The Feasts (Leviticus 23)

What were the annual feasts kept by Israel? Are variations on Passover and Pentecost still observed by Christians? How has wave sheaf Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread become the central Christian feast? Let’s look at Leviticus 23.

What was the weekly feast and what was not to be done on it?

The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed times, the Lord’s appointed times, which you will declare to be holy occasions: Work can be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of special rest, a holy occasion. You must not do any work on it; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord. These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy occasions, which you will celebrate at their appointed times: (Leviticus 23:1-4 CEB)

What was the first of the annual feasts? Were two of those days to be sacred assemblies? The Hebrew word “miqra” meaning convocation or assembly, included a public reading.

These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. (Leviticus 23:4-8 ESV)

What was observed on the Sunday during the feast of unleavened bread? Could this hint at Jesus and His resurrection?

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He will wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil as a fire offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart of wine. You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain until this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live. (Leviticus 23:9-14 HCSB)

From which day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the Feast of Weeks to be counted? Was it also a Sunday?

Starting the day after the Sabbath, count for yourselves seven weeks from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. They are to be complete. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then bring a new meal offering to the Lord. Bring two loaves of bread from home as wave offerings made from two tenths of fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. Along with the loaves of bread, bring seven lambs (each of them one year old and without defect), one young bull as an offering, and two rams as offerings to the Lord—along with your gift and drink offerings—and present them as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Prepare one male goat for a sin offering and two one year old rams for peace offerings. Then the priest is to wave them—the two lambs with the bread of first fruits—as raised offerings in the Lord’s presence. They’ll be sacred to the Lord on account of the priest. On the same day, proclaim a sacred assembly for yourselves. You are not to do any servile work—and this is to be an eternal ordinance wherever you live throughout your generations. Furthermore, when you harvest the produce of your land, you are not to harvest all the way to the corners of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and resident alien. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 23:15-22 ISV)

The name Feast of Weeks is obvious from the counting, but how did the Greek name Pentecost, meaning count fifty, get applied to this feast?

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-16 KJV)