23:4-22

Back to Contents

Feasts at the beginning of the year

(Le 23:4-22)

The Israelite religious year began with the month that celebrated the Passover and the escape from Egypt (Exod 12:2). This was the season of spring in Israel and corresponds with March-April on our calendar. (It seems that Israelites also had a secular calendar, which differed from the religious calendar by six months.

This means that the first month of the religious calendar was the seventh month of the secular calendar, and the beginning of the seventh month of the religious calendar was New Year on the secular calendar.)

On the fourteenth day of the first month was the Passover, which commemorated God’s act of ‘passing over’ the houses of Israel when the firstborn throughout Egypt were killed (Le 23:4-5; see notes on Exod 12:1-14). Immediately after the Passover was the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread.

This was in remembrance of the people’s hurried departure from Egypt, when they had no time to bake their bread leavened but carried their dough and baking pans with them, baking as they went (Le 23:6-8; see notes on Exod 12:15-36).

At this time the barley was ripe and ready to harvest. (The wheat was not ready till a few weeks later.) Therefore, on the day after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest was presented to the priests and waved up and down in offering to God. This was the people’s acknowledgment to God that he had given the harvest that they were about to reap (Le 23:9-11).

On the same day as they presented the sheaf offering, the people also presented animal sacrifices. They sought forgiveness for their sins through a sin offering, and in gratitude to God for his gifts they consecrated themselves to him afresh through a burnt offering.

They also acknowledged his care and provision in general by presenting a cereal offering and a wine offering taken from their daily household food (Le 23:12-13; Num 28:16-25). Only after they acknowledged the whole harvest as belonging to God were they allowed to gain benefit from it for themselves (Le 23:14).

During the next six weeks people were busy harvesting, first the barley and then the wheat. At the end of the wheat harvest they offered to God two loaves of bread such as they ate in their normal meals, as an expression of gratitude to him for their daily food.

They also sacrificed a sin offering and a burnt offering as at the time of the barley firstfruits, and, in addition, a peace offering. Because this was a harvest festival, the holy worship was accompanied by much rejoicing (Le 23:15-21; Num 28:26-31).

This festival was known by different names. Falling as it did on the fiftieth day after Passover, it was sometimes called the Feast of Pentecost (‘pentecost’ meaning ‘fiftieth’). It was also called the Feast of Weeks (being a week of weeks after the offering of the barley firstfruits), the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Harvest.

Since this festival marked the end of the harvest season, a reminder was given not to be selfish when reaping, but to leave some grain for the poor (Le 23:22; cf. Deut 16:9-12).