And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Leviticus 23 opens with a simple line: God speaks to Moses. What follows is a calendar of appointed days that maps out God's whole plan for His people. Before one feast is named, the chapter settles who fixes the times, who is called, and whose delight they serve.
The chapter does not begin with a religious custom rising up from the people. It begins with a word from God, and one commentator draws a practical test from that opening line.
"The LORD spoke to Moses." This is authoritative. In these days of many false teachers (2 Peter 2:1), God's people should take great care over what they listen to and whom they listen to. It must carry the authority of God Himself. "The LORD spoke." So let us make sure that what we accept as divine truth is what God Himself has spoken to us in His own word.
Because God speaks, the times are His to set. Israel did not vote on when to meet.
The children of Israel were not left to decide when they should gather in the presence of Jehovah. There were set feasts, fixed times which Jehovah appointed as holy convocations. These gatherings fitted the holy character of the God who had chosen Israel to be His people.
Two phrases carry the weight here: "set times" and "holy convocations." Both say something about God.
"Set times" are times He appoints. As the Eternal, all times belong to Him, and He can fit them to His purpose. They speak of almighty power and settled counsel, and that is what earns them their place here. They are also "holy convocations" — gathering times, when the voice of God stirs His people and brings them together. His voice unites those who listen to it in obedience, and calls them to Himself.
Stated at its shortest, the whole design of these days is a meeting.
The idea of these feasts is the gathering of the people round Jehovah for some cause or other, a "holy convocation."
The instruction to Moses is not for a religious elite. It is handed to the nation.
"Speak to the children of Israel." It is His own redeemed people to whom He is speaking. How many of them? All of them. It was not limited to the Priests or the Princes, no, it is a word to the whole congregation. There is always a tendency to leave these matters to the teachers or the older believers. God wants every one of His people to listen to what He has to say. He wants them to understand what He is doing, and so to learn what they can do in service for Him in relation to the divine centre.
The little word "my" changes the direction of the whole chapter. These days exist for God's delight, not only for the good of those who come.
"The feasts of Jehovah." This statement tells us what God is going to talk about with His people — His feasts, festive seasons when His people can gather round Him and bring Him something that delights His heart of love. Now He seeks to touch our hearts with a word like this — "my set feasts." Is there a desire in our hearts to answer to this? Not to be always taken up with what He has done for our blessing, but to find out what we can do for Him.
Israel could lose that in practice. Later Scripture no longer calls them His.
Yet all may be called feasts of the Lord, when we think of the pleasure the Lord would take in their proper keeping. Sadly, they sank into being no more than "feasts of the Jews," where no real honour was given to God (John 2:3; John 5:1; John 6:4; John 7:2; John 11:55).
Commentators read this chapter as more than a festival schedule. The order of the days traces a history, with a long pause in the middle.
The scripture we are entering on at this time brings before us the whole outline of the dealings of God with His people on earth. It is not of course in detail, but first is the original purpose as before God; next, the foundation which He laid in order to accomplish this purpose; then, again, the ways of God in the application which He made of the mighty work thus accomplished; and, finally, the direct and full result at Christ's appearing in glory, the heavenly things as well as the earthly.
Others fill in that outline with names and dates, including the long pause in the middle.
Leviticus 23 sets out the Jewish calendar. As prophecy, it shows God's plan of salvation for His earthly people Israel, from the cross (passover) through to the millennium (feast of tabernacles). The first four feasts are already fulfilled (up to Pentecost). The last three refer to the future of Israel. Between the first four and the last three there is a long gap of unstated length... This prophetic gap... represents the Christian era, the time in which we live.
- He speaks. The chapter starts with God's voice, not with human tradition. So test what you accept as truth: is it what He has said?
- He appoints. All times belong to God. Israel never chose its own gathering days, and the set times match the holy character of the God who called them.
- He calls all. The word goes to the whole congregation, not to priests or princes only. God wants each of His people to understand what He is doing.
- He owns them. They are "my feasts," kept for His delight. When that is forgotten, they shrink into "feasts of the Jews," where God gets no real honour.
- He completes them. The same calendar runs from the cross (passover) to the millennium (feast of tabernacles). The first four feasts are fulfilled, the last three are still future, and our own era sits in the gap between.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, [Concerning] the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations -- these are my set feasts.
In Leviticus 23 God gathers His people and claims the calendar as His own. He fixes the days, calls them holy, and has Israel announce them — so what are these gatherings for?
Twice in this verse God calls the days His own. That one small word changes what a gathering is for.
"The feasts of Jehovah." This statement tells us what God is going to talk about to His people — His feasts. They are festive seasons when His people can gather round Him and bring Him something that delights His loving heart. Now He seeks to touch our hearts with a word like this — "my set feasts." Is there a desire in our hearts to answer to this? Not to be forever occupied with what He has done for our blessing, but to find out what we can do for Him.
The Sabbath stands in a class of its own here, and the phrase used of these days shows what they were fixed for.
Clearly the Sabbath has a place of its own. It is the only feast named in the first announcement, "the set feasts of Jehovah" (v. 2). A footnote by J. N. Darby tells us that "set feasts" means "fixed times (for drawing near to God)." Another idea behind this word is appointment.
