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When Moses disappeared for more than a month, the people of Israel did not know what had happened to him. They grew impatient; and as a result of their impatience, they sinned so greatly that they lost much of their special statue. Now they would be held to a rigorous code of laws that would constantly remind them how they had sinned.
The Exodus was Israel's declaration of independence. Like the American Declaration of Independence, it did not specify any form of government or any laws. It simply separated them from the government that had controlled them. As long as they followed Moses' instructions, the Israelites did well. But when Moses was away the people of Israel quickly fell back into their old habits.
Why a "golden calf?" The statue of a bull that Aaron had made represented Apis, an Egyptian fertility god. The bull is a common symbol of strength and power - the Canaanites too, had a fertility god in the form of a bull. When the sacred author tells us that the people "sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play," he means they indulged in all kinds of immoral celebrations, just as worshipers of other fertility gods did in that time Aaron might had been trying to save some appearance of loyalty to God by saying that the statue represented Yahweh, the True God, but the people were in fact worshiping a fertility god like the ones they had known in Egypt. The people had completely renounced the covenant they had just made with God and the moral laws that went with it They had turned around and gone back to their old Egyptian ways And they pretended that it was this bull-god who had brought them out of Egypt.
Up on the mountain, Moses had just received the two tablets with the Law written by God's own hand. Now God suddenly brought him some very bad news. And God no longer called Israel "my people," he called them "your people." Moses when down the mountain and saw things for himself. The celebration was still going on and it was even worse than Moses had expected. Moses threw the two stone tables on the ground and smashed them symbolizing that the covenant that was with Israel had been broken.
After forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites, still rebellious, needed a stronger constitution to hold them together. Moses would have to give them the laws in Deuteronomy, laws that included many concessions to their "hardness of heart." Even those laws would not be enough: Moses prophesied that the people would break them and Israel would fall apart. But he also foresaw a time when God would bring all his people together under a new law, one that would be written in their hearts. The Old Laws is indeed the first stage of the revealed law, and as we will see in the New Testament, the Law of the Gospel fulfills, refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection.
Adoration of the Golden Calf (Nicolas Poussin)
The Sin of the Golden Calf and Covenant Renewal
Exodus 32:1-6: The Golden Calf
You may remember the last time the people saw Moses he was going up into the cloud on top of the mountain "a mountain that was illuminated by a devouring fire at its peak (Ex 24:17-18). After a forty day absence they reached the conclusion that Moses was probably dead and they demanded that Aaron make them a god(s) to lead them.
Question: What is curious about Aaron's response to the people and who is absent or not consulted in making the decision to comply with people's demand to make an image of god/gods? Whose decision was it to make the image a calf?
Answer: It is curious that Aaron offered not the slightest protest and Hur, who Moses had also appointed to lead the people in his absence, is not mentioned. Instead Aaron entered whole-heartedly into the suggesting by telling the people to bring him their gold jewelry, and then after he decided to cast the idol of a calf, he suggested a festival in honor of the idol he identified as Yahweh (32:5).
Question: What does Aaron's readiness to comply with the demands of the people suggest about his character? What is the future implication of Aaron's sin? See Lev 4:3.
Answer: In his clear breach of the covenant commands it would appear that he cared more about being popular with the people than about being obedient to the commands of God. From this time forward an anointed high priest's individual sin becomes the sin of the whole covenant community.
For the first time we have a suggestion of Aaron's profession in Egypt. He must have been a gold-smith or a metallurgist to have the skill to produce the metal-covered idol. The Golden Calf is not described as a solid gold image and since it will be destroyed by burning and pulverizing (Ex 32:20) it was probably made of a wooden sub-structure covered with gold plate.
We might ask the question, "Of all the images Aaron could have made, why did he make an image of a golden calf? In Egypt the people would have been exposed to the worship of the Apis bull, a bull worshipped as the physical manifestation of the god Ptah, a fertility god associated with agriculture and procreation. Verse six suggests the kind of revelry associated with an orgy, the kind of festival behavior associated with worship of the fertility god Ptah. Aaron and the people may have said the golden image was Yahweh, but they were worshipping the image as Ptah.
Exodus 32:7-10: Yahweh Commands Moses to Return to His People
Yahweh ordered Moses to return to his sinful people; notice that God does not call them Yahweh's people but Moses' people. This is the beginning of the breach between God and the Israelites.
The creation of the golden idol and the people's decision to worship it was as great a fall from grace as Adam and Eve's sin in eating the forbidden fruit in the garden Sanctuary of Eden. God had taken Israel out of Egypt, but Egypt remained in the people "the sins of Egypt remained in the thoughts of the people and were reflected in their actions (Ex 14:12; 16:3; Acts 7:39-43). The incident of the Golden Calf was a mortal sin because the idol was created with knowledge of the covenant breach and with the intent to worship (mortal sin presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act in opposition to God's law, and a deliberate consent (see CCC 1857 and 1859). The sin was equally Aaron's and the people. It is a breach of sin that will remain as a barrier between God and His people until the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah (Jer 31:31-34).
Exodus 32:11-14: Moses' First Intercessory Prayer
Moses' intercessory prayer and petition to God on Israel's behalf is based on four considerations.
- The Israelites are God's chosen people.
- He chose them when He manifested His power in liberating them from Egyptian bondage.
- The destruction of Israel at this time would diminish the witness to the Egyptians of God's mighty acts of power and mercy in freeing the Israelites.
- God must keep the promises He made to the Patriarchs.
Question: Why did Yahweh grant Moses' petition? What does the granting of the petition of His covenant mediator Moses foreshadow in salvation history? See Heb 7:25.
Answer: Yahweh accepted Moses' petition to spare Israel not because of Israel's merit but because of the plea for mercy from His covenant mediator and His promises to the Patriarchs. As the covenant mediator Moses' intercession foreshadows the New Covenant mediator, Jesus Christ, who prayed on the altar of the Cross for sinners and who is still praying for us in the heavenly Sanctuary: Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25 NJB).
Exodus 32:15-24: Moses Confronts Aaron and the People
The tablets were the work of God, and the writing on them was God's writing, engraved on the tablets. This statement amplifies Ex 24:12. Just as Creation was the work of God's "fingers" (Ps 8:3/4), so have the creation of the tablets of the Decalogue come about directly through Divine will (Ex 31:18; Ps 33:6; Jn 1:1-3).
Question: When Moses ascended the mountain in Exodus 24:13-14, where did he leave Joshua?
Answer: Joshua stayed at a point mid-way up Mt. Sinai.
At his vantage point mid-way up the mountain Joshua could hear the sounds coming from the camp and interpreted those sounds as the noise of war. Moses, however, knew the people were not under attack from a foreign enemy but that the sound was from a responsorial cultic chant "the people were at war with holiness and sin had conquered them.
Question: Why did Moses destroy the sacred tablets of the Decalogue? Was it an impulsive act that was simply a result of Moses' righteous anger or was there another reason? Hint: What was the purpose of the tablets?
Answer: The tablets were the covenant treaty document that represented the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. Moses' action in destroying the tablets was not an impetuous act that was a result of his anger; it was a deliberate and symbolic act.
Moses' action signified the breaking of the covenant treaty, and he performed this symbolic act in front of the people assembled at the foot of the mountain.
The idol was apparently made of wood and covered with gold. The metal was ground into a powder and the wood burned to ash.
Question: What additional information is given in Deuteronomy 9:21?
