebrated with joy and gladness; for it was not only a memorial of the favor which He had graciously bestowed on their fathers in the desert, when they were exposed to all the vicissitudes of heaven, ³⁵⁶ and He cherished them under His wings as an eagle does her brood; but it was also an act of thanksgiving, because He had provided them so commodious a reception in the Promised Land; thus, by carrying the boughs, they proclaimed their joy and triumph as it were. Nor would it have been reasonable that they should go into the booths in sorrow and sadness, since they represented visibly to them both the former and present goodness of God, and at the same time gave them a foretaste of the life of heaven, inasmuch as they were but sojourners on earth. Some suppose הדר , hadar, ³⁵⁷ to be a proper name, but since it everywhere means “comeliness,” I have been unwilling to depart from its ordinary sense; nor do I curiously insist on the words, except so far as it is necessary to ascertain the actual substance.

Defender: Lev 23:3 - seventh day is the sabbath

The weekly day of rest, commemorating God's completed work of creation (Exo 20:8-11), was even more sacred than the seven annual feasts. No "servile" work could be done in the latter (Lev 23:8, Lev 23:21, Lev 23:25, Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36), but no work at all could be performed on the sabbath. Also, no work could be performed on the great day of atonement (Lev 23:28)."

Defender: Lev 23:4 - feasts of the Lord

Many commentators, ancient and modern, have noted that these seven annual "feasts [or religious festivals] of Jehovah" not only had spiritual value to the Israelites who observed them, but also gave prophetic witness to God's great redemptive work.

(1) Feast of the Passover (Lev 23:5) testifies of the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God. "Christ our passover ... sacrificed for us" (1Co 5:7).

(2) Feast of the Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6-8) speaks of the Lord's supper which would be instituted by Him on the night of the Passover and would serve to remind His followers to walk in communion with Him. "Therefore let us keep the feast, ... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1Co 5:8).

(3) Feast of Firstfruits (Lev 23:9-14) foreshadows the coming resurrection and restoration. "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1Co 15:23).

(4) Feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:15-22) was fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first body of Christian believers after Christ's ascension, testifying to the world "that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Act 2:36).

(5) Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:23-25) is separated by a long period of time from the first four festivals and promises that someday "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven ... with the trump of God," when "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible" (1Th 4:16; 1Co 15:52).

(6) Day of Atonement (Lev 23:26-32) testifies of the certain judgments to come - on Israel, on the nations, on believers and on the lost - when complete separation between unforgiven sinners and perfected saints will be established forever (note the two goats in Leviticus 16, the chapter giving the details of this observance).

(7) Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:33-43) speaks of the coming eternal rest in the Holy City when "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people" (Rev 21:3)."

Defender: Lev 23:16 - fifty days

The Lord "came down" at Sinai on the 50th day after the first Passover (Exo 12:6; Exo 19:1, Exo 19:11), just as the Holy Spirit came down fifty days after Christ's crucifixion (Act 1:3, Act 1:4; Act 2:1-4)."

Defender: Lev 23:24 - blowing of trumpets

This day has been observed by the Jews as Rosh Hashanah, beginning the new year of the Jewish civil calendar."

Defender: Lev 23:27 - day of atonement

The "day of atonement" is Yom Kippur in the Jewish calendar. The details of its divinely prescribed observance are given in Leviticus 16."

TSK: Lev 23:2 - the feasts // proclaim

the feasts : God appointed several festivals among the Jews. The Passover was celebrated on the 14th, or rather 15th day of the first month in the ecclesiastical year, which was the seventh of the civil year, and lasted seven days. The Pentecost was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the passover, in memory of the law’ s being given to Moses on Mount Sinai, fifty days, or seven weeks after the departure out of Egypt. The word is derived from the Greek word Πεντηκοστη , which signifies the fiftieth. The Hebrews call it the feast of weeks, Exo 34:22. The feast of trumpets, celebrated on the first day of the civil year, when a trumpet was sounded, to proclaim its commencement, which was in the month Tisri , answering to our September, Lev 23:24, Lev 23:25. The new moons, or first days of every month, were, in some sort, a consequence of the feast of trumpets. God ordained that, by giving him the first-fruits of every month they should acknowledge him as the Lord of all their time, and own his providence, by which all times and seasons are ordered. The feast of expiation or atonement was kept on the 10th day of Tisri or September: the Hebrews call it Kippur , i.e., pardon or expiation, because it was instituted for the expiation of their sins. The feast of tents or tabernacles was so called, because the Israelites kept it under green tents or arbours, in memory of their dwelling in their passage through the wilderness. It was celebrated on the 15th day of Tisri , and continued eight dayscaps1 . tcaps0 he first and last days are the most solemn. Besides the feasts mentioned by Moses, we find the feast of lots, or Purim , which was celebrated among the Jews of Shushan on the 14th of Adar , which answers to our February. The feast of the dedication of the temple, or rather, of the restoration of the temple, which had been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes, which is thought to be the feast mentioned in the gospel Joh 10:22, was celebrated in the winter. Moâdim , properly means assemblies, convened at an appointed time and place. Lev 23:4, Lev 23:37; Exo 23:14-17; Isa 1:13, Isa 1:14, Isa 33:20; Lam 1:4; Hos 2:11; Nah 1:15; Joh 5:1; Col 2:1

proclaim : Exo 32:5; Num 10:2, Num 10:3, Num 10:10; 2Ki 10:20; 2Ch 30:5; Psa 81:3; Joe 1:14, Joe 2:15; Jon 3:5-9

TSK: Lev 23:3

Lev 19:3; Exo 16:23, Exo 16:29, Exo 20:8-11, Exo 23:12, Exo 31:15, Exo 34:21, Exo 35:2, Exo 35:3; Deu 5:13; Isa 56:2, Isa 56:6, Isa 58:13; Luk 13:14, Luk 23:56; Act 15:21; Rev 1:10

TSK: Lev 23:4

Lev 23:2, Lev 23:37; Exo 23:14

TSK: Lev 23:5

Exo 12:2-14, Exo 12:18, Exo 13:3-10, Exo 23:15; Num 9:2-7, Num 28:16; Deu 16:1-8; Jos 5:10; 2Ch 35:18, 2Ch 35:19; Mat 26:17; Mar 14:12; Luk 22:7; 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8

TSK: Lev 23:6

Exo 12:15, Exo 12:16, Exo 13:6, Exo 13:7, Exo 34:18; Num 28:17, Num 28:18; Deu 16:8; Act 12:3, Act 12:4

TSK: Lev 23:7

Num 28:18-25

TSK: Lev 23:10 - When // and shall // sheaf

When : Lev 14:34

and shall : Lev 2:12-16; Exo 22:29, Exo 23:16, Exo 23:19, Exo 34:22, Exo 34:26; Num 15:2, Num 15:18-21, Num 28:26; Deu 16:9; Jos 3:15

sheaf : or, handful, Heb. omer, the first fruits, This offering was a public acknowledgment of the bounty and goodness of God for the kindly fruits of the earth. From the practice of the people of God, the heathen borrowed a similar one, founded on the same reason. Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10; Eze 44:30; Rom 11:16; 1Co 15:20-23; Jam 1:18; Rev 14:4

TSK: Lev 23:11

Lev 9:21, Lev 10:14; Exo 29:24

TSK: Lev 23:12

Lev 1:10; Heb 10:10-12; 1Pe 1:19

TSK: Lev 23:13 - the meat // the drink // the fourth

the meat : Lev 2:14-16, Lev 14:10; Num 15:3-12

the drink : Exo 29:40, Exo 29:41, Exo 30:9; Num 28:10; Joe 1:9, Joe 1:13, Joe 2:14

the fourth : Exo 30:24; Eze 4:11, Eze 45:24, Eze 46:14

TSK: Lev 23:14 - eat // it shall be

eat : Lev 19:23-25, Lev 25:2, Lev 25:3; Gen 4:4, Gen 4:5; Jos 5:11, Jos 5:12

it shall be : Lev 3:17, Lev 10:11; Deu 16:12; Neh 9:14; Psa 19:8

TSK: Lev 23:15

Lev 23:10, Lev 23:11, Lev 25:8; Exo 34:22; Deu 16:9, Deu 16:10

TSK: Lev 23:16

Act 2:1

TSK: Lev 23:17 - two wave // leaven // the firstfruits

two wave : Num 28:26

leaven : Lev 7:13; Mat 13:33

the firstfruits : Lev 23:10; Exo 22:29, Exo 23:16, Exo 23:19, Exo 34:22, Exo 34:26; Num 15:17, Num 15:19-21; Deu 26:1, Deu 26:2; Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10; Rom 8:23; 1Co 15:20; Jam 1:18; Rev 14:4

TSK: Lev 23:18 - seven lambs // with their

seven lambs : Lev 23:12, Lev 23:13; Num 28:27-31; Mal 1:13, Mal 1:14

with their : Num 15:4-12

TSK: Lev 23:19 - one kid // two lambs

one kid : Lev 4:23-28, Lev 16:15; Num 15:24, Num 28:30; Rom 8:3; 2Co 5:21

two lambs : Lev. 3:1-17, Lev 7:11-18

TSK: Lev 23:20 - wave them // holy to

wave them : Lev 23:17, Lev 7:29, Lev 7:30; Exo 29:24; Luk 2:14; Eph 2:14

holy to : Lev 7:31-34, Lev 8:29, Lev 10:14, Lev 10:15; Num 18:8-12; Deu 18:4; 1Co 9:11

TSK: Lev 23:21 - proclaim // a statute

proclaim : Lev 23:2, Lev 23:4; Exo 12:16; Deu 16:11; Isa 11:10

a statute : Lev 23:14; Gen 17:7; Exo 12:17; Num 18:23

TSK: Lev 23:22

Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10; Deu 16:11-14, Deu 24:19-21; Rth 2:3-7, Rth 2:15, Rth 2:16-23; Job 31:16-21; Psa 41:1-3, Psa 112:9; Pro 11:24, Pro 11:25; Isa 58:7, Isa 58:8, Isa 58:10; Luk 11:41; 2Co 9:5-12; To the institution of the feast of pentecost is annexed a repetition of that law, by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields, and the corn that grew on the ends of the butts, for the poor. It may come in here as a thing which the priests must take occasion to remind the people of, when they brought their first-fruits, intimating to them, that to obey even in this small matter was better than sacrifice; and that unless they were obedient, their offerings should not be accepted. It also taught them that the joy of harvest should express itself in charity to the poor, who must have their due out of what we have, as well as God his. They that are truly sensible of the mercy they receive from God, will without grudging shew mercy to the poor.

TSK: Lev 23:24 - In the seventh // a memorial

In the seventh : Num 10:10, Num 29:1-6; 1Ch 15:28; 2Ch 5:13; Ezr 3:6; Psa 81:1-4, Psa 98:6; Isa 27:13; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16

a memorial : Zichron terooâh , here rendered ""a memorial of blowing the trumpets""properly signifies a memorial of triumph or shouting for joy. This festival is generally called the feast of trumpets; and, though the Scriptures have not expressly declared the reason of its celebration, yet, as it fell in the seventh month of the sacred year, which was the first of the civil year, that is, the month Tisri , answering to our September, the opinion very generally embraced by both Jews and Christians is, that it was a memorial of the creation of the world, at which ""the sons of God shouted for joy,""(Job 38:7); and which is supposed, not altogether without reason, to have been at this season of the year. The month Tisri was not only anciently, but still is, reckoned by the Jews the first month of the year; and the feast of tabernacles, kept in this month, was said to be, as it is correctly rendered in the margin, ""at the revolution of the year,""(Exo 34:22); importing, that at this season the year had revolved, and was beginning anew. So that this feast was the new year’ s day, on which the people rejoiced in a grateful remembrance of God’ s benefits, and implored his blessing for the future year. Lev 25:9

TSK: Lev 23:27 - the tenth // afflict // offer

the tenth : Lev 16:29, Lev 16:30, Lev 25:9; Num 29:7-11

afflict : Lev 16:31; Num 29:7; Ezr 8:21; Psa 35:13; Isa 58:5; Dan 10:2, Dan 10:3; Zec 12:10; Act 2:37, Act 2:38; 2Co 7:10, 2Co 7:11; Jam 4:9

offer : Lev 16:11, Lev 16:15, Lev 16:24

TSK: Lev 23:28

Lev 16:34; Isa 53:10; Dan 9:24; Zec 3:9; Rom 5:10, Rom 5:11; Heb 9:12, Heb 9:26; Heb 10:10, Heb 10:14; 1Jo 2:2, 1Jo 4:10, 1Jo 5:6

TSK: Lev 23:29 - that shall // he shall be

that shall : Lev 23:27, Lev 23:32; Isa 22:12; Jer 31:9; Eze 7:16

he shall be : Gen 17:14

TSK: Lev 23:30

Lev 20:3, Lev 20:5, Lev 20:6; Gen 17:14; Jer 15:7; Eze 14:9; Zep 2:5; 1Co 3:17

TSK: Lev 23:32 - a sabbath // afflict // celebrate your sabbath

a sabbath : Lev 16:31; Mat 11:28-30; Heb 4:3, Heb 4:11

afflict : Lev 23:27; Psa 35:13, Psa 51:17, Psa 69:10, Psa 69:11, Psa 126:5, Psa 126:6; Isa 57:15, Isa 57:18, Isa 57:19, Isa 58:3-7; Isa 61:3; Mat 5:4; 1Co 11:31

celebrate your sabbath : Heb. rest

TSK: Lev 23:34 - The fifteenth // the feast of tabernacles

The fifteenth : Exo 23:16, Exo 34:22; Num 29:12; Deu 16:13-15; Ezr 3:4; Neh 8:14; Zec 14:16-19; Joh 1:14, Joh 7:2; Heb 11:9, Heb 11:13

the feast of tabernacles : This feast was celebrated in commemoration of the Israelites’ dwelling in tents in the wilderness for forty years; and was kept with greater hilarity than any of the other festivals. Hence, in the Talmud, it is often called chag , the feast, by way of excellence; and by Philo, εορτων μεγιστην , the greatest of the feasts; it was therefore more noticed by the heathen than any other. It is probable that Cecrops borrowed from it the law which he made in Athens, ""that the master of every family should after harvest make a feast for his servants, and eat together with them who had taken pains with him in tilling his grounds.""

TSK: Lev 23:35

Lev 23:7, Lev 23:8, Lev 23:24, Lev 23:25

TSK: Lev 23:36 - Seven // the eighth // solemn

Seven : Num. 29:12-38

the eighth : 2Ch 7:8-11; Neh 8:18; Joh 7:37

solemn : Heb. day of restraint, Deu 16:8; Joe 1:14, Joe 2:15 *marg.

TSK: Lev 23:37 - the feasts // every thing

the feasts : Lev 23:2, Lev 23:4; Deu 16:16, Deu 16:17

every thing : Ecc 3:1

TSK: Lev 23:38 - the sabbaths // and beside

the sabbaths : Lev 23:3, Lev 19:3; Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3; Exo 20:8-11

and beside : Num 29:39; Deu 12:6; 1Ch 29:3-8; 2Ch 35:7, 2Ch 35:8; Ezr 2:68, Ezr 2:69

TSK: Lev 23:39 - when // on the first

when : Lev 23:34; Exo 23:16; Deu 16:13

on the first : Lev 23:24, Lev 23:36

TSK: Lev 23:40 - the boughs // of palm trees // rejoice

the boughs : Heb. fruit, Neh 8:15; Mat 21:8

of palm trees : Psa 92:12; Joh 12:13; Rev 7:9

rejoice : Deu 16:14, Deu 16:15; Isa 35:10, Isa 66:10; Joh 16:22; Rom 5:11; Phi 3:3, Phi 4:4; 1Pe 1:8

TSK: Lev 23:41

Num 29:12; Neh 8:18

TSK: Lev 23:42

Gen 33:17; Num 24:2, Num 24:5; Neh 8:14-17; Jer 35:10; 2Co 5:1; Heb 11:13-16

TSK: Lev 23:43

Exo 13:14; Deu 31:10-13; Psa 78:5, Psa 78:6

TSK: Lev 23:44

Lev 23:1, Lev 23:2, Lev 21:24; Mat 18:20

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Lev 23:2 - Ye shall proclaim // Holy convocations // These are my feasts

Ye shall proclaim i.e. cause to be proclaimed by the priests. See Num 10:8-10 .

Holy convocations days for your assembling together to my worship and service in a special manner.

These are my feasts which I have appointed, and the right observation whereof I will accept.

Poole: Lev 23:3

No work ; so it runs in the general for the sabbath day, and for the day of expiation, Lev 23:28 , excluding all works about earthly occasions or employments, whether of profit or pleasure; but on other feast days he forbids only servile works, as Lev 23:7,21,36 , for surely this manifest difference in the expressions used by the wise God must needs imply a difference in the things. In all your dwellings : this is added to distinguish the sabbath from other feasts, which were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, where they were, both in synagogues, which were erected for that end, and in their private houses.

Poole: Lev 23:4

In their appointed and proper times, as the word is used Gen 1:14 Psa 104:19 .

Poole: Lev 23:8

Seven days, the matter and manner whereof, see Num 28:18 , &c.

Poole: Lev 23:10 - When ye be come into the land // Shall reap // A sheaf

When ye be come into the land therefore this obliged them not in the desert, where they reaped no harvest, &c.

Shall reap i.e. begin to reap, as it is expounded Deu 16:9 . So, he begat , i.e. began to beget, Gen 5:32 11:26 ; and, he built , 1Ki 6:1 , i.e. he began to build, as it is explained 2Ch 3:2 . The harvest thereof , to wit, barley harvest, which was before wheat harvest. See Exo 9:31,32 34:22 Rth 2:23 .

A sheaf Heb. an omer , which is the tenth part of an ephah. It seems here to note the measure of corn which was to be offered. For it is to be considered that they did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf or handful, but as Josephus, iii. 10, affirms, and may be gathered from Lev 2:14-16 , purged from the chaff, and dried, and beaten out, and, some add, ground into meal, and sifted into fine flour; though this may be doubted of, because the meat-offering attending upon this was of fine flour, Lev 23:13 , and because this offering is said to be of green ears of corn dried , &c., Lev 2:14 .

Poole: Lev 23:11 - To be accepted for you // On the morrow after the sabbath

To be accepted for you that God may accept of you, and bless you in the rest of your harvest.

On the morrow after the sabbath i.e. after the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a sabbath, or day of rest, as appears from Lev 23:7 , or upon the sixteenth day of the month. And this was the first of those fifty days, in the close whereof was the feast of pentecost, or Whitsuntide.

Poole: Lev 23:12 - An he lamb

An he lamb besides the daily morning and evening sacrifice, which it was needless to mention here, and besides one of those sacrifices to be offered every day of the seven, Lev 23:8 .

Poole: Lev 23:13 - Two tenth deals // An hin

Two tenth deals or, parts , to wit, of an ephah, i. e. two omers, whereas in other sacrifices of lambs there was but one tenth deal prescribed, Num 15:4 . The reason of which disproportion may be this, that one of the tenth deals was a necessary attendant upon the lamb, and the other was peculiar to this feast and occasion, and was an attendant upon that of the sheaf or corn, and was offered with it in thanksgiving to God for the fruits of the earth. Drink-offerings were added to all burnt-offerings, as we may see Num 15:5 .

An hin the measure appointed for every lamb, Num 15:5 . This also probably would have been doubled, for the reason now mentioned, had this been a thank-offering for the vintage, as it was for the harvest.

Poole: Lev 23:14 - Bread // Nor green ears // Until the selfsame day

Bread made of new wheat, as the nature and reason of the law showeth.

Nor green ears which were usual, not only for offerings to God, as Lev 2:14 , but also for man’ s food. See Jos 5:11 Rth 2:14 1Sa 17:17 Mat 12:1 .

Until the selfsame day: good reason God should be first served and owned as the supreme Landlord.

Poole: Lev 23:15 - From the morrow after the sabbath // Seven sabbaths

From the morrow after the sabbath i.e. from the sixteenth day of the month, and the second day of the feast of unleavened bread inclusively. See on Lev 23:11 .

Seven sabbaths i.e. weeks, which are so called, by a synecdoche, from the chief day of it, both here and Luk 18:12 Act 20:7 1Co 16:2 .

Poole: Lev 23:16 - A new meat offering

i.e. After seven weeks, or forty-nine days, the morrow after which was the fiftieth day, called also pentecost.

A new meat offering to wit, of new corn made into loaves, as it follows.

Poole: Lev 23:17 - Out of your habitations // Two wave loaves // Baken with leaven

Out of your habitations i.e. out of the corn of your own land, for which and for the fruits of it you are now to offer praises unto God. And this also, as well as the former sacrifice, was brought out of the common charge, and in the name of the whole nation, whence it is said to be brought out of their habitations in the plural number. Some conceive two several loaves were brought from every family, or, as others, from every city or town. But this is easily confuted from Lev 23:18 , where we read that with the bread, to wit, the two loaves, were to be offered seven lambs, one bullock, &c., which doubtless was a common oblation, and in the name of all.

Two wave loaves in double proportion, as before, Lev 23:13 .

Baken with leaven because these were not offered to God, but wholly given to the priest for food. See on Lev 2:11 7:13 .

Poole: Lev 23:18 - Two rams

Two rams in Num 28:11,19 it is two young bullocks and one ram. Either therefore it was left to their liberty to choose which they would offer, or one of the bullocks there, and one of the rams here, were the peculiar sacrifices of the feast-day, and the other were attendants upon the two loaves, which were the principal and most proper offering at this time. And the one may be mentioned there, and the other here, to teach us that the addition of a new sacrifice did not destroy the former, but both were to be offered, as the extraordinary sacrifices of every feast did not hinder the oblation of the daily sacrifice.

Poole: Lev 23:19 - One kid

One kid: in Lev 4:14 the sin-offering for the sin of the people is a bullock, but here a kid , &c.; the reason of the difference may be this, because that was for some particular sin of the people, but this only in general for all their sins. If it be said, then this should have been the better sacrifice, as being for far more, and possibly greater, offences; it may be replied, that this is not the only instance wherein the greater sins are expiated by smaller sacrifices, and the smaller sins by greater sacrifices, which was to instruct us, that sins were not expiated by the sacrifices for any worth in them, but only in respect of Christ, and that, though all sins are not equal, yet they are all expiated by one and the same price, even by the blood of Christ.

Poole: Lev 23:20 - The priest shall wave them

The priest shall wave them i.e. some part of them in the name of the whole, and so for the two lambs, otherwise they had been too big and too heavy to be waved. So it is a synecdochical expression. For the priests ; who had to themselves not only the breast and shoulder, as in others, which belonged to the priest, but also the rest which belonged to the offerer, because the whole congregation being the offerer here, it could neither be distributed to them all, nor given to some without offence or injury to the rest.

Poole: Lev 23:21 - An holy convocation

An holy convocation a sabbath or day of rest, called pentecost, which was instituted, partly in remembrance of the consummation of their deliverance out of Egypt, by bringing them thence to the mount of God, or Sinai, as God had promised, and of that admirable blessing of giving the law to them at that time, and forming them into a commonwealth under his own immediate government; and partly in gratitude for the further progress of their harvest, as in the passover they offered a thank-offering to God for the beginning of their harvest.

Poole: Lev 23:22

From the plural ye he comes to the singular thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who hath a harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to show that our piety and devotion to God is little esteemed by him, if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.

Poole: Lev 23:24 - A memorial of blowing of trumpets

A memorial of blowing of trumpets i.e. solemnized with the blowing of trumpets by the priests; not in a common way, as they did every first day of every month, Num 10:10 , but in an extraordinary manner, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Israel. This seems to have been instituted,

1. To solemnize the beginning of the new year, whereof as to civil matters, and particularly as to the jubilee, this was the first day; concerning which it was fit the people should be admonished, both to excite their thankfulness for God’ s blessing in the last year, and to direct them in the management of their civil affairs.

2. To put a special honour upon this month. For as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year; so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, for the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this more than in any other month. And by this sounding of the trumpets in its beginning, God would quicken and prepare them for the following sabbaths, as well that of atonement and humiliation for their sins, as those of thanksgiving for God’ s mercies.

Poole: Lev 23:27 - Ye shall afflict your souls

Ye shall afflict your souls with fasting, and bitter repentance for all, especially their national sins, among which no doubt God would have them remember their sin of the golden calf. For as God had threatened to remember it in after-times to punish them for it, Exo 32:34 , so there was great reason why they should remember it to humble themselves for it.

Poole: Lev 23:29 - Whatsoever soul

Whatsoever soul either of the Jewish nation or religion. Hereby God would signify the absolute necessity which every man had of repentance and forgiveness of sin, and the desperate condition of all impenitent persons.

Poole: Lev 23:32 - your sabbath

This clause seems to be added to answer an objection, how this day of atonement could be both on the tenth day Lev 23:27 , and on the ninth day here. The answer is, it began at the evening or close of the ninth day, and continued till the evening or close of the tenth day; and so both were true, especially if you consider, that the Jews did take in some part of the sixth day’ s evening by way of preparation for the sabbath, and therefore would much more take in a part of the ninth day to prepare and begin the great and solemn work of their yearly atonement. And this clause may be understood either,

1. Of this-particular sabbath, called here

your sabbath in the singular number, possibly to note the difference between this and other sabbaths; for the weekly sabbath is oft called the sabbath of the Lord , because that was in a special manner appointed for the praising, honouring, and serving of God, and celebrating his glorious works, as also the other sabbaths here mentioned were, whereas this was principally ordained for their need and for their good, even to seek and obtain the pardon of their sins. Or,

2. Of all their sabbaths, and consequently of this. The Jews are supposed to begin every day, and consequently their sabbaths, at the evening, in remembrance of the creation, Gen 1:5 , as Christians generally begin their days and sabbaths with the morning, in memory of Christ’ s resurrection.

