Leviticus 23:15-25 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Leviticus 23:15-25. With a humble heart, see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Leviticus 23:15-22 (NIV)
15 “‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.
16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.
17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD.
18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings–an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering.
20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the LORD as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the LORD for the priest.
21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'”
On verses 15-22: Leviticus 23 is basically the Israelites’ event calendar, listing out all the biggest holidays that God wanted the Israelites to celebrate during the year. It starts with the weekly Sabbath day, meant as a day of rest (Leviticus 23:3). Then there’s the Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover (Leviticus 23:4-8), meant to commemorate the day when God spared (“passed over”) every firstborn Israelite male by sacrificing a lamb instead and had everyone eat bread made without yeast in preparation for their swift escape out of Egypt.
Then there’s the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-14), which happens one day after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Some even consider the Feast of Firstfruits to be part of the Passover since the Feast of Firstfruits happens during the Passover. The Feast of Firstfruits is about taking the first sheaf from the barley harvest and offering it to God. In so doing the Israelites were recognizing that their land belongs to God and that God is their provider. The Feast of Firstfruits was a celebration of a new harvest and a symbol for resurrection and renewal. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus rose on the Feast of Firstfruits? That is why 1 Corinthians 15 calls Jesus the firstfruits of all who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23).
This leads us to verses 15-22, which describe the Feast of Weeks. What is the Feast of Weeks? The Feast of Weeks was one of the big three festivals in the Jewish calendar (the other two being the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles). The Israelites would count 50 days (7 weeks) from the Feast of Firstfruits. The 50th day was called Pentecost. The word “Pentecost” comes from the Greek for “the 50th day”. The original purpose of Pentecost was to thank God for His blessings, and in particular for the harvest He had given that year. In this way Pentecost was like the Jewish version of Thanksgiving.
It’s fitting and awesome that centuries after Moses wrote about Pentecost in Leviticus 23, God chose Pentecost to be the day that He would send His Holy Spirit to His church (Acts 2:1). After all, what greater blessing can we as Christ followers receive than His Holy Spirit?
Let’s thank God for sending His Holy Spirit to live in us, to be with us, to help us understand the Word of God, to experience God’s presence, to comfort us and to point us to Jesus.
Leviticus 23:23-25 (NIV)
23 The LORD said to Moses,
24 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.
25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.'”
On verses 23-25: Verses 23-25 describe the Feast of Trumpets, a day of rest when the Israelites would gather to worship God and trumpets would be blasted.
I am struck by how much and how long the Israelites were commanded to celebrate. The Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits and Feast of Weeks amounted to almost two months of prolonged celebration, reflection and worship.
From all these festivals it is clear that God doesn’t just want us to go through life just working ourselves to the bone and barely surviving. Rather, God made us to rest, to rejoice and to remember His goodness in our lives. May you schedule regular times to do just that: to rest, to rejoice and to remember God’s goodness.
Father, thank you that You don’t want us just to go through life working ourselves to the bone and barely surviving. You made us also to rest, to rejoice and to remember Your goodness in our lives. So may we be intentional about resting, rejoicing and remembering so that we would live life to the fullest, as You designed it to be. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
