Tyndale Open Study NotesLeviticus 23

These appointed festivals included times for eating, resting, and fasting. For more details, see Numbers 28–29.

Passover … Unleavened Bread: These feasts began on the evening before the exodus from Egypt (see Exodus 12:1–28).

Israel had three major festivals:

1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins the day after Passover (Deuteronomy 16:16)

2. The Festival of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15–21)

3. The Festival of Tabernacles (23:34–43)

• Passover started at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month, as the new day began (see study note on Leviticus 11:24–25). The Passover feast included a roast lamb, bitter salad greens, and bread without yeast (Exodus 12:8). These foods represented Israel’s freedom from Egyptian slavery.

• The first month marked the start of the Jewish calendar as late as Ezra 6:19. The month’s earliest name was Abib (which means “spring, fresh grain”; Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1). The name Nisan partly replaced Abib after the exile of Israel to Babylon (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7).

After Passover came the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During this time, Israel ate bread made without yeast. This bread reminded them of their slavery in Egypt and the quickness of their departure from Egypt (see study note on Leviticus 2:11, Deuteronomy 16:3).

The burned part of each sacrifice stood for the whole offering, and the tithe symbolized that all of a person's money belonged to God. In a similar way, the first portions of each harvest, or firstfruits, represented the entire harvest and even the land itself as belonging to God (Leviticus 25:23).

During the barley harvest, people offered the first portions as part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6, 10–12). They offered the first portions of the wheat harvest during "the Feast of Weeks" (23:15–21; Exodus 34:22). These gifts to God acknowledged God's earlier gifts to Israel (see Leviticus 2:1). The entire offering of firstfruits became the property and food of God's representatives, the priests (see 2:14–16).

The phrase wave it symbolizes offering the grain to the Lord (see study note on Leviticus 7:34).

The Israelites could not eat from the harvest that day until they acknowledged God's gift by making the appropriate offering.

Israel was to start counting seven full weeks from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The fiftieth day marked the start of the Feast of Weeks (harvest). The New Testament calls this "Pentecost," from the Greek word for "fifty."

During this festival, people offered the first portions of the wheat harvest. Each person also had to take three quarts of fine flour and bake two loaves of yeast bread. They then presented these offerings to the priest at the sanctuary. See also study note on Exodus 23:16.

The drink offerings probably contained two quarts of wine (see Exodus 29:40; Numbers 15:5, 10).

On the first day of the seventh month: the Israelite calendar divided into two half-years. The first half-year began with the first month, called Nisan (Babylonian name) or Abib (the older agricultural name). The second half-year began with the seventh month, known as Tishri on the modern Jewish calendar. This holiday celebration marked the start of the second half-year.

The Day of Atonement was the most serious and holy day in the Israelite calendar and the only day of fasting (chapter Leviticus 16). The high priest atoned for the people's collective sin. This gave the theological basis (the main teaching and reason) for the greater atonement made by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:11–12).

cut off … destroy: See study note on Leviticus 7:20–21; compare with Exodus 31:14, 15; 35:2.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, the Israelites lived in temporary shelters for seven days. This celebrated the time they spent in tents during their wilderness wanderings. It also reminded them of God's faithfulness during that period. For a list of sacrifices to be offered each day, see Numbers 29:12–34.

after you have gathered the produce: The Feast of Tabernacles was also called the Feast of Ingathering because people gathered all the fruit and vegetables that were not yet harvested (Exodus 34:22).

God did not want the Israelites to ever forget his great acts of redemption for them. They needed to teach each new generation about what God had done (Deuteronomy 4:9; 11:19). Their identity and understanding of themselves and God depended on this knowledge. See Deuteronomy 6:20–24; 26:5–9; Joshua 24:2–13; Psalm 136.