Poole: Lev 23:34 - Of tabernacles

Of tabernacles i.e. of tents, or booths, or arbours. This feast was appointed principally to remind them of that time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, as it is expressed Lev 23:43 , and to stir them up to bless God as well for the gracious conduct and protection then afforded them, as for their more commodious and secure habitations now given them; and secondarily, to excite them to gratitude for all the fruits of the year newly ended, which were now completely brought in, as may be gathered from Lev 23:39 Exo 23:16 Deu 16:13,14 . See an instance of this feast Neh 8:16 .

Poole: Lev 23:36 - Seven days ye shall offer an offering // On the eighth day // A solemn assembly

Seven days ye shall offer an offering a several offering each day, which is particularly described Num 29:13 , &c.

On the eighth day which though it was not one of the days of this feast strictly taken, nor is it here affirmed to be so, but on the contrary is expressly said to consist of seven days, Lev 23:31,39 , nor did they dwell longer in tabernacles; yet in a larger sense it belonged to this feast, and is called the great day of the feast , Joh 7:37 . And so indeed it was, as for other reasons, so because, by their removal from their tabernacles into more fixed and comfortable habitations, it represented that happy time wherein their forty years’ tedious march in the wilderness was ended, with their introduction into, and settlement in, the land of Canaan, which it was most fit and just they should acknowledge with such a solemn day of thanksgiving as this was.

A solemn assembly Heb. a day of conclusion , because it was the end of the feast, Joh 7:37 ; or, of restraint , because they were restrained from servile work, and obliged to attendance upon God’ s worship; or, of detention , because they were yet detained before the Lord, and kept together for his service, and not suffered to return to their tents till this was over.

Poole: Lev 23:37 - A sacrifice

A sacrifice i.e. another sacrifice, to wit, for a sin-offering, as we shall find it Num 29:16,19,22 , &c., called by the general name, a sacrifice, because it was designed for that which was the principal end of all sacrifices, to wit, for the expiation of sin.

Poole: Lev 23:38 - Beside the sabbaths // the sabbaths of the Lord // Beside your gifts

Beside the sabbaths i.e. the offerings of the weekly sabbaths, by a metonymy, as the day is sometimes put for the actions done in it, as Pro 27:1 1Co 3:13 . God will not have any sabbath sacrifice diminished, because of the addition of others proper to any, other feast. And it is here to be noted, that though other festival days are sometimes called sabbaths, as here Lev 23:39 , yet these are here called

the sabbaths of the Lord in way of contradistinction to other days of rest, to show that this was more eminently such than other feast-days, which also sufficiently appears from the fourth commandment.

Beside your gifts which, being here distinguished from free-will offerings made to the Lord, may seem to note what they freely gave to the priests over and above their first-fruits and tithes, or other things which they were enjoined to give.

Poole: Lev 23:39 - Also // The fruit

Also or rather, surely , as this particle is oft used; for this is no addition of a new, but only a repetition of the former injunction, with a more particular explication both of the manner and reason of the feast.

The fruit not the corn, which was gathered long before, but of their trees, as vines, olives, and other fruit-trees; which completed the harvest, whence this is called the feast of ingathering , Exo 23:16 .

Poole: Lev 23:40 - Boughs // Thick trees // Willows of the brook // Ye shall rejoice

Boughs Heb. the fruit , i.e. fruit-bearing boughs, or branches with the fruit on them, as the word fruit seems to be taken, 2Ki 19:30 Eze 19:12 . Goodly trees , to wit, the olive, myrtle, and pine, as they are mentioned, Neh 8:15,16 , which were most plentiful there, and which would best preserve their greenness or freshness.

Thick trees fit for shade and shelter.

Willows of the brook which might do well to mix with the other, and in some sort to bind them together. And as they made their booths of these materials, as is apparent from Ne 8 , so it seems they did also carry some of these boughs in their hands, as is affirmed by Jewish and other ancient writers.

Ye shall rejoice which joy they testified by feasting, thanksgiving, &c.

Poole: Lev 23:42 - Booths

Booths were erected in their cities or towns, either in their streets or gardens, or the tops of their houses, Neh 8:16 , which were made flat, and therefore were proper and fit for that use.

Haydock: Lev 23:2 - Holy

Holy. The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint add, "and meet together; or, these are my feasts of assembly." On these days the people were called together to hear the word of God, &c. (Menochius)

Haydock: Lev 23:3 - Sabbath // Called // Day // Lord // Habitations

Sabbath. Hebrew, "the rest of rest;" a day in which no unnecessary servile work must be done, no more than on the great holidays, ver. 6, 8. (Haydock) ---

Called holy, because it shall be really so: in which sense the word is often used, Isaias ix. 6, &c. ---

Day; you must not even dress meat, which was also forbidden on the day of expiation. ---

Lord, on which he ceased from work, and which you must keep in his honour. ---

Habitations. In the temple, the priests were intent upon sacrificing, which was indeed a material, but not a formal, violation of the sabbath, Matthew xii. 5.

Haydock: Lev 23:6 - Bread

Bread. The obligation of eating none but this sort of bread began at the second evening of the 14th, which was the beginning of the 15th of Nisan, Exodus xii. 6, 12. (Menochius)

Haydock: Lev 23:8 - In fire // More holy

In fire. Septuagint, "holocausts," extraordinary ones, besides the daily burnt-offerings, Numbers xxviii. 19. ---

More holy than the five intermediate days, on which servile work was allowed. In this and the former verse, more and most are not specified in the Hebrew and Septuagint. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:10 - Land // Of ears

Land of Chanaan, at which time these feasts began to be observed. (Menochius) See Leviticus ii. 14. ---

Before the harvest commenced, first-fruits were offered to the Lord. A gomer containing about three pints of barley was given to the priests, by the nation at large, as each individual was not bound to make a particular solemn offering. The judges deputed three men to gather this barley on the evening of the 15th Nisan, where the neighbourhood assembled near Jerusalem. It was gathered by them in three different fields, after having been thrice assured that the sun was set, and that they had leave to reap, in answer to their triple demands on each head. Then they placed the ears in three boxes, which they brought to the court of the sanctuary, and having ground the barley, and poured a log of oil and an handful of incense upon it, presented it to the priest, who heaving it in the form of a cross, threw as much as he could hold in his hand upon the altar, and kept the rest for himself. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] iii. 10; &c. Private people offered also in kind or in money their first-fruits, or between the 40th and the 60th part of what their land produced. This custom is almost as ancient as the world, (Genesis iv. 3,) and we may say that it forms a part of natural religion, which all nations have observed. Porphyrius esteems it an impiety to neglect it. He says that the Thoes, living on the borders of Thrace, were in a moment destroyed, because they offered neither sacrifices nor first-fruits. (De Abstin. ii. 7.) The ancient Romans and Greeks were very punctual in this respect. (Pliny, xviii. 20.) Those officers who collected this first-fruits among the latter were styled Parasites. Many of the festivals among the heathens, occurred at the end of harvest. (Aristotle, ad Nicom. viii.) The Jews might reap their wheat, but they could not taste it, before they had offered the first-fruits, at Pentecost. (Chap. xxiii. 17; Exodus xxiii. 16.) ---

Of ears. Hebrew homor, or gomer, "a sheaf," denotes also a measure, which was called an assaron, containing almost three pints.

Haydock: Lev 23:11 - Sabbath

Sabbath. Onkelos has "the good day," from which the fifty days of Pentecost were counted. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:14 - Corn // Dwellings

Corn ( polentam ). Some translate bruised corn, or a sort of cake. See chap. ii. 4. ---

Dwellings, even out of the holy land, which was peculiar to this law. (Grotius)

Haydock: Lev 23:15 - Sabbath

Sabbath. Not the ninth day of the week, but the first day of the Passover; from the morrow of which seven weeks or 49 days were reckoned; and the next day was Pentecost. (Menochius) ---

They began, therefore, to count on the 16th of Nisan, and end on the 6th of the third month Sivan. All the intermediate days took their denomination from this second day of the Passover; so that the next Saturday was called the first sabbath after the second day; in Greek Deuteroproton, the second-first; (Luke vi. 1,) a term which had puzzled all the interpreters until Jos. Scaliger made this discovery. (Emend. 6.) The Samaritans count from the day after that sabbath which follows the Passover; so that if the festival fall on Monday, they celebrate Pentecost later than the Jews. See their Letter to Huntington. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:16 - Sacrifice

Sacrifice. Hebrew mincha, which relates to the offerings of corn and liquors. Two loaves of wheaten flour leavened, were presented probably by the nation. This festival was instituted in memory of the law being given from Mount Sinai, which was a figure of the law of grace promulgated by the Holy Ghost and by the apostles, on the day of Pentecost. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:17 - Loaves

Loaves. The Protestants supply wave loaves, (Haydock) though their Hebrew text has nothing. The Samaritan is more correct. (Houbigant)

Haydock: Lev 23:18 - Lambs

Lambs. More were prescribed, Numbers xxviii. 27. Josephus joins all together. ([Antiquities?] B. iii. 10.)

Haydock: Lev 23:20 - Use

Use. None of the peace-offerings were burnt upon the altar, as the bread was leavened. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:21 - Most holy

Most holy. Hebrew, "a holy convocation." (Haydock) ---

It is generally supposed that it had an octave, though the Scripture says nothing of it.

Haydock: Lev 23:24 - Memorial

Memorial, or a memorable sabbath. This third great festival sanctified the commencement of the civil year in Tisri, the sabbatical month, according to the ecclesiastical calculation. (Tirinus) See Numbers xxix. 3. ---

The sound of trumpets, which ushered in the year with great solemnity, reminded the Jews of the approaching fast, ver. 27, (Maimonides) and of those terrible sounds which had been heard at Sinai. (Theodoret, q. 32.) The Rabbins say that a ram's horn was used, because Abraham had sacrificed a ram instead of his son. (Genesis xxii. 11.; Zacharias ix. 14.) The Jews on this day sound the horn 30 times, feast, and wish one another a happy year. (Boxtorf., xyn. xix.) We know not on what account this festival was instituted. But it was probably ordained in order that the people might learn to thank God for the favours received during the past year, and might beg his blessing on that, upon which they were now entering. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:28 - Servile

Servile is not in the original, or in the other versions, nor in the Vulgate, ver. 30; whence it is inferred, that this day of atonement was to be kept like the sabbath: so that even meat could not be made ready on it lawfully, chap. xvi. 29. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:29 - Every

Every. It was difficult for any grown-up person to be entirely guiltless, amid such a variety of precepts, (Menochius) which St. Peter says neither they nor their fathers could bear, Acts xv. 10: and St. James (iii.) observes, in many things we all offend. If any proved so happy as to keep without blame, (Luke i. 6.; Haydock) they were bound, at least, to grieve for the injury done to God by their fellow members. See Daniel ix. 5. (Menochius)

Haydock: Lev 23:32 - Sabbaths

Sabbaths. The Church adopts this custom in her divine office. The Jewish day began and ended with sun-set, Exodus xii. 6. (Calmet) ---

No part of the ninth of Tisri belonged to this feast, (ver. 27,) which only began at the expiration of it. (Haydock)

Haydock: Lev 23:34 - Seven days // Tabernacles

Seven days, during which the people were bound to rejoice, but not to abstain from servile work; except on the first and eighth day. (Tirinus) ---

Tabernacles: Greek Scenopegia; because, during the octave, the Jews lived in tents, or booths, made of branches, &c., ver. 42.

Haydock: Lev 23:36 - Most holy // Congregation

Most holy. Hebrew, "an holy assembly." The great day of the festivity, John vii. 37. ---

Congregation. Hebrew hatsereth, "retention." All were bound to wait till this day was over. In other festivals, it was sufficient if they were present one day. This was the concluding day of the feast of tabernacles. Septuagint exodion. Plutarch (Sym. iv. 5.) observes, that this festival greatly resembles that of Bacchus. Ovid (Fast. iii.) speaking of the feast of Anna Perenna, describes it thus: Sub Jove pars durat, pauci tentoria ponunt,

Sub quibus e ramis frondea facta casa est.

Casaubon (on Atheneus iv. 9. and v. 5.) mentions other feasts, on which the pagans dwelt under tents. The devil has caused his slaves to imitate most of the holy ceremonies of the true religion. (Calmet)

Haydock: Lev 23:39 - Eighth

Eighth. On the feast of the Passover, the 7th day after the 15th was kept holy, because the 14th, or the Phase, made also a part of the solemnity, ver. 5, 8. (Haydock)

Haydock: Lev 23:40 - Fairest tree // Thick trees // Willows // Rejoice

Fairest tree, branches of the orange or citron tree, laden with blossoms and fruit. (Tirinus) ---

Josephus ([Antiquities?] iii. 10) says, they took branches of myrtle, willows, and palm trees, on which they fixed oranges. This is the fruit which the Hebrews generally understand to be hereby designated. In the same sense the Arabic and Syriac translate "golden apples." ---

Thick trees, of any species; though Josephus, &c., restrain it to the myrtle, which was certainly used on this occasion, 2 Esdras viii. 12. ---

Willows. Septuagint adds also, "branches of agnus from the torrent." Perhaps Moses only meant that these branches should be used in forming the tents; but the Jews hold them in their hands, while they go in solemn procession round the pulpit in their synagogues, during every day of the octave, before breakfast, crying out Ana hosiah na, &c., "Save us, we beseech thee, O Lord; we beseech thee, grant us good success." They gave the title of hosannah to those branches; in allusion to which, the children sung in honour of Jesus Christ, Hosanna to the Son of David. ---

Rejoice; dancing and singing before the altar of holocausts, 2 Kings vi. 14. The wisdom of God shines forth, in thus attaching to his worship a carnal people, by intermingling with the most solemn ceremonies some relaxation and pleasure. By calling them together so often in the year, they became also better acquainted with one another, and more in love with their religion and country. The ancient lawgivers entertained the like sentiments. (Seneca, Strabo x.) But the pagans generally carried these diversions to excess. (Calmet) ---

In this chapter we find six festivals specified: 1. sabbath; 2. Passover; 3. Pentecost; 4. trumpets; 5. expiation; 6. tabernacles, lasting till the octave day of assembly and collection. These three last were celebrated in the 7th month, the 1st of the civil year. There was also a feast on all the new moons, Numbers xxviii. 11. (Haydock)

Haydock: Lev 23:42 - Days

Days. Tostat affirms they might pass the nights in their houses; but most people suppose, the Jews spent the whole octave in bowers.

Haydock: Lev 23:44 - Feasts

Feasts. In the institution of these feasts, as in the other regulations of Moses, there was something ceremonial, which might be altered, and something moral, which regards even those times when the Jewish religion was to cease. (St. Augustine, q. 43.) ---

Hence we must conclude, that the obligation of keeping certain days holy must always remain. But those appointed for the Jews, as they foretold the future Messias, must be changed, lest otherwise we might seem to confess that he is still to come. (Romans xiv.; Galatians iv.; Colossians ii.) We are not therefore allowed to Judaize abstaining from work on the Jewish sabbath, (Council of Laodicea,) as Antichrist will require. (St. Gregory, ep. xi. 3.) ---

But we must keep Sunday instead, (as even Protestants maintain, though there be no Scripture for it,) by authority of tradition, in memory of Christ's resurrection, &c. (St. Jerome, ep. ad Hed.; ib.[St. Gregory, ep. xi. 3.?]; St. Augustine, de C.[City of God?] xxii. 30.) So also we observe the Christian festivals, in honour of our Lord and his saints, instead of those which God appointed for the Jews, either by himself or by his ministers: for we find that some were instituted after the time of Moses, (Esther ix., and 1 Machabees iv.) and these were sanctioned by the observance of Christ himself, It was the feast of the dedication, and Jesus walked in the temple, &c., John x. 22-23. (Worthington)

Gill: Lev 23:1 - And the Lord spake unto Moses // saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Much about the same time as before; and having delivered to him various laws concerning the holiness of the people of Israel, who were to serve him, and of the holiness of the priests, that were to minister in holy things to him, and of the purity and perfections of their sacrifices, he here appoints various times and seasons, for the more special worship and service of him:

saying; as follows.

Gill: Lev 23:2 - Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them // concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... Speak to them to gather together, and then say unto them what follows, they all being obliged to keep the feasts, and observe the solemnities hereafter directed to; though it may be the heads of the tribes and the elders of the people were summoned together, and the following things were delivered to them, and by them to the people:

concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts; appointed and ordered by God, and to be kept to the honour of his name; these are the general names for the particular holy times and seasons after appointed; they are in general called "feasts", though one of them, the day of atonement, was, strictly speaking, a fast; yet being a cessation from all work, and opposed to working days, days of labour and business, it is comprehended in this general title: nor is it unusual with other nations to call a fast a feast; so Aelianus ^h relates of the Tarentines, that having been besieged by the Romans, and delivered from them, in memory of their sufferings appointed a feast which was called a fast: the word used has the signification of stated, fixed, appointed times and seasons, and of convening or meeting together at such times, and that for the performance of solemn worship and service, which is true of them all; for there are certain times of the week and month fixed for them, and when the people in bodies assembled together, and in a solemn manner worshipped the Lord; and these are called "convocations", because the people were called together at those times by the priests, and that with the sound of a trumpet, Num 10:2; and "holy", because separated from other days, and set apart for holy services: the words may be rendered, as they are by many ⁱ: "the solemnities of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim holy convocations, these are my solemnities"; times for holy, religious, and solemn service, of his appointment and for his glory: Aben Ezra seems to understand all this of the sabbath only, which is next mentioned, expressed in the plural number, because, as he observes, there are many sabbaths in a year; and indeed the general title of the rest of the feasts is afterwards given, Lev 23:4.

Gill: Lev 23:3 - Six days shall work be done // but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest // an holy convocation // ye shall do no work therein // it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings

Six days shall work be done,.... Or may be done by men, any sort of lawful work and honest labour, for the sustenance of themselves and families:

but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest; from all bodily labour and work of any kind; typical of rest by Christ and in him:

an holy convocation; when the people were called to holy exercises, to pray and praise, and hear the word, and offer sacrifice:

ye shall do no work therein; not any at all, see Exo 31:15,

it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings: other feasts were kept in the sanctuary, in the tabernacle or temple, or where they were; but this was not only observed there and in their synagogues, but in their private houses, or wherever they were, whether, travelling by sea or land; and so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra interpret it.

Gill: Lev 23:4 - These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations // which ye shall proclaim in their seasons

These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations,.... What follow besides the sabbath mentioned:

which ye shall proclaim in their seasons; the proper times of the year, the day or days, and month in which they are to be observed; these were to be proclaimed by the priests with the sound of trumpet, namely, what follow, for they are put together, which had been before for the most part singly delivered.

Gill: Lev 23:5 - In the fourteenth day of the first month // at even is the Lord's passover

In the fourteenth day of the first month,.... The month Nisan, the same with Abib, the month in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt, for which reason it was made the first month in the year, answering to part of our March and part of April; and for the same reason was the passover kept at this time, as follows:

at even is the Lord's passover; that is, that was the time for the keeping the passover, even "between the two evenings", as it may be rendered; from the sixth hour and onward, as Jarchi, trial is, after noon or twelve o'clock the middle of the day, as Gersom, when the sun began to decline; See Gill on Exo 12:6.

Gill: Lev 23:6 - And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord // seven days ye must eat unleavened bread

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord,.... Which was the day the children of Israel went out of Egypt with their dough and leaven, having not time to leaven it; in remembrance of which this feast was appointed:

seven days ye must eat unleavened bread; see Exo 12:15.

Gill: Lev 23:7 - In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation // ye shall do no servile work therein

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation,.... That is, on the first of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread, even the fifteenth day of the month Nisan; this was separated from the other days of the festival, and more particularly devoted to religions exercises, see Exo 12:16,

ye shall do no servile work therein; such as agriculture, or any manufacture or mechanical business, which they and their servants were at other times employed in; but they might bake bread, and boil or roast their meat, and walk abroad, which they might not do on their sabbaths; and therefore it is so expressed as to distinguish it from the work forbidden on that day.

Gill: Lev 23:8 - But ye shall offer an offering made by, fire unto the Lord seven days // in the seventh day is an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein

But ye shall offer an offering made by, fire unto the Lord seven days,.... A burnt offering was to be offered unto the Lord on everyone of the seven days, which were two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs; besides a meat offering, and a goat for a sin offering, Num 28:19,

in the seventh day is an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein; as on the first day, that was on account of the Israelites going out of Egypt; and this is said, on account of Pharaoh and his host being drowned on it; See Gill on Exo 12:16.

Gill: Lev 23:9 - And the Lord spake unto Moses // saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, for what follow are the other feasts and holy convocations before spoken of:

saying; as follows.

Gill: Lev 23:10 - Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them // when ye be come into the land which I give unto you // and shall reap the harvest thereof // then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... What is next observed, it being incumbent on them to do what is enjoined:

when ye be come into the land which I give unto you: the land of Canaan, which God had given by promise to their fathers and to them, and which they were now going to inherit: as yet they were in a wilderness, where there were no sowing nor reaping, nor any harvest; so that the following law, though now given, could not take place till they came into the land of Canaan:

and shall reap the harvest thereof; the barley harvest, which was about this time, the month Nisan, and which had the name Abib, from the barley being then in the ear, see Exo 9:31; for the wheat harvest was not till seven weeks after:

then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest; to with it as after directed: this is called an omer in the text, which was the tenth part of an ephah, Exo 16:36; and so Jarchi interprets it here; according to the Jewish writers, when the sheaf was reaped, the corn was beat out and winnowed, and dried by the fire, and then ground in a mill, and an omer, or a tenth part of an ephah of the flour of it was taken, and oil and frankincense put upon it, an handful of which being put upon the altar, the rest was the priest's; and with this pretty much agrees the account Josephus gives, who says, on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth (day of Nisan), of the fruits they have reaped they take a part; for they do not touch them before, accounting it just to honour God first, from whom they receive the plenty of these things; and bring the firstfruits of the barley after this manner, having dried the handful of ears, and bruised them, and cleansed them from the bran, they bring to the altar a tenth part to God, and casting one handful of it on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests; and from thence forward it is lawful to reap publicly and privately ^k: this has been in some part imitated by the Heathens: the Egyptians, who ascribe the invention of the fruits of the earth, particularly wheat and barley, to Isis and Osiris, in memory of it, and as a testimony of their gratitude for it, at the time of harvest, bring an handful of the first ears of corn, and beating themselves near them, call upon Isis; and in some cities, at the feast of Isis, vessels of wheat and barley were carried about in great pomp, as Diodorus Siculus ^l relates.

Gill: Lev 23:11 - And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord // to be accepted for you // on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it

And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord,.... Or the omer of barley; this was done by the priest in the tabernacle and temple, where was the presence of God, and that before the handful of it was put upon the altar; which agitation or waving was, as Gersom says, towards the cast; it was moved to and fro, backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, to make an acknowledgment to the Lord of heaven and earth, that the fruits of the earth and the plentiful harvest were of him, and to give him the praise and glory of it:

to be accepted for you; of the Lord, as a thanksgiving to him, for the harvest now ripe, and the appointed time of it, and the plenty thereof; and that the remainder might be sanctified and blessed to them, and they have leave to gather it in, which they had not till this was done:

on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it; not after the seventh day, but after the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a sabbath, in which no servile work was to be done, Lev 23:7; and so the Targum of Jonathan calls it the day after the first good day of the passover, which was the sixteenth of Nisan, as Josephus expressly says, in the place above referred to; and so it is generally understood by Jewish writers ^m the account given of this affair is this; the messengers of the sanhedrim went out (from Jerusalem over the brook Kidron to the fields near it) on the evening of the feast, (i.e. at the going out of the fifteenth) and at the beginning of the sixteenth of Nisan, and bound the standing corn in bundles, that so it might be the more easily reaped; and all the neighbouring cities gathered together there, that it might be reaped in great pomp; and when it was dark, one said to them, is the sun set? they said, yes. With this sickle (shall I reap?) they said, yes. In this basket (shall I put it?) they said, yes. If on a sabbath day, he said to them, On this sabbath day (shall I do it?) they said, yes ⁿ. These questions were put and answered three times; then they reaped it and put it into the baskets, and brought it to the court, where they parched it before the fire, to fulfil the commandment of parched corn; then they put it in mills for grinding beans, and took out of it a tenth part (of an ephah), which was sifted with eighteen sieves; then oil and frankincense were poured upon it, being mixed; and it was waved, and brought, and a handful taken and burnt, and the rest was eaten by the priests; and when they had offered the omer, they went out and found the streets of Jerusalem full of meal and parched corn ^o, there being now full liberty to reap what they would: now this sheaf of the firstfruits was typical of Christ; it being of barley, may denote the mean estate of Christ in his humiliation; and but one sheaf for all the people, may signify that Christ is the one Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer: yet as a sheaf comprehends many stalks and grains, so Christ has a complication of blessings in him; yea, he had all his people representatively in him, when he was offered for the whole body of his mystical Israel, all the children of God scattered abroad; the manner of reaping it, by persons deputed by the sanhedrim on the eve of a festival of the passover, in the sight of much people, without Jerusalem, near Kidron, exactly agrees with the apprehending of Christ in the night near Kidron, by persons sent from the Jewish sanhedrim, and his suffering publicly without the gates of Jerusalem; it being brought to the priests in the court, and threshed, winnowed, dried, and parched by the fire, and ground in mills, may denote the various dolorous sufferings of Christ, by means of the priests and elders of the people; and oil and frankincense being put on it, may denote the acceptableness of his sacrifice to God; and the waving of it, his resurrection from the dead, which was on the very day this sheaf was waved; who is the firstfruits of them that sleep in him, and which sanctifies the whole body of them, and ensures their resurrection unto eternal life; see 1Co 15:20.

