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I. The Moedim – Appointed Times: A Brief Overview Part 1

In this section, we will review the Sabbath and the spring feast days.

A. Leviticus 23:1, 4 – These feasts are called the “Feasts of the LORD”

1. The Moedim (moe-eh-DEEM - "Appointed Times"), are typically called, "Jewish holidays" but in the Bible are referred to as God's feast days. The Moedim are spoken of throughout Scripture but presented as a group in Leviticus chapter 23.

B. Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3) – In Hebrew “Shabbat”

1. shabbat means in Hebrew “rest” or “intermission”

2. is related to the Hebrew word “sheva” or seven

a. It is an allusion to the seventh day of creation on which God rested (Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11)

3. Was to be a day of rest, the primary intention of this rest not just a physical rest, but also it was meant to be a cessation of worldly concerns and activities and a focus on family, prayer and study.

4. Prohibition of work, though some activities prohibited to the people were allowed to be carried out by the priests.

5. Is to be observed by all; men women and children both slave and free, the native born and foreigner Even the animals were included. (Exodus 23:12)

C. Passover (Leviticus 23:4, Exodus 12:1-20; 23:14-19; 34:18-26) – In Hebrew “Pesach”

1. The Month of Aviv (or Abib), meaning “spring” (also known as Nissan in the Jewish Calendar) is the beginning of the religious calendar. It is called the chief of months (Leviticus 23:5, Exodus 12:1)

2. Begins on the 14th of Nissan at twilight (in Judaism, days are reckoned from sundown to sundown i.e. Genesis 1:5) it was to be a Sabbath – “evening and morning”.

3. Passover Offering

a. A yearling male or kid without blemish was to be selected four days before Passover on the 10th of Nissan (Exodus 12:3,5, Deuteronomy 16:2)

b. Each household was to make the offering for themselves, or if small in number to join with another and share in the offering (Exodus 12:6)

c. The offering was to be killed between the evenings (Exodus 12:6)

d. The offering was roasted whole, and what was not eaten by sundown the following day, was to be burnt (Exodus 12:8-10)

e. It is to be eaten together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8, Deuteronomy 16:3)

f. All males were required to go to the Temple and observe Passover; this is one of the three pilgrimage feasts where the males were required to participate. It was held at the time of the full moon.

D. Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6-8, Exodus 12:14-20) – In Hebrew “matzah”

1. Begins on the 15th of Nissan, and was to be a Sabbath (first and last days)

2. Unleavened bread was a continuation of Passover, in fact the two terms are used interchangeably (Exodus 23:5)

3. Anyone eating leaven, his or her soul shall be cut off (Exodus 12:15, 19)

4. All people are to eat unleavened bread and participate; men, women, children, slaves, the native born and foreigner

E. Day of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23: 9-14) – In Hebrew ”yom ha bikkurim”

1. Begins on the day after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:11), the exact interpretation of this was disputed, it was interpreted primarily in two ways

a. Because the first day of Passover was to be a Sabbath, the Saducees interpreted the command to mean that Firstfruits would follow this first day of Passover, which would occur on the 15th of Nissan

b. The Pharisee’s interpreted the command to mean that Firstfruits would follow after the weekly Sabbath, therefore Firstfruits would occur on the first day of the week.

2. Firstfruits Offerings

a. The priest (in Hebrew Cohen) would wave a sheaf (freshly cut barley) before the LORD, this was done on behalf of the people (Leviticus23:10-11) If this wave offering was accepted by God then the rest of the harvest would also be blessed by the LORD.

b. In addition to the wave offering, a burnt offering of a yearling male lamb and its corresponding grain and wine offering was done (Leviticus 23:12-13)

c. No grain was eaten on Firstfruits until the offerings were brought before the LORD (Leviticus 23:14)

F. Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-22, Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9, 10) – In Hebrew “Shavu’ot” (Greek: “Pentecost” meaning “fifty”)

