Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #110 - Leviticus 23 - Laws of Religious Festivals
Ever wondered why the Israelites celebrated their festivals the way they did? Join us on Berean's Corner as we uncover the profound meanings behind the religious festivals outlined in Leviticus, chapter 23. From the Sabbath and Passover to the Feast of Weeks and the Day of Atonement, we will walk you through the specific instructions given by the Lord to Moses. Discover how these sacred assemblies, offerings, and days of rest shaped not only the spiritual lives of the Israelites but also their sense of community and compassion for the marginalized. We also explore the timeless significance of these ordinances and how they mandate leaving portions of the harvest for the poor and the alien.
But that's not all—this episode is packed with practical insights and enriching content! Get ready for a detailed, step-by-step recipe for making unleavened bread, brought to you by SBanks on YouTube. As we transition from hands-on cooking to theological discussions, you'll learn about the offering of first fruits, the feast of weeks, and the offering of trumpets. We'll touch on the essential practice of worshiping according to God's terms and the vital role of humility on the Day of Atonement. Concluding our journey through Leviticus 23, we invite you to share these insights with your loved ones and stay connected through our website and YouTube page for more biblical wisdom. Thank you for joining us, and may God bless you richly.
How is everyone doing? Welcome back. Thank you for joining me here on Berean's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible, verse by verse. Wherever you may be hearing this, give it a like, give it a share. Share with your family and friends. Tell them it's a brother out here who goes through books of the Bible. That way there is nothing missed in between. We can get every drop of this word of God. Open your Bible to Leviticus, chapter 23. The title of today's lesson is laws of religious festivals. We also will talk about the day of atonement in this chapter, leviticus, chapter 23.
Speaker 3:And let's read the book of Leviticus, leviticus 23. The Lord said to Moses Speak to the Israelites and say to them these are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work, wherever you live. It is a Sabbath to the Lord. These are the Lord's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Lord's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month, the Lord's feast of unleavened bread begins. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days, present an offering made to the Lord by fire, and on the seventh day, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. The Lord said to Moses Speak to the Israelites and say to them when you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord, so it will be accepted on your behalf. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old, without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live, from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks, count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord From wherever you live. Bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour baked with yeast, as a wave offering of first fruits to the Lord. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings. An offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the first fruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord. As a wave offering, together with the bread of the first fruits, they are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest.
Speaker 3:On that same day, you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Wherever you live, when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord, your God.
Speaker 3:The Lord said to Moses Say to the Israelites On the first day of the seventh month, you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire. The Lord said to Moses the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the day of atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord, your God. Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath of rest for you and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your Sabbath.
Speaker 3:The Lord said to Moses Say to the Israelites On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Lord's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly. Do no regular work For seven days, present offerings made to the Lord by fire. And on the eighth day, hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the eighth day, hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. It is the closing assembly, do no regular work. These are the Lord's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the Lord by fire, the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord's Sabbath and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.
Speaker 3:So, beginning with the 15th day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days. The first day is a day of rest and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day, you are to take choice fruit from the trees and pomfronds, leafy branches and poplars and rejoice before the Lord, your God, for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days. All native-born Israelites are to live in booths. So your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. So Moses announced to the Israelites we appointed feasts of the Lord.
Speaker 1:All right, right now. The last time we were together we looked at more sundry rules for the priests, along with flawless animals to be used in sacrifices. Today we are looking at laws of religious festivals and the day of atonement, as I mentioned earlier. Now I have broke. I have broke this chapter down into nine parts. The first part is we see who the Lord is speaking to. We see this in verses one through two, leviticus 23,. Verses one through two. The Lord spoke again to Moses saying we see who he's speaking, to Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them the Lord's appointed times, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed times are these. I like to start us, particularly when we are in these Old Testament books, particularly these Pentateuch books, if you will. I like to always remind everyone who the Lord is speaking to. He is speaking to Moses, he is speaking to the children of Israel.
Speaker 1:Part two work was to be done in six days. We see this in verses three to four. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings, not do any work. It is a sabbath to the lord in all your dwellings. These are the appointed times of the lord, holy complications which you shall proclaim at the appointed for them. So once again we see the lord is speaking to israel and he is letting them know that these days, that there are six days to do work, but on the seventh they are supposed to rest, which is a good thing, because you should have a time where you actually refresh your body. Part three the lord's passover. We see this in verse five. In the first month, on the 14th day of the month at twilight, is the lord's passover. For my friends in north america, here in the united states, you know this is not january 14th. So when it says that on the first month it's not talking about january 14th the lord is speaking to israel, speaking to them in the time of the calendar that they kept.
Speaker 1:We'll move on to part four, the feast of unleavened bread. We see this in verses six to eight. Then, on the 14th day of the same month, there is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On a seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work. If you, if any of you, are curious on how to make unleavened bread, I have a short video and it's about two minutes long and it is about how to make unleavened bread. So if you just hang in there, because that's just something I've always been curious to me because I don't know many people who actually eat unleavened bread, but I found a video of a lady actually making unleavened bread and I want to play that for you. So just hang in there and let me play the clip for you.