Gill: Lev 23:12 - And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf // an he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord

And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf,.... Besides the daily sacrifice of the morning and evening, and the additional offerings made on everyone of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread:

an he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord; typical of the perfect and immaculate Lamb of God, whose sufferings are fitly signified by a burnt offering; and which were endured at the time he became the firstfruits of his people, and sanctified them.

Gill: Lev 23:13 - And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil // an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour // and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin

And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil,.... The usual measure of flour to a meat offering was one tenth deal, Exo 29:40; but here it is doubled: some Jewish writers say ^p one tenth was on account of the lamb that was offered at this time, and the other as was suitable for a meat offering; but the true reason seems to be, because it was on account of the fruits of the earth and the plenty thereof; and therefore a double measure of fine flour mixed with oil was required as a token of gratitude; for thankfulness ought to be in proportion to mercies:

an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour; an handful of it was burnt upon the altar, and was received with acceptance by the Lord, and the rest was eaten by the priests, Lev 2:2,

and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin; which was the common quantity for a drink offering, Exo 29:40; for, as Jarchi observes, though the meat offering was doubled, the drink offering was not; the reason of which seems to be, because these offerings were on account of the harvest and not the vintage: the Targum of Jonathan calls it wine of grapes, to distinguish it from wine that might be made of other things, but not to be used in drink offerings, only the pure juice of the grape.

Gill: Lev 23:14 - And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears // until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God // it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations // in all your dwellings

And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears,.... That is, they were not allowed to make bread of the new corn, as Aben Ezra and Gersom explain it; for they were obliged to eat unleavened bread at this time: but it might not be made of the new corn, until the above offering was made; nay, they were not allowed to parch any of the grains of corn, and eat them; yea, even they might not pluck and eat the green ears, though of ever so small a quantity. The Jews say ^q, if it was the quantity of an olive of either of these, a man was to be beaten for it:

until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; which includes all the offerings on this account, the offering of the firstfruits, the offering of the he lamb, and the meat offering and the drink offering; until these were offered up, the new corn might not be eaten in any form:

it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations; until the Messiah came, who is the substance of these shadows:

in all your dwellings; not at Jerusalem only, but in the several parts of the land of Canaan; yea, as Ben Gersom says, whether in the land, or without the land; a later writer says, it is forbidden to eat of the new corn at this time, whether bread, parched corn, or green ears, until the beginning of the night of the eighteenth of Nisan, and in the land of Israel, until the beginning of the night of the seventeenth of Nisan ^r.

Gill: Lev 23:15 - And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath // from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering // seven sabbaths shall be complete

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath,.... Not the seventh day sabbath in the passover week, nor the whole feast of unleavened bread, but the first day of it, which was an holy convocation, a sabbath in which no servile work was to be done, Lev 23:7; and it was from the day after this, even the sixteenth of Nisan, that the following count was to be made; so the Targum of Jonathan, after the first feast day of the passover: and Josephus ^s is very clear in it, that Pentecost, or the feast of weeks, was the fiftieth day from the sixteenth of Nisan, when the above offerings were made:

from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; which plainly points out the express day from whence the count was to begin, even on the day when the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest was offered:

seven sabbaths shall be complete; or seven weeks, that is, forty nine days; and hence, Jarchi says, we learn that the count began from the evening, or otherwise the weeks would not be complete; and Gersom thinks the day in which the sheaf was offered is included in the days counted; for the count began from the day after the first of the passover, and lo, seven days are seven weeks of days, which make forty nine days.

Gill: Lev 23:16 - Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath // shall ye number fifty days

Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath,.... Or weeks, forty nine days being counted, the following was the fiftieth day, or Pentecost:

shall ye number fifty days; from whence this feast had the name of Pentecost, Act 2:1; all in Israel were obliged to number those days, except women and servants ^t: the manner of doing it was this ^u; on the night of the second (day of the passover), after the evening prayer, they began to number; but if anyone forgot to number at the beginning of the night, he went and numbered all the night; for the commandment is for everyone to number by himself, and he ought to number standing, and to bless first, and number the days and weeks: How? on the first day he says, This is one day, until he comes to seven days, and then he says, This is the seventh day, which is one week; and on the eighth day he says, This is the eighth day, which is one week and one day, and so till he comes to the fourteenth; then he says, This is the fourteenth day, which make two weeks; and in this way he numbers, and goes on until the forty ninth day: and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord; that is, of new corn, as the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi explain it, and this was of wheat; for it was the offering for the wheat harvest, which was offered on the fiftieth day from the offering of the sheaf or omer of the barley harvest.

Gill: Lev 23:17 - And ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals // they shall be of fine flour // they shall be baked with leaven // they are the firstfruits unto the Lord

And ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals,.... Out of their habitations in the land of Canaan; and not out of those without the land, as Jarchi observes; and not out of all of them, as Ben Gersom remarks; though the Vulgate Latin version has it, out of "all" of our habitations, but wrongly; and indeed out of no one particular habitation, because it was at the public expense; but they were brought from some part of the country or another, even the quantity of two tenth parts of an ephah, or two omers of wheat flour made into two loaves, which were to be, and were waved before the Lord, and hence so called; and are the same with the new meat offering, or rather bread offering, made of the new corn, in the preceding verse, so Jarchi:

they shall be of fine flour; of wheat flour, the finest of it, of which all meat or bread offerings were made; and this was particularly on account of the wheat harvest, and therefore it was proper that the finest of the wheat should be used on this occasion; See Gill on Lev 2:1; each loaf or cake, according to Maimonides ^w, was seven hands' breadths long, four hands' breadths broad, and four fingers high:

they shall be baked with leaven; the common meat offering was unleavened, part of which was burnt on the altar, where no leaven might be burnt, Lev 2:4; and from hence it may be concluded that no part of these loaves was to be burnt, but the whole of them fell to the share of the priests:

they are the firstfruits unto the Lord; which he claimed as his, and gave unto his priests; and it was but right and just he should have them, as an acknowledgment of all coming from his hands, and as expressive of gratitude for them, and for the sanctification of the rest; hence this is called the feast of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, Exo 34:22.

Gill: Lev 23:18 - And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish // of the first year // and one young bullock, and two rams // they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offering // even an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord

And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish,

of the first year,.... That is, with the two wave loaves, the meat or bread offering: and besides these:

and one young bullock, and two rams; in Num 28:27 it is two young bullocks, and one ram; and Aben Ezra suggests, that this was at the will and option of the priest, whether one bullock and two rams, or two bullocks and one ram; but according to Maimonides ^x, these sacrifices were distinct from them; they are sacrifices of the day, as being a feast day, and these belonged to the loaves; so that according to him, and so he expresses it, there were to be offered on this day, besides the daily sacrifices, three bullocks, three rams, and fourteen lambs, twenty beasts in all, for burnt offerings; and two goats for sin offerings to be eaten, and two lambs for peace offerings to be eaten; and with this account agrees Josephus ^y, they sacrifice for burnt offerings, he says, three bullocks, and two rams, (or, as Dr. Bernard thinks, it should be read three rams,) and fourteen lambs, and two goats for sin offerings:

they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offering; each of the said beasts were offered, unto the Lord on the altar of burnt offering, and burnt thereon; and to every beast they offered, there was a meat offering and a drink offering: the meat offering consisted of three tenth deals, or omers, of fine flour, to a bullock, two to a ram, and one to a lamb; and the drink offering was half an hin of wine to a bullock, the third part of one to a ram, and a fourth part to a lamb, as Jarchi observes, which appears from Num 28:12,

even an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord; an acceptable burnt offering to God.

Gill: Lev 23:19 - Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering // and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings

Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering,.... Which was for the sin of the whole congregation, typical of Christ, whose soul was made an offering for sin; in virtue of which all other sacrifices become acceptable to God, and believers enjoy the fruits and blessings of divine grace:

and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings; which Gersom says were the most holy things, and were only slain in the north, and only eaten by males, as the rest of the holy things, and are the only peace offerings of the congregation that were offered throughout the whole year.

Gill: Lev 23:20 - And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits // for a wave offering before the Lord // with the two lambs // they shall be holy to the Lord for the priests

And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits,.... The two loaves called the two wave loaves, Lev 23:17; with which were waved the two lambs of the peace offerings; and these alive, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom intimate. The Jewish doctors ^z dispute, whether, in waving, the lambs were put above the bread, or the bread above the lambs; which some reconcile by observing, that the bread was put by the side of the lambs:

for a wave offering before the Lord; being waved this way and that way, upwards and downwards, and towards the several quarters of the world, showing that the fruits of the earth were owing to the providential goodness of God everywhere:

with the two lambs; not that all the above sacrifices were waved, or any part of them, along with the lambs, but the wave loaves, and they were waved together, as one wave offering to the Lord:

they shall be holy to the Lord for the priests; both the loaves and the lambs, these were separated and devoted wholly to the Lord, and to be eaten by his priests; the peace offerings of a single person were light holy things, as Jarchi says; but the peace offerings of the congregation, as these were, are the most holy things, and so to be eaten only by the priests, and by the males only, in the court of the tabernacle.

Gill: Lev 23:21 - And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you // ye shall do no servile work therein // it shall be a statute for ever all your dwellings throughout your generations

And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you,.... This proclamation was made by the priests with the sound of a trumpet, that the people might observe that this fiftieth day, or day of Pentecost, was devoted to sacred service, and that they were called to holy exercises in it:

ye shall do no servile work therein; what was not necessary for food, as Ben Gersom observes, but what was necessary on that account, as kindling a fire, &c. might be done, see Lev 23:7; for this was to be kept in like manner as the first and seventh days of the feast of unleavened bread; the general design of which was to express thankfulness for the appointed weeks of the harvest, and to honour the Lord with the firstfruits of the increase of the earth: and the Jews say, as Ben Gersom observes, that this fiftieth day, being reckoned from the sixteenth of Nisan, fell upon the sixth of Sivan, on which day, they say, the law was given, which is another reason for the observance of it: and it is remarkable, that on this same day the Word of the Lord went out of Zion, and the law or doctrine of the Lord, even the everlasting Gospel, went out of Jerusalem, published by the apostles of Christ to the people of all nations, Act 2:14; when they were favoured with the firstfruits of the Spirit, after our Lord's ascension to heaven, and receiving gifts for men, which he now in an extraordinary manner bestowed on his disciples, Act 2:1; and which were the firstfruits of all others, after to be given forth in the course of time, and of the effusion of the Spirit in the latter day; and when there was a number of souls converted, as the firstfruits of after conversions among Jews and Gentiles, Act 2:41; and particularly of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, and of the harvest of souls in the end of the world, Mat 13:30,

it shall be a statute for ever all your dwellings throughout your generations; so long as they dwelt in the land of Canaan, and had their harvest in it, even until the Messiah came, in whom all those types and figures had their accomplishment.

Gill: Lev 23:22 - And when ye reap the harvest of your land // thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest // thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God

And when ye reap the harvest of your land,.... This law is repeated from Lev 19:9; and as Aben Ezra observes, the feast of weeks being the feast of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, it is repeated, that they might not forget what God had commanded them to do at that time, namely, to leave somewhat for the poor; and the Jewish writers ^a observe, that this law, being put among the solemn feasts of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, and the beginning of the year, and the day of atonement, teaches, that he that observes it, and leaves the corner of the field and the gleanings to the poor, it is as if he built the sanctuary, and offered his sacrifices in the midst of it; but a much better reason may be given for it, which was, to teach them that when they expressed their thankfulness to God, they should exercise charity and liberality to the poor:

thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: See Gill on Lev 19:9,

thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God; See Gill on Lev 19:10.

Gill: Lev 23:23 - And the Lord spake unto Moses // saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, in a continued discourse, concerning some other days, which were to be observed in a sacred manner:

saying; as follows.

Gill: Lev 23:24 - Speak unto the children of Israel // in the seventh month // in the first day of the month shall ye have a sabbath // a memorial of blowing of trumpets // an holy convocation

Speak unto the children of Israel,.... For all the people of Israel were concerned in the following precept, and obliged to observe it, even priests, Levites, Israelites, proselytes, and freed servants; though other servants, and women, and children, were not obliged to hear the sound of the trumpets ^b, and which were blown not in Jerusalem only, but in all cities and towns where the sanhedrim was ^c; and it was the hearing of them the people were bound unto, and not less than nine distinct soundings were they obliged to hear ^d; to which perhaps respect is had in Psa 89:15,

in the seventh month; the month Tisri, as the Targum of Jonathan, which was the seventh from the month Nisan or Abib; which was appointed the first month of the year, on account of the Israelites coming out of Egypt in it; otherwise, before, this month Tisri was the first, and so it still continued, for the fixing the years, and settling the sabbatical and jubilee years, and for the planting of trees and herbs ^e:

in the first day of the month shall ye have a sabbath; not entirely as the weekly sabbath, in which no manner of work at all was to be done, but in which no servile work was to be done; and was observed in like manner as the first and seventh days of unleavened bread, and the day of pentecost, Lev 23:7,

a memorial of blowing of trumpets; which, according to the Jewish writers, was continued from sun rising to sun setting ^f; but what this blowing of trumpets was a memorial of is not easy to say; some think it was in memory of the wars the people of Israel had with their enemies the Amalekites and Canaanites, and the victories they obtained over them, and particularly in remembrance of the walls of Jericho falling down at the sound of rams' horns; but then it must be by anticipation: it is more commonly received with the Jews ^g that it was on the account of the binding of Isaac on this day, being delivered through a ram being sacrificed in his stead; and on this account it is said, that the trumpets blown on this day were made of rams horns, and no other might be used ^h; yea, that ram's head was used to be eaten on this day, in remembrance of the ram of Isaac, and also to intimate that the Jews would be the head and not the tail ⁱ: the Jews also say, that this day, every year, was a sort of day of judgment, in which God sat and judged men, and also determined all events of the following year ^k; and this was attended with blowing of trumpets, to strike a terror into them, and put them in mind of the judgment of God, and to induce them to repent of their sins ^l: and it may be observed, that the resurrection of the dead, in order to the last general judgment, will be attended with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, 1Co 15:52; whether this is so represented in reference to this notion, let it be considered: but as this was New Year's Day, as before observed, this ceremony seems to have been appointed to express joy for all the mercies and blessings of the last year; and the rather, at this time of the year all the fruits of the earth were gathered in, not only the barley and the wheat, but the oil and wine, and under such grateful acknowledgment, to expect the divine blessing to attend them the following year; and besides, at this time of the year, it was generally thought by the Jews ^m, and by others, that the world was created, and this blowing of trumpets might be in memory of that, and as an emblem of the shoutings of the sons of God, the angels, the morning stars, who sang for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid, Job 38:6; to which it may be added, this seventh month was very memorable for holy solemnities, as the day of atonement on the tenth, and the feast of tabernacles, which began on the fifteenth, and therefore was ushered in with blowing of trumpets to make it the more significant, and particularly to put the people in mind to prepare for the day of atonement near at hand; and so Gersom observes, that as the sound of a trumpet strikes men with fear, the design of this precept was, to fill the mind with fear, and to excite to repentance and brokenness of heart, and humiliation for sin, and to search their works and actions, and correct what was amiss, and so be ready for the day of atonement: hence Ainsworth thinks, that this was a figure of the ministry of John the Baptist preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; but rather it seems to be an emblem of the Gospel, and the ministry of it, in the acceptable year of the Lord, or the Gospel dispensation, which is sometimes signified by the blowing of the great trumpet, and by the ministers of it lifting up their voice like a trumpet, Isa 27:13; by which sinners are roused and awakened to a sense of their sin and danger, and to hear a joyful sound of love, grace, mercy, peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation through Christ: the Jews say ⁿ, this blowing of trumpets was to disturb Satan, when he came to accuse the Israelites; it is certain there is nothing gives him more disturbance than the pure and powerful preaching of the Gospel, which he endeavours to obstruct as much as possible, and there is nothing like what that brings to silence his accusations, see 2Co 4:3,

an holy convocation; on which the people were called together to holy exercises; and so the Jews observe it to this day; for after they return home from attendance to the blowing of the trumpets in their synagogues, they sit down to meat, and spend the rest of the day in hearing sermons, and in other religious exercises ^o.

Gill: Lev 23:25 - Ye shall do no servile work therein // but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord

Ye shall do no servile work therein,.... Only such as was necessary for dressing food, but not any manual work, such as servants were employed in on other days, as agriculture or any mechanic business:

but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; a burnt offering, and what that was may be seen in Num 29:1.

Gill: Lev 23:26 - And the Lord spake unto Moses // saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... This phrase, which is a kind of preface to each precept, seems to be used to distinguish one from another, as the preceding one from the feast of Pentecost; and here, the day of atonement from that of the blowing of the trumpets; and afterwards, the feast of tabernacles from the day of atonement; the reason why it is not used before the feast of Pentecost seems to be, because, as Aben Ezra observes, that depended upon the wave sheaf, and was reckoned from it:

saying; as follows.

Gill: Lev 23:27 - Also on the tenth day of this seventh month // there shall be a day of atonement // it shall be an holy convocation unto you // and ye shall afflict your souls // and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord

Also on the tenth day of this seventh month,.... Tisri, the same as before, answering to part of our September, and part of October:

there shall be a day of atonement; for all the sins of the year past; see Lev 16:29,

it shall be an holy convocation unto you: when they should be called together for the exercise of holy duties:

and ye shall afflict your souls; their souls, by repentance, contrition, and humiliation for sin, and their bodies by fasting; and, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,"by abstaining from eating and drinking, and the advantage of bathing and wiping, and the use of the bed and sandals;''hence called the fast, Act 27:9; See Gill on Lev 16:29,

and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; a burnt offering, of which see Num 29:8.

Gill: Lev 23:28 - Ye shall do no work in that same day // for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God

Ye shall do no work in that same day,.... No more than on the weekly sabbath:

for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God: See Gill on Lev 16:30; Aben Ezra's note is,"for you only,''that is, for the Israelites, and not the Gentiles; but the atonement of Christ, the antitype of this, was not for the sins of the Jews only, but for the sins of the whole world, of all his people in it, 1Jo 2:2.

Gill: Lev 23:29 - For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day // he shall be cut off from among his people

For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day,.... That is, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem explain it, which can fast and does not fast; for a sick person, and a child under nine years of age, were not obliged to fast on this day ^p:

he shall be cut off from among his people; by an untimely death, by the hand of God; the Targum of Jonathan says, by the pestilence.

Gill: Lev 23:30 - And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day // the same soul will I destroy from among his people

And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day,.... Any sort of work whatever; for, as before observed, it was to be kept as strictly as the weekly sabbath:

the same soul will I destroy from among his people; with the pestilence, as the above Targum; it seems to be but another phrase for cutting them off, and to signify the same thing.

Gill: Lev 23:31 - Ye shall do no manner of work // it shall be a statute for ever, throughout your generations, in all your dwellings

Ye shall do no manner of work,.... Which is repeated, that it might be observed, and to show how strictly God required this day should be kept, and how careful men should be of breaking the command in this respect, and how much he should resent it if they did:

it shall be a statute for ever, throughout your generations, in all your dwellings; unto the coming of the Messiah, who, by the atoning sacrifice of himself, would answer to this law, and put an end to it.

Gill: Lev 23:32 - It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest // and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even // from even unto even shall ye celebrate your sabbath

It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest,.... See Gill on Lev 16:31; and this is thought by some ^q to be the sabbath spoken of in Isa 58:13,

and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even; the fast was to begin at the close of the ninth day, and to continue to the end of the tenth; so Maimonides ^r: he begins to fast and afflict himself at the evening of the ninth next to the tenth; and so at the going out of it he continues in his affliction a little while of the night of the eleventh, next to the tenth, which is confirmed by what follows:

from even unto even shall ye celebrate your sabbath; which some understand of the sabbath in general; but it seems to have a particular respect to the sabbath of the day of atonement, which was to last from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth day.

Gill: Lev 23:33 - And the Lord spake unto Moses // saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Concerning the feast of tabernacles here repeated and enlarged upon:

saying; as follows.

Gill: Lev 23:34 - Speak unto the children of Israel, saying // the fifteenth day of this seventh month // shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Giving them directions about keeping a feast, in which the whole body of them had a very special and particular concern:

the fifteenth day of this seventh month; the month Tisri or September:

shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord; the design of which was, partly to give thanks for the fruits of the earth, now all gathered in, Lev 23:39; but chiefly to commemorate the dwelling of the children of Israel in tents and booths, during their forty years' abode in the wilderness, Lev 23:43; whereby their posterity in later times would be led to observe the difference between them and their forefathers, who lived in tents or booths, pitched sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another, in the open fields, in wastes, and deserts; whereas they dwelt in spacious cities, fortified towns, and magnificent houses; and were possessed of various kingdoms and nations, as was the land of Canaan: the reason, the Jews say ^s, why this feast was kept at this time of the year and not at the season when they went out of Egypt and first dwelt in booths, as at Succoth which had its name from thence, Exo 12:37, was this; because then the summer season began when men commonly used to build tabernacles to shelter them from the heat of the sun, wherefore, if the feast had been kept at that time, it would not have been known that it was kept at the command of God, and in remembrance of the above circumstance; but the month Tisri or September being usually a cold and rainy season in those parts, men were wont to leave their tabernacles and go into their houses; and so it was a plain case that the feast was observed not for convenience or through custom, but that it was at the command of God they went out of their houses into tabernacles at this season of the year, in commemoration of the miraculous benefit of dwelling in tents under the clouds of glory: and they also say, that for this reason it was ordered to begin on the fifteenth day, because it was on the fifteenth day of the month (though of another month) they went out of Egypt, and the clouds began to protect and accompany them; and this was enjoined them seven days, to teach them that the miraculous benefits of God are always and every day to be remembered: the Jews have a whole treatise in their Misnah, called "Succah", the "booth" or "tabernacle"; in which they give an account of the form and fabric and measure of their tabernacles, and of their dwelling and dining in them; and of the branches they carry in their hands, and of the manner of carrying and shaking them; and of the pouring out of water at this time, and of their piping and singing and other rites and ceremonies attending this feast; See Gill on Joh 7:2; besides, the uses of this feast before mentioned, it was typical of spiritual and evangelical things, and especially of the incarnation of Christ, whose human nature is the true tabernacle, in distinction from those typical ones, and in which he is expressly said to "tabernacle" among us, Joh 1:14; and it is highly probable that his incarnation or birth was at the time of this feast; at which time the temple of Solomon, a type of Christ's body, was also dedicated; and this season of the year suits better than that in which it is usually placed; and his baptism and the time of his death show it; see Luk 1:1; and as Christ, our passover, was sacrificed for us at the exact time of the passover, and the firstfruits of the Spirit were given on the very day of Pentecost, or feast of firstfruits; so it is most likely, that Christ was born, or first began to tabernacle in human nature at the feast of tabernacles, which we, in Gospel times, are to keep, by believing in the incarnate Saviour, and by attending to the Gospel ordinances he has appointed, to commemorate the benefits of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, Zec 14:16; moreover, the dwelling of the children of Israel in booths in the wilderness, and so at this feast in commemoration of it, may be an emblem of the tabernacles of the saints in their present wilderness state: this world, through which they are passing, is like a wilderness to them; their bodies are called tabernacles, which are pitched for a while; and their state and condition here is that of sojourners, pilgrims, and travellers; yea, these tents and tabernacles may be figures of the several particular churches of Christ, in the present state of things, which are set up for a while for the convenience, comfort, refreshment, and joy of the spiritual Israel of God; see Psa 46:4.

Gill: Lev 23:35 - On the first day shall be an holy convocation // ye shall do no servile work therein

On the first day shall be an holy convocation,.... When they should be called together to holy exercises, to prayer, praising, and reading the law; and at this present time they observe this day, by rising early in the morning and going to the synagogue, where they sing and pray much; and everyone takes a bundle of branches of palm tree, olive, &c. in the right hand, and a pome citron in the left, and says, blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the Lord of the world, who has sanctified us by thy precepts, and hath commanded us to carry the palm tree bundle; then they shake it, and give a great shout, according to Psa 96:12; all which they frequently repeat on this day, as well as bring out the book of the law, attended with various ceremonies, and read some passages in it ^t:

ye shall do no servile work therein; as on the first and seventh days of unleavened bread, the day of Pentecost, and of the blowing of trumpets; but what was necessary for preparing and dressing food might be done.