1. Begins on the fiftieth day after Firstfruits, after a count of seven sabbaths or 7 weeks (Leviticus 23:15-16)

2. Shavu’ot was to be a holy gathering, all customary (or common) work was prohibited.

3. Shavu’ot offerings

a. The people were to bring two loaves of leavened bread these were considered the firstfruits to the LORD; included with this offering was a burnt offering of: seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams and their corresponding grain offering and their drink offerings

b. An additional offering of one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering

1. The two lambs of the peace offering along with the bread of the firstfruits offering were waved before the LORD by the priest as a wave offering before the LORD; this offering was then a holy offering consumed by the priests

4. All males were required to go to the Temple to observe Shavu’ot; this is the second of the three pilgrimage feasts where the males were required to participate.

G. The Feast of Lots – In Hebrew “Pur’im”

1. This feast is commanded in the book of Esther (Esther 9:28)

a. It commemorates the defeat of Hamman’s plot to exterminate the Jewish people living in the land of Persia, by the Jewish queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai.

2. The word Purim means “lots” as the evil Hamman had cast lots to determine what day the Jews would be massacred. Hebrew holidays and months are often named after something or someone that God gave them victory over (Esther 3:6-8, 9:22, 26)

3. The festival of Purim begins the month preceding Passover with a fast on the 13th of Adar, called the Fast of Ester (Esther 4:15-17)

a. This fast commemorates the fast held by Esther and the Jewish people before their victory on the 14th of Adar

4. The Feast of Purim begins on the 14th of Adar and is to be a joyous celebration; there have been several traditions that grew around the Festival of Purim

a. The book of Esther is read

b. sending gifts to the needy

c. sending gifts of food to family and friends

d. eating a festive meal to commemorate the feast celebrated by Esther and the Jewish people

The Moedim – Appointed Times: A Brief Overview Part 2

A. The Feast of Trumpets – In Hebrew “yom ha teruah” (Literally day of blowing) or “rosh ha shannah” (head of the year)

1. The Feast of Trumpets begins on the 1st of Tishrei, the seventh month ; a new moon

a. New Moon – on the first of each month (the new moon) God prescribed offerings and sacrifices to be done by the priests in the Temple; over time customs developed and a feast was held each month at this time, the culmination of the New Moon celebration is found in the Feast of Trumpets. (Numbers 28:11-15, 1 Samuel 20:5, 18, 24, 1 Chronicles 23:31, 2 Chronicles 8:13, Ezra 3:5, Nehemiah 10:33, Isaiah 66:23)

2. It is to be a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:24, Numbers 29:1)

3. It was to be a holy gathering of the people, a day of the blowing of both the ram’s horn (in Hebrew “shofar”) and the silver trumpets (Leviticus 23:24, Numbers 10:10)

4. Offerings during the Feast of Trumpets

a. One young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish as a burnt offering and their corresponding grain offerings (Numbers 29:2-4)

b. One kid of the goats as a sin offering (Numbers 29:5)

c. The regularly prescribed New Moon burnt offerings, with their corresponding drink and grain offerings (Numbers 29:6)

B. Day of Atonement – In Hebrew “yom kippur” (Leviticus 16:29-34, Leviticus 23: 26-32, Numbers 29:7-11)

1. The Day of Atonement begins on the 10th of Tishrei (the seventh month)

2. It is to be a Sabbath, a day to “afflict the soul”

a. no manner of work could be done, and anyone doing work at this time God would “destroy him from among his people” (Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:28, 30-32, Numbers 29:7)

b. anyone not afflicting his or her soul would be “cut off from his people” (Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:27, 29, 32, Numbers 29:7)

