Chapter 3
The Feasts of the Lord
Leviticus 23: 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.”
Leviticus 23: 4“These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.”
Let us first look at these two very important verses in Leviticus 23 and review the original Hebrew text for these words that are underlined. The word “feasts” in the original Hebrew is the word mow`ed. This is Strong’s Lexicon H4150. The definition of the word mow`ed is an appointed place, appointed time, meeting. God had given Israel divine appointments. The word “convocations” in the Hebrew text is the word miqra'. This is Strong’s Lexicon H4744. The definition of the word miqra' is convocation, sacred assembly. Now let us look at the word “seasons”. Interestingly, the word “seasons” in the original Hebrew is the word mow`ed. This is Strong’s Lexicon H4150 also. While we are going over the word “seasons”, let’s look at Genesis 1:
14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”.
“Seasons” in Genesis 1:14 can be referenced to the Hebrew for the word mow`ed also.
God has used the planets, stars and moon for signs of coming and fulfilled prophecies all through the Bible. The Feast of Trumpets cannot happen without the first siting of the new moon in the first day of the month of Tishri. This is the biblical “new year”. The Star of Bethlehem was a sign of the birth of Christ. The first and last feast day takes place on the fourteenth day of the month which also brings a full moon. With full moons, there is a chance for a “blood moon” occasionally. A “blood moon” is a lunar eclipse which is caused by the alignment with the sun, earth and moon. The earth blocks the sun’s light to the moon giving it a red glow. Take a look at a few of many examples of events or signs of the heavens:
Joshua 10: 13 “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”
Isaiah 38: 8 “Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.”
Joshua 2: 31” The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”
From looking at the definitions of these words from the original Hebrew text, one can see that God has set divine appointments for Israel to remember. God knows that there needs to be a celebration so to keep Israel’s focus on those days. He made them holy convocations or meetings. He had offerings assigned to each of these feast days. He has established seven feasts with Israel to celebrate each year. There are four spring feasts and three fall feasts. The four spring Feasts are The Feast of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) or Feast of Shavuot. The three fall feasts are the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), The Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). God needed Israel to remember these days. Through scripture, He reminded them of the coming messiah. He gave them a prophecy that the messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). He gave them a prophecy that he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). These are a few of many that one can find in God’s Word.