Answer: Moses threw the powdered remains of the idol into a brook that came down out of the mountain and force the people to drink the water.
Since there was a single source of water for the camp from the stream (the water from the rock of Ex 17:5-6), no one in the camp could escape the ordeal of drinking the bitter water mingled with the residue of their sin.
Question: How does Aaron respond to Moses' reproach?
Answer: He does not accept responsibility but excuses his conduct by vilifying the people and side-stepping his own involvement. In his most ludicrous statement he offers that he threw some metal into the fire and the idol just came out!
This was the point at which Moses probably had to intercede for Aaron's life "Aaron who conceived of and created the golden calf and then suggested the people declare a festival to worship it: Yahweh was enraged with Aaron and was ready to destroy him too; I also pleaded for Aaron on that occasion (Dt 9:20).
Exodus 32:25-29: The Levites Slaughter the Rebels
Question: What happened after Moses destroyed the idol?
Answer: Moses' action apparently triggered a revolt.
Aaron's excuses in 32:22-24 did not impress Moses who clearly blamed Aaron for the present danger to the people from God and from their enemies since their "festival" left the camp unprotected: for Aaron had let them get out of hand to the derision of their enemies all round them.
Exodus 32:26: Moses then stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, Who is for Yahweh? To me!' And all the Levites rallied round him.
Moses' question makes it clear that there are only two choices left for the people "either they are for God and support Moses as His representative or they stand against God. His declaration also implies that whatever the intention of the people, the use of the calf image or any such image is irreconcilable with monotheism.
Question: Of all the people, which group of them should have been the first to rally to God's representative? Which group answered Moses' call?
Answer: All the first-born sons spared the night of the ten Egyptian plague and who were consecrated to Yahweh by the blood of the Passover lambs and kids should have been the first to rally to Moses; instead Moses' own tribe of the Levites remained faithful to the covenant and loyal to Moses.
Moses commanded the Levites to be absolutely impartial in carrying out their mission to restore order and to end the revolt "whether it was sibling, friend, or son who opposed them. Moses will remember the terrible deed he asked his kinsmen to perform in his farewell blessing of the Levites before his death (Dt 33:9).
Question: How many died in the struggle and where therefore lost to the covenant people? Why is this number significant later in Acts 2:37-41?
Answer: About 3,000 of the covenant people died that day. After St. Peter's first homily on Pentecost Sunday, 30 AD, about 3,000 of the Old Covenant people were added to the New Covenant family of God. What was lost in the first generation of the people of the Sinai Covenant was added in the new generation of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus.
Exodus 32:29: Today,' Moses said, you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh, one at the cost of his son, another of his brother; and so he bestows a blessing on you today.'
The first-born sons' failure to rally to Moses and therefore to God strips Israel of her priestly nation status. Every first-born son of every woman in every Israelite family was intended to serve the Aaronic priesthood and the people as lesser priests "creating "priestly nation" status. Now that honor will be given to one tribe "Moses' tribe of Levi who has been consecrated in the sacrificial blood of their brother Israelites.
Exodus 32:30-35: Moses' Second Intercessory Prayer and the Offering of his own Life in Atonement for the Sins of his People
Having successfully petitioned Yahweh to spare the lives of the Israelites (32:11-14), the day after the revolt Moses attempted to make expiation for the people's sin when he went up the summit of Sinai to speak to Yahweh. The "book" Moses mentions in verse 33 is the Book of Life in which the names of all those destined for salvation are recorded (Ps 69:27-28; Is 4:3; Jer 22:30; Ez 13:9; Dan 12:1; Rev 3:5; 20:12). There is more than one book in the heavenly Sanctuary (Dan 7:9-10; Rev 20:12). In addition to the Book of Life there is the Book of Remembrance, also called the Book of Deeds, in which the works of human beings, both good and evil, are recorded ( Ps 40:8; 51:3; 56:8; 109:14; Is 65:6; Jer 17:1, 13; Neh 13:14; Mal 3:16; Lk 10:20; Rev 20:12).
Question: What does Moses offer Yahweh in atonement for the sin of the people?
Answer: Moses offers God his own life.
Question: Why didn't God accept his offer?
Answer: This is not the time and Moses is not the man who, in God's plan of salvation, is intended to offer his life for the atonement of the covenant people.
Perhaps God's threat to wipe the Israelites off the face of the earth in Exodus 32:9-10 was intended to bring Moses to the point of this act of supreme sacrifice out of love for his people. It is certainly a gesture that prefigures the sacrificial atonement Jesus the Redeemer-Messiah will make out of both love for mankind and obedience to God, not only for the sins of Israel but for the sins of all mankind. It is another example of Moses as a "type" of Christ the Redeemer.
Question: What is the rest of Yahweh's answer to Moses' petition?
Answer: Yahweh will allow the Israelites to take possession of the Promised Land, and His angel will lead them, but the people will receive just punishment for their sin.
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Agape Bible Commentary
Leviticus 23
Leviticus 23:1-4: The Sabbath Obligation
No matter where an Israelite lived, even if he could not travel to attend the sacred assembly of the covenant people in the presence of Yahweh at the Sanctuary or later at the Temple, he had to observe the covenant obligations of the Sabbath rest. This command to keep the Sabbath rest is the beginning of the liturgical calendar of sacred time—divinely ordered weekly and annual appointments between Yahweh and His covenant people.
Question: Do the New Covenant people of the universal Church have a divinely ordained appointed time to come into the Lord’s presence?
Catechism of the Catholic Church (2180 - 2182)
2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass." "The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day."
2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God's holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Question: What comparison can be made between the Catholic Church’s Holy Days of Obligation and Old Covenant feast days?
Answer: The Holy Days of Obligation in the Church’s liturgical calendar equate to the Old Covenant Sacred Assemblies and pilgrim feasts where participation in worship at Yahweh’s Sanctuary was required.
Question: How was the Old Covenant demonstration of fidelity to God and covenant commitment on the Sabbath in offering sacrifice and worship transformed in the New Covenant?
Answer: Our commitment to sacred worship and communion with God on the Lord’s Day is the same as the Old Covenant people’s commitment to the Sabbath—worshiping on the Lord’s Day is a demonstration of fidelity to Jesus Christ and covenant union with the Most Holy Trinity celebrated in the sacred sacrificial meal of the Eucharistic banquet.
Question: Is neglect of the Lord’s Day or receiving the Eucharist in an unworthy manner also tied to the welfare of the New Covenant people in their relationship with the Most Holy Trinity? See 1 Corinthians 11:23-32.
Answer: Yes; to dishonor the Eucharist by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in a profane way or to neglect the Lord’s Day worship is tantamount to dishonoring Christ and rejecting the sanctity of the covenant union with the Most Holy Trinity.
Please keep in mind the English word “feast” means “festival.” The word has also come to be associated with “eating” because often a festival celebration involves a meal but not in all cases, for example the Passover only involved the sacrifice. The eating of the sacrifice in a meal occurred on the first day (beginning at sundown) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex 12:8).
Leviticus 23:4: The Seven Divinely Appointed Annual Sacred Feasts
These solemn occasions are designated “feasts of remembrance.” In observing these annual feasts the children of the Exodus didn’t just “remember” the Exodus experience, but every generation was invited to relive the Exodus experience and apply it to their lives (Ex 13:8, 10, 14-16).
