Feast Of Trumpets (Pt. 5) Series

So, I really had to dig to glean the significance of this passage, to learn what Feast of Trumpets is about.

Once again, I was reminded of the width and depth of God’s word.

I began in Numbers chapter 29.

Numbers 29:1–3 “‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,”

Numbers 29:4–6 “and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.”

Still, not a ton to go on here, but as I’ve considered these feasts as a whole, I realized a common thread here, “a day of rest”.

That day of rest has more than one purpose. One main purpose is for us to enjoy “the fruit of our labor”.

The Hebrew word for rest in this context means “a time of refreshing to the Lord, and a time for explicit retrospection”.

This is why I began today’s message with “do you ever contemplate your position with God?”

This led me to another thought:

Do we work to live, or live to work?

For years, I did the latter! Regretfully, it was during our child-rearing years.

I realized these festivals are connected with work cycles, and they gave opportunity to celebrate the fruits of their labor!

God wants our work and labor to provide for our needs, as well as to be a blessing to others.

I would like to go back to last weeks passage for just a few minutes, as we transition into this weeks festival.

Leviticus 23:15–18 “‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord.”

Leviticus 23:19–21 “Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”

I re-visited all that because I wanted to remind us that these instructions from God tell us to present to Him first, then; provide for the priests, then provide for themselves.

Let’s examine v22

Leviticus 23:22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’ ””

-ask others what does your bible say-

NLT-when you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you.

ESV-…for the poor and the sojourner (sojourner-one making a temporary stay)

God, priests, themselves, and others

Another common thread is the reminder to worship God between work days. A balance of work days and worship days!

Leviticus 23:3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”