The Holy Feasts (Lev. 13)

Having set forth the requirements for maintaining the holiness of the priests and of the sacrifices in chapters 21-22, Moses now turns to the feasts of Yahweh.

The liturgical calendar of Israel was to structure life before the LORD. Like the rest of life in the ancient world, the agricultural cycle of planting and harvesting sets the tone for worship as well. The various feasts of Israel were timed to coordinate with the harvest, in order that they might bring their firstfruits and their tithes to the LORD.

Here we have a chronological description of the Lord's appointed feasts, which were to be sacred assemblies–or holy convocations. Numbers 28:11-15 adds the "new moon" in the section describing the sacrificial calendar, but since it was not a feast, it is not included here or in Deuteronomy 16. The New Moon festival would become important in later Jewish worship (Cf. Amos 8:5, Is. 1:13-14, 2 Kings 4:22-23).

It is worth noting that two of the three feasts have clear New Testament parallels. Passover and Easter are clearly connected in the gospels. And Pentecost and Pentecost are clearly connected in Acts. The Feast of Booths/Tabernacles is the one that is less obvious.

We'll come back to that at the end...