Leviticus 23: Overview

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Leviticus 23  •  7 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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BLESSING is in store for Israel. God will not cast off His people forever. But blessing will-only be enjoyed when they really own what the death of Christ has done for them. That we know will not be, till they see Him (Isa. 53). Hence the day of atonement was fixed to be observed between the memorial of the blowing of trumpets, and the feast of Tabernacles. No rest is there under the reign of their Messiah for them, till they have learned the value of His death on their behalf. But the Jews must first be back in their land, to see Him when He shall appear. Hence the order of events in this seventh month. Their national unfaithfulness and unbelief the Lord Jehovah foresaw, when they lay encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai, and this calendar of their festivals proves it. But it made no change in His purpose then. It will not alter one iota of His counsels regarding them forever. What thoughts, we may well conceive, will fill the hearts of the faithful ones, when they come to read in this chapter the outline of God's ways with their nation in grace, see it all as mapped out by Moses, and point to portion after portion of it as having received its accomplishment, learning surely as they will, all about it, when the order for their sacred year, here given, will be no longer in force, as Ezek. 45:18-2518Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary: 19And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house. 21In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. 23And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. 24And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah. 25In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil. (Ezekiel 45:18‑25) teaches us.
Following, then, on the feast of blowing of trumpets, typical of the return of the Jews and of their being owned by God as His people, comes the day of atonement, on the tenth day of that month, which for them will have its fulfillment, when they learn what the death of the Lord has done on their behalf. A day of afflicting their souls it was to be, and on it they were to do no manner of work. From evening unto evening were they to celebrate their Sabbath. And very stringent was the law here regarding it (27-32). The reason for their complete cessation from all work is stated in verse 28; the imperative necessity for all to afflict themselves, if they would be preserved alive on earth is set forth in verse 29; and the danger any one would incur, and justly, if he did any work on that day is plainly stated in verse 39. That person would be cut off from among his people, who did not afflict himself on that day. The Lord would destroy the one who should venture to do any work on it. Sin, and its consequences, are no light subjects in God's eyes, nor were they to be in the people's. How fully will they enter into that, when the mourning of Zech. 12:10-1410And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14) takes place, as they look on Him whom they pierced.
But their mourning will be turned into joy, for Messiah will appear for the joy of the remnant, and the ungodly shall be ashamed (Isa. 66:55Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. (Isaiah 66:5)). In anticipation of this was the feast of Tabernacles, called elsewhere the feast of ingatherings (Ex. 23:1616And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. (Exodus 23:16)), which commenced on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and lasted seven days, and one day, more, the eighth, on which they were to have a solemn assembly, and to cease on it, as on the first day of the festival, from all servile work. A day of rest, Shabbathon, was the first day, and a day of rest, Shabbathon (verse 39), was the eighth day. The feast was to be kept for seven days (31, 36, 39, 41, 42; Num. 29:1212And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: (Numbers 29:12); Deut. 16:13, 1513Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: (Deuteronomy 16:13)
15Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. (Deuteronomy 16:15)); with the eighth day connected with it, yet distinct from it, as verse 36 shows, and Num. 29:3535On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein: (Numbers 29:35), confirms. In Deut. 1613And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. (Deuteronomy 17:13) we have no mention of the eighth day at all.
The feast was called that of Tabernacles, or booths, succoth, because throughout the seven days they were to dwell in booths, succoth (42), made of palms, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, nachal, in remembrance of their wilderness life (43), at the commencement of which they came to palm trees (Ex. 15:2727And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters. (Exodus 15:27)), and found the close of it was at the brook Zered (Deut. 2:1414And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. (Deuteronomy 2:14)). Dwelling in booths seven days, they thus kept the feast, after they had gathered in their corn, and wine, and oil, resting and rejoicing when the toil of the year was ended; a foreshadowing of the rest that remaineth, and of the rejoicing that will take place when all their earthly troubles shall be ended, and Messiah be reigning over them. Then not Israel only, but those left of all nations who will have gone up against Jerusalem, will go up thither year by year, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. For whilst Passover concerns the redeemed of the Lord, and Pentecost in an especial manner those who are called out for heaven, Tabernacles will concern all on earth who will have had to do with Jerusalem in the past. (Zech. 14:1616And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16)).1
And now just a word about the eighth day, connected with the seven; yet, as we have pointed out, distinct from them. It carries us on in thought to the beginning of that time of blessedness which will follow the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal state when the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will tabernacle not then over, but with them (Rev. 21:33And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)). As the eighth day, it was the commencement of a new week, a period of time, one 'which, as far as the type is concerned, never ended. We come on to the commencement of a new week, but we never reach its close. Thus it symbolizes the eternal state, which will begin, but never end.
Now it was on this day, the great day of the feast, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple court at Jerusalem cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink " (John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)). The place, the occasion, the time, all were in perfect keeping with the announcement He then made. In the temple precincts, where the people assembled to take part in the Mosaic ritual, at the close of the feast of Tabernacles, on the eighth day, He cried, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Was there a soul which felt that the Mosaic ritual did not satisfy all its desires?
Was there a person who confessed that earthly blessing however full, crops however good, vintage however fine, could not meet the deep yearnings of an immortal and sinful creature? He then offered to each and all on that eighth day, typical of the eternal state, everlasting blessing, to be enjoyed then and forever by each one who would come unto Him and drink. Who then accepted that invitation has not been placed on record. Who that hears of it now has shown a readiness to receive it? What answer can the reader give to this simple but important question?
 
1. The reader should remark that we have no rejoicing spoken of in this chapter till we reach the feast of Tabernacles (verse 48), whereas, in Deut. 16, joy is a special characteristic of the feast of Weeks. Why this difference? In Deut. we have described the spirit in which each of the three feasts was to be observed. In our chapter of Leviticus we have God's ways with Israel delineated. For the nation there will be no joy till they are gathered back into the land, and are keeping the feast of Tabernacles. Hence it would appear why it is that only at Tabernacles is rejoicing spoken of in this chapter.