Please notice that five of the feasts are given a specific date; those feasts were to occur on that same date in the same month every year. Two of the seven feasts, however, were not given a date but were instead given a specific day within a certain week of the appointed month so that every year those two feasts fell on the same day of the week, year after year within the cycle of sacred festivals.
Feast #1, the Passover: 3The fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh;
The instructions for the first sacrifice of the Passover are given in Exodus Chapter 12. In those instructions the month of the Passover observance was to become the first month in Israel’s liturgical calendar. The appointed time of the Passover remembrance begins at sundown on the 14th of Abib and continues until the next sundown, which signals the beginning of the next day. The ritual for the annual sacrifice of the Passover victims in the first century AD in the Second Temple Period are given in the Mishnah in the section designated Pesah. The Passover sacrifices took place immediately after the afternoon Tamid sacrifice, which on that occasion was scheduled earlier than the normal time of three in the afternoon (Mishnah: Pesahim 5:1; JPS Commentary: Leviticus, page 156).
Feast #2, the Feast of Unleavened Bread: 6and the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread for Yahweh. For seven days you will eat unleavened bread. 7On the first day you will hold a sacred assembly; you will do no heavy work. 8For seven days you will offer food burnt for Yahweh. On the seventh day there will be a sacred assembly; you will do no heavy work.”’
Question: What was the total length of time designated for the two feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread? Is there a seven/eight pattern associated with the two feasts?
Answer: Passover was on the 14th of Abib (Nisan is the Babylonian name of the month) and Unleavened Bread lasted from the 15th to the 21st, a period of seven days. The two feasts together lasted a total of eight days forming a seven/eight pattern.
The two feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread form another seven/eight pattern, with Unleavened Bread lasting seven days and the one day of the Passover sacrifice that was the day before; counted together the two feasts covered an eight day period.
The two feasts were consecutive but the sacrifices and the significance of each feast was different and in the Bible they are always listed as two separate feasts.
Question: What was the significance of the Passover? What were the Israelites to “remember” in their celebration of the Passover and the sacred meal? See Exodus 12:12-14, 22-27. Hint: the blood of the victim when from the threshold to the doorpost above the door and the side lintels forming a “sign” of redemption (Ex 12:13, 23).
Answer: In the Feast of the Passover the Israelites were to recall the deliverance of the first born of Israel on the night of the tenth Egyptian plague as the angel of death passed over the houses marked by the sign of the bloody sign of a cross over the doorways.
Question: What was the significance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? See Exodus 12:8; 13:3-10.
Answer: The sanctification of Israel in eating the sacred meal of the Passover victim and Yahweh’s redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt.
Question: How did the Feast of Unleavened Bread get its name? See Exodus 12:15-20.
Answer: The Israelites were required to remove all leaven from their houses and to eat only unleavened bread for seven days.
Feast #3, the Feast of Firstfruits:
The Feast of Firstfruits is not a continuation of the Feast of Unleavened Bread but is a separate feast with a prescribed blood sacrifice, grain offerings and a wine libation even though the feast fell within the holy week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Question: This feast is associated with the barley which was ready to be harvested at this season of the year. The wheat harvest didn’t take place for approximately another six weeks. What event was this festival to be associated with that signified the meaning of the feast?
Answer: This feast wasn’t to be celebrated until the children of Israel were in possession of the Promised Land. The offering of the first sheaf to Yahweh was in thanksgiving for the fertility of the land.
Question: The Feast of Firstfruits is one of only two of the seven annual feasts that did not have a specific date—all five of the other feasts were to be celebrated on a specific date every year. According to the text, when was the Feast of Firstfruits to be celebrated within the holy week of Unleavened Bread and what sacrifices were presented to God at His Sanctuary?
Answer: After the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land, they were to bring forward the first of the barley harvest to Yahweh’s priest on the first day after the Sabbath of the holy week of Unleavened Bread—on a Sunday.
The designation of Passover on the fourteenth of Abib and Unleavened Bread lasting seven days more days ensured that at some point during the eight days of the two feasts that a Sabbath fell within the time period. It was commanded that the Feast of Firstfruits was be celebrated the day after the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, on the first day of the week, the day we call Sunday within the eight-day period of Passover and Unleavened Bread.
Feast #4, the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost:
Question: What are the mandatory offerings and sacrifices for this feast? See Leviticus 23:15-20.
Answer: The first fruits of the wheat harvest and two loaves of leavened wheat bread from each family. The blood sacrifices included: two young bulls, a ram and seven yearling lambs for a burnt offering with the accompanying cereal offerings; a goat as a communal sin sacrifice and two lambs as communion sacrifices for the priests; all sacrifices offered on each of the seven days.
These sacrifices were offered in addition to the daily Tamid communal sacrifice. No leaven could be presented on the altar (Lev 7:13), but the offerings of loaves of leavened wheat bread by every family that was presented to Yahweh and the two lambs as communion sacrifices would be eaten in a sacred meal by God’s priests.
Question: What did this feast signify in remembrance from the Exodus experience?
Answer: The Feast of Weeks signified the origination of Israel as the covenant people. It was a festival of joy recalling the giving of the Law at Sinai fifty days after leaving Egypt resulting in the birth of the corporate covenant at Sinai which was also the birth of the nation of Israel as the Bride of Yahweh.
Feast #5, the Feast of Trumpets:
This one-day feast day has no name in Leviticus; in Numbers it is called the Feast of Acclamations (Num 29:1) and it later came to be called the Feast of Trumpets. This was the first of the three last feasts in the liturgical calendar celebrated the early autumn, falling on the first day of the seventh month. This feast came to be known as the Feast of Trumpets because the feast was announced by the blowing of the ram’s horn trumpet one hundred times (Jewish Book of Why, vol. I, page 225).
It became the common practice to announce an assembly of the covenant people by the blowing of the shofar: Blow the horn [shofar] on the New Moon … on the full moon for the day of our pilgrimage festival (Tanach, Ps 81:4).
Question: What did this feast signify in the Exodus experience?
Answer: It signified the ingathering of the covenant people in preparation for Yahweh’s judgment/favor in the renewal of the covenant after the sin of the Golden Calf—the covenant failure that made the Feast of Atonement necessary.
Feast #6, the Day of Atonement:
You will recall that extensive instruction was given for this national day of repentance and expatiation in Leviticus Chapter 16 (see Lesson # 7). Additional instructions are given in Numbers 29:7-11.
Question: What did this feast signify in reliving the Exodus experience?
Answer: It signified calling Israel to judgment in a national day of fasting, repentance and expiation after the covenant failure in the sin of the Golden Calf.
Feast # 7, the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters (also called “Booths”):
The Feast of Tabernacles was also called the Feast of Shelters or Booths. During the holy week of this feast the Israelites were commanded to build shelters made out of the boughs of trees in memory of the tents they lived in during the Exodus experience. It was the last feast in the liturgical calendar. Like the feasts of Firstfruits, Weeks, and Atonement this feast was designated a “perpetual law” for all the descendants of Israelites wherever they may live (vs. 41).
Leviticus 23:37-38: The Conclusion and Recapitulation of the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters
Question: Do you recall when St. Peter suggested to Jesus that they should build shelters and live in them? What were the circumstances surrounding Peter’s suggestion and what connection could there be to this feast? See Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36.