The two titles in the verse work together. One says who fixed the time; the other says what happens when it arrives.
"Set times" are times He appoints. As the Eternal One, all times belong to Him, and He can fit them to His purpose. They speak of almighty power and settled purpose, and that is why they belong here. But they are "holy convocations" too — gathering times, when the voice of God stirs His people and brings them together. His voice unites those who obey it, and calls them to Himself.
A convocation is a summons to come together. The word "holy" attached to it is a safeguard, not decoration.
"Holy Convocations." These suggest collective gatherings. It seems that our God delights to have His people together with one thought in their minds — to minister to Him together. He would guard them from any intrusion of the natural mind of man by reminding us that they are "HOLY"! However great the privilege is, we must remember this when we gather. We must be aware that He is there. We come together for His pleasure — quiet, dependent, with holy reverence in our souls. This would produce quality, even if it reduced quantity.
God's word goes to the people of Israel — the whole nation, not one religious class inside it.
"Speak to the children of Israel." It is His own redeemed people to whom He is speaking. How many of them? All of them. It was not limited to the Priests or the Princes; no, it is a word to the whole congregation. There is always a tendency to leave these matters to the teachers or the older believers. God wants every one of His people to listen to what He says. He wants them to understand what He is doing, and so to learn what they can do in service for Him.
The word "feasts" fits most of these days, but not all. And the title could slip out of Israel's hands.
Most translations call these special times in Israel "feasts." Yet not all of them were feasts for Israel. The day of atonement (vv. 26-32) was a day of brokenness and humbling, not of feasting. Yet we may call them all feasts of the Lord, when we think how pleased the Lord would be if His people kept them properly. Sadly, these sank into mere "feasts of the Jews," where God received no real honour (John 2:3; John 5:1; John 6:4; John 7:2; John 11:55).
The order of the days is not random. Taken together they trace God's plan across history.
Leviticus 23 sets out the Jewish calendar. As prophecy, it shows God's plan of salvation for His people Israel on earth. It runs from the cross (passover) through to the millennium (feast of tabernacles). The first four feasts have already been fulfilled (up to Pentecost). The last three refer to the future of Israel. Between the first four and the last three feasts there is a long gap of unstated length. This prophetic gap represents the Christian era, the time in which we live.
- His. God calls them "my feasts" twice over. He fixed them, and they exist first for His delight, not ours.
- Fixed. "Set feasts" means fixed times for drawing near to God. He chose the date, and He chose the reason.
- Called. A "holy convocation" is a gathering called by God's voice. The word "holy" guards what happens when His people arrive.
- All. The word goes to the whole congregation, not just to priests and leaders. Every person is meant to listen and respond.
- Lost. In John's Gospel, "my feasts" have become "feasts of the Jews." The same days, with the honour to God drained away.
Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; no manner of work shall ye do it is the sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings.
God opens His list of appointed feasts not with a sacrifice or a harvest, but with a day when all work stops. Rest comes first — so whose rest is it, and how does anyone come into it?
Rest is where all God's work ends. So we would expect this day to close the list, not open it.
Here, among the feasts, God's first words tell what He is waiting for, what He would have His people waiting for, and what He will certainly do in due time — the rest of God. "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it." Man, whether Moses or anyone else, would have put it last, not first, since it is the end of all the work. But it is the first thing God presents to His people — the sabbath… It is the only one that came round at the end of every week. So Israel was taught, as a habit, to look beyond daily toil to the rest of God.
The placing has a reason, and it points to something still ahead.
The Sabbath — this is in itself no feast, but a set time, a holy gathering after the six work days. God puts the Sabbath first here because of its prophetic meaning. "There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The Sabbath is the type of that rest still to come, when redemption is complete. Faith can enjoy it even now. The Sabbath reveals the blessed outcome of everything.
The sabbath sits inside this list, yet it never quite behaves like the rest of it.
This revelation begins with the sabbath, which is here grouped with the set feasts, moadim (appointed times), though people usually see it as separate from them… Like the set feasts it is called a holy convocation, and like the day of atonement it is called a sabbath of rest, shabbath shabbathon, because God required complete rest from all work through the whole day… On the main days of the other feasts, He required rest from ordinary work only.
The phrase "holy convocation" carries the sense of a summons. The people did not choose these days.
"Set times" are times of His appointment, to whom, as the Eternal, all times belong, and who is able to adjust them to His purpose. They speak of almighty power and settled purpose… But they are "holy convocations" too — gathering times. At them the voice of God stirs His people and brings them together. His voice unites those who listen to it in obedience, and calls them also to Himself.
The day carried a meaning that belonged to one nation. Commentators here are firm that God did not lay it on Gentiles — people outside Israel.
I say it again: the sabbath formed part of the law, and it was in a special way a sign between God and Israel. The sabbath was never given to the Gentile as such, whatever people may argue. If a Gentile came and put himself under Israel's protection, of course he kept the sabbath. But as a Gentile he had nothing to do with it… How could it be a sign to one people if it was the common duty of all? "Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you."
