BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 147 (1990):
143-54
Copyright © 1990 Dallas
Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
The Purpose of
Annual
Feasts
Timothy K. Hui
Attorney and Counselor
Thompson & Knight,
The feasts of the Lord were days of
high importance for Israel.1
They
punctuated her calendar with seasons of joyous celebration,
sharing in agricultural abundance, and reprieve
from the daily rou-
tine.2 But they were also
religious events.3 Their importance is evi-
denced by the fact that three
passages in the Mosaic legislation de-
scribe the feasts: Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29; and
Deuteronomy 16.
What was the significance of these
annual religious festivals?
Hulbert
suggests that their significance was primarily eschatologi-
cal and that they "were types which prophesied
God's redemptive
program in
valid, it must have "continuity of truth" in
both testaments.5 So for
1 J. Van Goudoever, Biblical Calendars (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1961), p. vii. He intro-
duces "day of 'high
importance'" as an appellation for the various festivals.
2
The
idea of joyous celebration is particularly strong in the Deuteronomy account.
See
the discussion on Deuteronomy 16 in Gilbert George Braithwaite, "The
Doctrine of
the Central Sanctuary in Deuteronomy" (ThD diss.,
1978),
pp. 125-26. The abundance of the land, represented by the freewill offerings
(Deut.
from the daily routine, see the discussion later on
the sabbatical rest.
3 The religious nature of
these feasts may be seen in the Numbers account. Each in-
dividual feast had its own set
of offerings. Furthermore these feasts were said to be-
long to the Lord (hvAhy;
ydefEOm).
4 Terry C. Hulbert, "The
Eschatological Significance of
(ThD diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1965), p. i.
5 Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols. (
143
144
Bibliotheca Sacra /
April-June 1990
the annual cycle of feasts to have the
eschatological significance
that Hulbert proposes, it must first speak commemoratively
to
of her past redemption before it can speak
typologically of her future
redemption. Hulbert recognizes this, but he gives
little attention to
the historical function.6 Both are needed, and
the historical signifi-
cance must be considered first.
Stated in another way, before an Old
Testament
event can have a forward-looking typological function, its
historical and retrospective significance must be
seen.
How Do the Feast Passages Differ?
The three passages that describe the
feasts differ in their em-
phases. Deuteronomy 16 stresses the pilgrimages to the
feasts, Num-
bers 28-29 emphasizes the
offerings, and Leviticus 23 focuses on the
feasts themselves. Why are these emphases given?
DEUTERONOMY
16
In Deuteronomy 16 the pilgrimage (gH) occupies a prominent
place.7 That chapter mentions
only the three pilgrimage-feasts,
during which attendance before the Lord for all male
Israelites was
required.8
"These annual feasts would keep the people aware of the
importance of the central sanctuary and of its role
in maintaining
their unique spiritual relationship with" the
Lord.9 The recurring
phrases, "the place which the Lord your God
chooses" and "(appear-
ing) before the Lord your God," readily
identify the organizing prin-
Press,
1948), 7:309.
6 For example he states
that "this retrospective idea was certainly valid, for the
feasts involved true memorials, of deliverance from
be confessed, etc." (Hulbert, "'
pp. 3, 109). He adds that from the premillennial point of view one must accord to
these feasts "a genuine historical
function" (ibid., p. 17).
7 The verbal root ggH has the meaning of "making a pilgrimage" (Francis
Brown, S.
R.
Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament
[
whose derivative, hajj,
refers to the official pilgrimage to
cal Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. LairQ Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and
Bruce
K. Waltke, 2 vols. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), s.v., "ggaHA," by Carl Philip
We-
ber, 1:261-63,
8 The three
pilgrimage-feasts are the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and
Booths. Even though the Passover is mentioned in
this chapter, that feast "and Un-
leavened Bread are in effect the two constituent
parts of a single major festival," of
which "the second part. . . [is]
the center of attention" (Peter C. Craigie, The Book of
Deuteronomy (
tally this is the same orientation found in Leviticus
23.
9 Braithwaite, "The
Doctrine of the Central Sanctuary in Deuteronomy," p. 125.
The Purpose of
ciple of this passage.10
Verses 16-17 conveniently summarize this
literary unit. The pilgrimages of the people to
the central sanctuary
would contribute to national unity.
