Feasts of the Israelites

Happy Birthday Judy and Robin! Why birthdays, holidays, feast

days?– We Remember

– We Celebrate–We Believe

Feasts of the Israelites

Pre-exilic Feasts– The Sabbath

– Passover and Unleavened Bread

– Pentecost

– Tents or Tabernacles

– New Year Feast?

– Enthronement of Yahweh?

Feasts of the Israelites

Later Old Testament Feasts– Day of Atonement

– Hanukkah

– Purim

Jewish Calendars

Elohist Code (Exod 23:14-17)– Prescribes a hag or pilgrimage three times

a year Pilgrimage of the unleavened bread in the

month of Abib or Nisan (March – April - May)

Pilgrimage of the grain harvest (late spring)

Pilgrimage of the fruit harvest (autumn)

Jewish Calendars

Yahwist Code (Exod 34:18-23)– Same as Elohist with slight variances

Pilgrimage of the grain harvest the Feast of Weeks

Pilgrimage of the fruit harvest remembered at the turn of the year (also means close of the year)

– In reality the dates were not fixed, but moved in accordance with the agricultural seasons

– Each locale actually determined its own dates within the prescribed seasons before centralization of worship

– The pilgrimage was to a local shrine

Jewish Calendars

Deuteronomic Code (Deut 16:1-7) Introduces slight changes to the Elohist and Yahwist

codes, primarily around the location of the pilgrimage, “in the place in which he (Yahweh) will choose”

– Three Annual Pilgrimage Feasts Passover joined with Unleavened Bread Weeks (takes place seven weeks after the beginning

of the grain harvest) Tabernacles or Tents (corresponds to the fruit harvest

Jewish Calendars

Priestly Collection– More precise in regards to dates– Belongs to a new calendar (Babylonian) … year

begins in the spring instead of the autumn)– Problematic because Lev 23 indicates the calendar

of a combination of two sources: two titles (vv 2 and 4) and two endings (vv 37 and 44) two sets of prescriptions for the Feast of Tabernacles

(vv 34 and 36 plus 39-43)

Jewish Calendars

Priestly Code Sources– Holiness Code from the end of the Royal priesthood

period (Lev 4: 3, 35)– Exilic and post-exilic additions

– Royal Priesthood Breakdown Passover (4 - 8) … celebrated on the 14th of Nisan …

followed by the ancient week long feast of Unleavened Bread

Weeks (16 – 21a) … celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Tabernacles (34b – 36) … begins on the 15th of Tishri (September/October) and lasts for seven days followed by a day of rest

Jewish Calendars

– Royal Priesthood Breakdown (Post-exilic Feasts)

Sabbath (3)

Feast of Sheaf (10 -15)

Celebration of the first of Tishri (24 – 25)

Day of Atonement (27 – 32) … 10th of Tishri and a different ritual for the Feast of Tabernacles

The Priestly Collection Prevailed!

Feasts of the Israelites

Sabbath (Shabbat)

Genesis 2:3 … Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

Exodus 20:8-10 … “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God”

Jewish tradition … Sabbath begins on Friday evening and ends 25 hours later.– All work ceases during this period– Welcomed with a small ceremony during which the mother blesses the

Lord as she lights two candles, the parents bless their children, and the father blesses and shares wine and bread among the family members.

– Much of the day is spent in the synagogue, the rest in the home with family and friends

Havdalah marks the end of the Sabbath at around sunset on Saturday.

Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot) Sometimes linked with the Passover, but it is its own feast Leviticus 23:6 …“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”– When Israelites were preparing to leave Egypt, they were commanded to remove all traces of

leaven (symbolic for sin) from their homes – as the Angel of Death passed over the homes with blood on the doorposts, the lack of Leaven

further signified their righteousness

Unleavened bread was eaten with roasted Passover Lamb on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month

– Reflects suddenness of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt– Bread simply did not have time to rise– Israel’s final deliverance may be as sudden and unexpected

Exodus 12:39 … “And they baked unleavened bread cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.”