3. The native born and foreigner are commanded to participate (Leviticus 16:29, 23:29)

4. The Offerings of the High Priest – he would make atonement for the: Holy Sanctuary, for the tabernacle of meeting (and later the Temple), for the altar, for himself and his family, the priests and for all of Israel, for all their sins, once a year (Leviticus 16:6, 33)

a. He could not enter at any other time into the Holy of Holies, except on the Day of Atonement, least he be struck dead by the Lord

b. He first ritually immersed himself in water (in Hebrew called “mikveh”) (Leviticus 16:4)

c. He then would don only the four white, linen garments as opposed to the usual eight garments he wore to minister to the Lord; linen tunic, the linen trousers, a linen sash, and the linen turban (Leviticus 16:4)

d. He would take two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering, and a bull as a sin offering to make atonement for himself and for his house. (Leviticus 16:5-6)

e. He would present the two goats before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. He then cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat (literally “for Azazel” (Leviticus 16:7-8)

1. The goat on which the LORD's lot fell, was offered as a sin offering (Leviticus 16:9)

2. The goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat was presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let go as the scapegoat into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:10)

f. He then entered into the Holy of Holies for the first time that day (Leviticus 16:11-14)

1. Taking a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD together with incense beaten fine; he put the incense on the coals before the Ark of Testimony causing a cloud of incense to fill the room. (If he did not do this, he would be struck dead by God).

2. He then took some of the blood of the bull and sprinkled it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and in front of the mercy seat

g. He then killed the goat of the sin offering for the people (Leviticus 16:15-19)

1. Bringing its blood inside the veil, he did with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat

a. This would also make atonement for the Holy Place, and the tabernacle of meeting, these being defiled because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their sins

2. He would then go out to the altar and make atonement for it

a. taking some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat he would put it on the horns of the altar all around.

b. Then he sprinkled some of the blood on the altar with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrated it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel

h. The High Priest would then lay both his hands on the head of the scapegoat, confess over it all the sins of Israel, putting them on the head of the goat, sent it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man (Leviticus 16:20-22)

i. He would then remove the linen garments and for a second time ritually immerse himself with water and don the four linen garments

j. The high priest would then offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people (Leviticus 16:23-25)

1. one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish and their corresponding grain offering, one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings (Numbers 29:8-11)

k. The one who released the goat as the scapegoat could not enter the camp until he had ritually immersed his clothes and himself in water (Leviticus 16:26)

l. The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering were carried outside the camp completely burnt (Leviticus 16:27-28)

1. The one who burnt them could not enter the camp until he had ritually immersed his clothes and himself in water

C. Feast of Tabernacles (or Ingathering) – In Hebrew “sukkot”

1. The two names given to this feast reflect its twofold meaning

a. Feast of Tabernacles – during this feast the people lived outdoors in temporary dwellings or booths (in Hebrew “sukkah”) for seven days (Leviticus 23:42-43)

b. Feast of Ingathering – this denotes the celebration of the successful harvest of the produce of the land (Deuteronomy 16:13)

2. Begins on the 15th of Tishrei (the seventh month – on a Full Moon) and lasted for eight days, consisting of a seven-day observance and a one-day observance (Leviticus 23: 33-36)

3. The first and the eighth day are a Sabbath

4. Everyone was to take part, as Deuteronomy 16:14 says: “you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.”

5. The people were commanded to take; the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook and rejoice before the LORD seven days (Leviticus 23:40)

6. This is the third of the three pilgrimage feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16)

7. Sukkot Offerings

a. For seven days offerings were brought before the Lord (Numbers 29:12-39)

1. 70 young bulls (beginning with thirteen on the first day and one less each of the six days)

2. 98 yearling lambs, without blemish (14 each of the seven days)

3. 7 kids of the goats (one each of the seven days)

D. Chanukah

1. Chanukah, also called the Festival of Lights, and Feast of Dedication

a. is observed for eight days, beginning on the evening of the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.

b. Chanukah commemorates the victory, through the miracles of God, of a small band of Maccabees, led by Judah the Maccabee, over the pagan Syrian-Greeks who ruled over the land of Israel, around the year 165 BC.