NUMBERS
28-29
Numbers 28-29 is a section of the Mosaic
legislation whose pur-
pose "is to define the periodical public
offerings."11 The inclusion of
the list of the feasts of the Lord is only
incidental.12 These two chap-
ters prescribe the kinds of
offerings for various occasions--daily of-
ferings (28:3-8), sabbatical
offerings (28:9-10), and festive offerings
(28:19-29:39).
The literary clue for the whole section (hence also
for
the segment governing the feasts of the Lord) is in
Numbers 28:2. The
Israelites
were instructed to "observe" (rmawA) to present the
offerings.
The
word rmawA means “to exercise
great care over."13 In Deuteronomy
this word is used of the people's careful observance
of the Lord's com-
mandments.14 It is clear then that
Numbers 28-29 contains an instruc-
tional manual for the priests
on the offerings in the feasts of the Lord.
LEVITICUS
23
A cursory reading of Leviticus 23 reveals that
no such convenient
organizing principle may readily be found. The
feasts are treated at
various lengths, and various details are given
for each of the feasts,
as seen in this table:
Feasts Passage Length
Passover 23:5
1 verse
Unleavened bread 23:6-8 3
verses
Firstfruits
Weeks
Trumpets 23:24-25
2 verses
Day of Atonement
Booths
10 For the phrase
"the place which the Lord your God chooses" see verses 2, 6-7,11,
15.
For the phrase "before the Lord your God" see verses 11 and 16
(without the prepo-
sition l).
11 George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
Numbers, Inter-
national Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. &
T. Clark, 1903), p. 402.
12 Ibid.,
pp. 402-3. "Incidentally it also, and of necessity, contains a list of
Jewish
fixed feasts or sacred seasons."
13 Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament, s.v. "rmawA," by John E. Hartley, 2:939.
"Secondly
it expresses .the careful attention to be paid to the obligation of a covenant,
to laws, statutes, etc. This is one of the most
frequent uses of the verb."
14 For a complete list see
S. R. Driver, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on
Deuteronomy, International Critical
Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1895), p.
lxxxiii.
146
Bibliotheca Sacra /
April-June 1990
Even
the instructions for the offerings differ in length (compare the
instructions for the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks with
the instructions for the other feasts15).
These differences in length have led critics to
conclude that
"this chapter is not a self-contained unity."16
Snaith, for instance,
sees two sources for this chapter.
This chapter is composite, as is clear from the
double introduction,
verse 2 and verse 4. Scholars
who carry literary analysis into minute de-
tails find they have to speak
of more than one P-editor, apart from the
allocation of verses between H and
P. It is generally agreed that 1-8, 21,
23-38, 44 belong to P, though of different strata, and that 22, 39-43 are H,
with the rest mixed,
basically H but with P-elements of varying degrees
of recognizability.
Generally speaking, the agricultural emphasis is
characteristic of H, and the
ecclesiastical element of P. Indeed, it is
these differences that are
used as criteria.17
Elliger also sees at least two layers of
material in this chapter, the
second of which has its own special sources.18
Noth, on the other hand,
feels that the various "incongruities
are not easily explained by the literary-critical
assumption of dif-
ferent 'sources."'19
He attempts to explain the formation of this
chapter along a historical line. He suggests
that verses 9-21 have an
earlier tradition that he calls the
tion is then combined with
"the threefold agrarian feasts still pre-
served in Deuteronomy." These all came together
about the time of
the Exile and remained so until after the Exile
when they became
normative (in Num. 28-29). So the Leviticus list
occupies somewhat
a middle position between the other two accounts.20
15 Noth
makes this point: "On the one hand there are fairly short regulations for
the celebration of particularly and precisely dated
times in the course of the year (so
especially vv. 5-8; also vv. 23ff.); on the other
hand there are very detailed precepts
for carrying out festival customs on some not
exactly dated occasions (so especially vv.
9-21; also vv. 40ff.)" (Martin Noth, Leviticus: A
Commentary [
minster
Press, 1965], p. 166).
16 Ibid.
17 Norman H. Snaith, Leviticus and
Numbers, The Century Bible (
Nelson and Sons, 1967), pp, 149-50.
