Leviticus 23

God-appointed special times or festivals

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

23:1 In the first few chapters of Leviticus we saw that one kind of sacrifice alone could not signify all that the Lord Jesus did for sinners in His one sacrifice (note at 1:2). In this chapter we can see that one feast or festival or holy day alone cannot signify all that God wants for His people. There were seven of these times of observance for the whole nation. They covered the great events of Israel’s past, present and future. All these times of observance signify great spiritual realities revealed in the New Testament. All speak of Christ and His believers. The order of these feasts is also significant.⚜

2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, These are the LORD’s feasts, my feasts, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations.

Sabbath

3 “Work is to be done on six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work in it; it is the LORD’s Sabbath in all places where you live.

23:3 The seven feasts or festivals were in addition to the usual Sabbaths mentioned here.🪶

Passover and Unleavened Bread

4 “These are the LORD’s feasts, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons: 5 In the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.

23:5Ex 12:3-13, 21-27. This was a yearly reminder of their deliverance from slavery and death. The Passover signifies Christ, the Passover for believers, slain for them (1 Cor 5:7). The bondage of Israel in Egypt speaks of the bondage of sin. Egypt symbolizes this present evil world, the kingdom of Satan. Christ shed His blood to redeem and rescue us from this world system (1 Pet 1:18-19; Matt 20:28; Gal 1:4; Titus 2:14). In saving His people this was the first great work of the incarnate Christ. The Passover took place on the 14th day of the first month. It was also called the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread. Christ was crucified at the time of the Passover (Matt 26:17-20; 27:1-2).🪶

6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no heavy work in it, 8 but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no heavy work in it”.

23:6-8 The second festival was that of Unleavened Bread (Ex 12:14-20; 23:15; 34:18; Num 28:16-25; Deut 16:3-8). It was actually a continuation of the Passover. The first day was a rest day signifying, perhaps, Christ’s rest in the tomb after His crucifixion. See note on unleavened bread at Ex 12:8. Israel was to observe this feast and for seven days eat bread made without yeast. Seven signifies a complete time.⚜

Firstfruits

9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you have entered the land which I am giving to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest; 11 and he shall wave the sheaf in the LORD’s presence for you to be accepted. The priest shall wave it on the day following the Sabbath. 12 And on that day when you wave the sheaf you shall offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD.

23:12 Note at Lev 1:3.🪶

13 And its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD as a soothing aroma; and its drink offering shall be a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 And until the day you bring an offering to your God you shall not eat bread, or roasted grain, or any product of the field. This shall be a regulation forever throughout your generations in all the places you live.

23:9-14 This festival or holy day took place on the “day after the Sabbath”. If this Sabbath is the one mentioned in v 7, this would mean that the feast of Firstfruits took place on the 16th of the month. The Passover was on the 14th. In other words beginning with the Passover this was the third day, the day on which Christ rose from the dead (Matt 16:21; 17:23; 27:64; 28:1; 1 Cor 15:3-4). This feast of Firstfruits signifies Christ the first of all those who rise from the dead never to die again (1 Cor 15:20-23; Rev 1:5).🪶

Pentecost

15 “And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count off seven full Sabbaths. 16 You shall count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.

17 You shall bring out of the places where you live two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with yeast; they are the firstfruits to the LORD. 18 And with the bread you shall offer seven lambs a year old, without blemish, and one young ox, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offering, and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD. 19 Then you shall sacrifice one young goat as a sin offering, and two lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And 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. 21 And on the same day you shall make a proclamation; it is to be a holy convocation for you. In it you shall do no heavy work. It shall be a regulation forever in all the places you live throughout your generations.

23:15-21 This feast was called Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth (day)”. It took place exactly fifty days after the feast of Firstfruits. Israel was to offer new grain to the Lord (v 16). This feast also was in some way like Firstfruits (v 17). Fifty days after the Lord Jesus rose from the dead the Holy Spirit came upon His waiting disciples (Acts 2:1-4). This was a new beginning. This age of the New Covenant, the age of grace, began then. The bread was to be taken with yeast (v 17) because it represented believers and there is still some evil in them. Note on yeast at Ex 12:8.🪶

22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field; and when you reap you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God”.

23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a reminder by the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no heavy work in it; but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD”.

