Bible Commentaries
Leviticus 23

Introduction

CHAP. XXIII.

Of the sabbath and the great annual festivals; the passover, pentecost, feast of trumpets, day of atonement, and feast of tabernacles.

Before Christ 1490.

Verse 2

Leviticus 23:2. Concerning the feasts of the Lord, &c.— These words might be rendered more unexceptionably thus: the solemnities of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim, with holy proclamations, are these my solemnities: i.e. stripped of the Hebrew idiom, these are the holy solemnities of the Lord, to be publicly proclaimed and observed. They were to be proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet. See Numbers 10:8. Solemnities is a more unexceptionable word than feasts, as the day of atonement could not properly be styled a feast. The original word signifies any appointed or regular assembly or congregation, and is very expressive of these solemn meetings of the Jews. "The word used here," says Dr. Beaumont, "is the same as in Genesis 1:14. מועד moed; and generally signifies a set time or season; but is applied here to the solemn feasts which were appointed by God at their set-times in the year."

Verse 3

Leviticus 23:3. The sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings— The Sabbath is first briefly mentioned, as being the first and chief of these solemn meetings; at all times and in all places religiously to be observed, in all their dwellings.

REFLECTIONS.—The sabbath was a weekly feast, and still is such, to every true believer, who especially fears then on God's word and ordinances. A holy rest was to be observed. We must rest from sin as from labour. There was on it to be a holy convocation. Nothing on that day must keep us from waiting in the courts of God's house together—nothing but works of necessity. Note; If servants are kept from Divine service to provide for our bodies, when they should be feeding their own souls, the guilt of sabbath-breaking will be against the heads of that family. And not only by a convocation, but in their dwellings the sabbath must be kept; public duties are but a part of the service; on that day every house must be a temple, and resound with prayer and praise. To prostitute the hours of the evening in vanity, or visiting, or idleness, is to profane the day, as much as when we forsake the assembly of God's people.

Verse 5

Leviticus 23:5. Fourteenth day of the first month— Concerning the passover, see Exodus 12:0 and Num 19:22 for the directions respecting the sacrifices mentioned Leviticus 23:8.

Verse 10

Leviticus 23:10. When ye be come into the land— See Deuteronomy 12:10; Deuteronomy 12:32. This precept could not take place till they came into the land of Canaan, as they neither sowed nor reaped in the wilderness:—and shall reap, might be rendered, more consistently with the context, shall begin, or be about to reap; see Deuteronomy 16:9. Josephus says, that the sheaf to be brought upon this occasion, or the handful, as the margin of our English Bibles has it, consisted, not of the stalks of corn as they were cut, but of the corn ears dried by the fire; see ch. Leviticus 2:14. The harvest here mentioned, signifies the barley harvest, which began about the passover, Exodus 9:31. The wheat harvest began at pentecost, when they offered the first-fruits, mentioned Leviticus 23:17. "These first-fruits," says Calmet, "were reaped by men delegated for that purpose, and presented, in the name of the community, to the priest, who waved them towards the four quarters, in sign of their being consecrated to the Sovereign of the universe."

Verse 11

Leviticus 23:11. On the morrow after the sabbath— By the sabbath here, is to be understood, not the weekly sabbath, but the first day of unleavened bread, spoken of Lev 23:7 which is called the sabbath, or rest, because it was a festival, whereon they were to rest from all servile labour, as was usual on their weekly sabbath: and this is common, says Strabo, both to Greeks and Barbarians; to keep their holidays with a festival remission of their labours.

The Hebrew, says Dr. Beaumont, is morrow of the sabbath; meaning not the ordinary sabbath, but the sabbath of the passover, which was always the 15th of Nisan, or March, the first day of unleavened bread, called the feast, Num 28:17 on which days were sabbatisms; (Leviticus 23:24; Leviticus 23:32; Leviticus 23:39.) so the morrow after was always the 16th of Nisan.

Verse 14

Leviticus 23:14. Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, &c.— That is, no bread or corn of this year's produce; a reasonable testimony of their respect and gratitude to God, the giver of all good gifts. Pliny tells us, that the Romans offered the first-fruits of their corn and wine to the gods, before they tasted thereof themselves.

Note; 1. They who come to acknowledge divine mercies, shall have their souls refreshed, as with marrow and fatness. (2.) Holy seasons should be observed in a holy manner. (3.) God has a right to his sheaf: we must honour him with part of our substance, if we would have his blessing on the rest. (4.) These first-fruits were typical of Jesus's rising, as the first-fruits from the dead, and thereby assuring us of our own resurrection.

