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Jewish Calendar Of Yearly FeastsThe feasts outlined by Moses pointed forward to God's plan of salvation for all mankind. While it may be pointed out that the Jewish feast days do not hold the same significance for today's Christian as they did for Israel before Jesus came to earth, these festivals explain what God wanted all people to understand. We can learn from those things that the Israelites were instructed to do.
* The three major feasts that all males of Israel were required to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate.
Exodus 23:14-19 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. [15] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) [16] And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. [17] Three items in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God. [18] Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. [19] The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk. Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
Note that although Passover is not mentioned by name in either of these scripture references, it begins when the Feast of Unleaven Bread begins.
* PASSOVER - Old Testament Exodus 12:5-14 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: [6] And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. [7] And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. [8] And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. [9] Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. [10] And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. [11] And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORDs passover. [12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. [13] And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. [14] And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. * PASSOVER - New Testament Matthew 26:19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. SIGNIFICANCE: The Passover commemorated God's deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.
UNLEAVEN BREAD - Old Testament Exodus 12:15-17 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. [16] And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. [17] And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
SIGNIFICANCE: Unleaven bread was eaten for seven days. There was no work on the first day. This feast marked the beginning of barley harvest. Because this started with Passover, it was the first of three annual trips to Jerusalem.
FIRST FRUITS - Old Testament Exodus 23:9-14 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. [10] And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: [11] But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. [12] Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. [13] And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. [14] Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. SIGNIFICANCE: This was the offering of the first harvested barley.
* PENTECOST - Old Testament Deuteronomy 16:9-12 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. [10] And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: [11] And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there. [12] And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. * PENTECOST - New Testament Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
SIGNIFICANCE: This marked the end of the early- summer wheat harvest. Pentecost was fifty days after the feast of First Fruits.
TRUMPETS - Old Testament Numbers 29:1-6 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you. [2] And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish: [3] And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram, [4] And one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs: [5] And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you: [6] Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD. SIGNIFICANCE: Special trumpet blasts. No work was performed. Special offerings were made.
DAY OF ATONEMENT - Old Testament Leviticus 23:26-32 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, [27] Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. [28] And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. [29] For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. [30] And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. [31] Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. [32] It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. DAY OF ATONEMENT - New Testament Hebrews 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
SIGNIFICANCE: A day of fasting and no work. Special offerings were made by the high priest to atone for Israel's sins for that year.
* TABERNACLES - Old Testament Exodus 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. * TABERNACLES - New Testament John 7:2 Now the Jews feast of tabernacles was at hand.
SIGNIFICANCE: This marked the beginning of a new agriculture year. They constructed booths to sleep under in memory of their reliance on God to provide shelter in the wilderness.
FEAST OF LIGHTS (Hanukkah) - New Testament John 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
SIGNIFICANCE: This feast was instituted around 164 BC after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes. The temple was cleansed after he had desecrated it. This lasted for eight days with the lighting of a lamp with eight candles.
FEAST OF PURIM - Old Testament Esther 9:18-22 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. [19] Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. [20] And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, [21] To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, [22] As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. SIGNIFICANCE: This feast commemorates the time when the Jewish people were saved by Esther and Mordecai from Haman's plan to exterminate the Jews.
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