Answer: During the events on the Mt. of Transfiguration when Jesus revealed His glory and the long dead Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah appeared to consult with Jesus about His mission, St. Peter suggested to Jesus that they build shelters on the mountain in the presence of the great prophets. It was probably the time for the Feast of Tabernacles and Peter recognized that going to Jerusalem was no longer a covenant obligation since they had God who is the Redeemer-Messiah in the presence of His people. It is significant that Jesus did not rebuke Peter for his suggestion. They continued on their journey after the experience. St. John’s Gospel records Jesus’ attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles in chapters 7 and 8 in the last year of His three-year mission, which would coincide with the events after the Transfiguration experience in the other Gospels.
| THE SEVEN SACRED ANNUAL FEASTS OF THE OLD COVENANT: The Feasts of Remembrance Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies’ (Lev 23:1-2). Then never let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals, [..].. These are only a shadow of what was coming; the reality is the body of Christ (Col 2:16-17). * = Pilgrim feasts: Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Deuteronomy 16:1-16 | |||
| Sacred Feast and Sacrifice | Scripture References | Old Testament/ Modern Time | Old Testament Remembrance and New Testament Application |
| PASSOVER (Pesach) Sacrifice of unblemished yearling lambs and kids, one for every 10 to 20 people in a group. | Ex 12:1-4; Lev 23:5; Num 9:1-14; 28:16; Dt 16:1-3, 4-7; Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12-26; Jn 2:13; 11:55; 1 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:28 | 14th Abib (Nisan) March/April | Old Testament: Signifying Israel’s deliverance from death in the tenth plague. N.T.= last legitimate Old Covenant Passover sacrifice; Jesus prepares for His Passion (Lk 22:7-13). |
| *UNLEVENED BREAD (Hag Hamatzot). Seven day feast from the 15th -21st. On the 15th at sundown eating the meal of the Passover victim with family and friends; mandatory assembly on the 15th and 21st ; mandatory sacrifices for 7 days = whole burnt offerings of 2 young bulls, a ram and 7 yearling lambs without blemish with cereal offerings; a goat for a sin offering. Individual festival communion offerings each day eaten in the camp of God/Jerusalem. | Ex 12:15-20; 39; 13:3-10; 23:15; 34:18; Lev 23:6-8; Num 28:17-25; Dt 16:3, 4, 8; 2 Chr 30:22-33; Mk 14:1, 12; Acts 12:3; 1 Cor 5:6-8 | 15th -21st Abib (Nisan) March/April 7 day feast | Old Testament: Signified the sanctification of Israel by eating the Passover sacrifice in a sacred meal with unleavened bread. For seven days eating bread with yeast (the symbol of sin) is forbidden. Remembering how Yahweh redeemed Israel from slavery. N.T. = The Last Supper/first Eucharistic sacrifice, Passion and Crucifixion (Mt 26:19-29; 57; 27:27; Mk 15:25; 33-39). |
| FIRSTFRUITS (Yom Habikkurim) Presenting the first sheaf of the barley harvest; a burnt offering of a single unblemished male lamb with a grain offering and wine libation. | Ex 23:19; 34:26; Lev 23:9-14; Dt 26:5, 9-10; Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2; Lk 24:1; Jn 1:20; Rom 8:23; 1 Cor 15:20-23 | No date: on the day after the first Sabbath after Passover (Lev. 23:11); always on a Sunday (day later changed)+ Abib (Nisan) March/April | Old Testament: Signified the resurrection of Israel as a free people. Recognizing the redemption of the first-born in Egypt and God’s bounty in the Promised Land. N.T. = Resurrection Sunday (Mt 28:1-8). |
| *WEEKS (Shavuot/Hag ha-Shavuot; Pentecost in Greek = 50th day; also known as Hag ha-Katzir = Feast of the Harvest). Mandatory assembly and sacrifices: first fruits of the wheat harvest, burnt offering of 1 young bull, 2 rams, 7 yearling lambs all with cereal offerings, goat as sin sacrifice, two lambs as communion sacrifices for the priests and the people’s individual festival communion offerings. | Ex 23:16; 34:22a; Lev 23:15-21; Num 28:26-31; Dt 16:9-12; 2 Chr 30:22-33; Acts 2:1-4; 20:16; 1 Cor 16:8 | 50 days from Firstfruits (as the ancients counted); always on a Sunday (day later changed)+ Sivan May/June | Old Testament: Signified the origination of Israel as the covenant people. A festival of joy recalling the giving of the Law at Sinai 50 days after leaving Egypt; thankfulness for the Lord’s blessings and birth of the O.T. Church. N.T. = birth of New Covenant Church; Acts 2:1-4. First four feasts were fulfilled in Jesus’ first Advent. The long harvest is the gathering of souls into heaven ( Mt 9:37/37-38; Lk 10:2-3; Jn 4:35-38). |
| THE LONG SUMMER HARVEST | |||
| TRUMPETS (Rosh Hashana) Beginning of the civil year. A sacred assembly and a day of rest with acclamations commemorated with trumpet blasts and mandatory sacrifices: burnt offerings of a young bull, a ram, 7 unblemished yearling lambs with grain offerings and a goat sin sacrifice. | Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6; 2 Sam 6:15; 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thes 4:16-17 | 1st Tishri Sept/Oct | Old Testament: Signified the ingathering of the covenant people in preparation for Yahweh’s judgment/favor and preparation for the day of national expiation. N.T. = (?) The Second Advent of Christ and the gathering of the nations (Mt 24:30-31; 1 Thes 1:10; 4:16-17). |
| DAY OF ATONEMENT (Yom Kippur) Sacred assembly with mandatory sacrifices. For the high priest: a young bull sin sacrifice and a ram burnt offering. For the people: burnt offering of a young bull; a ram and 7 unblemished yearling lambs with cereal offerings and 2 goats as a sin sacrifice. | Lev 16:1-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11; Rom 3:24-26; Heb 9:7; 10:3, 30-31; 10:19-22; Acts 27:9; 2 Pt 3:7; Rev 17:4; 20:12 | 10th Tishri Sept/Oct | Old Testament: Signified calling Israel to judgment in a national day of fasting, repentance and expiation N.T. = (?) The last of the harvest is the Final Judgment (Rev 14:15; 20:11-15). |
| *TABERNACLES also called FEAST OF SHELTERS OR BOOTHS (Sukkot) First of the fruit harvest (grapes and olives); living in booths made of tree boughs; offering daily sacrifices of bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings and a goat for a sin sacrifice; the people’s individual festival communion offerings. From the 1st to 8th days 70 bulls, 15 rams, 105 lambs and 8 goats sacrificed. | Ex 23:16b; 34:22b; Lev 23:33-38; 39-43; Num 29:12-34; Dt 16:13-15; 1 Kng 8:3, 65; 2 Chr 7:1; 2 Chr 30:22-33; Zec 14:16-19; Jn 7:2; Mt 24:35; 2 Pt 3:7, 10-13; Rev 21:1 | 15th-22nd Tishri Sept/Oct 8 day feast | Old Testament: Signified God’s presence with His Covenant people; looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Memorializes the giving of the Tabernacle and giving thanks for the productivity of the land. NT = (?) Creation of the new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1-7). |
| M. Hunt © copyright 1991, revised 2010 | |||
National Annual Feasts inaugurated by the people and not by Yahweh:
- Purim: Celebrated in the month of Adar (February/March), this feast day commemorated the salvation of the Jews from Gentile persecution in the Book of Esther (Est 9:18-32).