23:23-25 Num 29:1-6. The feast or festival of Trumpets was the fifth feast. It took place nearly 4 months after the feast of Pentecost. Not much is said of it in the Bible and its symbolism is not explained. But in general the blowing of trumpets had several meanings.

It signified war (Num 10:9; Jer 4:19);

assembling the people and moving on (Num 10:1-18);

announcement of a king (1 Kings 1:34, 39; 2 Kings 9:13); manifestation of God’s majesty and power (at Sinai – Ex 19:16);

proclaiming the great festivals of Israel (Num 10:10; 2 Chron 29:27).

The feast of trumpets took place at the start of the seventh month. Seven signifies a complete period of time. The last two festivals also were in the seventh month. A complete period of time from the earlier festivals of the Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits as fulfilled spiritually in the New Testament would put the feast of Trumpets at the end of this church age. Then (if we follow the meaning of trumpet blasts in the Old Testament) we should have a final call to war, the gathering of God’s people, the appearance of a king, the manifestation of the majesty and power of God, the overthrow of the ungodly, and a great festival of rejoicing for God’s people. According to the New Testament this is exactly what will take place at the end of this age (Rev 11:15-18; 16:12-16; Matt 24:30-31; Rev 19:11-17; 20:6).🪶

Atonement

26 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Also on the tenth day of that seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. And you shall humble your souls, and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. 28 And on that day you shall do no work, for it is the Day of Atonement, for making atonement for you in the presence of the LORD your God. 29 For any person who will not humble themselves on that day shall be cut off from among his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no kind of work. This is to be a statute forever throughout your generations in every place you live. 32 It shall be a Sabbath of rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves. You shall celebrate your Sabbath on the ninth day of the month beginning in the evening, from evening to evening”.

23:26-32 Ex 30:10; Lev 16:29-34; Num 29:7-11. The sixth appointed time was the Day of Atonement. It also took place in the seventh month. If the order of Christ’s actual work for sinners is followed, the day of atonement should come with the first three feasts in the first month of the year. For it was on the cross that Christ shed His blood and soon after entered heaven (Heb 9:11-14). But if we carefully study Leviticus chapter 16 we can see that part of the ritual on the day of atonement took place after the high priest had made atonement in the Most Holy Place and came out (Lev 16:20-22). That is, confession of the sins of Israel took place after that atonement was made and after the high priest appeared again. Here in chapter 23 God gave the order in which these holy days should be observed because He wanted us to learn something by it.

By placing the day of atonement as the sixth in the order, and in the seventh month, surely God would have us look for part of the symbolism of that day to be fulfilled at the end of this age.

Notice that the matter emphasized here in vs 26-32 is the humbling of themselves by the people of Israel and their observance of rest. The day of atonement was also a day of national confession and mourning and repentance. For these reasons it is very probable that this day here signifies the repentance of Israel at the end of this age described in Zech 12:10—13:1 and considered, it seems, in Rom 11:25-27 (see notes on those verses). On that day they will partake of the atonement and receive their long rejected Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and find rest in Him.🪶

Tabernacles

33 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month begins the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD, which goes on for seven days. 35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no heavy work in it. 36 For seven days you shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD; the eighth day shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a day of solemn assembly, and you shall do no heavy work in it.

37 “These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations for presenting an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering, and a grain offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its day. 38 This is in addition to the Sabbaths of the LORD, and in addition to your regular gifts and all your vows and all your freewill offerings which you give to the LORD.

39 “Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep a feast to the LORD for seven days. The first day shall be a Sabbath and the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. 40 And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the fruit of choice trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows from the brook, and shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God for seven days. 41 And you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall stay in booths seven days; all native-born Israelites shall stay in booths 43 so that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel stay in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God”.

23:33-43 Deut 16:13, 16; Ezra 3:4; Neh 8:14; John 7:2. The seventh and last feast, the feast of Tabernacles or Booths, was five days after the Day of Atonement. That is, it signifies an event at the end of this age. Zech 14:16 is especially meaningful here. It speaks of a time in the future, after the repentance of Israel at the end of this age, and after the return of Christ to reign as king (Zech 12:10-14; 14:4-9). So this feast looked back to Egypt and its bondage and misery (vs 42,43), but forward to the gathering of Israel to joyfully worship the king, the Lord Jesus Christ as He reigns on the earth. The feast was to be for seven days – a complete and perfect period of time.🪶

44 And Moses announced the feasts of the LORD to the children of Israel.