Speaker 2:Let's make unleavened bread. First, you need one cup and a half of flour, 1 fourth of a cup of water, along with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir the seasonings into the water and then mix with the flour. Add more water as you need it. Once your mix has turned into soft dough, transfer it to the lightly floured cutting board. Knead the ball of dough around in the flour. Divide it into two parts. Roll it flat with a rolling pin. Pour olive oil into a hot frying pan. Place the flattened dough onto the pan. Flip it after one side has turned golden brown. Repeat the same steps with the other ball of dough. Once the bread is done, you can store it in a sealed container.
Speaker 1:Thanks for watching. All right, I hope you found that interesting. I like to mix in some different clips, sometimes with different things, so you can hear some other perspectives. I want to give that creator credit. That actually is on YouTube. The creator is SBanks and the video is how to make unleavened bread. Just in case you want to go over there and actually watch the video, I think that she did a good job of just explaining it, but just in case you want to watch it, I like to give the content creator their credit.
Speaker 1:Moving on to number five, the offering of first fruits, we see this in verses 10 through 14. Speak to the sons of israel and say to them when you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap his harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. Now, on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb, one year old, without defect, for a burnt offering to the lord. His grain offering shall then be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and offering by fire to the lord for a soothing aroma, with his libation, a fourth of a hen of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your god, you shall eat neither bread, nor roasted grain, nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statue throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places. So that was offering of first fruits.
Speaker 1:Now, part six, we move on to the feast of weeks. We see this in verses 15 through 22. You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the way offering, there shall be seven complete sabbs. You shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah, and they shall be a fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. And they shall be a fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. Along with the bread, you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their libation and offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the lord. You shall also offer to the lord, I'm sorry. You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering, with two lambs before the lord. They are to be holy to the Lord for the priests.
Speaker 1:On this same day, you shall make a proclamation as well. You are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statue in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor gather the gleaning of your harvest. You are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord, your God. This feast was seven weeks and one day after the wave offering. So that's how long this piece of weeks. Weeks was seven weeks and one day, and that was done after the wave offering.
Speaker 1:Part seven, I'm sorry. I actually want to go back to something in verse 22. Let's look at the bottom part of verse 22 again. It says that they were not to basically take everything out of the field, but you are to leave them. You are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the lord, your god. So the lord has commanded his people to not take every little thing. So if they had this field of wheat you're, they could get like the main parts. You know, you, they go down the field and get the main part. But basically the lord is saying listen, man, don't do this corner to corner. You need to leave some of this for the people who are in need, and that's something that I think that we can all take and live with today.
Speaker 1:Number part seven the offering of trumpets. We see this in verses 23 to 25. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the sons of Israel saying in the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a rest, a reminder, by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. Now the rest of this chapter we will see how important it is to worship God on his terms, not ours. You hear me say that quite often, but we will see that here.
Speaker 1:Part eight the day of atonement. We see this in verses 26 through 32. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying on exactly the 10th day of this 7th month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. Neither shall you do any work on this day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord, your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places. It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening. You shall keep this sabbath. Now, it is interesting that the lord told them when this day of atonement was. Let's go back to verse 20. Let's go back to verses 26 and 27.
Speaker 1:The lord spoke to moses saying on exactly the 10th day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. Now, the reason why I want to point that out is is because notice that he didn't say on the sab Sabbath, but he said on the 10th day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. So this day they were also to do a Sabbath. Why am I bringing this up? Because the Lord has lots of Sabbaths. You will hear the Lord say in different, in different places you know to keep my Sabbaths. When he says that he didn't just mean the seventh day of the week to Israel, but meant that there were other days that were also considered Sabbath, and we just read it right there on the day of atonement. In the last part we will move into the festival of booths. We see this in verses 33 through 44.
Speaker 1:Speak to the sons of Israel saying on the 15th of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to the Lord.
Speaker 1:On the first day is a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work of any kind for seven days. You shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord. It is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations to present offerings by fire to the Lord, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, each day's matter on its own day, besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord and besides your gifts and besides all your volatile and freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.
Speaker 1:On exactly the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now, on the first day, you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statue throughout your generations. You shall celebrate, celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statue throughout your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days. All the native born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord. The Lord was very clear in verses 26 through 44 the day of atonement and the festival of booths how he was to be worshiped.
Speaker 1:Okay, that brings us to the end of Leviticus, chapter 23. I hope you enjoyed it. Remember share this with your family and your friends that there's a brother out here going through books of the Bible verse by verse. Remember our website, bereanscornerbuzzsproutcom. If you go over there, there's always going to be an outline where you can follow along with the lesson, if you would like. Don't forget about our YouTube page, berean's corner, and in the description page on any of the videos over there. When you subscribe, you can look in the description page and you will see all of the places that you can find this podcast pretty much anywhere that you can find a podcast. You type in berean's corner you and you will find me there. Ok, I thank you for jump for joining me today. As always, pray for me, as I am praying for you. That's all for now, god bless. Thank you you.