CSSA 1-1-25 - THE THREE FEASTS OF ISRAEL

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25. THE THREE FEASTS OF ISRAEL

"Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing that Yahweh thy God hath given thee."

Aim

To show how Israel, when finally settled in the land of promise, were to worship God as a nation by keeping the Feasts set out in the Law given to Moses.

God wrote the ten commandments on two tables of stone, and also gave Moses many other laws to guide the people in their daily living: how they were to treat neighbours, how to plant and look after their crops when they reached the Promised Land and many other laws too. If the people obeyed the Law of God, they could look forward to a wonderful future. God would bless them with plentiful harvests, good health and safety from their enemies (Ex. 34:24).

There were also important rules for worship. One of these was that three times each year every man had to appear before God at the place He appointed (Deut. 16:16). These times were known as the 'Feasts of Yahweh'. Although they were called 'Feasts', it was not intended that the people should spend all their time eating and making merry. They were times of solemn assembly, when they gathered together and soberly thought on God's Word and rejoiced together because of the hope they shared. They would look forward to the time when the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be fulfilled and all the earth would be filled with God's Glory (Num. 14:21).

Leviticus 23

THE FEAST OF PASSOVER: Leviticus 23:4-8

The feast of Passover was celebrated every year on the fourteenth day of the first month, the same day on which the Passover Lamb was first killed and eaten in Egypt. It was to be a memorial or reminder, to the children of Israel of the night the angel of God passed over and spared the Hebrew people, when the firstborn men and beasts in Egyptian homes were destroyed. The blood of a lamb had been sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels of the Hebrews € homes, and they were saved from God's terrible judgments.

At the same time each year, every family in Israel was to kill a lamb, roast it, and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The children would be taught how God had brought their fathers out of Egypt with a great deliverance. To celebrate this feast (and the other feasts) the people were to gather "in the place where I have set my name". This was in and around the Tabernacle, after Israel had settled in the land.

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST (OR WEEKS): Lev. 23:9-22

The children of Israel were to count seven weeks starting from the day after Passover feast. The next day, following the seven weeks (making fifty days in all) was celebrated as the 'Feast of Weeks'. In the New Testament it is called 'Pentecost' which means 'fiftieth' day.

This feast was a time of gladness and thanksgiving. It gave the people an opportunity together to praise God for His great blessings at harvest time. It was to teach them that all good things come from God and they should always thank Him, recognising from Whom all blessings come. The wheat crop would have been harvested by the time of this feast, but before the people could eat any of the grain themselves, they had first to offer to God. Some of the grain was made into flour for making two loaves or cakes which were offered to God. This was to teach the lesson that God must always come first. If we give to God the best, He will see that there is always enough for us.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES: Leviticus 23:24-44

The great Day of Atonement was on the tenth day of the seventh month and the Feast of Tabernacles took place on the fifteenth day of the same month. It was the end of the farming year when all the harvest was complete.

The grapes, olives and figs were all gathered in before the rain came. The word Tabernacle' or booth, as it is called, means 'a little shelter', just like the ones they made at Succoth (meaning 'booths'). See Lesson 18. At this time a great many sacrifices and offerings were made and no work was permitted to be done. On the first day they were to take "the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees and willows of the brook", and make booths for their families. They were to sit and speak of the time when God brought them out of Egypt and tell the story all over again, remembering that their fathers had lived in booths or huts when God first delivered them from Egypt. "Ye shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days" (v.40).

LESSON FOR US

Many centuries after the giving of the Law of Moses, God had to send His prophet Malachi to tell the people of Israel how they had failed to keep God's Laws. They were still coming to the temple and offering sacrifices to God and keeping His feasts, but they were not giving to God their best, nor did they serve Him in love. They were giving sick and deformed animals in sacrifice instead of unblemished and God said, "Ye have robbed me" (Mal. 3:9-10). The people thought it foolish to burn good animals in sacrifice. They were putting themselves first and giving God something they did not want anyway. But God said, if the people repented and brought their best to Him in love, He would pour out a blessing upon them, so that their storehouse would not be able to hold their harvests.

We must learn that we too can rob God if we fail to give Him our best. Jesus taught the same principles: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). God will see to it that all our daily needs are supplied, as long as we put Him first in our hearts and minds.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

When the children of Israel came into Canaan, they were to settle on the land as farmers. Their year would be spent in preparing the soil, planting and eventually harvesting. This of course would be a time of rejoicing for the reaping of the harvest is the fruit of one's work.

The feasts of Yahweh all had a particular place in this agricultural year for a special reason. God is like a farmer who plants good seed (the good news of the Kingdom and the things about the name of Jesus Christ). He provided servants such as the prophets and apostles who cared for the growth of the plant (ie the Word in the hearts of people) until the time of harvest (when Jesus Christ returns to the earth) (Matt. 13:38-43).

This harvest will be of people, who in their life have loved God and obeyed Him, having always given Him their best. These people will be given a place in His glorious kingdom which shall last for a thousand years, at the end of which, God will again gather the last of His great harvest - the righteous mortal people who live during the Kingdom. When all are finally gathered, just as the last of the harvests of the Feast of Tabernacles were gathered in, there will be a time of rejoicing such as never was before, for the purpose of God with creation will then be complete: "Truly as I live", said God, "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh. € (Num. 14:21).

QUESTIONS

Short Answers

1. 1. 1. 1. What sort of laws did God give to Moses beside the ten commandments ?
        
        What did God promise the people if they kept His law?
        
        How many times a year were the males to come up to worship?
        
        What were the names of the three most important feasts?
        
        What important time in the history of Israel was to be remembered by keeping the Passover Feast?
        
        What was the other name for the Feast of Weeks?