18 These two layers are
his Ph3 and Ph4. For the so-called "literary
history" see
Karl
Elliger, Leviticus,
Handbuch zum Alten Testament (
1966),
pp. 311-12.
19 Noth,
Leviticus, p. 166.
20 Ibid. Hulbert, on the
other hand, puts the Leviticus account as the first historical
account. He considers the other two accounts as
"restatements and emphatic reminders
given to the new generation on the plains of
The
addition of certain details peculiar to each of the other two accounts was
because
of "historical circumstances" (Hulbert,
"
The Purpose of
Kaiser
points out that for hermeneutical exercises such pursuits
of "hypothetical sources" are fruitless.
He believes that the task of
an exegete is not to investigate the
"pre-history of the text" but to
explain "the meaning of the present
text."21 Pursuit of prehistory
often leads to ludicrous dismemberings
of the text.22 Wenham warns:
The tentativeness of all attempts to discover sources
in Leviticus must
be underlined. Even if one
admits their presence it does not necessar-
ily follow that they ever
circulated independently of each other. Analy-
ses which purport to
distinguish between an original source and the
work of later redactors
should be treated more warily still. We do not
know enough about the
development of Hebrew language, law, and re-
ligion to make the elaborate
analyses offered in some works anything
more than conjectures.23
The presupposition of the present writer is that
Moses penned
this chapter as well as the rest of the Pentateuch.
Leviticus 23 is an
original composition. From a careful examination
of the text itself
one can determine its unifying principle.
Does
Leviticus 23 Emphasize the "Appointed Time" or
"Rest" and "Gathering"?
Hulbert, in his typological study of Leviticus
23, suggests that
the emphasis of this chapter revolves around the
term "appointed
time" (dfeOm).24 However,
that would be a rather weak unifying cen-
ter, as the Hebrew word
"frequently designates a determined time or
place without regard to the purpose of the
designation."25 This cen-
ter is not only weak
lexically, but it also fails to account for most of
the divergences in length and in the amount of
details.
A more likely unifying principle is suggested by
Wenham. He
states that "the whole emphasis lies on the days
that must be ob-
better to say that the differences were due to
differing purposes.
21 Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.,
"Evangelical Hermeneutics: Restatement, Advance, or Re-
treat from the Reformation?" Concordia Theological Quarterly 46
(April-June 1982):
174.
22 See the translation of
Leviticus 23 by Elliger. In order to demonstrate the
two lay-
ers and the various sources
of each layer he employs seven different type faces
(Elliger, Leviticus, pp. 302-3).
23 Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (
lishing
24 "The Leviticus 23
account, on the other hand, was given in the form of a schedule
of appointed observances. This is borne out by the
four pointed occurrences of moadim
in Leviticus 23:2, 4, 37, 44" (Hulbert,
"Israel's Annual Feasts," p. 28).
25 Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, s.v.
"dfy," by Jack P.
Lewis, 1:388.
148
Bibliotheca Sacra /
April-June 1990
served as days of sabbath
rest."26 This calendrical purpose is
sup-
ported by the phrase "in their seasons" (MdAfEOmB;, v. 4). The lack of
clarity as to the beginning of the 50-day period
before the Feast of
Weeks
militates somewhat against this center.27
Keil states that the annual
cycle of feasts has "its centre and
starting point in the Sabbath."28
Wenham interprets Keil as saying
that "the sabbatical principle informs all the pentateuchal laws
about the festivals."29 In this view
Leviticus 23:3, set between the
so-called "dual introductions," supplies
the controlling idea(s) for
this chapter. The repetition of the demonstrative
pronoun hl.,xe
which appears at the end of verse 2 and at the head
of verse 4,
indicates that verse 3 is a purposeful insertion.30
The addition of the
phrase "in their seasons" to verse 4 (but
not in v. 2) makes that verse,
perhaps, the introduction proper.
This sabbatical principle incorporates two
ideas: the Sabbath
is to be a time of rest (NOtBAwa tBawa),
and the Sabbath is to be a time for
religious gathering (wd,qo-xrAq;mi). If this is a valid
center, then one
should expect the literary clues (i.e., the details)
of this chapter to
expand these two concepts of rest and holy
convocation.