2. After the death of Alexander the Great, his Empire was divided among his generals.

a. Israel - the Kingdom of Judea - was added to the Empire of Antiochus III, King of Syria.

b. Antiochus IV Epiphanies then became king of the Syrian-Greeks, he was not content to accept the taxes and loyalty of the Jews as his predecessors had done. He wanted the Jews to lay aside their Torah and ancient religion, and, in their place, substitute the Hellenistic Greek culture and Grecian idols. King Antiochus IV bore down on his Jewish subjects with a measure of ruthlessness, stubbornness and cruelty that earned him the nickname Antiochus the Madman. He defiled the Temple - filling it with pagan idols, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, and requiring the sacrifice of pigs on the altar. He forbade the Jews to observe the commandments of Brit Milah (circumcision), Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon), the Sabbath, and barred the reading of the Torah.

3. Many miracles happened. Outnumbered a hundred to one, Judah and his men won many battles. Other Jews came to join him. In a few years, he had defeated the mightiest armies of Syria. Victory belonged to the Jew, the pure, the righteous, the loyal defender of the Torah. Following the rebellion, the kingdom of Israel was restored for 200 years, until the destruction of the Second Temple. So it was that Judah and his men climbed the mountain above Jerusalem and saw that there was no resistance. On the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, they marched into the Holy City and immediately made their way to the Temple, where they saw a sight that left them shocked and angered. Idols, filth, impurity were everywhere. They immediately began the process of cleansing and purifying the Temple along with rebuilding the altar, as the old one had been desecrated.

4. In honor of the cleansing of the Temple and its dedication, the Jews celebrated Sukkot, an eight-day festival that normally occurs earlier, in the month of Tishrei. The next year they celebrated Sukkot at the correct time and kept the twenty-fifth of Kislev (Chanukah) as the beginning of a new eight-day festival to mark the victory HaShem gave them.

5. The only book dedicated to the events of Chanukah is the Book of Macabees, which is not included in the Scriptures. However, there is one mention of Chanukah in the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 22. Here we see Yeshua celebrating the Feast of Dedication (Chanukah) with his disciples in Jerusalem.

6. The actions of Judah the Maccabee and his men preserved the existence of the Jewish people. Antiochus IV had full intention to do away with the Jews either through assimilation or death. Without the Jews and the Temple, there could be no Messiah. In this regard, Chanukah shares a similar significance to the spring feast of Purim, which celebrates the story of how Esther and Mordecai thwarted Hamman’s plans to do away with the Jewish people.

E. Seven Year Cycle and the Jubilee

1. Seven Year Cycle – In Hebrew “shmittah” (Leviticus 25:1-7)

a. The seventh year of the “shmittah” cycle is called “The Lord’s Release” (Deuteronomy 15:2)

b. every seventh year is a Sabbath for the land

1. planting and harvesting were forbidden

2. people were allowed to gather only as much as they could eat and no more

3. farmers were not allowed to prohibit people from eating of the produce of their fields, orchards and vineyards, it was to be shared with the poor, slaves, foreigners and domestic and wild animals

c. In the sixth year the Lord promised He would bless the harvest, causing it to produce enough for three years, so that they would not be forced to plant or reap in the seventh year (Leviticus 25:18-22)

1. In the eighth year planting could resume and the people would continue to eat the produce of the sixth year until the produce of the ninth year was harvested

d. In the seventh year every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor is required to release it (Deuteronomy 15:1-6)

2. The Jubilee – In Hebrew “yovel”

a. The Jubilee was the fiftieth year following a count of “seven sabbaths of years” (seven shmittah cycles) or 49 years. (Leviticus 25:8)

b. The Jubilee would commence on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9)

c. All the ordinances of the shmittah were observed in the Jubilee as well

d. A proclamation of liberty would go out to all the inhabitants of the land (Leviticus 25:10)

1. All ancestral properties would return to their original owners, the only exceptions were; land that was consecrated to the Priests and Levites, in the Jubilee it would become their permanent possession and houses in walled cities that were sold if not redeemed by the seller in one year would become the permanent possession of the purchaser and would not be returned in the Jubilee. (Leviticus 25:23-34)

2. All slaves and bondservants were to be released in the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:39-55)

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