- Hanukkah (or Chanukah): Celebrated in the month of Kislev (December), the feast commemorated the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the Syrians. The feast’s historical background is described in the books of Maccabees (1 Mac 4:36-61; 2 Mac 10:1-8). Since the Jews dropped the two books of the Maccabees from their canon in the Middle Ages, there is no reference to the feast of Hanukkah in the Jewish Old Testament. Jesus was a patriotic Jew and observed the people’s feast of Hanukkah in John 10:22.
The Seven Annual Feasts fulfilled in the Mission of the Messiah
THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
Leviticus 23:5-8
In the spring of 30 AD, when Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread, the sacrifice of the Passover victims took place in the Temple following the afternoon service of the daily Tamid sacrifice.
Noon was the designated time for the community of Israel to gather for the first Passover sacrifice in Exodus 12:6 (literally “between the twilights”), and it was also the time in the first century AD when the people gathered at the Temple on the fourteenth of Abib/Nisan for the annual Passover sacrifice.
Question: According to Exodus 12:3, on what day of the month were the Passover lambs and kids were selected for sacrifice on the first Passover in Egypt?
Answer: They were selected for sacrifice on the tenth day of the month.
St. John recorded that the day Jesus ate dinner with friends in Bethany (Jn 12:1) it was six days before the Passover sacrifice, which according to the Law took place on the fourteenth of Abib/Nisan (Ex 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 28:16). The next day Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem with cheering crowds hailing Him as the Messiah on the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday (Jn 12:12-19).
- According to John 12:1 it was six days until the Passover when Jesus had dinner with friends in Bethany. The next day He rode triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem; it was the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday. That means the dinner took place on Saturday.
- Six days from the Saturday dinner at Bethany, as the ancients counted, was Thursday of that week, the fourteenth of Abib/Nisan and the day of the Passover Sacrifice.
- If Thursday was the fourteenth when the Passover victims were sacrificed, then Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Sunday, the tenth of Abib, the day the unblemished male Passover victims were selected in the first Passover (Ex 12:3).
- At sundown of what was Thursday night our time, but which was the beginning of Friday the fifteenth of Abib/Nisan for the Jews, it was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the Passover victims were eaten in a sacred meal. Jesus joined his friends and ate the sacred meal of the Passover victim at the Last Supper that became the first Eucharistic banquet.
- Jesus was arrested very late at night and was taken to be tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin. After they condemned Him to death, Jesus was taken to the Roman governor at dawn Friday morning. Jesus was condemned and crucified on Friday.
- Friday was “Preparation Day” for the Sabbath and Friday was also the sixth day of Creation when God made man. Jesus died on the same day that man was created in the Creation event.
- He arose from the dead three days later (as the ancients counted) on the Sunday of the holy week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Question: For how many days, as the ancients counted, was the Passover victim to be kept by the families before the sacrifice? See Exodus 12:3-6. For how many days was Jesus in Jerusalem for everyone to see and judge His perfection before the Passover sacrifice on Thursday the fourteenth?
Answer: The unblemished Passover victim was to be kept for five days from the tenth to the fourteenth (as the ancients counted). Every day for five days Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God, was present in Jerusalem from Sunday to Thursday (as the ancients counted) for everyone to see and judge His perfection.
St. Paul wrote: For our Passover had been sacrificed, that is, Christ; let us keep the feast … (1 Cor 5:7b-8a).
Question: How was the sacrifice of the Passover lambs and kids a remembrance of the first Passover in Egypt?
Answer: Just as the children of Israel were saved from the death of the tenth Egyptian plague by the sacrifice of the unblemished Passover victim and the “sign” of its blood in the form of a cross across their doorways (from the threshold to the lintel to both doorposts; Ex 12:13, 22-23), Jesus offered His life as the acceptable, unblemished victim of sacrifice so that we might be spared from the judgment of eternal death by the sign of the Cross and by claiming His precious blood that washes away our sins and saves us from eternal death.
Question: Attending the meal of the Passover victim on the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a sacred obligation of the Old Covenant people. How was the required sacred memorial meal of the Passover victim on the first night of Unleavened Bread fulfilled in the Eucharist in which Christ, our Passover victim becomes our sacred meal? See CCC 2180-82.
Answer: We did not have to be present at the sacrifice in the spring of 30 AD, but it is a precept of the Church that we have to be present on the Lord’s Day for the celebration of the sacred meal, just as the faithful of the Old Covenant were required as a covenant obligation to keep the pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread and to eat the sacred meal that prefigured the Last Supper and the Eucharistic banquet. The Feast of Unleavened Bread memorialized the meal the Israelites ate as the firstborn of Egypt died and the firstborn of Israel were spared. Eating the Eucharistic meal of the glorified Christ gives spiritual life to those who partake of the Body and infuses them with the very life of Christ.
According to the four Gospels, the Passover in 30 AD took place on a Thursday. The Passover lambs and kid-goats were sacrificed at the Temple after the afternoon Tamid service from three o’clock in the afternoon to five o’clock in the evening—normally the time of the afternoon Tamid sacrifice that had been advanced a hour because of the Passover (The Wars of the Jews, 6.9.3 [423]). At each sacrifice of the Passover victims the fat of the animal was burned on the altar fire, and the blood of every victim was splashed at the foot of the altar. Then, the body of the skinned animal that had been presented to God was returned to the offers as God shared His sacrifice with His people, making the meat of the victim sanctified “holy food.” The groups of people then took the whole bodies of their Passover sacrifice back to where they were staying in Jerusalem to roast the meat for a sacred meal that began after sundown (Ex 12:8-10). No bones of the animal were to be broken in the preparation or in eating the sacrifice (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12).
At sundown, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus met with His friends and family in an upper banquet room in Jerusalem to eat the sacred meal of the Passover victim with unleavened bread, bitter herbs and red wine. And while they were eating he said, In truth I tell you, one of you is about to betray me’ (Mt 26:21), prophesying Judas betrayal. After Judas left Jesus concluded the Old Covenant Seder and instituted the Eucharistic banquet, offering those present His Body and Blood in the sacred meal that of the New Covenant people of God and signaling the beginning of His Passion. Afterward they withdrew to the Mount of Olives where He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. On Friday morning He was tried and crucified—it was “Preparation Day,” the day before the holy Sabbath of the seven day holy week of the pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread (Jn 19:31).
Question: Why was the meal of the Passover victim on the first night of Unleavened Bread a “sacred meal” where “holy food” was consumed? Hint: recall the reason for the “wave” or “heave” gestures with offerings that are to be consumed by the priests or the people in their communion meals. See Ex 29:26-27; Lev 7:30-34; 8:29; 10:14-15; 21:22-23; 22:1-3, 7-8.
Answer: The food of any sacrificial animal that was presented at God’s altar of sacrifice was a gift to God, but sacrifices that were not whole burnt offerings God shared with His priests and His people to be eaten in a sacred meal. It was “holy food” because it was food that came from God. Any person eating the “holy food” had to be in a state of ritual purity. The meal of the Passover victim was “holy food” and the food that Jesus, God the Son gave to His disciples at the Last Supper was “holy food” because it not only came from God but it came from His sacrificed flesh and blood.
The sacred meal of the New Covenant—the Body and Blood of the Savior consumed by Jesus’ disciples in the Last Supper (Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:19-20)—fulfilled what was prefigured in eating the “holy food” of the meal of the Passover victim. It was what Jesus foretold in the Gospel of John 6:53-58.