Gill: Lev 23:36 - Seven days ye shall offer an offering made, by fire unto the Lord // on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you // and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord // it is a solemn assembly // ye shall do no servile work therein

Seven days ye shall offer an offering made, by fire unto the Lord,.... A burnt offering; what this was, and how many were offered on each day, see at large in Num 29:13,

on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; as on the first day; See Gill on Lev 23:35,

and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; which was different from that on all the other days, being one bullock only, &c. Num 29:35,

it is a solemn assembly; of all the people, when they were gathered together before the Lord. Some render the word used a "restraint" or "detention", and interpret it of restraining or detaining them from servile work, as in the next clause; so Aben Ezra and Gersom; but this sense seems to make that clause unnecessary and is never used elsewhere where that is:

ye shall do no servile work therein; as on the first day; See Gill on Lev 23:35.

Gill: Lev 23:37 - These are the feasts of the Lord // which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations // to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord // a burnt offering, and a meat offering // a sacrifice // and drink offerings // everything upon his day

These are the feasts of the Lord,.... Besides the sabbath, as Gersom observes; even the passover, the seven days of unleavened bread the day of Pentecost, the day of blowing the trumpets, the day of atonement, and the seven days of the feast of tabernacles:

which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations: as they had been directed, Lev 23:2,

to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; which is explained by

a burnt offering, and a meat offering, which went along with it:

a sacrifice, which the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call the sacrifice of holy things; according to Gersom it was the sacrifice of the peace offerings; but rather it seems to be the sacrifice of the sin offering, which was ordered along with the rest in all those feasts:

and drink offerings; which also accompanied the meat offerings:

everything upon his day; there being different sacrifices on one day than on another, everyone was to be offered peculiar to the day as was ordered; of which see Num 28:29.

Gill: Lev 23:38 - Beside the sabbaths of the Lord // and beside your gifts // and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord

Beside the sabbaths of the Lord,.... The seventh day sabbaths, which were of his appointing, and sacred to his service and worship; on which, when any of the feasts fell, it did not hinder the observance of them, or the offering of the several sacrifices on them; nor were those of the sabbath to be omitted on the account of them:

and beside your gifts; either of the whole congregation, or of a private person, which they thought well to give of their own good will on these festivals, over and above the sacrifices enjoined:

and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord; which seem to explain what is meant before by gifts.

Gill: Lev 23:39 - Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month // when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land // on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month,.... The month Tisri or September, the same month, and the same day of the month before observed; only another end and use of this feast is remarked, which was to give thanks for the fruits of the earth gathered in, as follows:

when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land; the barley, wheat, oil and wine, and all others, this being now autumn, when the several fruits were ripe and gathered: ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; not different from that before mentioned, but the same, one design of which is here suggested, to give thanks for the fruits of the earth: hence this feast is sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16; as another use of it is after mentioned, to commemorate the children of Israel dwelling in booths in the wilderness:

on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath; because on both there was a cessation from servile work, Lev 23:35.

Gill: Lev 23:40 - And ye shall take you the boughs of goodly trees // branches of palm trees // and the boughs of thick trees // and willows of the brook // and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days

And ye shall take you the boughs of goodly trees,.... Which the three Targums interpret, of citrons; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; and the Jews are so tenacious of observing this, that in those countries where this fruit grows not, they will send for it from Spain, where there is plenty of it: the Targum of Jonathan, paraphrases it, "ye shall take of yours"; suggesting these boughs must be their own, or the bundle of them, with others they call the "lulab", must be their own property, and not another's; though it is said ^u, if it is a gift it will do, even though it is given on condition to be returned again:

branches of palm trees: which were very common in the land of Judea, and especially about Jericho; see Joh 12:13; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call them "lulabs", which is the name the Jews give to the whole bundle they carried in their hands on this day:

and the boughs of thick trees; which the Targums and Jewish writers in general understand of myrtles, being full of branches and leaves:

and willows of the brook; a sort of trees which delight to grow by brooks and rills of water: these, according to the Jewish writers, were not taken to make their booths of, though that seems to be the use of them, from Neh 8:15; but to tie up in bundles, and carry in hands; the citron in their left hand, and a bundle made of the other three sorts of boughs of trees in the right hand, which they called the "lulab":

and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days; because of the blessings of his goodness bestowed upon them in the plentiful harvest and vintage they had been favoured with, and in remembrance of past mercies, showed to their fathers in the wilderness, giving them food and drink, and guiding and protecting them with the pillar of cloud and fire; and at the same time, also, thankful for the different circumstances they were in, having cities, towns, and houses to dwell its, and fields and vineyards to possess, when their fathers lived in a wilderness for forty years together; and especially such of them expressed their joy before the Lord, who had any knowledge of this being a type of the Messiah tabernacling in human nature, they had the promise of, to be their spiritual Redeemer and Saviour: these seven days are kept by the Jews now, chiefly in carnal mirth, and so for ages past, as by carrying the above boughs in their hands, and going round about the altar with them, and, shaking them, and crying Hosanna, and by making use of all sorts of music, vocal and instrumental, piping, dancing, leaping, skipping, and various gestures, even by persons of the highest rank, and of the greatest character for sobriety ^w; and particularly by fetching water from Siloah, when in their own land, and pouring it with wine upon the altar, which was attended with such expressions of joy, that it is said, that he who never saw the rejoicing of drawing of water, never saw any rejoicing in his life ^x: the Jews give this reason of the ceremony, because at this feast was the time of the rains, see Targum of Jonathan on Lev 23:36; and therefore the holy blessed God said, pour water before me, that the rains of the year may be blessed unto you ^y; but others have thought there was something more mysterious in it, and that it had respect to the pouring out of the Holy Ghost; for, they say ^z, the place of drawing water was so called, because they drew the Holy Ghost, as it is said, "ye shall draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation", Isa 12:3; to this our Lord is thought to allude; see Gill on Joh 7:37, Joh 7:38, some of the ceremonies used at this feast have been imitated by the Heathens: Strabo ^a says, the carrying branches of trees, dances, and sacrifices, were common to the gods, and particularly to Bacchus; and there was such a likeness between these and the rites of Bacchus, that Plutarch ^b thought the Jews at this time kept two feasts to the honour of him; whereas, as Bishop Patrick observes, the profane Bacchanalia of the Gentiles were only a corruption of this festival.

Gill: Lev 23:41 - And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year // it shall be a statute for ever in your generations // ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month

And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year,.... Every year it was to be kept for the space of seven days, beginning on the fifteenth and ending on the twenty second of the month Tisri or September:

it shall be a statute for ever in your generations; until the Messiah should come and tabernacle among men, the substance of this shadow, on whose coming it was to flee away:

ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and that no mistake might be made.

Gill: Lev 23:42 - Ye shall dwell in booths seven days // all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths

Ye shall dwell in booths seven days,.... So that it seems they were not obliged to dwell in them on the eighth day, which was an holy convocation, a sabbath in which no servile work was to be done as the first, Lev 23:36. The eighth day was a day by itself, a sort of an appendage to the feast of tabernacles, when they went into their houses again, and kept it as an holy day; and perhaps principally in giving thanks for the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, to which this seems to be appropriated from Lev 23:39. According to the Jewish writers, they did not go out of their booths until they had dined in them on this day; and as they went out used to say,"may it be the will of God that we may be worthy the next year to dwell in the booth of Leviathan ^c;''that is, to feast with the Messiah in the world to come. And to those days the Jews have added a ninth, which they call "the joy of the law", and which they keep for joy of having finished the reading of the law; which being divided into as many sections or lessons as weeks in the year, were so ordered to be read as to be finished at this time ^d:

all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; the Targum of Jonathan is,"all the males in Israel, and even the little ones, that do not need their mothers, sit in the shades blessing their Creator, when they enter there.''And, according to the Misnah ^e, women, servants, and little ones, are free from the booths (i.e. are not obliged to dwelt in one), but a little one, who hath no need of its mother, is obliged to dwell in the booths: and elsewhere it is said, that sick persons, and such as wait upon them, are not obliged, nor messengers upon any business, nor travellers and watchmen in cities, and keepers of gardens and orchards; if such travel, or keep watch in the day, they are obliged to be in them at night, and if in the night, then they are to dwell in them in the day ^f. Jarchi says, that everyone born in Israel comprehends proselytes, who were bound by this law.

Gill: Lev 23:43 - That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths // when I brought them out of the land of Egypt // I am the Lord your God

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths,.... Which by the providence of God the Israelites were obliged to make for themselves to dwell in:

when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; for the very first place they came to, when they departed from thence, was called Succoth, from the booths they there built:

I am the Lord your God; who brought them out of Egypt, made them to dwell in booths in the wilderness, and enjoined them the observance of the feast of tabernacles in memory of it, in which he expected to be obeyed.

Gill: Lev 23:44 - And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. The several feasts before recited, the order of them, the manner of observing them, and the time.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Ayat / Catatan Kaki

NET Notes: Lev 23:2

¹ tn Heb “these are them, my appointed times.”

sn The term מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, rendered “appointed time” here) can refer to either a time or place of meeting. See the note on “tent of meeting” (אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ohel mo’ed) in Lev 1:1.

NET Notes: Lev 23:3

¹ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:5

¹ tn Heb “between the two evenings,” perhaps designating the time between the setting of the sun and the true darkness of night. Cf. KJV, ASV “at even”; NAB “at the evening twilight.”

sn See B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 156, for a full discussion of the issues raised in this verse. The rabbinic tradition places the slaughter of Passover offerings between approximately 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., not precisely at twilight. Moreover, the term פֶּסַח (pesakh) may mean “protective offering” rather than “Passover offering,” although they amount to about the same thing in the historical context of the exodus from Egypt (see Exod 11-12).

NET Notes: Lev 23:6

¹ tn Heb “to this month.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:7

¹ tn Heb “work of service”; KJV “servile work”; NASB “laborious work”; TEV “daily work.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:10

¹ tn Heb “and you harvest its harvest.”

² tn Heb “the sheaf of the first of your harvest.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:11

¹ tn Heb “for your acceptance.”

² sn See Lev 7:30 for a note on the “waving” of a “wave offering.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:12

¹ tn Heb “And you shall make in the day of your waving the sheaf.”

² tn Heb “a flawless lamb, a son of its year”; KJV “of the first year”; NLT “a year-old male lamb.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:13

¹ sn See the note on Lev 5:11.

² sn See the note on Lev 2:1.

³ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

⁴ tn Heb “wine, one fourth of the hin.” A pre-exilic hin is about 3.6 liters (= ca. 1 quart), so one fourth of a hin would be about one cup.

NET Notes: Lev 23:14

¹ tn Heb “until the bone of this day.”

² tn Heb “for your generations.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:15

¹ tn Heb “seven Sabbaths, they shall be complete.” The disjunctive accent under “Sabbaths” precludes the translation “seven complete Sabbaths” (as NASB, NIV; cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). The text is somewhat awkward, which may explain why the LXX tradition is confused here, either adding “you shall count” again at the end of the verse, or leaving out “they shall be,” or keeping “they shall be” and adding “to you.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:16

¹ tn Heb “and.” In the translation “then” is supplied to clarify the sequence.

NET Notes: Lev 23:17

¹ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., and Tg. Ps.-J. insert the word חַלּוֹת (khallot, “loaves”; cf. Lev 2:4 and the note there). Even though “loaves” is not explicit in the MT, the number “two” suggests that these are discrete units, not just a measure of flour, so “loaves” should be assumed even in the MT.

² tn Heb “with leaven.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

NET Notes: Lev 23:18

¹ tn Heb “And you shall present on the bread.”

² tn Heb “seven flawless lambs, sons of a year.”

³ tn Heb “and one bull, a son of a herd.”

⁴ tc Smr and LXX add “flawless.”

⁵ tn Heb “and their grain offering.”

⁶ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

NET Notes: Lev 23:19

¹ tn Heb “And you shall make.”

² tn Heb “a he-goat of goats.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:20

¹ tn Smr and LXX have the Hebrew article on “lambs.” The syntax of this verse is difficult. The object of the verb (two lambs) is far removed from the verb itself (shall wave) in the MT, and the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”), rendered “along with” in this verse, is also added to the far removed subject (literally, “upon [the] two lambs”; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 159). It is clear, however, that the two lambs and the loaves (along with their associated grain and drink offerings) constituted the “wave offering,” which served as the prebend “for the priest.” Burnt and sin offerings (vv. 18-19a) were not included in this (see Lev 7:11-14, 28-36).

NET Notes: Lev 23:21

¹ tn Heb “And you shall proclaim [an assembly] in the bone of this day; a holy assembly it shall be to you” (see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160, and the remarks on the LXX rendering in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 367).

² tn Heb “for your generations.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:22

¹ tn Heb “And when you harvest the harvest.”

² tn Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field in your harvest.”

³ sn Compare Lev 19:9-10.

NET Notes: Lev 23:24

¹ tn Heb “a memorial of loud blasts.” Although the term for “horn” does not occur here, allowing for the possibility that vocal “shouts” of acclamation are envisioned (see P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 325), the “blast” of the shofar (a trumpet made from a ram’s “horn”) is most likely what is intended. On this occasion, the loud blasts on the horn announced the coming of the new year on the first day of the seventh month (see the explanations in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 387, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160).

NET Notes: Lev 23:25

¹ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

NET Notes: Lev 23:27

¹ tn Heb “Surely the tenth day” or perhaps “Precisely the tenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; cf. however NASB “On exactly the tenth day.”

² sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.

³ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.

NET Notes: Lev 23:28

¹ tn Heb “in the bone of this day.”

² tn Heb “on you [plural]”; cf. NASB, NRSV “on your behalf.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:29

¹ tn The particular כִּי (ki) is taken in an asseverative sense here (“Indeed,” see the NJPS translation).

² tn Heb “it [i.e., that person; literally “soul,” feminine] shall be cut off from its peoples [plural]”; NLT “from the community.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:30

¹ tn Heb “And any person.”

² tn See HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד hif. Cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “destroy”; CEV “wipe out.”

³ tn Heb “its people” (“its” is feminine to agree with “person,” literally “soul,” which is feminine in Hebrew; cf. v. 29).

NET Notes: Lev 23:31

¹ tn Heb “for your generations.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:32

¹ tn Heb “you shall rest your Sabbath.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:34

¹ tn The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut, booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast (see the following verses) as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.

NET Notes: Lev 23:35

¹ tn Heb “work of service”; KJV “servile work”; NASB “laborious work”; TEV “daily work.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:36

¹ tn The Hebrew term עֲצֶרֶת (’atseret) “solemn assembly [day]” derives from a root associated with restraint or closure. It could refer either to the last day as “closing assembly” day of the festival (e.g., NIV) or a special day of restraint expressed in a “solemn assembly” (e.g., NRSV); cf. NLT “a solemn closing assembly.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:37

¹ tn The LXX has “[their] burnt offerings, and their sacrifices, and their drink offerings.”

² tn Heb “a matter of a day in its day”; NAB “as prescribed for each day”; NRSV, NLT “each on its proper day.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:38

¹ tn Heb “from to separation.” See BDB 94 s.v. בַּד 1.e for an explanation of this phrase. This phrase is repeated in front of each of the four items in this verse in the Hebrew text, but these have not been translated into English for stylistic reasons. Cf. KJV, NASB “besides”; NRSV “apart from.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:39

¹ tn Heb “Surely on the fifteenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; however, cf. NASB “On exactly the fifteenth day.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:40

¹ tn Heb “fruit of majestic trees,” but the following terms and verses define what is meant by this expression. For extensive remarks on the celebration of this festival in history and tradition see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 163; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 389-90; and P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 328-29.

NET Notes: Lev 23:41

¹ tn Heb “for your generations.”

NET Notes: Lev 23:42

¹ tn Heb “in the huts” (again at the end of this verse and in v. 43), perhaps referring to temporary shelters (i.e., huts) made of the foliage referred to in v. 40 (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 389).

NET Notes: Lev 23:44

¹ sn E. S. Gerstenberger (Leviticus [OTL], 352) takes v. 44 to be an introduction to another set of festival regulations, perhaps something like those found in Exod 23:14-17. For others this verse reemphasizes the Mosaic authority of the preceding festival regulations (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 390).

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:4

These [are] the feasts of the LORD, [even] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their ^{( a )} seasons.

^{( a )} For the sabbath was kept every week, and these others were kept only once every year.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:7

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no ^{( b )} servile work therein.

^{( b )} Or, bodily labour, save about that which one must eat, (Exo 12:16).

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:8

But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the ^{( c )} seventh day [is] an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work [therein].

^{( c )} The first day of the feast and the seventh were kept holy: in the rest they might work, except any feasts that were together, as were the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of sheaves which were on the fifteenth and sixteenth days.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:11

And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the ^{( d )} sabbath the priest shall wave it.

^{( d )} That is, the second sabbath of the Passover.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:13

And the meat offering thereof [shall be] two ^{( e )} tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD [for] a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof [shall be] of wine, the fourth [part] ^{( f )} of an hin.

^{( e )} Which is, the fifth part of an Ephah, or two Omers: read (Exo 16:16).

^{( f )} Read (Exo 29:40).

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:15

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the ^{( g )} sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

^{( g )} That is, the seventh day after the first sabbath of the Passover.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:17

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with ^{( h )} leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto the LORD.

^{( h )} Because the priest should eat them, as in (Lev 7:13), and they should not be offered to the Lord on the altar.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:20

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits [for] a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the ^{( i )} priest.

^{( i )} That is, offered to the Lord, and the rest should be for the priest.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:24

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the ^{( k )} seventh month, in the first [day] of the month, shall ye ^{( l )} have a sabbath, a memorial of ^{( m )} blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

^{( k )} That is, about the end of September.

^{( l )} Or, a holy day to the Lord.

^{( m )} Which blowing was to remind them of the many feasts that were in that month, and of the Jubile.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:27

Also on the tenth [day] of this seventh month [there shall be] a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall ^{( n )} afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

^{( n )} By fasting and prayer.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:32

It [shall be] unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth [day] of the month at even, from ^{( o )} even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

^{( o )} Which contains a night and a day: yet they took it as their natural day.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:36

Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it [is] a ^{( p )} solemn assembly; [and] ye shall do no servile work [therein].

^{( p )} Or, a day in which the people refrain from all work.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:37

These [are] the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a ^{( q )} sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

^{( q )} Or, peace offering.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:39

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day [shall be] a ^{( r )} sabbath, and on the eighth day [shall be] a sabbath.

^{( r )} Or, a solemn feast.

Geneva Bible: Lev 23:43

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in ^{( s )} booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

^{( s )} In the wilderness, in that they would not believe Joshua and Caleb, when they returned from spying the land of Canaan.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Rentang Ayat

Maclaren: Lev 23:33-44 - VI. The Consecration Of Joy

Lev. 23:33-44

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 34. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. 35. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37. These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38. Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. 39. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath, 40. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43. That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 44. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.'--Lev. 23:33-44.

These directions for the observance of the great festival at the close of harvest are singularly arranged. Verses 33-36 give part of the instructions for the Feast, verses 37 and 38 interrupt these with a summary of the contents of the chapter, and verses 39 to the end pick up the broken thread, and finish the regulations for the feast. Naturally, this apparent afterthought has been pointed out as clear evidence of diversity of authorship. But a reasonable explanation may be given on the hypothesis of the unity of the section, by observing that verses 33-36 deal only with the sacrificial side of the feast, as worship proper, and thus come into line with the previous part of the chapter, which is occupied with an enumeration of the annual feasts of the Lord' (v. 4). It was natural, therefore, that, when the list had been completed by the sacrificial prescriptions for the last of the series, the close of the catalogue should be marked, in verses 37, 38, and that then the other parts of the observances connected with this feast, which are not sacrificial, nor, properly speaking, worship, should be added. There is no need to invoke the supposition of two authors, and a subsequent stitching together, in order to explain the arrangement. The unity is all the more probable because, otherwise, the first half would give the name of the feast as that of tabernacles,' and would not contain a word to account for the name.

We need not, then, include the separating wedge, in verses 37, 38, in our present consideration. The ritual of the feast is broadly divided by it, and we may consider the two portions separately. The first half prescribes the duration of the feast as seven days (the perfect number), with an eighth, which is named, like the first, an holy convocation,' on which no work was to be done, but is also called a solemn assembly,' or rather, as the Revised Version reads, in margin, a closing festival,' inasmuch as it closed, not only that particular feast, but the whole series for the year. The observances enjoined, then, are the public assembly on the first and eighth days, with cessation from labor, and a daily offering. We learn more about the offering from Numbers 29:12 et seq., which appoints a very peculiar arrangement. On each day there was to be, as on other feast days, one goat for a sin offering; but the number of rams and lambs for the burnt offering was doubled, and, during the seven days of the feast, seventy bullocks were offered, arranged in a singular diminishing scale,--thirteen on the first day, and falling off by one a day till the seventh day, when seven were sacrificed. The eighth day was marked as no part of the feast proper, by the number of sacrifices offered on it, dropping to one bullock, one ram, and seven Iambs. No satisfactory account of this regulation has been suggested. It may possibly have meant no more than to mark the first day as the chief, and to let the worshippers down gradually from the extraordinary to the ordinary.

I. The Other Half Of The Regulations Deals With The More Domestic Aspect Of The Festival.

Observe, as significant of the different point of view taken in it, that the first and eighth days are there described, not as holy convocations,' but as Sabbaths,' or, as the Revised Version gives it better, a solemn rest.' Observe, also, that these verses connect the feast with the ingathering of the harvest, as does Exodus 23:16. It is quite possible that Moses grafted the more commemorative aspect of the feast on an older harvest home'; but that is purely conjectural, however confidently affirmed as certain. To tumble down cartloads of quotations about all sorts of nations that ran up booths and feasted in them at vintage-time does not help us much. The joy of harvest' was unquestionably blended with the joy of remembered national deliverance, but that the latter idea was superadded to the former at a later time is, to say the least, not proven. Would it matter very much if it were? Three kinds of trees are specified from which the fruit,' that is branches with fruit on them, if the tree bore fruit, were to be taken: palms, thick trees,' that is thick foliaged, which could give leafy shade, and willows of the brook, which the Rabbis say were used for binding the others together. Lev. 23:40 does not tell what is to be done with these branches, but the later usage was to carry some of them in the hand as well as to use them for booths. The keynote of the whole feast is struck in Lev. 23:40: Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God.' The leafy spoils come into view here as tokens of jubilation, which certainly suggests their being borne in the hand; but they were also meant to be used in building the booths in which the whole nation was to live during the seven days, in commemoration of God's having made them dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.' This is all that is enjoined by Moses. Later additions to the ceremonial do not concern us here, however interesting some of these are. The true intention of the feast is best learned from the original simple form.

What, then, was its intention? It was the commemoration of the wilderness life as the ground of rejoicing before the Lord.' But we must not forget that, according to Leviticus, it was appointed while the wilderness life was still present, and so was not to be observed then. Was it, then, a dead letter, or had the appointment a message of joy even to the weary wanderers who lived in the veritable booths, which after generations were to make a feast of mimicking? How firm the confidence of entering the land must have been, which promulgated such a law! It would tend to hearten the fainting courage of the pilgrims. A divinely guaranteed future is as certain as the past, and the wanderers whom He guides may be sure of coming to the settled home. All words which He speaks beforehand concerning that rest and the joyful worship there are pledges that it shall one day be theirs. The present use of the prospective law was to feed faith and hearten hope; and, when Canaan was reached, its use was to feed memory and brighten godly gladness.

II. The Feast Of Tabernacles Was The Consecration Of Joy.

Other religions have had their festivals, in which wild tumult and foul orgies have debased the worshippers to the level of their gods. How different the pure gladness of this feast before the Lord'! No coarse and sensuous delights of passion could live before the pure eyes and perfect witness' of God. In His presence' must be purity as well as fullness of joy.' If this festival teaches us, on the one hand, that they woefully misapprehend the spirit of godliness who do not find it full of gladsomeness, it teaches us no less, on the other, that they woefully misapprehend the spirit of joy, who look for it anywhere but before the Lord.' The ritual of the feast commanded gladness. Joy is a duty to God's children. There were mourners in Israel each year, as the feast came round, who would rather have shrunk into a corner, and let the bright stream of merriment flow past them; but they, too, had to open their heavy hearts, and to feel that, in spite of their private sorrows, they had a share in the national blessings. No grief should unfit us for feeling thankful joy for the great common gift of a common salvation.' The sources of religious joy, open to all Christians, are deeper than the fountains of individual sorrow, deep as life though these sometimes seem.

The wilderness life came into view in the feast as a wandering life of privation and change. The booths reminded of frail and shifting dwellings, and so made the contrast with present settled homes the sweeter. They were built, not of such miserable scrub as grew in the desert, and could scarcely throw shade enough to screen a lizard, but of the well-foliaged branches of trees grown by the rivers of water, and so indicated present abundance. The remembrance of privations and trials past, of which the meaning is understood, and the happy results in some degree possessed, is joy. Prosperous men like to talk of their early struggles and poverty. This feast teaches that such remembrance ought always to trace the better present to God, and that memory of conquered sorrows and trials is wholesome only when it is devout, and that the joy of present ease is bracing, not when it is self-sufficient, but when it is thankful. The past, rightly looked at, will yield for us all materials for a feast of tabernacles; and it is rightly looked at only when it is all seen as God's work, and as tending to settled peace and abundance. Therefore the regulations end with that emphatic seal of all His commands, to impress which on our hearts is the purpose of all His dealings with us as with Israel, I am the Lord your God.'