The ban on work teaches where a person must stand.
It was to be a day of rest, with no work to be done. It teaches us that we are to rest on the value of God's work already accomplished, not daring to add any work of our own to this. Such a reminder was necessary for Israel, and is necessary for us.
Work came before rest here. Christian practice, writers point out, runs the other way round.
We Christians are not under the law but under grace. The Sabbath, as the sign of the law covenant, has therefore lost its meaning for us, as we see in a Scripture like Colossians 2:16. Yet there can be no doubt that a rest of one day in every seven is the wise and kind intention of God for man. The resurrection of Christ is the seal of our faith. So the first day of the week, the day He rose from the dead, became the day Christians have from the very beginning given to His worship and service… Israel's week worked up to the day of rest. The Christian's week starts from the day of rest, based on the resurrection of Christ.
- Rest first. Rest is the end of all God's work, yet God puts the sabbath first. His people are to see the goal before the journey.
- Rest weekly. Only this day returned every seventh day. Habit taught Israel to look past daily toil.
- Rest as sign. Full rest, "a sabbath of rest," marked out the nation God set apart. Commentators here hold He never gave this sign to other nations.
- Rest as gathering. "Holy convocation" means a calling together. God's own voice sets the time and gathers the people to Himself.
- Rest as ground. No work at all means we stand on work already finished. Since Christ rose, the Christian's week begins from rest.
These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons
Leviticus 23 lists the feasts God set for Israel. Verse 4 starts that list a second time, and three things stand out: whose feasts these are, what a "holy convocation" means, and why their order matters.
Verse 2 has already announced God's appointed feasts, so why start again? One writer shows how the second opening sets the Sabbath apart, and why the Sabbath stands alone.
This is how the feasts open. But notice that the fourth verse begins again: "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD." So at the start of the chapter, where the feasts are introduced in general, the Sabbath is named in particular. Then, in verse 4, there is a fresh beginning which leaves the Sabbath out... The Sabbath has a character all its own. Every other feast was kept once a year; the Sabbath came every week. There is a clear dividing line, and so the second beginning is justified. Yet the Sabbath still has the character of a feast. It alone came round at the end of every week, a standing witness both to creation as God's work and to the great rest of God which His people are to enter at the end.
The title is the LORD's, not Israel's. One writer explains what hangs on it.
His feasts are the worth and effectiveness of the Person and work of Christ. That is why they are called feasts of Jehovah, not feasts of Israel. They were for Israel, who had the privilege of feasting, if they could even faintly discern their meaning. To call them feasts of Israel would have lowered their character. In them God had His own joy. They all refer to Him in whom God delights.
That ownership can be lost. One writer, looking at Israel's later fasts, watches the same drift reach the feasts.
They had degenerated into formal and selfish routines. Later we read of "the Jews' Passover" (John 2:13) and "the Jews' feast of Tabernacles" (John 7:2) — yet God had called these "the feasts of the Lord" when He set them up in Leviticus 23:4.
Two things are bound together in the phrase: God appoints the time, and God calls the people.
"Set times" are times God Himself appoints. All times belong to Him as the Eternal One, and He is able to fit them to His purpose. They speak of almighty power and settled counsel, and so they earn their place here. But they are "holy convocations" too — gathering times. The voice of God rouses His people and assembles them. His voice unites those who listen to it in obedience, and calls them also to Himself.
Another writer counts how often the chapter repeats the phrase, and draws a lesson for gatherings today.
For the third time in the chapter our attention is drawn to the feasts as holy convocations (see also verses 2 and 4)... How important it is for the saints to notice the place their gatherings have in the thoughts of God. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews saw this. He wrote, "not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25).
The verse ends with a phrase older translations give as "in their seasons"; the ESV has "at the time appointed for them." One writer sees a plan in that order, and a warning against skipping ahead.
Notice a new phrase here: "In their seasons." Each feast has its proper time and proper order in the chapter, and we must take care to keep to this order. How could we know the blessing of the feast of Tabernacles if we did not begin with the cross of Christ? "In their seasons" shows a Divine order that God has worked out according to plan. The world is not like this: it would gladly take the Kingdom blessing, but ignore the great necessity of founding it all on the DEATH of Christ.
Where the sequence starts and ends tells the whole story.
So, as the careful reader will notice, Israel's first great feast was the Passover, and their seventh was the feast of tabernacles. Strip away the picture language, and we have full redemption first; and, last of all, the millennial glory. The Passover lamb pictured the death of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). The feast of tabernacles pictured "the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago" (Acts 3:21).
- His start. Verse 4 begins the list again, setting the weekly Sabbath apart from the seven yearly feasts that follow.
- His feasts. The LORD calls them His feasts, not Israel's. Calling them Israel's would lower them, since they hold God's own joy in Christ.
- His call. A "holy convocation" is a gathering time. God fixes the moment, and His voice calls the people to Himself.
- His order. "In their seasons" is a plan, not a timetable. No one reaches the blessing of Tabernacles without starting at the cross.
- His outcome. The line runs from the Passover lamb to the restoring of all things. Israel lost it when "the feasts of the Lord" became "the Jews' feast."