Seven Jewish Feasts

It was on Mount Sinai that God gave Moses the dates and observances of the seven feasts.
The following pages give their names:

 

The Spring Feasts

1 Passover (Pesach) - Nisan 14-15

Passover is the Feast of Salvation

Leviticus 23:5specifies that the festival year begins with Passover on "the fourteenth day of the first month" (Nisan 15). Passover is the Feast of Salvation. In both testaments, the blood of the Lamb delivers from slavery – the Jew from Egypt, the Christian from sin.

 

2 Unleavened Bread (Chag Hamotzi) - Nisan 15-22

Symbolized a Holy Walk

 

Leviticus 23:6 puts the second feast on the next night: "On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; "seven days ye must eat unleavened bread." Leaven or yeast in the Bible symbolized sin and evil. Unleavened bread, eaten over a period of time, symbolized a holy walk, as with the Lord.

 

3 First Fruits (Yom habikkurim) - Nisan 16-17

Acknowledges the Fertility of the Land God Gave the Israelites

 

"On the morrow after the Sabbath" following Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:11 schedules First Fruits, the feast for acknowledging the fertility of the land He gave the Israelites. They were to bring the early crops of their spring planting and "wave the sheaf before the Lord." The modern church has come to call this feast "Easter". The First Fruits celebration was to be over God's replanting of the earth in the spring. Today this feast celebrates the resurrection of the Lord on First Fruits, which indeed occurred (plus, eventually, the resurrection of the entire Church!)

 

4 Pentecost (Shavu'ot) - Sivan 6-7

Marked the Summer Harvest

 

Leviticus 23:16 says, "Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." In late May or early June, Shavu'ot marked the summer harvest. Leviticus 23:17 requires an offering of two loaves of bread, baked with leaven. These loaves symbolize the church being comprised of both Jew and Gentile. A review of the first four spring feasts reveals that Jesus/Yeshua was crucified on Passover/Pesach, buried on Unleavened Bread, raised on First Fruits and sent the Holy Spirit/Ruach Hakkodesh on Pentecost/Shavu'ot.  Because we have not yet seen the fulfillment of feast number five - Trumpets - we remain under the orders of Pentecost/Shavu'ot.

 

NOTE:

(This day became especially significant for Christians because, seven weeks after the resurrection of Jesus, during the Jewish celebration of Shavuot/Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon his first followers, thus empowering them for their mission and gathering them together as a church.)

 

The Fall Feasts

5 Trumpets (Yom Teru'ah) - Tishri 1 (the horn represents the Rapture of the Church)

Trumpets "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof"

 

Leviticus 23:24 Ever since Isaac was spared by virtue of the ram being caught in the thicket by its horn, God seems to have enjoyed the trumpet. He used it when Joshua conquered Jericho. In Leviticus 25:8-10, he specified its use in having trumpets "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (that quotation appears today on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, assuring us that America was founded by Bible readers). Leviticus 23:24 requires that, "in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets."

 

Horn

 

The Feast of Trumpets occurs in September. This jump in time from the Feast of Pentecost in May or June seems to represent the Church Age in God's planning, since the trumpet unquestionably represents the Rapture of the Church. The trumpet was the signal for the field workers to come into the Temple. The high priest actually blew the trumpet so that the faithful would stop harvesting to worship. Now, when the trumpet sounds in accordance with
1 Corinthians 15:51-3, living believers will cease their harvest and rise from the earth. The Church will be taken out of the world.

 

6 Atonement (Yom Kippur) - Tishri 10

Provides a Day of Confession

 

Leviticus 23:27 provides a day of confession, the highest of holy days.  "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." This is the one feast that is not fulfilled by the church, because the Church owes no atonement. The Church is not innocent, of course, but it is exonerated. The Day of Atonement will be fulfilled in a wonderful way when the Lord returns at His Second Coming

 

7 Tabernacles (Sukkot) - Tishri 15- (Tabernacles represents the Lord's shelter in the world to come)

God Wanted to Celebrate the Fact that He Provided Shelter for the Israelites in the Wilderness

 

Leviticus 23:34 says, "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord." God wanted to celebrate the fact that He provided shelter for the Israelites in the wilderness. Each year on Tabernacles, devout Jews build little shelters or "booths" (sukkot) outside their houses and worshipped in them. Tabernacles represents the Lord's shelter in the world to come (olam habah), His great Tabernacle to exist in Jerusalem during the Kingdom Age. The Lord will establish His Tabernacle in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 37:26), and the world will come every year to appear before the King and worship Him (Zechariah 14:16-17).

 

 

Example of Translation for Leviticus 23:34:
Booths, Shelters, Tabernacles, Tents & Sukkot

(a look at 24 comparisons)

 

Bible

Version

Example

ASV

American Standard Version

Tabernacles

BBE

Bible in Basic English

Tents

CEV

Contemporary English Version

Shelters

Darby

Darby Version

Booths

DRB

Douay - Rheims Bible

Tabernacles

ERV

Easy to Read Version

Shelters

ESV

English Standard Version

Booths

GW

God’s Word

Booths

GWT

God’s Word Translation

Booths

HCSB

Holman Christian Standard Version

Booths

ISV

International Standard Version

Tents

JUB

Jubilee Bible

Tabernacles

KJV

King James Version

Tabernacles

NASB

New American Standard Version

Booths

NET

NET Bible

Shelters

NIV

New International Version

Tabernacles

NKJV

New King James Version

Tabernacles

NLV

New Living Version

Shelters

LITV

Literal Translation of the Holy Bible

Booths

NASB

New American Standard Bible

Booths

RV

Revised Version

Tabernacles

TLV

Tree of Life Version

Sukkot

WEB

World English Bible

Tents

YLT

Young’s Literal Translation

Booths

 

Revelation 22:19 KJV

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.