III. We May Note Our Lord's Allusions To The Feast.

There are probably two, both referring to later additions to the ceremonies. One is in John 7:37. We learn from the Talmud that on each of the seven days (and according to one Rabbi on the eighth also) a priest went down to Siloam and drear water in a golden pitcher, which he brought back amid the blare of trumpets to the altar, and poured into a silver basin while the joyous worshippers chanted the Great Hallel' (Psa. 113-118.), and thrice waved their palm branches as they sang. We may venture to suppose that this had been done for the last time; that the shout of song had scarcely died away when a stir in the crowd was seen, and a Galilean peasant stood forth, and there, before the priests with their empty vessels, and the hushed multitude, lifted up His voice, so as to be heard by all, and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come unto He, and drink.' What increased force is given to the extraordinary self-assertion of such words, if we picture this as the occasion of their utterance! Leviticus gives no preeminence to any one day, but John's expression, that great day of the feast,' may well have been warranted by later developments.

The other allusion is less certain, though it is probable. It is found in the saying at John 8:12: I am the Light of the world,' etc. The Talmud gives a detailed account of the illuminations accompanying the feast. Four great golden lamps were set up in the court, each tended by four young priests. There was not a court in Jerusalem that was not lit up by the lights of the water-drawing.' Bands of grave men with flashing torches danced before the people, while Levites accompanied them with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and numberless musical instruments,' and another band of Levites standing on the fifteen steps which led to the women's court, chanted the fifteen so-called songs of degrees,' and yet others marched through the courts blowing their trumpets as they went. It must have been a wild scene, dangerously approximating to the excitement of heathen nocturnal festivals, and our Lord may well have sought to divert the spectators to higher thoughts. But the existence of the allusion is doubtful.

IV. We Have One More Allusion To The Feast, Considered As A Prophecy Of The True Rest And Joy In The True Canaan.

The same John, who has preserved Christ's references, gives one of his own in Revelation 7:9, when he shows us the great multitude out of every nation with palms in their hands.' These are not the Gentile emblems of victory, as they are often taken to be. There are no heathen emblems in the Apocalypse, but all moved within the circle of Jewish types and figures. So we are to think of that crowd of happy palmers' as joyously celebrating the true feast of tabernacles in the settled home above, and remembering, with eyes made clear by heaven, the struggles and fleeting sorrows of the wilderness. The emblem sets forth heaven as a festal assembly, as the ingathering of the results of the toils of earth, as settled life after weary pilgrimage, as glad retrospect of the meaning and triumphant possession of the issues of God's patient guidance and wise discipline. Here we dwell in the earthly house of this tabernacle'; there, in a building of God … eternal.' Here we are agitated by change, and wearied by the long road; there, changeless but increasing joy will be ours, and the backward look of thankful wonder will enhance the sweetness of thc blessed present, and confirm the calm and sure hope of an ever-growing glory stretching shoreless and bright before us.

MHCC: Lev 23:1-3

In this chapter we have the institution of holy times; many of which have been mentioned before. Though the yearly feasts were made more remarkable by general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not be observed more than the sabbath. On that day they must withdraw from all business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying spiritual rest from sin, and rest in God. God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by families together, in holy assemblies. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, build up, and glorify them.

MHCC: Lev 23:4-14

The feast of the Passover was to continue seven days; not idle days, spent in sport, as many that are called Christians spend their holy-days. Offerings were made to the Lord at his altar; and the people were taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation. The sheaf of first-fruits was typical of the Lord Jesus, who is risen from the dead as the First-fruits of them that slept. Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered. We are taught by this law to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Pro 3:9. They were not to eat of their new corn, till God's part was offered to him out of it; and we must always begin with God: begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.

MHCC: Lev 23:15-22

The feast of Weeks was held in remembrance of the giving of the law, fifty days after the departure from Egypt; and looked forward to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. On that day the apostles presented the first-fruits of the Christian church to God. To the institution of the feast of Pentecost, is added a repetition of that law, by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields. Those who are truly sensible of the mercy they received from God, will show mercy to the poor without grudging.

MHCC: Lev 23:23-32

the blowing of trumpets represented the preaching of the gospel, by which men are called to repent of sin, and to accept the salvation of Christ, which was signified by the day of atonement. Also it invited to rejoice in God, and become strangers and pilgrims on earth, which was denoted by the feast of Tabernacles, observed in the same month. At the beginning of the year, they were called by this sound of trumpet to shake off spiritual drowsiness, to search and try their ways, and to amend them. The day of atonement was the ninth day after this; thus they were awakened to prepare for that day, by sincere and serious repentance, that it might indeed be to them a day of atonement. The humbling of our souls for sin, and the making our peace with God, is work that requires the whole man, and the closest application of mind. On that day God spake peace to his people, and to his saints; therefore they must lay aside all their wordly business, that they might the more clearly hear that voice of joy and gladness.

MHCC: Lev 23:33-44

In the feast of Tabernacles there was a remembrance of their dwelling in tents, or booths, in the wilderness, as well as their fathers dwelling in tents in Canaan; to remind them of their origin and their deliverance. Christ's tabernacling on earth in human nature, might also be prefigured. And it represents the believer's life on earth: a stranger and pilgrim here below, his home and heart are above with his Saviour. They would the more value the comforts and conveniences of their own houses, when they had been seven days dwelling in the booths. It is good for those who have ease and plenty, sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness. The joy of harvest ought to be improved for the furtherance of our joy in God. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; therefore whatever we have the comfort of, he must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is perfected. God appointed these feasts, " Beside the sabbaths and your free-will offerings." Calls to extraordinary services will not excuse from constant and stated ones.

Matthew Henry: Lev 23:1-3

Here is, I. A general account of the holy times which God appointed (Lev 23:2), and it is only his appointment that can make time holy; for he is the Lord of time, and as soon as ever he had set its wheels a-going it was he that sanctified and blessed one day above the rest, Gen 2:3. Man may by his appointment make a good day (Est 9:19), but it is God's prerogative to make a holy day; nor is any thing sanctified but by the stamp of his institution. As all inherent holiness comes from his special grace, so all adherent holiness from his special appointment. Now, concerning the holy times here ordained, observe, 1. They are called feasts. The day of atonement, which was one of them, was a fast; yet, because most of them were appointed for joy and rejoicing, they are in the general called feasts. Some read it, These are my assemblies, but that is co-incident with convocations. I would rather read it, These are my solemnities; so the word here used is translated (Isa 33:20), where Zion is called the city of our solemnities: and, reading it so here, the day of atonement was as great a solemnity as any of them. 2. They are the feasts of the Lord ( my feasts ), observed to the honour of his name, and in obedience to his command. 3. They were proclaimed; for they were not to be observed by the priests only that attended the sanctuary, but by all the people. And this proclamation was the joyful sound concerning which we read, Blessed are the people that know it, Psa 89:15. 4. They were to be sanctified and solemnized with holy convocations, that the services of these feasts might appear the more honourable and august, and the people the more unanimous in the performance of them; it was for the honour of God and his institutions, which sought not corners and the purity of which would be best preserved by the public administration of them; it was also for the edification of the people in love that the feasts were to be observed as holy convocations.

II. A repetition of the law of the sabbath in the first place. Though the annual feasts were made more remarkable by the general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not eclipse the brightness of the sabbath, Lev 23:3. They are here told, 1. That on that day they must withdraw themselves from all the affairs and business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying our spiritual rest from sin, and in God: You shall do no work therein. On other holy days they were forbidden to do any servile work (Lev 23:7), but on the sabbath, and the day of atonement (which is also called a sabbath), they were to do no work at all, no, not the dressing of meat. 2. On that day they must employ themselves in the service of God. (1.) It is a holy convocation; that is, "If it lie within your reach, you shall sanctify it in a religious assembly: let as many as can come to the door of the tabernacle, and let others meet elsewhere for prayer, and praise, and the reading of the law,"as in the schools of the prophets, while prophecy continued, and afterwards in the synagogues. Christ appointed the New Testament sabbath to be a holy convocation, by meeting his disciples once and again (and perhaps oftener) on the first day of the week. (2.) "Whether you have opportunity of sanctifying it in a holy convocation or not, yet let it be the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Put a difference between that day and other days in your families. It is the sabbath of the Lord, the day on which he rested from the work of creation, and on which he has appointed us to rest; let it be observed in all your dwellings, even now that you dwell in tents."Note, God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by many families together in holy convocations. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, edify, and glorify them.

Matthew Henry: Lev 23:4-14

Here again the feasts are called the feasts of the Lord, because he appointed them. Jeroboam's feast, which he devised of his own heart (1Ki 12:33), was an affront to God, and a reproach upon the people. These feasts were to be proclaimed in their seasons (Lev 23:4), and the seasons God chose for them were in March, May and September (according to our present computation), not in winter, because travelling would then be uncomfortable, when the days were short, and the ways foul; not in the middle of summer, because then in those countries they were gathering in their harvest and vintage, and could be ill spared from their country business. Thus graciously does God consult our comfort in his appointments, obliging us thereby religiously to regard his glory in our observance of them, and not to complain of them as a burden. The solemnities appointed them were, 1. Many and returned frequently, which was intended to preserve in them a deep sense of God and religion, and to prevent their inclining to the superstitions of the heathen. God kept them fully employed in his service, that they might not have time to hearken to the temptations of the idolatrous neighbourhood they lived in. 2. They were most of them times of joy and rejoicing. The weekly sabbath is so, and all their yearly solemnities, except the day of atonement. God would thus teach them that wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and engage them to his service by encouraging them to be cheerful in it and to sing at their work. Seven days were days of strict rest and holy convocations; the first day and the seventh of the feast of unleavened bread, the day of pentecost, the day of the feast of trumpets, the first day and the eighth of the feast of tabernacles, and the day of atonement: here were six for holy joy and one only for holy mourning. We are commanded to rejoice evermore, but not to be evermore weeping. Here is,

I. A repetition of the law of the passover, which was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month, in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt and the distinguishing preservation of their first-born, mercies never to be forgotten. This feast was to begin with the killing of the paschal lamb, Lev 23:5. It was to continue seven days, during all which time they were to eat sad bread, that was unleavened (Lev 23:6), and the first and last day of the seven were to be days of holy rest and holy convocations, Lev 23:7, Lev 23:8. They were not idle days spent in sport and recreation (as many that are called Christians spend their holy days), but offerings were made by fire unto the Lord at his altar; and we have reason to think that the people were taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation.

II. An order for the offering of a sheaf of the first-fruits, upon the second day of the feast of unleavened bread; the first is called the sabbath, because it was observed as a sabbath (Lev 23:11), and, on the morrow after, they had this solemnity. A sheaf or handful of new corn was brought to the priest, who was to heave it up, in token of his presenting it to the God of Heaven, and to wave it to and fro before the Lord, as the Lord of the whole earth, and this should be accepted for them as a thankful acknowledgment of God's mercy to them in clothing their fields with corn, and of their dependence upon God, and desire towards him, for the preserving of it to their use. For it was the expression both of prayer and praise, Lev 23:11. A lamb for a burnt-offering was to be offered with it, Lev 23:12. As the sacrifice of animals was generally attended with meat-offerings, so this sacrifice of corn was attended with a burnt-offering, that bread and flesh might be set together on God's table. They are forbidden to eat of their new corn till this handful was offered to God; for it was fit, if God and Israel feast together, that he should be served first. And the offering of this sheaf of first-fruits in the name of the whole congregation did, as it were, sanctify to them their whole harvest, and give them a comfortable use of all the rest; for then we may eat our bread with joy when we have, in some measure, performed our duty to God, and God has accepted our works, for thus all our enjoyments become clean to us. Now, 1. This law was given now, though there was no occasion for putting it in execution till they came to Canaan: in the wilderness they sowed no corn; but God's feeding them there with bread from heaven obliged them hereafter not to grudge him his share of their bread out of the earth. We find that when they came into Canaan the manna ceased upon the very day that the sheaf of first-fruits was offered; they had eaten of the old corn the day before (Jos 5:11), and then on this day they offered the first-fruits, by which they became entitled to the new corn too (Lev 23:12), so that there was no more occasion for manna. 1. This sheaf of first-fruits was typical of our Lord Jesus, who has risen from the dead as the first-fruits of those that slept, 1Co 15:20. That branch of the Lord (Isa 4:2) was then presented to him, in virtue of the sacrifice of himself, the Lamb of God, and it was accepted for us. It is very observable that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered, to show that he was the substance of this shadow. 3. We are taught by this law to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Pro 3:9. They were not to eat of their new corn till God's part was offered to him out of it (Lev 23:14), for we must always begin with God, begin our lives with him, begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.

Matthew Henry: Lev 23:15-22

Here is the institution of the feast of pentecost, or weeks, as it is called (Deu 16:9), because it was observed fifty days, or seven weeks, after the passover. It is also called the feast of harvest, Exo 23:16. For as the presenting of the sheaf of first-fruits was an introduction to the harvest, and gave them liberty to put in the sickle, so they solemnized the finishing of their corn-harvest at this feast. 1. Then they offered a handful of ears of barley, now they offered two loaves of wheaten bread, Lev 23:17. This was leavened. At the passover they ate unleavened bread, because it was in remembrance of the bread they ate when they came out of Egypt, which was unleavened; but now at pentecost it was leavened, because it was an acknowledgment of God's goodness to them in their ordinary food, which was leavened. 2. With that sheaf of first-fruits they offered only one lamb for a burnt-offering, but with these loaves of first-fruits they offered seven lambs, two rams, and one bullock, all for a burnt-offering, so giving glory to God, as the Lord of their land and the Lord of their harvest, by whose favour they lived and to whose praise they ought to live. They offered likewise a kid for a sin-offering, so taking shame to themselves as unworthy of the bread they ate, and imploring pardon for their sins, by which they had forfeited their harvest-mercies, and which they had been guilty of in the receiving of them. And lastly, two lambs for a sacrifice of peace-offerings, to beg a blessing upon the corn they had gathered in, which would be neither sure nor sweet to them without that blessing, Hag 1:9. These were the only peace-offerings that were offered on the behalf of the whole congregation, and they were reckoned most holy offerings, whereas other peace-offerings were but holy. All these offerings are here appointed, Lev 23:18-20. 3. That one day was to be kept with a holy convocation, Lev 23:21. It was one of the days on which all Israel was to meet God and one another, at the place which the Lord should choose. Some suggest that whereas seven days were to make up the feast of unleavened bread there was only one day appointed for the feast of pentecost, because this was a busy time of the year with them, and God allowed them speedily to return to their work in the country. This annual feast was instituted in remembrance of the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, the fiftieth day after they came out of Egypt. That was the feast which they were told in Egypt must be observed to God in the wilderness, as a memorial of which ever after they kept this feast. But the period and perfection of this feast was the pouring out of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of this feast (Act 2:1), in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day (as bishop Patrick well expresses it) the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls, through the word of truth, and presented them, as the first-fruits of the Christian church, to God and the Lamb.

To the institution of the feast of pentecost is annexed a repetition of that law which we had before (Lev 19:9), by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields, and the corn that grew on the ends of the butts, for the poor, Lev 23:22. Probably it comes in here as a thing which the priests must take occasion to remind the people of, when they brought their first-fruits, intimating to them that to obey even in this small matter was better than sacrifice, and that, unless they were obedient, their offerings should not be accepted. It also taught them that the joy of harvest should express itself in charity to the poor, who must have their due out of what we have, as well as God his. Those that are truly sensible of the mercy they receive from God will without grudging show mercy to the poor.

Matthew Henry: Lev 23:23-32

Here is, I. The institution of the feast of trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month, Lev 23:24, Lev 23:25. That which was now the seventh month had been reckoned the first month, and the year of jubilee was still to begin with this month (Lev 25:8), so that this was their new year's day. It was to be as their other yearly sabbaths, a day of holy rest - You shall do no servile work therein; and a day of holy work - You shall offer an offering to the Lord; concerning these particular directions were afterwards given, Num 29:1. That which is here made peculiar to this festival is that it was a memorial of blowing of trumpets. They blew the trumpet every new moon (Psa 81:3), but in the new moon of the seventh month it was to be done with more than ordinary solemnity; for they began to blow at sun-rise and continued till sun-set. Now, 1. This is here said to be a memorial, perhaps of the sound of the trumpet upon mount Sinai when the law was given, which must never be forgotten. Some think that it was a memorial of the creation of the world, which is supposed to have been in autumn; for which reason this was, till now, the first month. The mighty word by which God made the world is called the voice of his thunder (Psa 104:7); fitly therefore was it commemorated by blowing of trumpets, or a memorial of shouting, as the Chaldee renders it; for, when the foundations of the earth were fastened, all the sons of God shouted for joy, Job 38:6, Job 38:7. 2. The Jewish writers suppose it to have a spiritual signification. Now at the beginning of the year they were called by this sound of trumpet to shake off their spiritual drowsiness, to search and try their ways, and to amend them: the day of atonement was the ninth day after this; and thus they were awakened to prepare for that day, by sincere and serious repentance, that it might be indeed to them a day of atonement. And they say, "The devout Jews exercised themselves more in good works between the feast of trumpets and the day of expiation than at any other time of the year."3. It was typical of the preaching of the gospel, by which joyful sound souls were to be called in to serve God and keep a spiritual feast to him. The conversion of the nations to the faith of Christ is said to be by the blowing of a great trumpet, Isa 27:13.

II. A repetition of the law of the day of atonement, that is, so much of it as concerned the people. 1. They must on this day rest from all manner of work, and not only from servile works as on other annual festivals; it must be as strict a rest as that of the weekly sabbath, Lev 23:28, Lev 23:30, Lev 23:31. The reason is: For it is a day of atonement. Note, The humbling of our souls for sin, and the making of our peace with God, is work that requires the whole man, and the closest application of mind imaginable, and all little enough. He that would do the work of a day of atonement in its day, as it should be done, had need lay aside the thoughts of every thing else. On that day God spoke peace unto his people, and unto his saints; and therefore they must lay aside all their worldly business, that they might the more clearly and the more reverently hear that voice of joy and gladness. Fasting days should be days of rest. 2. They must afflict their souls, and this upon pain of being cut off by the hand of God, Lev 23:27, Lev 23:29, Lev 23:32. They must mortify the body, and deny the appetites of it, in token of their sorrow for the sins they had committed, and the mortifying of their indwelling corruptions. Every soul must be afflicted, because every soul was polluted, and guilty before God; while none have fulfilled the law of innocency none are exempt from the law of repentance, besides that every man must sigh and cry for the abominations of the land. 3. The entire day must be observed: From even to even you shall afflict your souls (Lev 23:32), that is, "You shall begin your fast, and the expressions of your humiliation, in the ninth day of the month at even. "They were to leave off all their worldly labour, and compose themselves to the work of the day approaching, some time before sun-set on the ninth day, and not to take any food (except children and sick people) till after sun-set on the tenth day. Note, The eves of solemn days ought to be employed in solemn preparation. When work for God and our souls is to be done, we should not straiten ourselves in time for the doing of it; for how can we spend our time better? Of this sabbath the rule here given is to be understood: From even unto even shall you celebrate your sabbath.

Matthew Henry: Lev 23:33-44

We have here, I. The institution of the feast of tabernacles, which was one of the three great feasts at which all the males were bound to attend, and celebrated with more expressions of joy than any of them.

1. As to the directions for regulating this feast, observe, (1.) It was to be observed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:34), but five days after the day of atonement. We may suppose, though they were not all bound to attend on the day of atonement, as on the three great festivals, yet that many of the devout Jews came up so many days before the feast of tabernacles as to enjoy the opportunity of attending on the day of atonement. Now, [1.] The afflicting of their souls on the day of atonement prepared them for the joy of the feast of tabernacles. The more we are grieved and humbled for sin, the better qualified we are for the comforts of the Holy Ghost. [2.] The joy of this feast recompensed them for the sorrow of that fast; for those that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (2.) It was to continue eight days, the first and last of which were to be observed as sabbaths, days of holy rest and holy convocations, Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36, Lev 23:39. The sacrifices to be offered on these eight days we have a very large appointment of, Num 29:12, etc. (3.) During the first seven days of this feast all the people were to leave their houses, and the women and children in them, and to dwell in booths made of the boughs of thick trees, particularly palm trees, Lev 23:40, Lev 23:42. The Jews make the taking of the branches to be a distinct ceremony from the making of the booths. It is said, indeed (Neh 8:15), that they made their booths of the branches of trees, which they might do, and yet use that further expression of joy, the carrying of palm-branches in their hands, which appears to have been a token of triumph upon other occasions (Joh 12:13), and is alluded to, Rev 7:9. The eighth day some make a distinct feast of itself, but it is called (Joh 7:37) that great day of the feast; it was the day on which they returned from their booths, to settle again in their own houses. (4.) They were to rejoice before the Lord God during all the time of this feast, Lev 23:40. The tradition of the Jews is that they were to express their joy by dancing, and singing hymns of praise to God, with musical instruments: and not the common people only, but the wise men of Israel, and their elders, were to do it in the court of the sanctuary: for (say they) the joy with which a man rejoices in doing a commandment is really a great service.

2. As to the design of this feast,

(1.) It was to be kept in remembrance of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness. Thus it is expounded here (Lev 23:43): That your generations may know, not only by the written history, but by this ocular tradition, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths. Thus it kept in perpetual remembrance, [1.] The meanness of their beginning, and the low and desolate state out of which God advanced that people. Note, Those that are comfortably fixed ought often to call to mind their former unsettled state, when they were but little in their own eyes. [2.] The mercy of God to them, that, when they dwelt in tabernacles, God not only set up a tabernacle for himself among them, but, with the utmost care and tenderness imaginable, hung a canopy over them, even the cloud that sheltered them from the heat of the sun. God's former mercies to us and our fathers ought to be kept in everlasting remembrance. The eighth day was the great day of this feast, because then they returned to their own houses again, and remembered how, after they had long dwelt in tents in the wilderness, at length they came to a happy settlement in the land of promise, where they dwelt in goodly houses. And they would the more sensibly value and be thankful for the comforts and conveniences of their houses when they had been seven days dwelling in booths. It is good for those that have ease and plenty sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness.

(2.) It was a feast of in-gathering, so it is called, Exo 23:16. When they had gathered in the fruit of their land (Lev 23:39), the vintage as well as the harvest, then they were to keep this feast in thankfulness to God for all the increase of the year; and some think that the eighth day of the feast had special reference to this ground of the institution. Note, The joy of harvest ought to be improved for the furtherance of our joy in God. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, and therefore whatever we have the comfort of he must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is perfected.

(3.) It was a typical feast. It is supposed by many that our blessed Saviour was born much about the time of this feast; then he left his mansions of light above to tabernacle among us (Joh 1:14), and he dwelt in booths. And the worship of God under the New Testament is prophesied of under the notion of keeping the feast of tabernacles, Zec 14:16. For, [1.] The gospel of Christ teaches us to dwell in tabernacles, to sit loose to this world, as those that have here no continuing city, but by faith, and hope and holy contempt of present things, to go out to Christ without the camp, Heb 13:13, Heb 13:14. [2.] It teaches us to rejoice before the Lord our God. Those are the circumcision, Israelites indeed, that always rejoice in Christ Jesus, Phi 3:3. And the more we are taken off from this world the less liable we are to the interruption of our joys.

II. The summary and conclusion of these institutions.

1. God appointed these feasts (Lev 23:37, Lev 23:38), besides the sabbaths and your free-will offerings. This teaches us, (1.) That calls to extraordinary services will not excuse us from our constant stated performances. Within the days of the feast of tabernacles there must fall at least one sabbath, which must be as strictly observed as any other. (2.) That God's institutions leave room for free-will offerings. Not that we may invent what he never instituted, but we may repeat what he has instituted, ordinarily, the oftener the better. God is well pleased with a willing people.

2. Moses declared them to the children of Israel, Lev 23:44. He let them know what God appointed, and neither more nor less. Thus Paul delivered to the churches what he had received from the Lord. We have reason to be thankful that the feasts of the Lord, declared unto us, are not so numerous, nor the observance of them so burdensome and costly, as theirs then were, but more spiritual and significant, and surer sweeter earnests of the everlasting feast, at the last in-gathering, which we hope to be celebrating to eternity.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:1-2

This chapter does not contain a "calendar of feasts,"or a summary and completion of the directions previously given in a scattered form concerning the festal times of Israel, but simply a list of those festal days and periods of the year at which holy meetings were to be held. This is most clearly stated in the heading (Lev 23:2): " the festal times of Jehovah, which ye shall call out as holy meetings, these are they, My feasts, "i.e., those which are to be regarded as My feasts, sanctified to Me. The festal seasons and days were called "feasts of Jehovah,"times appointed and fixed by Jehovah (see Gen 1:14), not because the feasts belonged to fixed times regulated by the course of the moon ( Knobel ), but because Jehovah had appointed them as days, or times, which were to be sanctified to Him. Hence the expression is not only used with reference to the Sabbath, the new moon, and the other yearly feasts; but in Num 28:2 and Num 29:39 it is extended so as to include the times of the daily morning and evening sacrifice. (On the "holy convocation"see Exo 12:16.)