Today, those who keep feast purchase unleavened bread called Matza (Kosher for Passover)

– All non-Kosher product covered up for the duration of the week. Ordinary bread can be found nowhere in the home

Passover (Pessach)

Combined with the Feast of Unleavened Bread Pertinent Scriptures (Priestly tradition) … Leviticus 23:5-8, Numbers

28:16-25, Exodus 12:1-20, 40-51. Celebrated with the full moon of the first month of the year, Nisan

(March –April) – On the tenth of Nisan an unblemished male, one year old lamb was

selected– At twilight on the fourteenth day the lamb was slaughtered and the blood

was sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts of the house During the night of the full moon the lamb was roasted and eaten No bones could be broken Whatever was leftover had to be burned Unleavened bread and bitter herbs were part of the meal Had to dressed as if ready for a journey

Passover (PessacH)(Continued)

Deuteronomy 16:1-8 (Deuteronomic Tradition melds two feasts … Passover and Unleavened Bread) … “Observe the month of Abib by keeping the Passover of the Lord, your God, since it was in the month of Abib that he brought you out of Egypt. You shall offer the Passover sacrifice from your flock or your herd to the Lord, your God, in the place which he chooses as the dwelling place of his name. You shall not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days, you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction …”

In the place which he chooses … is the Temple

This tradition is followed under Josiah (2 Kings 23:21-23) ( 2 Chronicles 35:1-18)

Exodus 12:13, 23, 27 (Popular explanation)– Linked with the destroying angel passing by the homes of

Hebrews during the execution of plague ten– No other Israelite ritual parallels the Passover

Passover celebration is called the Seder meaning order in which the feast is conducted– Begins at sundown and is conducted from the Haggadah

(the Telling) – Seder plate is the centerpiece of the table with five dishes

around a bowl of salt water– Each dish holds an item with significant meaning

Passover (Pessach)(Continued)

Feast of Weeks (ShavuoT) Deuteronomy 16:9-10 … “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the

seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.”

Leviticus 23:15-16 … “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 that day after the seventh Sabbath; the you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.”

Shavuot is sometimes know as Pentecost because it falls on the 50 th day after the Passover

Jews count off the days separating the Feast of Unleavened Bread from Shavuot called “counting the Omer”

– Starts on the second day of Passover and continues to the day before Shavuot, 49 days or seven full weeks– Links Passover (delivered Jews from physical slavery) and Shavuot (freed Jews from slavery to idolatry and

immortality

Falls on the 6th day of the month of Sivan – Work is forbidden– Jews will stay awake through the first night of Shavuot and study the Torah, then pray as early as possible in the

morning – Book of Ruth is read at this time

One dairy meal is eaten at this time to remind them of the promised Land that flows with milk and honey

Feast of BoothsSukkot Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles Also associated with the Feast of Ingathering (Chag HaAsif) Fall feast of eight days which marked the fruit, olive, wine and late grain

harvests (September/early October)– Deuteronomy 16:13 … “You shall celebrate the feast of booths for seven days

when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and wine press … For seven days you shall celebrate this pilgrim feast in honor of the Lord, your God, in the place where he chooses; since the Lord, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in all your undertaking, you shall do naught, but make merry.”

Hebrews of Exodus lived in booths for 40 years as a result of their unbelief and disobedience

Sukkah (better translated as shed or shack) is a place where the Jews ate meals in this time of transitory life

Tabernacle is translated as Mishkan or “tent of meeting” Booths are temporary structures

Feast of BoothsSukkot (continued)

Seventh of the seven feasts in the Torah– Seven denotes completeness– Living and eating in the Sukkot is a reminder that our life is only

temporary Pictorial ritual using a citron and branches from three trees, bound

together, represent four sorts of people bound together is one Jewish nation under God’s care– Etrog (sweet smell and taste) = people who read the Torah and do good

… Citron is a citrus fruit looks like a lemon– Lulav (sweet taste and no smell) = people who read the Torah and don’t

do good … Date palm branches/leaves– Hadas (no taste and sweet smell) = people who don’t read Torah and do

good … Myrtle branches/leaves– ARaVah (no taste and no smell) … people who don’t read the Torah or do

good … Willow branches/leaves God looks after us and wants us to be like the Etrog

Day of Atonement(Yom Kippur) Leviticus 16:29-31… “This shall be a statute forever for you: In the

seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever ...”