Question: Is our Eucharistic banquet, eaten by the faithful at every Catholic Mass (and in the Divine Liturgy of our Eastern Rite brothers and sisters) a sacrificial meal where “holy food” is consumed? Why? How can our meal be compared to the Old Covenant sacrifices? See Lev 22:1-3; Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 11:23-32, CCC 1362-72.
Answer: The Eucharist is a true sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of the Redeemer offered up on the altar of the Cross in the spring of 30 AD, on the morning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That same sacrifice is made present on our altars—transcending time and space. It is the holy and unblemished sacrifice that God accepted from His Son, which He returns to us by transforming the bread and wine of our acceptable offering into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of His Son—it is the Son’s acceptable sacrifice combined with the personal surrender/sacrifice of our own lives (Rom 12:1) that makes us acceptable to God as we consume the “holy food” of Christ’s Passover.
Question: In Leviticus 22:1-2 God told the people they were sanctified and consecrated by eating His “holy food” when they were in a ritually pure state. Like the Old Covenant people of God, when we receive our “holy food” in a state of grace are we sanctified and consecrated?
Answer: Yes, we are consecrated and sanctified by the Holy Spirit when we consume the sacrifice of Christ in the “holy food” of the Eucharist banquet.
Jesus fulfilled the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread completely, even the command that none of the bones of the Passover victim were to be broken.
Question: How was the command that none of the bones of the Passover victim were to be broken (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12) fulfilled in the Passion and death of the Christ? See John 19:31-37.
Answer: To hasten the deaths of the crucifixion victims the Romans broke their legs, but finding that Jesus was already dead the Roman soldier pierced His side instead. St. John testified that none of His bones were broken in fulfillment of Scripture.
THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS
Leviticus 23:9-14
This feast wasn’t to be celebrated annually until the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land and collected the first agricultural spring harvest. The name of the feast comes from the presentation of the first sheaf of the barley harvest in the early spring which was a harbinger of the continuing fruitful barley harvest and the first in the sequence of the harvests for that year (wheat in late spring and fruit in the early fall). In addition to the public ceremony there were also individual offerings by the heads of every family in which the family’s offering was placed in a basket in front of the altar as the offerer made a public profession of faith in God and his family’s commitment to the covenant (Dt 26:1-11). There was also the command to set aside a small portion of the first batch of dough made from the grain of the new harvest to be consecrated to Yahweh—in the consecration of the portion taken from the first lump of dough, God consecrated all of the bread dough used to make bread for the rest of the year (Num 15:17-21; Neh 10:38/37).
Question: According to Leviticus 23:9-14, on what day was the Feast of Firstfruits celebrated?
Answer: During the seven day pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits was to be celebrated on the day after the Sabbath (Saturday) of the holy week of Unleavened Bread—on a Sunday.
Question: In the spring of 30 AD after Jesus was tried, crucified, died and laid in His tomb, for how many days was Jesus in the tomb and on what day did He arise from the dead?
Answer: He was in the tomb from Friday and Saturday (the Sabbath), and He arose from the dead on the third day (as the ancients counted). He arose on the Sunday of the holy week of Unleavened Bread.
Question: What was significant about that Sunday, the day after the Sabbath that fell within the holy week of Unleavened Bread according to the Liturgical Calendar?
Answer: Sunday, the day after the Sabbath within the holy week of Unleavened Bread, was the day for the annual celebration of the Feast of Firstfruits in the Liturgical Calendar of Yahweh’s ordained annual feasts. Jesus arose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits—He is the first-fruits of the Resurrection.
Question: What was the required sacrifice for that feast day in addition to the first fruits of the barley harvest (also commanded as an offering to Yahweh in Leviticus 2:14-16)? See Leviticus 23:12-13.
Answer: The required offering was an unblemished male lamb, a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of wheat flour mixed with oil, and a wine libation.
The whole burnt offering (completely consumed on the altar fire) sacrifice of an unblemished male lamb on the Feast of Firstfruits is the only communal (for the entire people) single unblemished male lamb whole burnt offering (Lev 1:10), grain, and wine offering for any of the feasts. The only other communal single unblemished male lamb sacrifice besides the sacrifice for the Feast of Firstfruits was the morning and afternoon Tamid (described in the singular as a single sacrifice), whose sacrifice coincided uniquely with Jesus crucifixion at nine o’clock in the morning (Mk 15:25) and His death at three in the afternoon (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34; Lk 23:44-46).
Jesus, arising from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits perfectly fulfilled the feast that commemorated the redemption of the firstborn the night of the tenth plague and the resurrection of the Israelites as a people freed from slavery in Egypt. In His resurrection Jesus has freed mankind from slavery to sin and death and He is the “first-fruits” of the resurrection of the dead.
Question: How did St. Paul refer to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23? Why was the resurrection of Jesus on the Feast of Firstfruits part of God’s divine plan? Also see Colossians 2:16-17; Revelation 14:4 and CCC 655.
Answer: St. Paul called Jesus the “new Adam” and the “first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.” His bodily resurrection is a visible sign of the promise of our future bodily resurrection. The connection to the ancient feast celebrating the first of the year’s harvest prefigured the beginning of the harvest of souls into heaven, as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16-17, all the Old Covenant feasts prefigured what was to be fulfilled by the Messiah.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled what was signified in the Feast of Firstfruits. The first fruits” of the harvest given to God in the Feast of Firstfruits were a harbinger of the greater harvest this was to continue, just as Christ’s resurrection is the “first fruits” or harbinger of the greater harvest of the resurrection that is to come. It was also the first offering in the sequence of the harvests that were to continue through the year. Just as the literal offering of the first fruits of the harvest were the first in a sequence in a promise of what was to come, so too St. Paul writes of the conversion of Epaenetus as the “first fruits” of the Christians in Asia (Rom 16:5) and the conversion of the household of Stephanus as the “first fruits” of Christians in Achaia (1 Cor 1:16). St. James called Christians the “first fruits” of God’s people (James 1:18), and the book of Revelation calls those who follow the Lamb the “first fruits” to God (Rev 14:4).
THE FEAST OF WEEKS/PENTECOST
Like the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost is also associated with a harvest as is the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters. The offering of the first of the wheat harvest was part of the celebration of the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, and therefore it is also designated a “first fruits” feast (Ex 34:22; Lev 23:16-17; Num 28:26). The instructions to keep the feast when they take possession of the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 16:9-12 commands the Israelites that in giving God a portion of the bounty from their harvest to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt.
Question: What is unique about the dates for the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in the list of God ordained annual festivals in Leviticus Chapter 23:5-43?
Answer: Firstfruits and Weeks/Pentecost are the only two annual feasts that do not have a specific date.
Question: How was the day of celebration for the Feast of Weeks determined? Like the Feast of Firstfruits, on what day of the week did the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost fall as a perpetual law? Read Leviticus 23:15-16 and see the chart below to help you with your answer.
Question: How was the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost like the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters? See Deuteronomy 16:16; 2 Chronicles 8:13.
Answer: They were all “pilgrim feasts” that required all men faithful to the covenant to come to Yahweh’s Sanctuary three times a year.
Acts 2:1-11 records that faithful Jews and Gentile proselytes “from every nation under heaven” were in Jerusalem to attend the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in the late spring of 30 AD.