Verse 15

Leviticus 23:15. Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath— From the second day of unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:7; Lev 23:11 that is, from the 16th day of the first month, they were to reckon seven sabbaths, i.e. seven weeks complete; and the next day after the seventh sabbath or week, making just 50 days, was to be the first of another festival, hence commonly called pentecost or the fiftieth; when the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were to be offered, Leviticus 23:17. This festival was partly commemorative of God's goodness in giving the law from mount Sinai, on the 50th day after their coming out of Egypt; and partly gratulatory for the fair hope of completing their harvest; and it was also typical of the gospel law; see Exo 19:1 and Acts 2:1; Acts 2:47. Archbishop Usher observes, that our blessed Lord being slain at the feast of the passover, rested in his grave the whole sabbath following, which was the day of unleavened bread. The next day after, the sheaf or omer of the first-fruits, of barley-harvest was offered to the Lord; when Christ rose from the dead, and became the first-fruits of them that slept: from this day the account of the seven sabbaths or weeks was computed; and upon the morrow after the seventh, i.e. upon the Lord's day, was celebrated the feast of weeks, or the day of the first-fruits; because then the first-fruits of the second, or wheat harvest were offered; as likewise the feast of harvest; because it was the principal and last harvest of the year. On this day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the spirit, converted no less than 3000 souls, and presented them, as the first-fruits of the Christian church, to God. Now the seventh day of the week, or Jewish sabbath, being purposely passed over in the observation of the feast of weeks, and that great solemnity kept on the first day of the week, it is no wonder that the Christian church has appropriated that day instead of the seventh for public worship.

Verse 17

Leviticus 23:17. They shall be baken with leaven— No leaven was to be burnt upon the altar; see ch. Leviticus 2:11. Accordingly, these loaves were to be waved before the Lord, not burnt upon the altar; see Leviticus 23:20. It is most probable that these wave-loaves are enjoined to be made with leaven, (that is, in the manner of bread commonly used) as they were designed for the food of the priests; and they might possibly be further intended as eucharistic emblems of the daily bread of the people, thus piously acknowledged to proceed from the Lord.

Verse 18

Leviticus 23:18. And one bullock— In Num 28:27 there are two bullocks, and one ram; and here is one bullock, and two rams; those are an addition in respect of the feast day, and these are a further addition in respect of the two loaves; and therefore to be offered with them, as is here said: so that this day there are offered these here named, with the loaves, more than the daily offerings. In all, upon this day they offered twenty beasts for burnt-offerings, two goats for sin, and two lambs for peace-offerings, which last four were eaten. Beaumont.

Verse 22

Leviticus 23:22. When ye reap the harvest of your land— See what has been advanced respecting this benevolent injunction, on chap. Leviticus 19:9-10. The reader cannot but observe with what great propriety it is repeated here, where the people, called to thankfulness to their God for the blessings of harvest, could scarcely fail to comply with so just and merciful a precept.

Note; They who will honour God with sacrifice, must also have pity on the needy; and God will accept with greater delight the feeding his hungry saints, than the feeding the fire of his altar with the fat of bullocks or rams.

Verse 24

Leviticus 23:24. In the seventh month— This was the first month of the civil year, answering to our September, and was the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. A memorial of blowing of trumpets, some render a festival for commemorating, or praising God, with the sound of the trumpet; see Psalms 150:3. This feast was kept with great solemnity; the trumpets sounded from sun-rising to sun-setting. The priest, who sounded the trumpet, began with the usual prayer, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath sanctified us by his precepts, &c." subjoining this thanksgiving "Blessed be God, who hath preserved us in life, and brought us to this time." When all was ended, the people repeated aloud, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound."

The Scripture does not acquaint us with the occasion of appointing this feast. Theodoret believes it to have been in memory of the thunder and lightning, and the sound of the trumpet, from mount Sinai, when God gave his law from thence. Maimonides considers the festival as designed, not only to proclaim the new year, but as a solemn warning to repent and prepare for the coming of the great day of atonement, which was at hand: and many have justly supposed that this festival was typical of the blowing of the Gospel trumpet; see Isaiah 58:1.Hosea 8:1; Hosea 8:1.Zechariah 9:14; Zechariah 9:14. The Gentiles seem to have borrowed from hence their blowing with trumpets among the rites and ceremonies in the worship of Cybele.