Celebrated on the ninth day of Tishri– Often called holiest day of Jewish calendar

Yom Kippur is the end of a ten day period, known as the Days of Awe– Begins with the Feast of Trumpets– Period of deep soul searching for understanding of how a Jewish person

has lived their life in the previous year– A time to mend broken relationships

New Moon

Commemoration to Yahweh on the first day of each month

Number 28:11-15 … “On the first of each new month you shall offer as a holocaust to the Lord two bullocks, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling rams with three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as the cereal offering for the ram …”

Begins on the first of each month at the new moon beginning on the evening when the crescent of the new moon first appears

Not much background on this feast

JubileeSabbath of Sabbath Year Leviticus 25:8 … “Seven weeks of years shall you count – seven

times seven years – so that the seven cycles amount to 49 years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land. The fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.” – All land is to be returned to its original owner

– All Israelite salves were to be freed

Belonged to the Priestly source which is concerned with observing holy seasons and periodization of history.

Produce of the sixth year would suffice for the seventh year

Feast of TrumpetsRosh Hashanah Leviticus 23:24-25 … Speak to the children of Israel saying, “In the seventh

month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbathrest, a memorial of blowing trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.”

Blowing of a ram’s horn is associated with ushering in biblical festivals– Shofar is a ram’s horn … connects with God’s provision to Abraham of a ram

sacrifice, in place of his own son, Isaac

Shofor – Symbolizes freedom and liberty

– Proclaims the anniversary of the creation of the world

– Reminds the Israelites of the ten commandments at Mt Sinai

– Sound will chase Satan away

– On Rosh Hashanah the ram’s horn is blown some 100 times … sounded to inspire Israel to amend their lives

Festival of Lights(Chanukah) John 10:22-23 … “The Feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It

was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.” – Only reference in the Bible

Celebrates the events of a revolt led by Judah Macabee in 165 BC (1 Maccabees 4:52-59) against the Greeks who built an image of Zeus on top of the temple altar and desecrated the temple by sacrificing pigs. Fulfilled the book of Daniel

– Temple is cleansed and rededicated; however, there was only enough purified olive oil to light the Menorah (seven branch candelabra) in the Temple for one day

– Required eight days to purify– The Menorah (lampstand) burned miraculously for eight days

Falls on the 25th of Kislev (November or December)– Celebrated for eight days– A nine candle holder is used (Chanukah) with one extra candle being lit each day– Ninth candle is called the servant candle (ha Shamash) … used to light the other candles …

servant candle is interesting to the Christian who remembers the Suffering Servant who came to be the light of the world.

– Celebrated with foods cooked in oil, especially doughnuts– Children play with a driedel (spinning top) which has four letters that represent four word

Ness = miracle … Gadol = great … Hayah = happened … Sham = here Translated “A great miracle happened here.”

First Fruits (Bikurim) Leviticus 23:14 … 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 first fruits 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.”

Occurs immediately after the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread– A holy convocation, a Sabbath– Included a sheaf of wheat, a male lamb less than a year old, a cake of grain mixed with oil, and

about three-and-a-half liters of wine.

Israelites could not enjoy leavened bread (after the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread) until after they offered the first fruits to the Lord

– Leviticus 23:“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.”

First Fruits also is noted in 1 Corinthians 15 where Jesus is called the Firstfruits– Day on which Jesus was found to be risen from the dead

Works Cited and Other Resources

Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.

Anderson, Bernhard. Understanding the Old Testament. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 1998.

“Feast Days of Israel.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Ed. Raymond Brown. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 1990.

Goodenough, Stan. “The Biblical Feasts.” His People Israel My Beloved My Beloved. http://www.israelmybeloved.com/channel/his_people