Question: What happened on the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in the spring of 30 AD, fifty days after Jesus’ Resurrection and ten days after His Ascension? Who was present to witness the event? What was the significance of this event in salvation history? See Acts 1:1-14; 2:1-13.
Answer: The fiery presence of God the Holy Spirit descended upon and indwelled the faithful Apostles and disciples of Jesus the Redeemer-Messiah. They were praying in the Upper Room in Jerusalem together with Mary, Jesus’ mother. It was the birth of the New Covenant people of God.
THE LONG SUMMER HARVEST
Coming between the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in the late spring and the Feast of Trumpets in the early fall was the long summer grain harvest.
Question: If God’s plan for man’s redemption in the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah was foreshadowed as St. Paul testified in the Old Covenant annual feasts, and if the Messiah’s First Advent has been fulfilled in the first four feasts of the Old Covenant Liturgical Calendar, at what point in salvation history are we now in the progression of that plan? See Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; John 4:35.
Answer: It is the period of the long summer harvest—the gathering of souls, like the gathering of the harvested grain, into God’s storehouse of heaven.
Question: Who are the laborers in the “fields”? See Matthew 28:19-20.
Answer: The laborers are the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who are obedient to His command to spread the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth.
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
Leviticus 23:23-25
If the first four feasts are perfectly fulfilled in the Messiah’s First Advent, what about the remaining four feasts? St. Paul wrote that all the annual feasts were “shadows of the reality of Christ” (Col 2:16-17).
The Feast of Trumpets was the first feast after the summer harvest. It was commemorated in a Sacred Assembly and day of rest held in the early fall on the first day of Tishri, and since the feast marked the beginning of the civil calendar it was also known in Hebrew as “the head of the year,” or Rosh Hashanah. The feast was celebrated by the blowing of trumpets and in a liturgical service with prescribed sacrifices (Num 29:2-6) in addition to the morning and afternoon Tamid sacrifice.
Question: What was the significance of the Feast of Trumpets? See the chart on the Seven Annual Feasts in the appendix of the previous lesson and Exodus 32:30, 35; 33:6.
Answer: It was a Sacred Assembly and an ingathering of Israel announced by the blowing of many trumpets. It was a day of remembrance in which the covenant people recalled when the children of Israel waited to hear God’s judgment after the sin of the Golden Calf. The ten days that came between the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Atonement were to be days of preparation and repentance.
If the first four feasts have been perfectly fulfilled in the First Advent of Jesus Christ, is it possible that the last three feasts foreshadow the Second Advent/Second Coming of Christ at the end of time?
Question: How did Jesus say He would return and how did St. Paul describe the sudden coming of Jesus’ Second Advent? Is there a connection to the Feast of Trumpets? See Matthew 24:29-31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
Answer: His Second Advent will be announced by the sound of angels blowing trumpets—this will signal the ingathering of the nations prior to the Last Judgment, just as the Feast of Trumpets announced the ingathering of Israel and signaled the time of preparation for God’s judgment on the Day of Atonement.
Question: What will happen immediately upon Jesus’ Second Advent? See John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:16b-17 and CCC 1038.
Answer: First, the righteous dead already in heaven will be resurrected (spirits united with physical bodies). Then, the wicked dead will be resurrected and together with all righteous dead (including those waiting in Purgatory) and those still living, all will come before God’s throne and face the Last Judgment.
THE FEAST OF ATONEMENT
Leviticus 16:1-34; 23:26-32
The instructions for this feast were first given prior to the sin of the Golden Calf in Exodus 30:10 and extensive instruction is given in Leviticus Chapter 16. This feast was a national day of repentance and atonement and the only day when the High Priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies where God dwelled among His people above the Mercy-seat of the Ark of the Covenant: Once a year, Aaron will perform the rite of expiation on the horns of the altar; once a year, on the Day of Expiation, with the blood of the sacrifice for sin, he will make expiation for himself, for all your generations to come. It is especially holy for Yahweh (Ex 30:10).
Question: What did this Old Covenant feast signify?
Answer: This feast signified calling Israel to judgment in a national day of fasting, repentance and expiation.
St. Paul wrote about the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old in that the Old Covenant high priest had to make atonement for the people’s sins year after year with the blood of bulls and goats that is incapable of taking away sin (Heb 10:4). But, he assured the faithful, we have a superior covenant and a superior high priest who is Jesus Christ representing His people with His sacrifice in the heavenly Tabernacle: The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever. The principal point of all that we have said is that we have a high priest of exactly this kind. He has taken his eat at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens, and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent which the Lord, and not any man, set up. Every high priest is constituted to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer… As it is, he had been given a ministry as far superior as is the covenant of which he is the mediator, which is founded on better promises. If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no room for a second one to replace it (Heb 7:28-9:3, 6-7).
In this sense, Jesus has completed and fulfilled what was necessary in the Old Covenant Feast of Atonement, but does this feast also figure in God’s ultimate plan of salvation in the same way as the other feasts?
Question: If the Feast of Trumpets prefigured the Second Advent of Christ and the bodily resurrection, what comes next in the order of eschatological events?
Answer: The Last Judgment.
Question: How might this feast prefigure the Last Judgment? How will it be different? See Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 14:15; 20:11-15; 2 Pt 3:3-10.
Answer: The difference is that there is no chance for repentance in the Last Judgment. It will be the last of the “harvest” of souls in a judgment that is final.
St. John received a vision of the Last Judgment which he described in Revelation 20:11-12: Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace. I saw the dead, great and small alike standing in front of his throne while the book lay open. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, as their deeds deserved. The event of the Last Judgment will bring the “Last Days” of the Messianic era, also known as the “Final Age of Man,” to an end (Acts 2:16-21).
Peter wrote to the Church that the Last Judgment is a day that is coming but which Christ the Living Word is holding back until the time for salvation is completed: It is the same Word which is reserving the present heavens and earth for fire, keeping them till the Day of Judgment and of the destruction of sinners … The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up (2 Pt 3:7-10).
CCC 1038 part b, quoting from Mt 25:31, 32-46: Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left…. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
CCC 1059: “The holy Roman Church firmly believes and confesses that on the Day of Judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ’s tribunal to render an account of their own deeds” (Council of Lyons II [1274]: DS 859; cf. DS 1549).
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES/SHELTERS
Leviticus 23:33-36, 39-44
All seven of the annual festivals were occasions to “remember,” but the specific command “to remember” is given for the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Ex 13:3, 8-10; Dt 16:3) for the Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:24), and for the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters (Lev 23:43). In all the annual feasts the people “remembered” what Yahweh had done for them and at the same time the sacrifices, rituals and prayers served to bring the covenant people to the “remembrance” of God.
Tabernacle/Shelters was celebrated in the early fall at the time of the fall equinox and the harvest of the grapes, figs and olives. Just as the first three feasts in the Liturgical Calendar were grouped together within the same month, so do the last three feasts fall with in the same month. Passover, Firstfruits, and Unleavened Bread formed a seven/eight pattern with the one day observance of the Passover sacrifice followed by the eight days of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters, the final feast, also embraced seven/eight pattern with Tabernacles/Shelters celebrated with liturgical services and sacrifices for seven days and concluding with a Sacred Assembly with prescribed sacrifices on the eighth day.
During the entire eight day period of Tabernacles/Shelters and the final Sacred Assembly more sacrifices were offered than for any of the other annual feasts combined. In addition to the daily sacrifices of goats, rams, and lambs (in addition to the daily communal Tamid sacrifice), over the eight day period seventy bulls were sacrificed representing the seventy nations of the earth who are the descendants of Noah in Genesis chapter 10 (see the list of sacrifices in Num 29:12-38).