Verse 27

Leviticus 23:27. Also on the tenth day— See the notes on ch. 16:

REFLECTIONS.—The day of atonement was to be observed as a day of sacred rest, to be spent wholly in reflection upon and humiliation for the sins of the preceding year. A day of fasting: the body, as well as soul, must be afflicted, as both share in guilt; and the whole day, from even unto even, must be spent in those exercises of deep abasement, which answered the institution. Note; (1.) They who feel the burden of sin, will be careful to beat down the body, as well as to humble the soul. (2.) Solemn seasons for the review of past transgressions, cannot but have a blessed effect upon the heart. (3.) When we would afflict our bodies with fasting, there should be real abstinence in respect to all kinds of meat. To keep a fast on rich fish, and high sauces, is ridiculous mockery, instead of a holy fast.

Verse 34

Leviticus 23:34. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day, &c.— The next solemn meeting was called the feast of tabernacles, upon which they dwelt for seven days in booths or tabernacles, to commemorate their having dwelt for forty years in tabernacles in the wilderness, Leviticus 23:42-43. This was one reason of the institution: another is given in the 39th verse; and the typical view respects his birth and dwelling in the tabernacle of human flesh, who, in the fulness of time, was born, as it is commonly supposed, at the time of this festival; see John 1:14.

Verse 36

Leviticus 23:36. Seven days ye shall offer— See Numbers 29:13; Num 29:40 for an account of the sacrifices offered upon this festival. The word rendered solemn assembly, at the close of this verse, signifies properly, as in the margin of our English Bibles, a day of restraint, or detention; i.e. from labour; and thence, a solemn feast-day. It is used here, as in Num 29:35 and Neh 8:18 to denote the peculiar solemnity with which the last day of this feast was celebrated: and accordingly St. John thus speaks of it, In the last day, that great day of the feast, John 7:37.

Verse 39

Leviticus 23:39. Also in the fifteenth day, &c.— There being no connection of this verse with the former, אךֶ ak, rendered also, would be better rendered moreover.

Verse 40

Leviticus 23:40. Ye shall take you on the first day the boughs, &c.— What we render boughs of goodly trees, is, in the Hebrew, the fruit of the beautiful tree; which the Targum explains of the citron-tree; the fruit of which the Jews still make use of at the feast of tabernacles; see Univ. Hist. book. 1 Chronicles 7:0. Palm-trees abounded so much in Judea, that they became emblematical of the country. What particular trees are meant by the thick trees, is unknown: some suppose myrtles to have been meant. The original expresses such trees as were thick and complicated, and so fitted to make a booth, which the willows of the brook were well adapted to twine about, and compact together.

Verse 41

Leviticus 23:41. Ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year— These days were spent in great festivity and joy; the highest part of which consisted in the drawing and pouring out of water: the Talmudists say of this, that he who never saw the rejoicing of drawing of water, knows not what rejoicing is. This custom is thought to have been in memory of the miraculous water which flowed from the rock in the wilderness; and undoubtedly was figurative of the gospel-grace; see Zechariah 14:16. The words of Isa 12:3 were sung during this ceremony; With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation: to which it is believed our Saviour alluded, when he cried out in the temple, on the last day of this solemnity; If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink: he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, John 7:37-38. It is probable, that the Pagans derived their festivals in honour of Bacchus from this feast of the Jews.

REFLECTIONS.—The sorrows of repentance are the certain forerunners of peace and joy in believing. The humiliation of the day of atonement prepared for the feast of tabernacles, one of the three great festivals, celebrated for eight days, with every expression of gladness, with many sacrifices, and two days of solemn convocation. During seven days, they lived in booths, made of the branches of trees; the eighth was a holy day of rest and joy. They thus remembered their long abode in tents in the wilderness, and God's care of them there: and as the fruits of the whole year were now gathered in, this added to their thankfulness. Note; (1.) When we come to our true land of rest, it will ever warm our hearts with peculiar gratitude, to remember the hardships we have endured in the wilderness, and from which the Lord delivered us. (2.) If the joy of harvest was so great, how much greater will be our joy, when we shall reap the harvest of eternal glory! (3.) We, in this world, dwell in booths, but in a few days we shall return to our house, which is from heaven, and then everlasting joy will be upon our heads.

These solemnities were annually observed, besides their sabbaths and free-will offerings; for nothing must interrupt our ordinary duties, and we are never restrained from adding any farther portion of our time and substance to the immediate service of God, if we find our hearts inclined, and our circumstances enable us.