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:3

At the head of these moadim stood the Sabbath , as the day which God had already sanctified as a day of rest for His people, by His own rest on the seventh creation-day (Gen 2:3, cf. Exo 20:8-11). On שׁבּתון שׁבּת , see at Exo 31:15 and Exo 16:33. As a weekly returning day of rest, the observance of which had its foundation in the creative work of God, the Sabbath was distinguished from the yearly feasts, in which Israel commemorated the facts connected with its elevation into a people of God, and which were generally called "feasts of Jehovah"in the stricter sense, and as such were distinguished from the Sabbath (Lev 23:37, Lev 23:38; Isa 1:13-14; 1Ch 23:31; 2Ch 31:3; Neh 10:34). This distinction is pointed out in the heading, " these are the feasts of Jehovah "(Lev 23:4).

(Note: Partly on account of his repetition, and partly because of the supposed discrepancy observable in the fact, that holy meetings are not prescribed for the Sabbath in the list of festal sacrifices in Num 28 and 29, Hupfield and Knobel maintain that the words of Lev 23:2 and Lev 23:3, from יהוהto מושׁבתיכם, notwithstanding their Elohistic expression, were not written by the Elohist, but are an interpolation of the later editor. The repetition of the heading, however, cannot prove anything at all with the constant repetitions that occur in the so-called Elohistic groundwork, especially as it can be fully explained by the reason mentioned in the text. And the pretended discrepancy rests upon the perfectly arbitrary assumption, that Num 28 and 29 contain a complete codex of all the laws relating to all the feasts. How totally this assumption is at variance with the calendar of feasts, is clear enough from the fact, that no rule is laid down there for the observance of the Sabbath, with the exception of the sacrifices to be offered upon it, and that even rest from labour is not commanded. Moreover Knobel is wrong in identifying the "holy convocation"with a journey to the sanctuary, whereas appearance at the tabernacle to hold the holy convocations (for worship) was not regarded as necessary either in the law itself or according to the later orthodox custom, but, on the contrary, holy meetings for edification were held on the Sabbath in every place in the land, and it was out of this that the synagogues arose.)

In Num 28:11 the feast of new moon follows the Sabbath; but this is passed over here, because the new moon was not to be observed either with sabbatical rest or a holy meeting.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:4-14

Lev 23:4 contains the special heading for the yearly feasts. בּמועדם at their appointed time.

Lev 23:5-14

The leading directions for the Passover and feast of Mazzoth are repeated from Exo 12:6, Exo 12:11, Exo 12:15-20. עבדה מלאכת , occupation of a work, signifies labour at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:1, Exo 36:3; hence occupation in connection with trade or one's social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, and so forth; whilst מלאכה is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food (Exo 35:2-3). On the Sabbath and the day of atonement every kind of civil work was prohibited, even to the kindling of fire for the purpose of cooking (Lev 23:3, Lev 23:30, Lev 23:31, cf. Exo 20:10; Exo 31:14; Exo 35:2-3; Deu 5:14 and Lev 16:29; Num 29:7); on the other feast-days with a holy convocation, only servile work (Lev 23:7, Lev 23:8, Lev 23:21, Lev 23:25, Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36, cf. Exo 12:16, and the explanation on Lev 12:1-8 :15ff., and Num 28:18, Num 28:25-26; Num 29:1, Num 29:12, Num 29:35). To this there is appended a fresh regulation in Lev 23:9-14, with the repetition of the introductory clause, " And the Lord spake, "etc. When the Israelites had come into the land to be given them by the Lord, and had reaped the harvest, they were to bring a sheaf as first-fruits of their harvest to the priest, that he might wave it before Jehovah on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., after the first day of Mazzoth . According to Josephus and Philo , it was a sheaf of barley; but this is not expressly commanded, because it would be taken for granted in Canaan, where the harvest began with the barley. In the warmer parts of Palestine the barley ripens about the middle of April, and is reaped in April or the beginning of May, whereas the wheat ripens two or three weeks later ( Seetzen; Robinson 's Pal. ii. 263, 278). The priest was to wave the sheaf before Jehovah, i.e., to present it symbolically to Jehovah by the ceremony of waving, without burning any of it upon the altar. The rabbinical rule, viz., to dry a portion of the ears by the fire, and then, after rubbing them out, to burn them on the altar, was an ordinance of the later scribes, who knew not the law, and was based upon Lev 2:14. For the law in Lev 2:14 refers to the offerings of first-fruits made by private persons, which are treated of in Num 18:12-13, and Deu 26:2. The sheaf of first-fruits, on the other hand, which was to be offered before Jehovah as a wave-offering in the name of the congregation, corresponded to the two wave-loaves which were leavened and then baked, and were to be presented to the Lord as first-fruits (Lev 23:17). As no portion of these wave-loaves was burned upon the altar, because nothing leavened was to be placed upon it (Lev 2:11), but they were assigned entirely to the priests, we have only to assume that the same application was intended by the law in the case of the sheaf of first-fruits, since the text only prescribes the waving, and does not contain a word about roasting, rubbing, or burning the grains upon the altar. השּׁבּת מחרת (the morrow after the Sabbath) signifies the next day after the first day of the feast of Mazzoth, i.e., the 16th Abib ( Nisan ), not the day of the Sabbath which fell in the seven days' feast of Mazzoth, as the Baethoseans supposed, still less the 22nd of Nisan, or the day after the conclusion of the seven days' feast, which always closed with a Sabbath, as Hitzig imagines.

(Note: The view advocated by the Baethoseans, which has been lately supported by W. Schultz , is refuted not only by Jos 5:11, but by the definite article used, השּׁבּת, post festum . a priori improbable, and in fact inconceivable. The Mosaic law, which gave such sanctity to the division of time into weeks, as founded upon the history of creation, by the institution of the observance of the Sabbath, that it raised the Sabbath into the groundwork of a magnificent festal cycle, could not possibly have made such an arrangement with regard to the time for the observance of the Passover, as would involve almost invariably the mutilation of the last week of the year, and an interruption of the old and sacred weekly cycle with the Sabbath festival at its close. The arguments by which so forced a hypothesis is defended, must be very conclusive indeed, to meet with any acceptance. But neither Hitzig nor his followers have been able to adduce any such arguments as these. Besides the word "Sabbath"and Jos 5:11, which prove nothing at all, the only other argument adduced by Knobel is, that "it is impossible to see why precisely the second day of the azyma , when the people went about their ordinary duties, and there was no meeting at the sanctuary, should have been distinguished by the sacrificial gift which was the peculiar characteristic of the feast,"- an argument based upon the fallacious principle, that anything for which I can see no reason, cannot possibly have occurred.)

The "Sabbath"does not mean the seventh day of the week, but the day of rest, although the weekly Sabbath was always the seventh or last day of the week; hence not only the seventh day of the week (Exo 31:15, etc.), but the day of atonement (the tenth of the seventh month), is called "Sabbath," and " Shabbath shabbathon "(Lev 23:32; Lev 16:31). As a day of rest, on which no laborious work was to be performed (Lev 23:8), the first day of the feast of Mazzoth is called "Sabbath," irrespectively of the day of the week upon which it fell; and " the morrow after the Sabbath "is equivalent to "the morrow after the Passover"mentioned in Jos 5:11, where "Passover"signifies the day at the beginning of which the paschal meal was held, i.e., the first day of unleavened bread, which commenced on the evening of the 14th, in other words, the 15th Abib. By offering the sheaf of first-fruits of the harvest, the Israelites were to consecrate their daily bread to the Lord their God, and practically to acknowledge that they owed the blessing of the harvest to the grace of God. They were not to eat any bread or roasted grains of the new corn till they had presented the offering of their God (Lev 23:14). This offering was fixed for the second day of the feast of the Passover, that the connection between the harvest and the Passover might be kept in subordination to the leading idea of the Passover itself (see at Exo 12:15.). But as the sheaf was not burned upon the altar, but only presented symbolically to the Lord by waving, and then handed over to the priests, an altar-gift had to be connected with it, - namely, a yearling sheep as a burnt-offering, a meat-offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and a drink-offering of a quarter of a hin of wine, - to give expression to the obligation and willingness of the congregation not only to enjoy their earthly food, but to strengthen all the members of their body for growth in holiness and diligence in good works. The burnt-offering, for which a yearling lamb was prescribed, as in fact for all the regular festal sacrifices, was of course in addition to the burnt-offerings prescribed in Num 28:19-20, for every feast-day. The meat-offering, however, was not to consist of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, as on other occasions (Exo 29:40; Num 28:9, Num 28:13, etc.), but of two-tenths, that the offering of corn at the harvest-feast might be a more plentiful one than usual.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:15-17

The law for the special observance of the feast of Harvest (Exo 23:16) is added here without any fresh introductory formula, to show at the very outset the close connection between the two feasts. Seven whole weeks, or fifty days, were to be reckoned from the day of the offering of the sheaf, and then the day of first-fruits (Num 28:26) or feast of Weeks (Exo 34:22; Deu 16:10) was to be celebrated. From this reckoning the feast received the name of Pentecost ( ἡ πεντηκοστή , Act 2:1). That שׁבּתות (Lev 23:15) signifies weeks, like שׁבעות in Deu 16:9, and τὰ σάββατα in the Gospels (e.g., Mat 28:1), is evident from the predicate תּמימת , "complete,"which would be quite unsuitable if Sabbath-days were intended, as a long period might be reckoned by half weeks instead of whole, but certainly not by half Sabbath-days. Consequently "the morrow after the seventh Sabbath"(Lev 23:16) is the day after the seventh week, not after the seventh Sabbath. On this day, i.e., fifty days after the first day of Mazzoth , Israel was to offer a new meat-offering to the Lord, i.e., made of the fruit of the new harvest (Lev 26:10), "wave-loaves"from its dwellings, two of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour baked leavened, like the bread which served for their daily food, "as first-fruits unto the Lord,"and of the wheat-harvest (Exo 34:22), which fell in the second half of May and the first weeks of June (Robinson , Palestine ), and therefore was finished as a whole by the feast of Weeks. The loaves differed from all the other meat-offerings, being made of leavened dough, because in them their daily bread was offered to the Lord, who had blessed the harvest, as a thank-offering for His blessing. They were therefore only given to the Lord symbolically by waving, and were then to belong to the priests (Lev 23:20). The injunction "out of your habitations"is not to be understood, as Calvin and others suppose, as signifying that every householder was to present two such loaves; it simply expresses the idea, that they were to be loaves made for the daily food of a household, and not prepared expressly for holy purposes.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:18-19

In addition to the loaves, they were to offer seven yearling lambs, one young bullock, and two rams, as burnt-offerings, together with their (the appropriate) meat and drink-offerings, one he-goat as a sin-offering, and two yearling lambs as peace-offerings.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:20

" The priest shall wave them (the two lambs of the peace-offerings), together with the loaves of the first-fruits, as a wave-offering before Jehovah; with the two lambs (the two just mentioned), they (the loaves) shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest ."In the case of the peace-offerings of private individuals, the flesh belonged for the most part to the offerer; but here, in the case of a thank-offering presented by the congregation, it was set apart for the priest. The circumstance, that not only was a much more bountiful burnt-offering prescribed than in the offerings of the dedicatory sheaf at the commencement of harvest (Lev 23:12), but a sin-offering and peace-offering also, is to be attributed to the meaning of the festival itself, as a feast of thanksgiving for the rich blessing of God that had just been gathered in. The sin-offering was to excite the feeling and consciousness of sin on the part of the congregation of Israel, that whilst eating their daily leavened bread they might not serve the leaven of their old nature, but seek and implore from the Lord their God the forgiveness and cleansing away of their sin. Through the increased burnt-offering they were to give practical expression to their gratitude for the blessing of harvest, by a strengthened consecration and sanctification of all the members of the whole man to the service of the Lord; whilst through the peace-offering they entered into that fellowship of peace with the Lord to which they were called, and which they were eventually to enjoy through His blessing in their promised inheritance. In this way the whole of the year's harvest was placed under the gracious blessing of the Lord by the sanctification of its commencement and its close; and the enjoyment of their daily food was also sanctified thereby. For the sake of this inward connection, the laws concerning the wave-sheaf and wave-loaves are bound together into one whole; and by this connection, which was established by reckoning the time for the feast of Weeks from the day of the dedication of the sheaf, the two feasts were linked together into an internal unity. The Jews recognised this unity from the very earliest times, and called the feast of Pentecost Azqereth (Greek, Ἀσαρθά ), because it was the close of the seven weeks (see at Lev 23:36; Josephus, Ant. iii. 10).

(Note: A connection between the feast of Pentecost and the giving of the law, which Maimonides (a.d. † 1205) was the first to discover, is not only foreign to the Mosaic law, but to the whole of the Jewish antiquity; and even Abarbanel expressly denies it.)

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:21-22

On this day a holy meeting was to be held, and laborious work to be suspended, just as on the first and seventh days of Mazzoth . This was to be maintained as a statute for ever (see Lev 23:14). It was not sufficient, however, to thank the Lord for the blessing of harvest by a feast of thanksgiving to the Lord, but they were not to forget the poor and distressed when gathering in their harvest. To indicate this, the law laid down in Lev 19:9-10 is repeated in Lev 23:22.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:23-25

On the first day of the seventh month there was to be shabbathon , rest, i.e., a day of rest (see Exo 16:23), a memorial of blowing of trumpets , a holy convocation, the suspension of laborious work, and the offering of a firing for Jehovah, which are still more minutely described in the calendar of festal sacrifices in Num 29:2-6. תּרוּעה , a joyful noise, from רוּע to make a noise, is used in Lev 23:24 for שׁופר תּרוּעה , a blast of trumpets. On this day the shophar was to be blown, a blast of trumpets to be appointed for a memorial before Jehovah (Num 10:10), i.e., to call the congregation into remembrance before Jehovah, that He might turn towards it His favour and grace (see at Exo 28:12, Exo 28:29; Exo 30:16); and from this the feast-day is called the day of the trumpet-blast (Num 19:1). Shophar , a trumpet, was a large horn which produced a dull, far-reaching tone. Buccina pastoralis est et cornu recurvo efficitur, unde et proprie hebraice sophar, graece κερατίνη appellatur ( Jerome on Hos. Lev 5:8).

(Note: The word תּרוּעהis also used in Num 10:5-6 to denote the blowing with the silver trumpets; but there seems to be no ground for supposing these trumpets to be intended here, not only because of the analogy between the seventh day of the new moon as a jubilee day and the jubilee year (Lev 25:9-10), but also because the silver trumpets are assigned to a different purpose in Num 10:2-10, and their use is restricted to the blowing at the offering of the burnt-offerings on the feast-days and new moons. To this we have to add the Jewish tradition, which favours with perfect unanimity the practice of blowing with horns (the horns of animals).)

The seventh month of the year, like the seventh day of the week, was consecrated as a Sabbath or sabbatical month, by a holy convocation and the suspension of labour, which were to distinguish the first day of the seventh month from the beginning of the other months or the other new moon days throughout the year. For the whole month was sanctified in the first day, as the beginning or head of the month; and by the sabbatical observance of the commencement, the whole course of the month was raised to a Sabbath. This was enjoined, not merely because it was the seventh month, but because the seventh month was to secure to the congregation the complete atonement for all its sins, and the wiping away of all the uncleannesses which separated it from its God, viz., on the day of atonement, which fell within this month, and to bring it a foretaste of the blessedness of life in fellowship with the Lord, viz., in the feast of Tabernacles, which commenced five days afterwards. This significant character of the seventh month was indicated by the trumpet-blast, by which the congregation presented the memorial of itself loudly and strongly before Jehovah on the first day of the month, that He might bestow upon them the promised blessings of His grace, for the realization of His covenant. The trumpet-blast on this day was a prelude of the trumpet-blast with which the commencement of the year of jubilee was proclaimed to the whole nation, on the day of atonement of every seventh sabbatical year, that great year of grace under the old covenant (Lev 25:9); just as the seventh month in general formed the link between the weekly Sabbath and the sabbatical and jubilee years, and corresponded as a Sabbath month to the year of jubilee rather than the sabbatical year, which had its prelude in the weekly Sabbath-day.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:26-31

On the tenth day of the seventh month the day of atonement was to be observed by a holy meeting, by fasting from the evening of the ninth till the evening of the tenth, by resting from all work on pain of death, and with sacrifices, of which the great expiatory sacrifice peculiar to this day had already been appointed in ch. 16, and the general festal sacrifices are described in Num 29:8-11. (For fuller particulars, see at ch. 16.) By the restrictive אך , the observance of the day of atonement is represented a priori as a peculiar one. The אך refers less to "the tenth day,"than to the leading directions respecting this feast: "only on the tenth of this seventh month...there shall be a holy meeting to you, and ye shall afflict your souls,"etc.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:32

"Ye shall rest your rest,"i.e., observe the rest that is binding upon you from all laborious work.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:33-37

On the fifteenth of the same month the feast of Tabernacles was to be kept to the Lord for seven days: on the first day with a holy meeting and rest from all laborious work, and for seven days with sacrifices, as appointed for every day in Num 29:13-33. Moreover, on the eighth day, i.e., the 22nd of the month, the closing feast was to be observed in the same manner as on the first day (Lev 23:34-36). The name, "feast of Tabernacles"(booths), is to be explained from the fact, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths made of boughs for the seven days that this festival lasted (Lev 23:42). עצרת , which is used in Lev 23:36 and Num 29:35 for the eighth day, which terminated the feast of Tabernacles, and in Deu 16:8 for the seventh day of the feast of Mazzoth , signifies the solemn close of a feast of several days, clausula festi , from עצר to shut in, or close (Gen 16:2; Deu 11:17, etc.), not a coagendo, congregando populo ad festum , nor a cohibitione laboris, ab interdicto opere , because the word is only applied to the last day of the feasts of Mazzoth and Tabernacles, and not to the first, although this was also kept with a national assembly and suspension of work. But as these clausaulae festi were holidays with a holy convocation and suspension of work, it was very natural that the word should be transferred at a later period to feasts generally, on which the people suspended work and met for worship and edification (Joe 1:14; Isa 1:13; 2Ki 10:20). The azareth , as the eighth day, did not strictly belong to the feast of Tabernacles, which was only to last seven days; and it was distinguished, moreover, from these seven days by a smaller number of offerings (Num 29:35.). The eighth day was rather the solemn close of the whole circle of yearly feasts, and therefore was appended to the close of the last of these feasts as the eighth day of the feast itself (see at Num 28 seq.). - With Lev 23:36 the enumeration of all the yearly feasts on which holy meetings were to be convened is brought to an end. This is stated in the concluding formula (Lev 23:37, Lev 23:38), which answers to the heading in Lev 23:4, in which the Sabbaths are excepted, as they simply belonged to the moadim in the more general sense of the word. In this concluding formula, therefore, there is no indication that Lev 23:2 and Lev 23:3 and Lev 23:39-43 are later additions to the original list of feasts which were to be kept with a meeting for worship. וגו להקריב (to offer, etc.) is not dependent upon "holy convocations,"but upon the main idea, "feasts of Jehovah."Jehovah had appointed moadim , fixed periods in the year, for His congregation to offer sacrifices; not as if no sacrifices could be or were to be offered except at these feasts, but to remind His people, through these fixed days, of their duty to approach the Lord with sacrifices. אשּׁה is defined by the enumeration of four principal kinds of sacrifice-burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, slain (i.e., peace-) offerings, and drink-offerings. בּ יום דּבר : " every day those appointed for it, "as in Exo 5:13.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:38-43

" Beside the Sabbaths: "i.e., the Sabbath sacrifices (see Num 28:9-10), and the gifts and offerings, which formed no integral part of the keeping of the feasts and Sabbaths, but might be offered on those days. מתּנות , gifts, include all the dedicatory offerings, which were presented to the Lord without being intended to be burned upon the altar; such, for example, as the dedicatory gifts of the tribe-princes (Num 7), the firstlings and tithes, and other so-called heave-offerings (Num 18:11, Num 18:29). By the " vows "and נדבות , " freewill-offerings, "we are to understand not only the votive and freewill slain or peace-offerings, but burnt-offerings also, and meat-offerings, which were offered in consequence of a vow, or from spontaneous impulse (see Jdg 11:31, where Jephthah vows a burnt-offering). - In Lev 23:39. there follows a fuller description of the observance of the last feast of the year, for which the title, "feast of Tabernacles"(Lev 23:34), had prepared the way, as the feast had already been mentioned briefly in Exo 23:16 and Exo 34:22 as "feast of Ingathering,"though hitherto no rule had been laid down concerning the peculiar manner in which it was to be observed. In connection with this epithet in Exodus, it is described again in Lev 23:39, as in Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36, as a seven days' feast, with sabbatical rest on the first and eighth day; and in Lev 23:40. the following rule is given for its observance: "Take to you fruit of ornamental trees, palm-branches, and boughs of trees with thick foliage, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before the Lord your God seven days, every native in Israel."If we observe that there are only three kinds of boughs that are connected together by the copula ( vav ) in Lev 23:40, and that it is wanting before תם כּפּת , there can hardly be any doubt that הדר עץ פּרי is the generic term, and that the three names which follow specify the particular kinds of boughs. By "the fruits,"therefore, we understand the shoots and branches of the trees, as well as the blossom and fruit that grew out of them. הדר עץ , " trees of ornament: "we are not to understand by these only such trees as the orange and citron, which were placed in gardens for ornament rather than use, as the Chald . and Syr . indicate, although these trees grow in the gardens of Palestine ( Rob ., Pal. i. 327, iii. 420). The expression is a more general one, and includes myrtles, which were great favourites with the ancients, on account of their beauty and the fragrant odour which they diffused, olive-trees, palms, and other trees, which were used as booths in Ezra's time (Neh 8:15). In the words, "Take fruit of ornamental trees,"it is not expressly stated, it is true, that this fruit was to be used, like the palm-branches, for constructing booths; but this is certainly implied in the context: "Take...and rejoice...and keep a feast...in the booths shall he dwell." בּסּכּת with the article is equivalent to "in the booths which ye have constructed from the branches mentioned"(cf. Ges. §109, 3). It was in this sense that the law was understood and carried out in the time of Ezra (Neh 8:15.).

(Note: Even in the time of the Maccabees, on the other hand (cf. 2 Macc. 10:6, 7), the feast of the Purification of the Temple was celebrated by the Jews after the manner of the Tabernacles ( κατὰ σκηνωμάτων τρόπον ); so that they offered songs of praise, holding ( ἔχοντες , carrying?) leafy poles ( θύρσους , not branches of ivy, cf. Grimm. ad l.c. ) and beautiful branches, also palms; in the time of Christ it was the custom to have sticks or poles (staves) of palm-trees and citron-trees ( θύρσους ἐκ φοινίκων καὶ κιτρέων : Josephus, Ant. xiii. 13, 5), or to carry in the hand a branch of myrtle and willow bound round with wool, with palms at the top and an apple of the περσέα (peach or pomegranate?) upon it ( εἰρεσιώνην μυρσίνης καὶ ἰτέας σὺν κράδῃ φοίνικος πεποιημένην τοῦ μήλου τοῦ τῆς Περσέας προσόντος ). This custom, which was still further developed in the Talmud, where a bunch made of palm, myrtle, and willow boughs is ordered to be carried in the right hand, and a citron or orange in the left, has no foundation in the law: it sprang rather out of an imitation of the Greek harvest-feast of the Pyanepsia and Bacchus festivals, from which the words θύρσοι and εἰρεσιώνη sive de tabernaculorum festo ed. Dachs. Utr. 1726, 4.)

The leading character of the feast of Tabernacles, which is indicated at the outset by the emphatic אך (Lev 23:39, see at Lev 23:27), was to consist in "joy before the Lord."As a "feast,"i.e., a feast of joy ( חג , from חגג = חוּג , denoting the circular motion of the dance, 1Sa 30:16), it was to be kept for seven days; so that Israel "should be only rejoicing,"and give itself up entirely to joy (Deu 16:15). Now, although the motive assigned in Deut. is this: "for God will bless thee (Israel) in all thine increase, and in all the work of thine hands;"and although the feast, as a "feast of ingathering,"was a feast of thanksgiving for the gathering in of the produce of the land, "the produce of the floor and wine-press;"and the blessing they had received in the harvested fruits, the oil and wine, which contributed even more to the enjoyment of life than the bread that was needed for daily food, furnished in a very high degree the occasion and stimulus to the utterance of grateful joy: the origin and true signification of the feast of Tabernacles are not to be sought for in this natural allusion to the blessing of the harvest, but the dwelling in booths was the principal point in the feast; and this was instituted as a law for all future time (Lev 23:41), that succeeding generations might know that Jehovah had caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths when He led them out of Egypt (Lev 23:43). סכּה , a booth or hut, is not to be confounded with אחל a tent, but comes from סכך texuit , and signifies casa, umbraculum ex frondibus ramisque consertum ( Ges. thes. s. v.), serving as a defence both against the heat of the sun, and also against wind and rain (Psa 31:21; Isa 4:6; Jon 4:5). Their dwelling in booths was by no means intended, as Bähr supposes, to bring before the minds of the people the unsettled wandering life of the desert, and remind them of the trouble endured there, for the recollection of privation and want can never be an occasion of joy; but it was to place vividly before the eyes of the future generations of Israel a memorial of the grace, care, and protection which God afforded to His people in the great and terrible wilderness (Deu 8:15). Whether the Israelites, in their journey through the wilderness, not only used the tents which they had taken with them (cf. Lev 14:8; Exo 16:1; Exo 18:7; Exo 33:8.; Num 16:26., Lev 24:5, etc.), but erected booths of branches and bushes in those places of encampment where they remained for a considerable time, as the Bedouins still do sometimes in the peninsula of Sinai ( Burckhardt, Syrien, p. 858), or not; at all events, the shielding and protecting presence of the Lord in the pillar of cloud and fire was, in the words of the prophet, "a booth (tabernacle) for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain"(Isa 4:6) in the barren wilderness, to those who had just been redeemed out of Egypt. Moreover, the booths used at this feast were not made of miserable shrubs of the desert, but of branches of fruit-trees, palms and thickly covered trees, the produce of the good and glorious land into which God had brought them (Deu 8:7.); and in this respect they presented a living picture of the plenteous fulness of blessing with which the Lord had enriched His people. This fulness of blessing was to be called to mind by their dwelling in booths; in order that, in the land "wherein they ate bread without scarceness and lacked nothing, where they built goodly houses and dwelt therein; where their herds and flocks, their silver and their gold, and all that they had, multiplied"(Deu 8:9, Deu 8:12-13), they might not say in their hearts, "My power, and the might of mine hand, hath gotten me this wealth,"but might remember that Jehovah was their God, who gave them power to get wealth (Lev 23:17, Lev 23:18), that so their heart might not "be lifted up and forget Jehovah their God, who had led them out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage."If, therefore, the foliage of the booths pointed to the glorious possessions of the inheritance, which the Lord had prepared for His redeemed people in Canaan, yet the natural allusion of the feast, which was superadded to the historical, and subordinate to it, - viz., to the plentiful harvest of rich and beautiful fruits, which they had gathered in from this inheritance, and could now enjoy in peace after the toil of cultivating the land was over, - would necessarily raise their hearts to still higher joy through their gratitude to the Lord and Giver of all, and make this feats a striking figure of the blessedness of the people of God when resting from their labours.

