02/08/08: Leviticus 23
Chapter 23:
Ted: Leviticus 23 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. It describes the main holy days, feasts, and festivals of the year, during which God expected certain activities and observances to be performed. The weekly Sabbath (seventh day of the week) was a regular day of cessation from weekly activities (Lev. 23:3). A few of the other days of commemoration were considered to be "special Sabbaths."
The Passover (Lev. 23:5), Feast of Unleavened Bread (23:6-8), Feast of Firstfruits (23:10-14), and Feast of Weeks (23:15-22) all took/take place in the Spring of the year. The Feast of Trumpets (23:24,25), Day of Atonement (23:27-32), and Feast of Tabernacles (23:34-43) all took/take place in the Fall of the year. All of them continue to be commemorated by Jews today.
These holy days and feasts are extremely important to Christians as well. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover, He lay in the grave during the first few nights of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. With the latter (Firstfruits) being day #1, then day #50 was Pentecost (coinciding with the Feast of Weeks). This was when the Holy Spirit came upon many believers congregated in Jerusalem, and they all began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:1-4).
Since Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) fulfilled the four Spring holy days and feasts at His first coming, it is presumed that Jesus will fulfill the three Fall holy days and feasts at His second coming. I believe that the Rapture will occur on a Feast of Trumpets, Jesus' physical descent to earth (at the end of the 70th Week) will occur on the Day of Atonement, and the representatives from all nations will be expected to come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).
Many more details about these seven holy days and feasts (four in the Spring and three in the Fall) can be found in Chapters 4 and 5 of my (free) online Bible overview here: Jewish Spring Festivals -- Jewish Fall Festivals
God is talking about offerings that the Israelites have "vowed" to Him. Like He mentions that they must offer X and Y in addition to what they vowed. Why were they promising God things (all the obvious answers, like to make a sin offering or of their own free will are mentioned alongside, and are therefore seemingly separate)? Were they perhaps promising offerings to God in their prayers?
Ted: Vows were promises by people to offer God something in the future if He would act on their behalf in the present, such as to bless them, to deliver them from some type of danger, or to give them some type of victory. In Genesis 28:20-22, Jacob (Israel) vowed to consider the Lord to be His God, and to give Him a tenth of all that he had, if God would watch over him on his journey and provide him with food and clothes.
Later in the Bible, Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said that in exchange for God's helping him to be victorious over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice to God, as a burnt offering, whatever was the first thing that came out of his house when he got home. Well, that turned out to be his only daughter. After two months (for her to weep with her friends that she never would marry), he kept his vow (Judges 11:29-39).
A few other examples of vows that were kept are in Numbers 21:1-3; 1 Samuel 1:10,11; and Jonah 1:16, 2:9.
What are booths?
Booths were temporary dwelling places in which the Israelites lived while roaming around the desert, after leaving Egypt. On the Feast of Tabernacles (also called Sukkot), which typically occurs in early October, Jews were (and still are) to build small huts to live in for a week. This is a commemoration and a reminder to them of how their ancient ancestors lived in the desert for forty years, in transit to the Promised Land. Each night, they are to look through the spaces in the thatched roof at the stars and think about how God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
As a parallel, our bodies are the "booths" in which we live as we "roam" around the "desert" of life. They are temporary dwelling places and will be exchanged for our glorified bodies--our eternal "homes" or "heavenly dwellings" (2 Corinthians 5 1,2)--when Jesus returns in the clouds, at the Rapture, to give us all that He has promised.
The Passover (Lev. 23:5), Feast of Unleavened Bread (23:6-8), Feast of Firstfruits (23:10-14), and Feast of Weeks (23:15-22) all took/take place in the Spring of the year. The Feast of Trumpets (23:24,25), Day of Atonement (23:27-32), and Feast of Tabernacles (23:34-43) all took/take place in the Fall of the year. All of them continue to be commemorated by Jews today.
These holy days and feasts are extremely important to Christians as well. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover, He lay in the grave during the first few nights of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. With the latter (Firstfruits) being day #1, then day #50 was Pentecost (coinciding with the Feast of Weeks). This was when the Holy Spirit came upon many believers congregated in Jerusalem, and they all began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:1-4).
Since Jesus (and the Holy Spirit) fulfilled the four Spring holy days and feasts at His first coming, it is presumed that Jesus will fulfill the three Fall holy days and feasts at His second coming. I believe that the Rapture will occur on a Feast of Trumpets, Jesus' physical descent to earth (at the end of the 70th Week) will occur on the Day of Atonement, and the representatives from all nations will be expected to come to Jerusalem to worship Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).
Many more details about these seven holy days and feasts (four in the Spring and three in the Fall) can be found in Chapters 4 and 5 of my (free) online Bible overview here: Jewish Spring Festivals -- Jewish Fall Festivals
God is talking about offerings that the Israelites have "vowed" to Him. Like He mentions that they must offer X and Y in addition to what they vowed. Why were they promising God things (all the obvious answers, like to make a sin offering or of their own free will are mentioned alongside, and are therefore seemingly separate)? Were they perhaps promising offerings to God in their prayers?
Ted: Vows were promises by people to offer God something in the future if He would act on their behalf in the present, such as to bless them, to deliver them from some type of danger, or to give them some type of victory. In Genesis 28:20-22, Jacob (Israel) vowed to consider the Lord to be His God, and to give Him a tenth of all that he had, if God would watch over him on his journey and provide him with food and clothes.
Later in the Bible, Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said that in exchange for God's helping him to be victorious over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice to God, as a burnt offering, whatever was the first thing that came out of his house when he got home. Well, that turned out to be his only daughter. After two months (for her to weep with her friends that she never would marry), he kept his vow (Judges 11:29-39).
A few other examples of vows that were kept are in Numbers 21:1-3; 1 Samuel 1:10,11; and Jonah 1:16, 2:9.
What are booths?
Booths were temporary dwelling places in which the Israelites lived while roaming around the desert, after leaving Egypt. On the Feast of Tabernacles (also called Sukkot), which typically occurs in early October, Jews were (and still are) to build small huts to live in for a week. This is a commemoration and a reminder to them of how their ancient ancestors lived in the desert for forty years, in transit to the Promised Land. Each night, they are to look through the spaces in the thatched roof at the stars and think about how God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
As a parallel, our bodies are the "booths" in which we live as we "roam" around the "desert" of life. They are temporary dwelling places and will be exchanged for our glorified bodies--our eternal "homes" or "heavenly dwellings" (2 Corinthians 5 1,2)--when Jesus returns in the clouds, at the Rapture, to give us all that He has promised.