26 Wenham, Leviticus, p. 3.
27 "On the day after
the sabbath (vv. 11, 15, cf.
v. 16)--the meaning of this phrase
has been the subject of much controversy. Is the sabbath in question the ordinary sab-
bath, i.e., the first Saturday after the beginning
of the festival of unleavened bread?
Or
is the sabbath the first day
of unleavened bread when heavy work was forbidden?
According
to the first interpretation 'the day after the sabbath'
means Sunday; ac-
cording to the second it means the sixteenth day
of the month.
"Orthodox Judaism and most modern
commentators favor the second suggestion.
Some
Jewish sects, however, and a few modern writers favor the first suggestion. The
exegetical arguments are finely balanced. It seems
slightly more natural to equate
'the sabbath' with Saturday than
with the first day of the feast. Furthermore, if one
accepts that: Leviticus is based on the Jubilees
Calendar, it would seem more likely
that the first sheaf was offered on Sunday (the day
after sabbath) than on Thursday
(second day of the feast)" (Wenham, Leviticus, p. 304).
Van Goudoever suggests
two additional ways of counting the 50 days: (1) count
from the day after the week of Unleavened Bread, which
ends with a Sabbath, or (2)
count from the Sunday after the week of Unleavened
Bread (Biblical Calendars, pp.
18-29).
28 Carl Friedrich Keil, Manual of
Biblical Archaeology, 2 vols. (
29 Wenham, Leviticus, p. 301.
30 Keil
feels that the repetition of the title points out the distinction between the
"Sabbath" and the feasts. "As a weekly
returning day of rest, the observance of
which had its foundation in the creative work of God,
the Sabbath was distinguished
from the yearly feasts in which
evation into a people of
God" (C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch,
The Pentateuch, 3 vols.,
Biblical
Commentary on the Old Testament [reprint,
Publishing
Co., n.d.], 2:438).
The Purpose of
Sabbatical Rest
The concept of the sabbatical rest is often
associated with Cre-
ation.31 The Lord's rest from
His creative activities is the reason be-
hind
the reiteration of this commandment (Deut.
is given: to commemorate
the rest (tbAwa) in Genesis 2:2 and the
rest (hHAUnm;) in Psalm 95:11.32
In
other words he associated this rest with the entrance
of
the Promised Land, which the Israelites (the first
generation of the
Exodus)
forfeited because of their unbelief. Rest, in this context, was
the repose of the Lord from His completed work; and
He shared this
repose with the nation of
Land. The sabbatical rest is then a commemoration of
the Lord's fin-
ished work of redemption.
Viewing the sabbath as "a periodical memorial of
liverance from
the festive Sabbaths cannot fall on the weekly
Sabbath. Instead of
having significance in reference to Creation, these
festive Sabbaths
point to the completed work of redemption, which is a
form of cre-
ation.34
Of the seven feasts of the Lord described in
Leviticus 23, five in-
clude a specific prohibition
from work (UWfEta
xlo hdAbofE). They are the
first and the seventh days of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread (vv. 7-
8),
the Feast of Weeks (v. 21), the Feast of Trumpets (v. 25), the Day
of Atonement (vv. 28-31), and the first and eighth
days of the Feast
of Booths (vv. 35-36). During the Feast of
Unleavened Bread the two
Sabbaths
are only six days apart. The Feast of Firstfruits
takes
place on the day after a Sabbath. The 50th day from
that day can-
31 Ibid.
32 Hebrews 4:1-5. The
writer of Hebrews used both the verb and the noun from the
same root: katapau<w and kata<pausij.
33 Driver,
Deuteronomy, p. 85.
34 "The Exodus, too,
was a type of creation and thus forms an analogy to the creation
account in Genesis. The Exodus from
as a nation, and the memory of that event was also
a reminder to the Israelites of
their total dependence upon God. Whereas atone time
the Israelites had been slaves
in
God's
deliverance made them potentially a nation, and the sabbath was to function as
a day of rest in which the deliverance from the
former bondage could be remembered
with thanksgiving" (Craigie,
Deuteronomy, p. 157).
