Leviticus 23: In Celebration of God
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies."
Leviticus describes five feasts, all focusing on God. Each was marked by special sacrifices to
God and a sacred assembly in the Tent of Meeting where God has "pitched his tent." Rather than giving gifts to each other, the Israelites rejoiced in fellowship and gave gifts to God.
Nobody worked on Israelite feast days, but their "days off" had a different motive from ours. An Israelite farmer never got a paid holiday. In fact, a holiday could cost him dearly- it might fall on a day perfect for harvesting. But, God took priority over work. The weekly Sabbath day reinforced the same idea. You simply had to stop working to worship.
What may be the most difficult feast to replicate today may be the Year of Jubilee (chapter 25). Every seventh year, people were not to farm at all. Instead, they were to live off whatever the land produced by itself, and they dedicated themselves to God. The feasts and Sabbaths, set aside as special days, were intended to help them to remember and praise the God who had given them so much.
Life Question: So far as scholars know, no Year of Jubilee was ever actually practiced. Some of the feasts were forgotten for long periods of time. But such failure is not surprising. After all, think what we have done to the holy day of Christmas! Agree?
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies."
Leviticus describes five feasts, all focusing on God. Each was marked by special sacrifices to
God and a sacred assembly in the Tent of Meeting where God has "pitched his tent." Rather than giving gifts to each other, the Israelites rejoiced in fellowship and gave gifts to God.
Nobody worked on Israelite feast days, but their "days off" had a different motive from ours. An Israelite farmer never got a paid holiday. In fact, a holiday could cost him dearly- it might fall on a day perfect for harvesting. But, God took priority over work. The weekly Sabbath day reinforced the same idea. You simply had to stop working to worship.
What may be the most difficult feast to replicate today may be the Year of Jubilee (chapter 25). Every seventh year, people were not to farm at all. Instead, they were to live off whatever the land produced by itself, and they dedicated themselves to God. The feasts and Sabbaths, set aside as special days, were intended to help them to remember and praise the God who had given them so much.
Life Question: So far as scholars know, no Year of Jubilee was ever actually practiced. Some of the feasts were forgotten for long periods of time. But such failure is not surprising. After all, think what we have done to the holy day of Christmas! Agree?
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I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to diving into the world of December commercialism; however, I've made a concerted effort to make sure my kids stay "grounded" as our family celebrates Jesus' birth. However, this past year, Josh would come home from school each day and tell us another part of the nativity story that he had learned from his teacher that day. Leave it to the five year old to remind me of the "reason for the season".
2 comments:
I would agree that our so-called religious holidays struggle to live up to their original intent. There is a tremendous build-up to a particular set aside "Holy-Day" that almost never measures up to the hype. In one sense every day has the potential for celebration. Every day is Christmas and Easter for us who receive Christ and marvel at the miracle of God becoming "one of us". He lived the only perfect life. He taught us what perfect love is: the lay-down-your-life kind that makes us fit for Heaven. His sacrifice on our behalf makes each day the "day the Lord has made". In that sense , every day is a "holy-day".
Well said, Greg. For me, it's the Mondays through Saturdays where I need to remined myself of this.
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