Keil-Delitzsch: Lev 23:44

Communication of these laws to the people.

Constable: Lev 17:1--27:34

II. The private worship of the Israelites chs. 17--27

The second major division of Leviticus deals with how the Israelites were to express their worship of Yahweh in their private lives.

"The first sixteen chapters of Leviticus are concerned primarily with establishment and maintainance [sic] of the relationship between Israel and God. . .

"In chapter 17, the emphasis shifts to the affairs of the everyday life of the Israelites as God's holy people."¹⁸²

In critical circles, scholars are fond of referring to chapters 17-26 as the Holiness Code.¹⁸³

"Leviticus 17-26 has been called the Holiness Code because of the frequency of the occurrence of the phrase, attributed to Yahweh: You shall be holy because I am holy,' which corresponds to the theological theme of the other priestly laws but here receives a special emphasis. One other phrase is characteristic of these chapters: I am Yahweh' (sometimes I am Yahweh your God')."¹⁸⁴

"The section is not as distinctive as some scholars imagine; but it is characterized by moral and ethical instruction (with one chapter on the annual feasts), and it does base moral obligation in the nature of God. This last point is not unique, however. The Ten Commandments are prefaced by the statement I am the Lord your God' (Exod 20:2), and a typical Holiness Code' phrase has already been pointed out in Leviticus 11:44."¹⁸⁵

"The unique feature of the Holiness Code is the fact that in its introduction and throughout its laws, the audience it addresses is not the priests as such but the whole of the congregation. It calls the entire people of God to holiness. As has long been observed, the Holiness Code is not attached directly to the Priestly Code [Exod. 35--Lev. 16]. Between these two legal codes lies a striking account of Israel's offering sacrifices to goat idols' (Lev 17:1-9). Though brief and somewhat enigmatic, this short fragment of narrative, usually taken to be the work of the final composer, portrays the Israelites forsaking the tabernacle and sacrificing outside the camp.' The content of the narrative is similar to the incident of the golden calf: the people forsook the Lord and his provisions for worship and followed after other gods--in this case, the goat idols.' Unlike the narrative of the golden calf, however, which places the blame on the priesthood, this narrative of the goat idols makes the people, not the priests, responsible for the idolatry. Thus within the logic of the text, the incident of the people's sacrificing to the goat idols plays a similar role to that of the priests' involvement in the golden calf. Just as the narrative of the golden calf marked a transition in the nature of the covenant and its laws, so here also the incident of the goat idols marks the transition from the Code of the Priests to the additional laws of the Holiness Code."¹⁸⁶

Note how the three major law collections in the Pentateuch fit into the Sinai narrative.¹⁸⁷

"The placement of the Holiness Code (Lev 17-26) at this point in the narrative, then, plays an important role in the author's strategy. It aptly shows that God gave further laws designed specifically for the ordinary people. These laws are represented in the Holiness Code. Thus, as is characteristic of the Holiness Code, its laws pertain to specific situations in the everyday life of the people."¹⁸⁸

Constable: Lev 23:1-44

C. Sanctification of the Sabbath and the feasts of Yahweh ch. 23

God considered the Israelites (chs. 17-20), the priests, the holy gifts, and the sacrifices (chs. 21-22) as set apart to Him as holy. He regarded certain days and times of the year in the same way (ch. 23). This chapter contains a list of seven festal days and periods of the year when the Israelites were to celebrate holy meetings. These were normally convocations (v. 2) when the Israelites assembled around the tabernacle area. The recurring phrases "holy convocations" and "rest days" indicate that this calendar was primarily for the benefit of the ordinary Israelites rather than for the priests.

"There must be days set apart from the calendar of secular,' self-serving activity so that the servant people might ponder the meaning of their existence and of the holy task to which they had been called."²⁵⁴

The Israelites observed a solar year, which contains 365 days, and a lunar month. Lunar months have 29 and 30 days alternately. The Egyptians followed these alternations carefully giving them six months of 29 days and six months of 30 days. The Israelites followed the Mesopotamians, however, who observed 12 months of 30 days. All three civilizations made up the difference between 12 lunar months and one solar year by inserting another month every few years.²⁵⁵

The chapter begins with an introduction (vv. 1-2) that bears repetition at the end (v. 44).

Constable: Lev 23:1-3

1. The Sabbath 23:1-3

The Sabbath (v. 3) was, of course, a weekly observance in contrast to the other feasts that occurred only once a year. Moses introduced the annual holidays in verse 4. God had prescribed Sabbath observance earlier (Exod. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; 35:2-3; Lev. 19:3). Evidently Moses included it in this list because like the feasts it was a day set apart to God for holy purposes. The Sabbath was a "convocation" in that the people assembled in spirit to remember God's work for them that resulted in their being able to rest. For this convocation the Israelites did not assemble around the tabernacle but observed the day in their own dwellings.

The Sabbath was the heart of the whole system of annual feasts in Israel. The other feasts all related to the central idea of rest that the Sabbath epitomized. They focused the Israelites' attention on other Sabbath-like blessings that Yahweh provided for them.²⁵⁶

Constable: Lev 23:4-8

2. The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread 23:4-8

Verse 4 introduces the seven annual festivals.

In one sense the Passover (Heb. Pesah, v. 5) was the most important feast (cf. Exod. 12:1-28). It commemorated God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery by a powerful supernatural act and His preparation of the nation for adoption as His special treasure.

Jesus died as the Paschal Lamb on Passover in the year He died for our sins (John 19:14; Matt. 26:17-29; cf. 1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).²⁵⁷

The Passover was primarily a time when Israel commemorated the Lord's delivering her from bondage in Egypt. Likewise our worship should include a commemoration of our past salvation from the bondage of sin (cf. Matt. 26:26-29).

"It is noteworthy that the object of faith was not the typology of the sacrifices . . . or a consciousness of the coming Redeemer, but God Himself."²⁵⁸

The day after the Passover marked the beginning of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (vv. 6-14; cf. Num. 28:16-25). This was one of the three feasts that all the adult males in Israel had to attend along with the feasts of Firstfruits and Tabernacles (Exod. 23:17; Deut. 16:16). It was a holy convocation or gathering together of the nation around the sanctuary.

This feast reminded the believing Israelite that he needed to live a clean life since God had redeemed him by the blood of the Passover lamb (cf. 1 Cor. 5:6-8; Gal. 5:9).

Constable: Lev 23:9-14

3. The Feast of Firstfruits 23:9-14

The Feast of Firstfruits included the presentation of firstfruits of the spring barley harvest in the Promised Land. The Israelites also offered a lamb, flour, and wine, all representative of God's provisions of spiritual and physical food and drink for His people (vv. 9-14). They presented this offering on the day after the Sabbath following Passover. The ancients regarded the firstfruits (Heb. Shavuot) as a kind of down payment with more to follow.

Jesus arose from the grave on this day as the firstfruits of those who sleep in death (1 Cor. 15:20).

In modern times it is customary for observant Jews to stay up the entire night of Shavuot studying and discussing the Torah. The tradition that the Israelites had fallen asleep the night before God gave them the Torah and Moses had to awaken them is the basis of this custom.

Constable: Lev 23:15-22

4. The Feast of Pentecost 23:15-22

This festival had several names: Harvest, Weeks, and Pentecost (Gr. pentekostos, meaning "fiftieth"). It fell at the end of the spring harvest 50 days after Passover, namely, the day after the end of the seventh week. Pentecost means fiftieth day. This feast was a thanksgiving festival, and it lasted one day. The people offered God the first fruits of the harvest as a thank offering for His provision for their physical and spiritual needs.

The loaves of bread that the Israelites offered to God (v. 17) contained leaven.

". . . in them their daily bread was offered to the Lord, who had blessed the harvest . . ."²⁵⁹

These were common loaves of daily bread. The Israelites did not cook them specifically for holy purposes. They also presented other accompanying offerings (vv. 18-19).

God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers permanently as the firstfruits of God's blessings on Christians on the Pentecost following our Lord's death and resurrection (Acts 2).

This feast was primarily a time of appreciation for God's present provisions and care. Likewise our worship should include appreciation for these mercies as well.

Constable: Lev 23:23-25

5. The Feast of Trumpets 23:23-25

During the seventh month of Israel's religious calendar three festivals took place. This reflects the importance that God attached to the number seven in the Mosaic economy. Not only was the seventh day special (v. 3) but so were the seventh week (vv. 15-22) and the seventh month.

The Jews celebrated the Feast of Trumpets (Heb. Rosh Hashana) on the first day of this month. After the Babylonian captivity the Jewish civil year began on this day. It became a new year's celebration in Israel's calendar.²⁶⁰

The ram's horns (shophars) that the priests blew on this occasion were quite large and produced "a dull, far-reaching tone."²⁶¹ They called the congregation to turn attention freshly to God and to prepare for the other two festivals of the month and the 12 months ahead. They also signaled God's working again on behalf of His people.

A trumpet will sound calling Christians to meet the Lord in the air (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16-17). It will also assemble the Israelites and herald the Day of the Lord when God will again resume His dealings with His people Israel in Daniel's seventieth week (Jer. 32:37). Some commentators have felt that this event will provide a prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets.

Constable: Lev 23:26-32

6. The Day of Atonement 23:26-32

Moses described this day (Heb. Yom Kippur) in chapter 16 more fully for the priests' benefit. Here he stressed the responsibilities of the average Israelite.

This day was a fast rather than a feast. The people were to "humble" themselves (v. 29), which involved fasting (cf. 16:29). God permitted no ordinary work on this day (vv. 28, 30-32). By this He taught the Israelites that the yearly covering of their sins was entirely His work to which they contributed absolutely nothing (cf. Eph. 2:8-9).

The sacrifices the priests made on this day atoned for all the remaining sins of the believing Israelites that other sacrifices did not cover. However the benefits of the Day of Atonement lasted for only one year.

Prophetically this day will find fulfillment at the second coming of Christ. Then God will purify His people who have returned to Him in repentance and self-affliction as a result of His chastening during the Tribulation period (Zech. 12:10; 13:1; cf. Heb. 9:28).

"The release from the pressure of work and social inequalities, experienced on and through the Sabbath and its sister institutions, could effectively epitomize both past and future divine deliverance."²⁶²

Constable: Lev 23:33-44

7. The Feast of Tabernacles 23:33-44

This feast (Heb. Sukkot) was another very joyous occasion for the Israelites. It was the third fall festival. It commemorated the Israelites' journey from Egyptian bondage to blessing in Canaan. Its other names were the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Ingathering. The people built booths out of branches and lived under these for the duration of this eight-day festival as a reminder of their life in the wilderness. They presented many offerings during this holiday (Num. 29:12-38). In this feast the Israelites' looked backward to the land of their slavery and forward to the Promised Land of blessing. The feast opened and closed with a Sabbath. It was primarily a time of joy since God had just recently provided atonement. It revolved around the harvest of grapes and other fall field products.

". . . in the later postexilic period [it] took on something of a carnival atmosphere."²⁶³

The Israelites will enjoy a similar prolonged period of rejoicing in the Millennium when they will enjoy national blessing as a result of Jesus Christ's atoning work for them (Zech. 14:16). Then the Jews in the millennial kingdom will be believers in Him and therefore redeemed and adopted as His chosen people. However there will be greater blessings on ahead for them in heaven.

God designed this feast primarily as a time of anticipation as well as reflection. Similarly our worship should include the element of anticipation as we look forward to entering into all that God has promised us in the future. The Puritans patterned their Thanksgiving Day feast in New England after this Jewish festival.²⁶⁴

"The dozen feasts of the Hebrew calendar [counting those added later in Israel's history] are pitifully few when compared with the fifty or sixty religious festivals of ancient Thebes, for example."²⁶⁵

Feasts & Fasts in the Early History of Israel
Season	Month			Day(s) of Month	Feast or Fast	Atten-dance by Adult Males
	Sacred	Civil	Modern
Spring	1	7	March/April	14	Passover	Optional
Spring	1	7	March/April	14-20	Unleavened Bread	Required
Spring	1	7	March/April	The day after the Sabbath following Passover	Firstfruits	Optional
Spring	3	9	May/June	4	Pentecost (a.k.a. Harvest, Weeks)	Required
Fall	7	1	September/ October	1	Trumpets	Optional
Fall	7	1	September/October	10	Day of Atonement (the only fast)	Optional
Fall	7	1	September/October	15-21	Tabernacles (a.k.a. Booths, Ingathering)	Required

"When we celebrate Good Friday we should think not only of Christ's death on the cross for us, but of the first exodus from Egypt which anticipated our deliverance from the slavery of sin. At Easter we recall Christ's resurrection and see in it a pledge of our own resurrection at the last day, just as the firstfruits of harvest guarantee a full crop later on (1 Cor. 15:20, 23). At Whitsun (Pentecost) we praise God for the gift of the Spirit and all our spiritual blessings; the OT reminds us to praise God for our material benefits as well."²⁶⁶

Leviticus does not mention the Feast of Purim (lit. lots) that the Jews added to their calendar later in their history (cf. Esth. 9:20-32). Neither does the Old Testament refer to the Feast of Dedication (Heb. Hanakkah) because the Jews instituted it much later in their history. The former feast celebrates the Jews' deliverance from the Persians in Esther's time. The latter feast, often called the feast of lights, commemorates the revolt and victory of the Maccabees (Hasmoneans) against Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria and the rededication of the temple in 165 B.C.²⁶⁷

Guzik: Lev 23:1-44 - The Feasts of the LORD

Leviticus 23 - The Feasts of the LORD

A. Listing of the Feasts.

1. (1-3) The Sabbath.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.'"

a. The feasts of the LORD: This chapter introduces us to the seven annual feasts Israel celebrated. These feasts are rich with symbolic and prophetic significance.

b. The seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest: The Sabbath was not properly a feast, but like the feast days, it was a day set apart unto the LORD, and so a reminder regarding the Sabbath is here.

2. (4-5) The feast of Passover.

These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.

a. On the fourteenth day of the first month: On the Jewish ceremonial calendar, the first month was known as Nisan; Passover was held on the fourteenth of Nisan each year.

b. The Lord's Passover: Passover was meant to commemorate Israel's deliverance from Egypt, and with the sacrifice of the lamb for each family, show how the blood of the lamb averted the judgment of God for each Israelite family.

3. (6-8) The feast of Unleavened Bread.

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.

a. The Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD: The feast of unleavened bread was a week-long celebration the week immediately following Passover (from Nisan 15 to Nisan 21). This feast showed the purity Israel was to walk in (illustrated by eating only bread without leaven, a type of sin) after the blood-deliverance of Passover.

4. (9-14) The feast of firstfruits.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.'"

a. Then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest: The day following Passover's Sabbath was a time to give the firstfruits of the harvest to God. The idea was to dedicate the first ripened stalks of grain to God, in anticipation of a greater harvest to come.

i. "The firstfruits at Passover would be barley, which ripens in the warmer areas as early as March." (Harris)

5. (15-21) The Feast of Pentecost (also called the Feast of Weeks).

And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

a. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD: Fifty days after the feast of firstfruits, at the completion of the wheat harvest, Israel was to celebrate the feast of Pentecost by bringing a new grain offering to the LORD; and by waving two loaves of leavened bread unto the LORD.

6. (22) Generosity to the poor and stranger.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

a. You shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap: This repeats the command of Leviticus 19:9-10; this was a law to provide a means for the poor and the stranger to eat by working for themselves and gleaning what was left behind. This was an appropriate reminder right after the law concerning the harvest feast of Pentecost.

7. (23-25) The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah).

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'"

a. A memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation: On the first day of the month Tishri on the Jewish ceremonial calendar, the feast of trumpets was held; trumpets were blown to gather together God's people for a holy convocation.

8. (26-32) The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath."

a. Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement: On the tenth of Tishri, the people gathered again for a holy convocation; but this was not a celebration feast, but a day to afflict your souls in humble recognition of one's sin and need for atonement.

b. And you shall afflict your souls: The specific priestly procedures for the Day of Atonement were described in Leviticus 16. This passage records the command for the people of Israel to set that day aside as a solemn day of reflection.

9. (33-44) The Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth).

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day; besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD. Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.'" So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

a. The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles: On the fifteenth day of the Jewish month Tishri (on the Jewish ceremonial calendar); the Feast of Tabernacles was a time to rejoice in God's deliverance and provision for Israel during the time of wilderness wandering; a time when having come into the promised land, looking back with gratitude on all God had done to deliver and provide in the tough times of the wilderness.

b. On the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath rest: The Feast of Tabernacles began and ended in rest; it was all about celebration and rest and refreshment.

i. We see here also the great social good God intended in the Sabbath and in the Feasts; in other ancient cultures, there was no day off, and there were no holidays. Here, God commands both holidays and "vacation days" - all centered on Him!

B. The prophetic significance of the feasts of Leviticus 23.

1. Structurally, the first four feasts are linked together, and the last three feasts are also linked - and there is a separation of time between these two groups of feasts.

2. The group of the first four feasts relate to the work of Jesus in His first coming, of His earthly ministry.

a. The feast of Passover clearly presents Jesus as our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God who was sacrificed, and whose blood was received and applied, so the wrath of God would pass us over.

b. The feast of Unleavened Bread relates time of Jesus' burial, after His perfect, sinless sacrifice on the cross, during which He was received by God the Father as holy and complete (the Holy One who would not see corruption, Acts 2:27), perfectly accomplishing our salvation.

i. We may regard the burial (or actually, entombment) of Jesus as a small thing in God's redemptive plan; but it was an essential part of Paul's gospel: For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

c. The feast of Firstfruits relates to the resurrection of Jesus, who was the first human to receive resurrection; He is the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18) and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep . . . Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23)

d. The feast of Pentecost obviously is connected with the birth of the Church and the "harvest" resulting (Acts 2); significantly, in the ceremony at the feast of Pentecost, two unleavened loaves of bread are waved as a holy offering to God, speaking of the bringing of "unleavened" Gentiles into the church.

3. Between the first set of four feasts and the second set of three feasts, there is a significant time gap - almost four months, which, significantly, was a time of harvest in Israel; even as our current age is a time of harvest for the church, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)

4. The second group of the last three feasts relate to events connected with the second coming of Jesus.

a. The feast of Trumpets speaks of the ultimate assembly of God's people at the sound of a trumpet - the rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and of the gathering of Israel for the special purpose God has for them in the last days.

b. The Day of Atonement not only speaks of the ultimate, perfect atonement Jesus offered on our behalf, but also of the affliction - and salvation - Israel will see during the Great Tribulation.

i. It will truly be a time when the soul of Israel is afflicted, but for their ultimate salvation; as Jeremiah 30:7 says regarding that period: Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it, and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

c. The feast of Tabernacles speaks of the millennial rest of comfort of God for Israel and all of God's people; it is all about peace and rest, from beginning to end.

i. Tabernacles is specifically said to be celebrated during the millennium (Zechariah 14:16-19).

5. Significantly, there is good evidence that each of the four feasts relevant to the first coming of Jesus saw their prophetic fulfillment on the exact day of the feast.

a. Jesus was actually crucified on the Passover (John 19:14). His body would have been buried, and His holy and pure sacrifice acknowledged by God the Father during the Feast of Unleavened Bread following, and He would have risen from the dead on Firstfruits, the day after Passover's Sabbath. Additionally, the church was founded on the actual day of Pentecost.

b. For this reason, many speculate it would be consistent for God to gather His people to Himself at the rapture on the day of the feast of trumpets - on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. This can certainly be regarded as a possibility.

© 2004 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Pendahuluan / Garis Besar

JFB: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

LEVITICUS. So called from its treating of the laws relating to the ritual, the services, and sacrifices of the Jewish religion, the superintendence of which was entrusted to the Levitical priesthood. It is chiefly, however, the duties of the priests, "the sons of Aaron," which this book describes; and its claim to be the work of Moses is established by the following passages:-- 2Ch 30:16; Neh 8:14; Jer 7:22-23; Eze 20:11 Mat 8:4; Luk 2:22; Joh 8:5; Rom 10:4; Rom 13:9; 2Co 6:16; Gal 3:12; 1Pe 1:16.

JFB: Leviticus (Garis Besar)

• BURNT OFFERINGS OF THE HERD. (Lev. 1:1-17)
• THE MEAT OFFERINGS. (Lev. 2:1-16)
• THE PEACE OFFERING OF THE HERD. (Lev. 3:1-17)
• SIN OFFERING OF IGNORANCE. (Lev 4:1-2)
• SIN OFFERING FOR THE PRIEST. (Lev. 4:3-35)
• TRESPASS OFFERINGS FOR CONCEALING KNOWLEDGE. (Lev 5:1)
• TOUCHING ANY THING UNCLEAN. (Lev 5:2-3)
• FOR SWEARING. (Lev 5:4-19)
• TRESPASS OFFERING FOR SINS DONE WITTINGLY. (Lev 6:1-7)
• THE LAW OF THE BURNT OFFERING. (Lev 6:8-13)
• THE LAW OF THE MEAT OFFERING. (Lev 6:14-18)
• THE HIGH PRIEST'S MEAT OFFERING. (Lev 6:19-23)
• THE LAW OF THE SIN OFFERING. (Lev 6:21-30)
• THE LAW OF THE TRESPASS OFFERING. (Lev. 7:1-27)
• THE PRIESTS' PORTION. (Lev 7:28-38)
• MOSES CONSECRATES AARON AND HIS SONS. (Lev. 8:1-36)
• THE PRIESTS' ENTRY INTO OFFICE. (Lev. 9:1-24)
• NADAB AND ABIHU BURNT. (Lev. 10:1-20)
• BEASTS THAT MAY AND MAY NOT BE EATEN. (Lev. 11:1-47)
• WOMAN'S UNCLEANNESS BY CHILDBIRTH. (Lev 12:1-8)
• THE LAWS AND TOKENS IN DISCERNING LEPROSY. (Lev. 13:1-59)
• THE RITES AND SACRIFICES IN CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. (Lev. 14:1-57)
• UNCLEANNESS OF MEN. (Lev. 15:1-18)
• UNCLEANNESS OF WOMEN. (Lev 15:19-33)
• HOW THE HIGH PRIEST MUST ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE. (Lev. 16:1-34)
• BLOOD OF BEASTS MUST BE OFFERED AT THE TABERNACLE DOOR. (Lev. 17:1-16)
• UNLAWFUL MARRIAGES. (Lev. 18:1-30)
• A REPETITION OF SUNDRY LAWS. (Lev. 19:1-37)
• GIVING ONE'S SEED TO MOLECH. (Lev. 20:1-27)
• OF THE PRIESTS' MOURNING. (Lev. 21:1-24)
• THE PRIESTS IN THEIR UNCLEANNESS. (Lev 22:1-9)
• WHO OF THE PRIESTS' HOUSE MAY EAT OF THEM. (Lev 22:10-16)
• THE SACRIFICES MUST BE WITHOUT BLEMISH. (Lev. 22:17-33)
• OF SUNDRY FEASTS. (Lev 23:1-4)
• THE PASSOVER. (Lev 23:5-8)
• THE SHEAF OF FIRST FRUITS. (Lev 23:9-14)
• FEAST OF PENTECOST. (Lev 23:15-22)
• FEAST OF TRUMPETS. (Lev 23:23-25)
• OIL FOR THE LAMPS. (Lev. 24:1-23)
• SABBATH OF THE SEVENTH YEAR. (Lev 25:1-7)
• THE JUBILEE. (Lev. 25:8-23)
• OF IDOLATRY. (Lev 26:1-2)
• A BLESSING TO THE OBEDIENT. (Lev 26:3-13)
• A CURSE TO THE DISOBEDIENT. (Lev. 26:14-39)
• CONCERNING VOWS. (Lev. 27:1-18)

TSK: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

Leviticus is a most interesting and important book; a book containing a code of sacrificial, ceremonial, civil, and judicial laws, which, for the purity of their morality, the wisdom, justice, and beneficence of their enactments, and the simplicity, dignity, and impressive nature of their rites, are perfectly unrivalled, and altogether worthy of their Divine Author. All the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law are at once dignified and expressive. They point out the holiness of their Author, the sinfulness of man, the necessity of an atonement, and the state of moral excellence to which the grace and mercy of the Creator have destined to raise the human soul. They include, as well as point out, the gospel of the Son of God; from which they receive their consummation and perfection. The sacrifices and oblations were significant of the atonement of Christ; the requisite qualities of these sacrifices were emblematical of his immaculate character; and the prescribed mode in the form of these offerings, and the mystical rites ordained, were allusive institutions, calculated to enlighten the apprehensions of the Jews, and to prepare them for the reception of the Gospel. The institution of the high priesthood typified Jesus, the Great High Priest, called and prepared of God, who hath an unchangeable priesthood, and is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

TSK: Leviticus 23 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Overview

Lev 23:1, The feasts of the Lord; Lev 23:3, The sabbath; Lev 23:4, The passover; Lev 23:9, The sheaf of first-fruits; Lev 23:15, The feast of Pentecost; Lev 23:22, Gleanings to be left for the poor; Lev 23:23, The feast of trumpets; Lev 23:26, The day of atonement; Lev 23:33, The feast of tabernacles.

