Slices
Prepare
How do you celebrate your favourite time of the Christian year?
Bible passage
The appointed festivals
23 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
The Sabbath
3 ‘“There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.
The Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 ‘“These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: 5 the Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do not do any of your ordinary work. 8 For seven days present a food offering to the Lord. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do not do any of your ordinary work.”’
Offering the Firstfruits
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of one fifth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil – a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma – and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
The Festival of Weeks
15 ‘“From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count seven full weeks. 16 Count fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of one fifth of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings – a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and not do any ordinary work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
22 ‘“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.”’
Explore
After a reminder of the importance of the sabbath rest principle (v 3), the people of Israel are given an annual calendar of feast days on which the whole nation should gather before God. Today we look at the ones that fall in spring (in the northern hemisphere); tomorrow’s reading looks at the autumn festivals. For the spring feasts there are clear parallels in the New Testament.
The first to be celebrated are Passover and the associated Feast of Unleavened Bread, reminders of their miraculous escape from Egypt (vs 4–8). For Paul, Christ is the Passover Lamb, for whom we should remove the leaven of evil from our lives (1 Corinthians 5:7,8).
The Feast of Firstfruits (vs 9–14) marked a time when harvest was begun with an offering to the Lord, before any produce was used for human consumption (v 14). Paul sees Christ’s resurrection as the first fruit of the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:23).
Fifty days later the Feast of Weeks marks the completion of the harvest and celebrates the Lord’s provision (v 16). With this, there is a reminder to leave the edges of fields (v 22); thanksgiving goes hand in hand with concern for the poor. This feast became known as Pentecost, and it was on this feast that the Holy Spirit was given to the first believers (Acts 2:1–4).
Respond
Meditate on one of the feast days. Imagine being a participant in the celebration, then rejoice in its fulfilment in Christ.
Deeper Bible study
How important are national holidays to you? How do you usually celebrate in your family?
This chapter deals with the seven high holy days of Jewish worship, effectively statutory holidays for the nation. On the eve of their escape from slavery in Egypt, the children of Israel slaughtered a lamb, and every household smeared its blood on the sides and the tops of the doorframes of their houses.1 That night, the Lord went through the land of Egypt, bringing sorrow to every home, but passed over those which had the mark of the lamb – hence the ‘Passover’ festival.2 With the new nation dating its religious calendar year from that experience, it is like the Christmas, New Year and Easter festivals all rolled into one.
The festivals of the Firstfruits and of Weeks are both harvest festivals. It was only fitting that the children of Israel should bring the first fruits of their harvest to the Lord in thanksgiving, and to do so for every harvest, year in, year out. The sheaf and the loaves of the wave offering (vs 11,17) were of barley, which was the first crop to ripen.3 After seven full weeks, on the fiftieth day (v 16; Pentēkostē in Greek) they had a second harvest thanksgiving – for wheat.
For us, Jesus Christ presented himself as the Paschal Lamb at the Last Supper. It is on account of his blood that the Lord passes over those of us who accept his sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. Significantly, Pentecost was the day God chose for the start of the harvest of souls, when people came to faith from different tribes and tongues.4 They were the first fruits of the great multitude of whom we read in the book of Revelation.5
When is the next statutory holiday? Whatever may be its origin, you can plan to put as much spiritual content into the celebration as possible.
1 Exod 12:5–7 2 Exod 12:29,30 3 See Exod 9:31,32 4 Acts 2:1–12 5 Rev 7:9,10
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Judges 21; Mark 7
Pray for Scripture Union
The GW Tracks mountain biking holiday finished last weekend. Please pray for the young people as they go back to school, that they will hold onto the truths that they have learned and be encouraged to keep following Jesus.