Question: What did the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters signify for the Old Covenant people of God?
Answer: This feast signified God’s presence in the Tabernacle in the midst of Israel. After the Ark of the Covenant was lost in 587/6 BC, the feast also looked forward to the coming of the Messiah when God would again dwell among His people. The feast memorialized the building of the Tabernacle when the people lived in their tents with God in their midst and it also signified giving thanks for the productivity of the Promise Land in the offering of the first-fruits of the fruit harvest.
On the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews not only looked back in time to the Exodus experience but they also looked foreword in time to the coming of the Messiah. In the days of the Jerusalem Temple, the seven days of every daytime liturgical service for this feast began with a “water pouring out ceremony” where the High Priest led a procession of the people carrying palm branches to the Siloam pool that was fed by the waters of the Gihon stream, the only water source for the city of Jerusalem and the name of one of the four rivers of Eden (Gen 2:13). As they processed they chanted the Hallel (“praise God”) Psalms (Psalm 113-118). Especially meaningful were the verses from the Messianic Psalm 118:22-27 (emphasis mine): 22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 This is the LORD’s doing, and we marvel at it. 24 This is the day which the LORD has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad. 25 We beg you, LORD, save us [Hosanna]; we beg you, LORD, give us victory! 26 Blessed in the name of the LORD is he who is coming! We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is God, he gives us light. Link your processions, branches in hand, up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, I thank you, all praise to you, my God. I thank you for hearing me, and making yourself my Savior. Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, for his faithful love endures for ever (Ps 118:22-29). Psalm 118:25-26 is also what the crowds chanted as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:9-10; Lk 19:38; Jn 12:13).
After collecting the waters in a golden pitcher, the High Priest led the procession back to the Temple courtyard where their return was announced by the blowing of the shofar, the ram’s horn trumpet. The High Priest then led the people in a procession around the sacrificial altar as they all chanting from the final verses of Psalm 118. However, on the seventh day of the feast they processed around the altar seven times chanting those verses so full of the promise for the coming of the Messiah (Mishnah: Sukkah, 4:1, 4:5, 4:9). After the procession, the High Priest poured out the water at a corner of the altar.
While the morning liturgy was celebrated with water from the holy Gihon (signifying life and God’s abundant blessings), the evening liturgical service was celebrated with “the ceremony of lights.” Four huge lamp-stands burned within the courtyard of the Temple, lighting up the entire Temple complex—the Mishnah records that every courtyard in Jerusalem was illuminated by the lights from the Temple during the nighttime celebration (Mishnah: Sukkah, 5:2-3).
On Jesus’ visit to the Jerusalem Temple in the fall of His last year of ministry before the events of the final Passover in the spring, He attended the pilgrim Feast of Tabernacles. It was probably during the “water pouring out ceremony” on the seventh day of the feast when He announced to the crowd that He was the fulfillment of the Messianic of Psalm 118:22-27 that the assembly had just chanted as they processed around the altar seven times: On the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out: ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, “From his heart shall flow streams of living water”’ (Jn 7:37-38). Later that night, the final nighttime ceremony for the Feast of Tabernacles would have been the last “ceremony of light” for the seven days of the feast. The next morning, at the required eighth day Sacred Assembly: When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: ‘I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark but will have the light of life’ (Jn 8:12).
There was no confusion over His actions or words in the minds of the covenant people who heard Jesus’ two announcements during the feast. Jesus was clearly telling the people of the covenant that He is the fulfillment of the promise of the feast—He is the Messiah who has come to redeem His people. Verse 22 of Psalms 118 was fulfilled when the Old Covenant people rejected their Messiah and He became “the stone which the builders rejected” –the builders were (as St. Peter identified them in Acts 4:11) the leadership of the Old Covenant people of God who built up the first Church of God’s covenant people. It is a verse Jesus would quote and apply to Himself (Mt 21:42) during the five days He taught in Jerusalem before the Passover sacrifice on Thursday. At that time He warned the Old Covenant Jews: ‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit’ (Mt 21:42-43). This is also the same verse from Psalm 118 that St. Peter quoted in his testimony in front of the Sanhedrin, the same Jewish law court that had condemned Jesus to death. Peter was put on trial for teaching the Gospel of salvation in the Temple and healing in Jesus’ name (emphasis mine): … you must know, all of you, and the whole people of Israel, that it is by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, and God raised from the dead, by this name and no other that this man stands before you cured. This is the stone which you, the builders, rejected but which has become the cornerstone. Only in him is there salvation; for of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved’ (Acts 4:10-12).
Question: If the Feast of Tabernacles, like the two previous feasts, also prefigured events that have not yet taken place in the Second Advent of Christ, what event might this feast prefigure? According to the Scriptures, what is to happen after the Last Judgment? See 2 Pt 3:13; Rev 21:1-7; CCC 1042-50.
Answer: The Old Covenant Feast of Tabernacles, which looked back in time to when God dwelled among His people in the desert Sanctuary and forward to when He would once again dwell among His people, may prefigure the creation of the new heaven and new earth.
St. John’s final vision in the book of Revelation revealed the creation of the final, eternal Tabernacle: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, repaired as a bride dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘Look, here God lives [dwells] among human beings. He will make his home among them: they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them [Emmanuel]. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.’ Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. ‘Look, I am making the whole of creation new (Rev 21:1-5)
CCC 1043 (quoting 2 Pt 3:13; Eph 1:10): Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, “new heavens and a new earth.” It will be the definitive realization of God’s plan to bring under a single head “all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.
CCC 1044 (quoting Rev 21:4-5): In this new universe, the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
AMEN!
CHALLENGE: “The kalam argument for God’s existence is flawed: (1) Quantum physics shows that things can begin without a cause; (2) the argument deals with the visible universe, but there may also be other universes; (3) if all things must have a cause, then God would need a cause, too; and (4) God can’t be his own cause because that would be nonsensical.”
DEFENSE: None of these objections overturn the kalam argument.
First, quantum physics does not show things can begin without a cause. It has provided evidence that apparently empty space contains energy that can give rise to briefly existing pairs of what are known as “virtual particles” in events known as “quantum fluctuations.”
However, these fluctuations and particles behave in a lawlike manner. Because of the limits imposed on our ability to observe subatomic phenomena (by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle), we must describe their behavior in terms of probability, but it is clear there are laws—and if laws then causes—governing these events. Any phenomenon describable in terms of laws is subject to causation, and that includes the phenomena studied by quantum physics.
Second, although some physicists have speculated about the possibility of other universes, we do not presently have evidence that any other universes exist. Even if other universes do exist, that does not undermine the kalam argument. God can make any number of universes he chooses. In order to undermine the kalam argument, one would have to show not only that other universes exist, but that our universe was born from a series of previous universes that stretch back infinitely far in time, so that there was no original beginning. One can speculate about prior universes, but we have no proof of them. The evidence we have currently shows a single universe beginning in the Big Bang.
Third, the claim is not that everything has a cause. If this were the case then God would require a cause. Instead, the claim is that everything that has a beginning has a cause. Since God transcends space and time, he does not have a beginning. As a timeless, eternal Being, God does not require a cause.
Fourth, God is not his own cause. The idea of self-causation is incoherent. Therefore, God has no cause.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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