Poole: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

THIRD BOOK OF MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS

THE ARGUMENT

This Book, containing the actions of about one month’ s space, acquainteth us with the Levitical ceremonies used after the tabernacle was erected and anointed in the wilderness, and is therefore called LEVITICUS. It treats of laws concerning persons and things, clean and unclean, by infirmity or accident; as also purifyings in general once a year, and divers particular cleansings, with a brief repetition of divers laws, Le 19 , together with certain feasts, of seven years’ rest, of the jubilee, and the redemption of things consecrated to God, &c.; but especially of such ceremonies as were used about offerings and sacrifices, which were both expiatory, for trespasses wittingly or unwittingly committed, whether by the people or the priests; and also eucharistical, in the owning of God’ s blessings. Here are declared also laws for the regulating of these, and prescribing the lawful time for marriages. Here is set down how several abominable sins are punishable by the magistrate; and how these things are to be managed by certain persons appropriated to the tribe of Levi, whose office is confirmed from heaven, and the maladministration of it threatened, and the judgment particularly inflicted on Nadab and Abihu for an example. Here are also promises and threatenings to the observers or breakers of this law.

Poole: Leviticus 23 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

CHAPTER 23

The feasts or, the Lord, Lev 23:1,2 . The sabbath, Lev 23:3 . The passover, Lev 23:4-8 . The sheaf of first-fruits, Lev 23:9-14 . The feast of pentecost, Lev 23:15-21 . Gleanings to be left for the poor, Lev 23:22 . The feast of trumpets, Lev 23:23-25 . The day of atonement, Lev 23:26-32 . The feast of tabernacles, Lev 23:33-43 .

MHCC: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

God ordained divers kinds of oblations and sacrifices, to assure his people of the forgiveness of their offences, if they offered them in true faith and obedience. Also he appointed the priests and Levites, their apparel, offices, conduct, and portion. He showed what feasts they should observe, and at what times. He declared by these sacrifices and ceremonies, that the reward of sin is death, and that without the blood of Christ, the innocent Lamb of God, there can be no forgiveness of sins.

MHCC: Leviticus 23 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

(Lev 23:1-3) The feasts of the Lord, The Sabbath.

(Lev 23:4-14) The Passover, The offering of first-fruits.

(Lev 23:15-22) The feast of Pentecost.

(Lev 23:23-32) The feast of Trumpets, The day of atonement.

(Lev 23:33-44) The feast of Tabernacles.

Matthew Henry: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Third Book of Moses, Called Leviticus

There is nothing historical in all this book of Leviticus except the account which it gives us of the consecration of the priesthood (ch. 8-9), of the punishment of Nadab and Abihu, by the hand of God, for offering strange fire (ch. 10), and of Shelomith's son, by the hand of the magistrate, for blasphemy (ch. 24). All the rest of the book is taken up with the laws, chiefly the ecclesiastical laws, which God gave to Israel by Moses, concerning their sacrifices and offerings, their meats and drinks, and divers washings, and the other peculiarities by which God set that people apart for himself, and distinguished them from other nations, all which were shadows of good things to come, which are realized and superseded by the gospel of Christ. We call the book Leviticus, from the Septuagint, because it contains the laws and ordinances of the levitical priesthood (as it is called, Heb 7:11), and the ministrations of it. The Levites were principally charged with these institutions, both to do their part and to teach the people theirs. We read, in the close of the foregoing book, of the setting up of the tabernacle, which was to be the place of worship; and, as that was framed according to the pattern, so must the ordinances of worship be, which were there to be administered. In these the divine appointment was as particular as in the former, and must be as punctually observed. The remaining record of these abrogated laws is of use to us, for the strengthening of our faith in Jesus Christ, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and for the increase of our thankfulness to God, that by him we are freed from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and live in the times of reformation.

Matthew Henry: Leviticus 23 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Hitherto the levitical law had been chiefly conversant about holy persons, holy things, and holy places; in this chapter we have the institution of holy times, many of which had been mentioned occasionally before, but here they are all put together, only the new moons are not mentioned. All the rest of the feasts of the Lord are, I. The weekly feast of the sabbath (Lev 23:3). II. The yearly feasts, 1. The passover, and the feast of unleavened bread (Lev 23:4-8), to which was annexed the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits (Lev 23:9-14). 2. Pentecost (Lev 23:15-22). 3. The solemnities of the seventh month. The feast of trumpets on the first day (Lev 23:23-25), the day of atonement on the tenth day (Lev 23:26-32), and the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth (Lev 23:33, etc.).

Constable: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

Introduction

Title

The Hebrews derived the title of this book from the first word in it, wayyiqra', translated "And He [the Lord] called" (1:1). "And" or "then" is a conjunction that shows that what follows in Leviticus is a continuation of the narrative of Exodus. There is no break in the flow of thought. This is the third book of the Torah (Law).

The English title comes to us from the Vulgate (Latin version), which called this book Liber Leviticus. The Vulgate title came from the Septuagint (Greek version), which had as the title Leuitikon, meaning "relating to the Levites." This title is appropriate since the book contains requirements of the Mosaic Covenant that relate to the Levites, or more specifically, the priests.

"It would be wrong, however, to describe Leviticus simply as a manual for priests. It is equally, if not more, concerned with the part the laity should play in worship. Many of the regulations explain what the layman should sacrifice. They tell him when to go to the sanctuary, what to bring, and what he may expect the priest to do when he arrives. Most of the laws apply to all Israel: only a few sections specifically concern the priests alone, e.g., chs. 21-22. The lay orientation of the legislation is particularly noticeable in ch. 23, where the whole emphasis lies on the days that must be observed as days of sabbath rest."¹

Date and Writer

As I explained in the notes on Genesis, almost all Jewish and Christian scholars regarded Moses as the writer of all five books of the Law until about 100 years ago.²

God evidently revealed the material Moses recorded in Leviticus after He renewed the covenant with Israel (1:1).

Leviticus is unique in that it is largely a record of God's instructions to Moses.

"There is no book in the whole compass of that inspired Volume which the Holy Spirit has given us, that contains more of the very words of God than Leviticus. It is God that is the direct speaker in almost every page; His gracious words are recorded in the form wherein they were uttered."³

Scope

As mentioned, Leviticus contains revelation that was particularly appropriate for the priests. While ritual and legal matters predominate, Moses wove them into the historical narratives so as one reads Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in order there is chronological movement forward. As we shall see, the legislation appears in the narrative at significant and reasonable places.

"The content of Leviticus supplements and completes that of Exodus in the religious and social spheres--and particularly the religious and ritual aspects of the covenant as made, broken and renewed actually at Sinai; this would be reflected by the terminal blessings and curses of Leviticus 26."⁴

"Leviticus enlarges upon matters involving the ordering of worship at the divine sanctuary that are mentioned only briefly in Exodus. Whereas the latter described the specifications and construction of the tabernacle, Leviticus narrates the way in which the priests are to care for the sanctuary and throne room of the Great King. The work is a fundamentally important legal treatise because it contains the regulations by which the religious and civil life of the Hebrew nation was to be governed once the land of Canaan was occupied."⁵

Historically the book fits within the one month between God's occupation of the tabernacle (Exod. 40:17, 34-38) and the taking of the census at Sinai (Num. 1:1-3). However because it contains so much legal material, we should consider it along with the rest of the Mosaic Law that God began to reveal in Exodus.

"It carries on to its completion the giving of the law at Sinai, which commenced at Ex. 25, and by which the covenant constitution was firmly established."⁶

Purpose

"Though the covenant arrangement up to this point clearly specified the need for Israel, the vassal, to appear before her Lord on stated occasions and singled out first Moses and then the priesthood as mediators in this encounter, there yet remained the need to describe the nature of the tribute to be presented, the precise meaning and function of the priesthood, the definition of holiness and unholiness, and a more strict clarification of the places and times of pilgrimage to the dwelling place of the great King. This is the purpose of the book of Leviticus."⁷

"The central theme of the book is holiness. The book intends to show how Israel was to fulfill its covenant responsibility to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation' (Ex 19:6; Lev 26:5)."⁸

"How to maintain the vital covenantal relationship between the Israelites and their God is the concern of the book of Leviticus."⁹

"New Testament theology makes full use of the idea of holiness. All Christians are holy, saints' in most English translations. That is, they have been called by God to be his people just as ancient Israel had been (Col. 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:2; 2:9-10; cf. Exod. 19:5-6). But this state of holiness must find expression in holy living (Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 1:15). Sanctification is expressed through obedience to the standard of teaching (Rom. 6:17-19), just as in Leviticus through obedience to the law. Peter urges his readers to make the motto of Leviticus their own: Be holy, for I am holy' (1 Pet. 1:16). The imitation of God is a theme that unites the ethics of Old and New Testaments (cf. Matt. 5:48; 1 Cor. 11:1)."¹⁰

". . . the principles underlying the OT are valid and authoritative for the Christian, but the particular applications found in the OT may not be. The moral principles are the same today, but insofar as our situation often differs from the OT setting, the application of the principles in our society may well be different now."¹¹

". . . the Levitical rituals are still of immense relevance. It was in terms of these sacrifices that Jesus himself and the early church understood his atoning death. Leviticus provided the theological models for their understanding. If we wish to walk in our Lord's steps and think his thoughts after him, we must attempt to understand the sacrificial system of Leviticus. It was established by the same God who sent his Son to die for us; and in rediscovering the principles of OT worship written there, we may learn something of the way we should approach a holy God."¹²

Importance

". . . it is no exaggeration to claim that the Book of Leviticus has had more impact on Judaism than any other book of the Old testament. Traditionally it was the first book taught to Jewish children, and over half the commentary of the Talmud is concerned with understanding its contents."¹³

Message¹⁴

The major theme of Leviticus is worship. Moses introduced this theme in the later chapters of Exodus, but he developed it more fully in Leviticus.

The book reveals how sinful Israelites could have a relationship with the holy God who dwelt among them. It also reveals how they could maintain that relationship and express it through worship.

One of the major revelations in Leviticus is the nature of sin. God took the fact that man is a sinner for granted in Leviticus. He established this in Genesis and Exodus. He clarified the nature of man's sinfulness in Leviticus. Sin has a three-fold character.

1. Sin is unlikeness to God. In the Creation we see man made in the image of God, but in the Fall we begin to see man's unlikeness to God. The whole system of worship in Leviticus teaches this truth. God is different from man ethically and morally. The word holy (Heb. kodesh) occurs over 150 times in Leviticus, more than in any other book of the Bible. The word occurs even in the sections of the book dealing with personal hygiene. Holy means pure, unblemished, clean, blameless. The opposite of holy is sinful. It is in contrast with God's holiness that we can understand man's sinfulness. Leviticus reveals the standards by which sinful people could have fellowship with a holy God. These standards and regulations point out the vast difference between the character of man and the character of God. God sees us as His Son as Christians (i.e., "in Christ").

2. Sin is essentially wrong that man does to God. To have a relationship with God, the wrong the redeemed sinner had done to God had to be atoned for. The Israelite did this wrong daily. It was the natural fruit of his sinful nature. Consequently he had to make payment for his sin periodically to God (monthly, seasonally, and yearly). God specified how the sinners were to pay for the wrong done Him, namely, by the offerings and sacrifices specified in the law. In Leviticus we learn that wrong done to another human being is wrong done to God. People belong to God, God gives them their lives in trust, and they bear God's image. When one person violates the basic rights of another, he has wronged not only that person but God too (cf. Gen. 39:9; Ps. 51:4). We too sin daily, but "Jesus paid it all." We could never compensate God adequately for the wrong we do to Him by sinning.

3. Sin results in distance from God. Because man is unlike God in his character, he is separate from God in his experience. The Israelites could not approach God except as God made a way and brought them near to Himself. The levitical system of worship illustrated the distance between man and God due to sin and the need for some provision to bring man back to God. The veil, the curtains, and the priests separated the ordinary Israelite from God. He doubtless sensed his personal separation from God as he participated in worship. Jesus tore the veil in two and opened access to God for us. After the Fall, Adam and Eve hid from God.

Another major revelation in Leviticus is the nature of atonement. Atonement is, of course, the solution to the problems that sin creates. Atonement means satisfaction. God covered the sins of the Israelites until a final, acceptable sacrifice would remove them completely. Old Testament saints obtained salvation on credit. (Ill. of a credit card) Through atonement man who is a sinner could enter into fellowship with God. Three things had to be present to make atonement for sin.

1. There had to be substitution. Every animal sacrifice in Israel involved the substitution of one life for another. A living being had to stand in the sinner's place and take the punishment for his sin. The substitute had to be sinless. Every sacrifice of an animal involved the death of an innocent substitute. Animals do not sin. They are not morally responsible.

2. There had to be imputation. God transferred the guilt of the sinner to his substitute when the sinner personally identified with his substitute by laying his hands on it. This ritual illustrated the transference of guilt for the Israelites.

3. There had to be death. Finally the substitute to which God had imputed guilt had to die. Atonement could not take place without death. The shedding of blood illustrated death. Blood is the essence of life (17:11). Bloodshed was a visual demonstration of life poured out. Sin always results in death (cf. Rom. 6:23). Clearly love lay behind this plan even though Moses did not explain why God provided atonement in Leviticus. God opened the way for sinners to have fellowship with Himself by providing for the covering of sins. God could have preserved His holiness and satisfied the demands of his justice by annihilating every sinner. However, God chose another way because He loves man.

A third major revelation in Leviticus is the nature of redemption. Redemption essentially means purchase. To redeem means to purchase for oneself. When God redeemed Israel in Egypt, He bought the nation for Himself. God then provided freedom so the Israelites could be His special treasure. Leviticus teaches three things about redemption.

1. Redemption rests on righteousness. Leviticus reveals that God did what was right to restore man to Himself. He did not simply dismiss sin as unimportant. He provided a way whereby the guilt of sin could be paid for righteously. Redemption rests on a payment to God, not pity.

2. Redemption is possible only by blood. The sacrificial shedding of blood is the giving up of life. The rites of animal sacrifice portrayed this graphically. People do not obtain redemption when they pour out their lives in service but by life poured out in death (cf. Heb. 9:22). Man's redemption cost God the life of His own Son ultimately.

3. Redemption should produce holiness. Redemption should lead to a manner of life that is separate from sin. Redemption does not excuse us from the responsibility of being holy. It gives us the opportunity to be holy. Holiness of life results from a relationship to God and fellowship (communion) with Him that redemption makes possible.

Redemption deals with the sinner's relationship to God whereas atonement deals with his relationship to sin. You have experienced redemption, but God has atoned for your sins.

I would summarize the message of Leviticus as follows on the basis of this three-fold emphasis on sin, atonement, and redemption. God has made provision for the covering of man's sin so man can have fellowship with God.

Genesis revealed that God made man in His own image to have fellowship with Himself. Man enjoyed that fellowship as long as he trusted and obeyed God. However when man ceased to trust and obey God, sin broke that fellowship. God then proceeded to demonstrate to fallen man that He is trustworthy, faithful. Those individuals who trusted and obeyed Him were able to enjoy fellowship with God again.

Exodus emphasized that God is also sovereign. He is the ultimate ruler of the universe who can and did redeem the nation of Israel. He did this so He could demonstrate to all people of all time how glorious it can be to live under the government of God.

Leviticus deals with how sinners can have fellowship with a holy God. Leviticus clarifies both the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. The proper response of the redeemed sinner to a holy God is worship. Leviticus explains how Israel was to worship God. The Israelites worshipped God under the Old Covenant. Our worship is different because we live under the New Covenant.

Constable: Leviticus (Garis Besar)

Outline

"At first sight the book of Leviticus might appear to be a haphazard, even repetitious arrangement of enactments involving the future life in Canaan of the Israelite people. Closer examination will reveal, however, that quite apart from the division of the work into two basic themes, many of the chapters have their own literary structure. Examples of this can be seen in material patterned after the fashion of a Mesopotamian tablet, with its title, textual content and colophon, as in Leviticus 1:3-7:37-38. Other chapters exhibit a distinct form of construction, which would doubtless prove extremely valuable for purposes of memorizing the contents. Examples of this are to be found in the triadic pattern of the leprosy regulations introduced by the phrase The Lord said to Moses' (Lv. 13:1; 14:1, 33), or the concentric arrangement of propositions (palistrophe) in Leviticus 24:16-22. A particularly attractive literary form is the introverted (chiastic) passage occurring in Leviticus 15:2-30, suggesting considerable artistic ability on the part of the writer."¹⁵

I. The public worship of the Israelites chs. 1-16

A. The laws of sacrifice chs. 1-7

1. The burnt offering ch. 1

2. The meal offering ch. 2

3. The peace offerings ch. 3

4. The sin offerings 4:1-5:13

5. The trespass offerings 5:14-6:7

6. Instructions for the priests concerning the offerings 6:8-7:38

B. The institution of the Aaronic priesthood chs. 8-10

1. The consecration of the priests and the sanctuary ch. 8

2. The entrance of Aaron and his sons into their office ch. 9

3. The sanctification of the priesthood ch. 10

C. Laws relating to ritual cleanliness chs. 11-15

1. Uncleanness due to contact with certain animals ch. 11

2. Uncleanness due to childbirth ch. 12

3. Uncleanness due to skin and covering abnormalities chs. 13-14

4. Uncleanness due to bodily discharges associated with reproduction ch. 15

D. The Day of Atonement ch. 16

1. Introductory information 16:1-10

2. Instructions concerning the ritual 16:11-28

3. Instructions concerning the duty of the people 16:29-34

II. The private worship of the Israelites chs. 17-27

A. Holiness of conduct on the Israelites' part chs. 17-20

1. Holiness of food ch. 17

2. Holiness of the marriage relationship ch. 18

3. Holiness of behavior toward God and man ch. 19

4. Punishments for serious crimes ch. 20

B. Holiness of the priests, gifts, and sacrifices chs. 21-22

1. The first list of regulations for priests 21:1-15

2. The second list of regulations for priests 21:16-24

3. The third list of regulations for priests ch. 22

C. Sanctification of the Sabbath and the feasts of Yahweh ch. 23

1. The Sabbath 23:1-3

2. The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread 23:4-8

3. The Feast of Firstfruits 23:9-14

4. The Feast of Pentecost 23:15-22

5. The Feast of Trumpets 23:23-25

6. The Day of Atonement 23:26-32

7. The Feast of Tabernacles 23:33-44

D. The preparation of the holy lamps and showbread 24:1-9

E. The punishment of a blasphemer 24:10-23

F. Sanctification of the possession of land by the sabbatical and jubilee years ch. 25

1. The sabbatical year 25:1-7

2. The year of jubilee 25:8-55

G. Promises and warnings ch. 26

1. Introduction to the final conditions of the covenant 26:1-2

2. The blessing for fidelity to the law 26:3-13

3. The warning for contempt of the law 26:14-33

4. The objective of God's judgments in relation to the land and nation of Israel 26:34-46

H. Directions concerning vows ch. 27

1. Vows concerning persons 27:1-8

2. Vows concerning animals 27:9-13

3. Vows concerning other property 27:14-29

4. The redemption of tithes 27:30-34

Constable: Leviticus

Leviticus

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Hulbert, Terry C. "The Eschatological Significance of Israel's Annual Feasts." Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1965.

Hulse, E. V. "The Nature of Biblical Leprosy' and the Use of Alternative Medical Terms in Modern Translations of the Bible." Palestine Exploration Quarterly 107 (1975):87-105.

Johnson, James R. "Toward a Biblical Approach to Masturbation." Journal of Psychology and Theology 10:2 (Summer 1982):137-46.

Johnson, Luke T. "The Use of Leviticus 19 in the Letter of James." Journal of Biblical Literature 101:3 (1982):391-401.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

INTRODUCTION.

The Book is called Leviticus : because it treats of the offices, ministries, rites and ceremonies of the Priests and Levites. The Hebrews call it Vayyicra , from the word with which it begins; (Challoner) "and (the Lord) called." The a at the end of this word is printed in a smaller size, to insinuate that little children should begin to read this Book first, if we may give any credit to those who attempt to account for all the irregularities sanctioned by the great Massora! But such irregular letters are the faults of some transcribers, and are of no authority. (Kennicott, Dis. 1.) --- This Book is styled also, "The Priests' Law." (Haydock) --- The seven first chapters explain the sacrifices; the sixteen next, the offices and ordination of the Priests and Levites. From the 23d chapter to the end, the feasts are designated, and some regulations respecting vows are interspersed. All these rites and sacrifices foreshewed the eucharistic sacrifice of Jesus Christ, (St. Leo, ser. 8. de pas. Trid. sef. 22. c. 1.) and tended to keep the Hebrews employed, and at a greater distance from idolatry. (St. Jerome on Isai. i. &c.) --- These prescriptions were given during the month of Nisan, in the second year after the exit, while the Hebrews remained at the foot of Mount Sinai. God spoke from the New Tabernacle. (Tirinus) --- In the Book of Deuteronomy we find but few regulations respecting sacrifices, as Moses had sufficiently explained them in this book. (Du Hamel) --- If we confine ourselves to the letter, we may say these precepts are not good, and carnal; (Ezechiel xx. 25.; Hebrews vii. 16.) but if we consider the spirit, we shall confess that they are excellent, and spiritual. (Romans vii. 14.; 2 Corinthians iii. 6.; Origen, contra Cels. vii.) (Calmet)

Gill: Leviticus (Pendahuluan Kitab)

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS

This book is commonly called by the Jews Vajikra, from the first word with which it begins, and sometimes תורת כהנים, "the law of the priests" ^a; and this is its name in the Syriac and Arabic versions: by the Septuagint interpreters it is called λευιτικον, and by the Latins, Leviticus, or the Levitical book, because it gives an account of the Levitical priesthood, as the apostle calls it, Heb 7:11. It treats of the sacrifices under the Levitical dispensation, and of the priests concerned in them, and of the times and seasons in which they were offered, and of many other rites and ceremonies. That it was wrote by Moses is not only generally believed by the Jews, but is affirmed in the New Testament; see Mat 8:4 compared with Lev 14:2 from whence, as well as from other citations out of it in other places, the authority of it may be concluded. The matter of it was delivered to Moses, and very likely by him then written upon the erection of the tabernacle, which was in the second year of the Israelites coming out of Egypt, in the first month, and the first day of the month, Exo 40:17 and it was on the same day that the Lord spake to Moses out of it, and delivered to him the laws concerning sacrifices, recorded in the first seven chapters; see Num 1:1 compared with Lev 1:1 and on the eighth day of the same month, and some following days, the remainder of it was given to him, and written by him, see Lev 8:1 to which agrees the Targum of Jonathan on Lev 1:1.

"when Moses had made an end of erecting the tabernacle, Moses thought and reasoned in his heart, and said, Mount Sinai, its excellency was the excellency of an hour, and its holiness the holiness of three days, it was not possible for me to ascend unto it, until the time that the Word was speaking with me; but this tabernacle of the congregation, its excellency is an excellency for ever, and its holiness an holiness for ever, it is fit that I should not enter into it, until the time that be speaks with me from before the Lord; and therefore the Word of the Lord called to Moses, and the Word of the Lord spake with him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying;''

and to the same purpose the Jerusalem Targum. It was written in the year from the creation of the world 2514, and about 1490 years before the coming of Christ. The various sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies made mention of in it, were typical of Christ, and shadows of good things to come by him: there are many things in it, which give great light to several passages in the New Testament, and it is worthy of diligent reading and consideration.

Gill: Leviticus 23 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 23

In this chapter an account is given of the several holy days, times, and seasons, appointed by God, under the general names of feasts and holy convocations; and first of the sabbath, Lev 23:1; then of the passover and feast of unleavened bread, Lev 23:5; to which is annexed the sheaf of the firstfruits, Lev 23:9; after that of the feast of weeks or pentecost, Lev 23:15; and of the feast of trumpets, Lev 23:23; and of the day of atonement, Lev 23:26; and of the feast of tabernacles, Lev 23:33.