150
Bibliotheca Sacra /
April-June 1990
not possibly be another Sabbath. Thus
the Feast. of Weeks would not
be on a weekly Sabbath. Between the Feast of
Trumpets and the Day
of Atonement the interval was 10 days; thus one of
them could not
fall on a weekly Sabbath. The significance of the
sabbatical rest
went beyond the general commemoration of the Lord's
repose from
His
completed work of creating the world to the specific commemo-
ration of His completed work of redeeming the nation
Two of the seven feasts include no prohibition
from work. They
are the Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits. The Passover, accord-
ing to verse 5, is
basically an evening event. The next morning begins
the first Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So the Passover
is, in effect, the beginning of or the
introduction to the Feast of Un-
leavened Bread. In the description of Deuteronomy
16 the "Passover
and Unleavened Bread are in effect the two
constituent parts of a
single major festival."35
The Feast of Firstfruits
took place after a religious Sabbath
(Lev.
23:10-11). There is no mention of a Sabbath observance or a
prohibition from work in the instructions for this
feast. There are
some indications that this and the Feast of Weeks
should be consid-
ered as "the two
constituent parts of a single major festival" like the
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of First-
fruits marked the beginning, and the Feast of Weeks
marked the end,
of the harvest season.36 Both included
the wave offering (vv. 11, 17).
In
the first case what was waved is the sheaves, but in the second
case what was waved is two loaves of bread baked
with yeast
(leaven). It signified the completion of the harvest and the
leisurely preparation of meals. At the Feast of Firstfruits no such
leisure could be offered. It began the harvest
and no special time was
taken for rest. A literary parallel to this
phenomenon is in Genesis
1:7.
At the end of the second day of Creation there was no
pronounce-
ment of approval. That did
not come till the third day. It is sug-
gested that the work performed
on both days should be taken as a
unit.37
The feasts may be grouped into three units. The
first two feasts
belong together, as mentioned earlier. The second two
feasts are also
to be taken together. The last three would
naturally be taken to-
35 Ibid.,
p. 242.
36 Van Goudoever,
Biblical Calendars, pp. 15-18.
37 "The words it was
good were not appropriate at this state, in as much as the work
of water had not yet been completed. The situation
was not yet good; for had it been
good, there would have been no necessity for another
separation on the third day" (U.
Cassuto, A
Commentary on the Book of Genesis, part 1: From Adam to Noah: Genesis
I-VI 8 [
The Purpose of
gether because they are in the
seventh month. Some modifications of
this group may be necessary as will be revealed in
the study of the
term "perpetual statute" (MlAOf tq.aHu). Only four of the
seven are so
designated in Leviticus 23: Feasts of Firstfruits, Weeks, Booths, and
the Day of Atonement. The first two
feasts--Passover and Unleav-
ened Bread-are so designated
in Exodus 12:14, 17. But the perpetual
statute statement is really not necessary
because they were instituted
and kept before the Mosaic Law was given at Sinai.
The Feast of the
Trumpets
is considered a memorial (NOrkAzi), not a perpetual
statute
(Lev.
23:24). It was not equal to the other six, because it was an in-
troductory Sabbath for the Sabbath
month (seventh month). Thus
the feasts may be seen as three groups of two, with
the third group
having an introductory Sabbath.
Since the first two feasts are not mentioned as
perpetual statutes
because they were established before the giving
of the Law at Sinai,
what then is the significance of such a designation
for the last two
groups of feasts? One factor that seems to be common
to them is that
they could not be properly observed until the nation
of
the Promised Land. Obviously they could not
celebrate the beginning
or the end of the harvest season so long as they
lived a nomadic life
in the Sinai wilderness. The feasts of Firstfruits and of Weeks would
be meaningless if
of Booths commemorated the wandering of
tents during that period (Lev.
unlikely until the wandering itself had ceased
and the nation was
dwelling in houses and not tents. The Day of
Atonement gives no in-
dication one way or the other.
Some sense of permanence seems to be
indicated for the tabernacle in Leviticus 16.
Taken together, the
idea seems to point toward the completed redemption.
The feasts of
the Lord emphasize not the leaving of
the Promised Land, which completed the Lord's
redemptive work for
Holy Convocation
The second concept of the sabbatical principle
relates to the
calling of a holy convocation. The purpose for
such gatherings was