The Feasts of Israel

Mo’adim is the Hebrew for the Lord’s appointed times in Leviticus 23.  This chapter is described as the Lord’s At-a-Glance calendar.  Mo’adim can mean “Purpose” or to repeat.  God ordained feast days but never ordained fast days.  The Festivals of the Lord are specific times to come before the Lord with Joy!  The High Holy Days are cyclical and remind us of past miracles and provide a picture of prophetic events.  

God called for all of the Jewish adult males to make the journey to Jerusalem to observe the High Holy Days of Passover, Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles.  

Sabbath – Rest

Leviticus 23: 1-4 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, “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:

‘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.

‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 

The Seventh day of the week has been observed as a day of rest going back to Creation.  In Leviticus God identifies the seventh day of each week as a holy convocation; a Sabbath Rest – His people can work from Sunday through Friday but they are to rest on Saturday of each week as God rested from His creative work. It is reminder that they were slaves in Egypt but God delivered them.  It foreshadows the redemption of the Cross – rest for the people of God.    

Passover – Crucifixion

Leviticus 23:5 In the [a]first month, on the fourteenth day of the month [b]at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 

Exodus 12: 1-4 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of [a]Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a [b]lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a [c]lamb for [d]each household. Now if the household is too small for a [e]lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the [f]number of persons in them; in proportion to [g]what each one should eat, you are to [h]divide the lamb.

The month of Nissan marks the beginning of the year and on the fourteenth day the Passover is to be observed.  This is one of the feasts where all of the males over 12 years of age were to go to the Temple in Jerusalem.  During the Passover Seder we remember the Israelite’s Exodus from Egypt. The literal translation of Moses’ words that we know as “Let my people go” is more accurately translated “Send my people” or “Send My people to worship Me.” The plagues that struck Egypt are remembered during the Passover Seder.  Each plague was an attack on the gods of Egypt and showed God’s power over them.  The final plague took place when the Death Angel passed over the houses with the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintels. The first born males of every household that were not protected by the blood of the lamb died.  The Passover Seder is filled with prophetic imagery of the Messiah.  It is a prophetic picture of the saving work that would be accomplished when the Messiah came to live among us – The God Man foretold in Genesis 3: 15 And I will [a]make enemies of you and the woman, and of your [b]offspring and her [c]Descendant; He shall [d]bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”. 

In the Gospels we learn details of The Last Passover that the Disciples shared with Yeshua.  Afikoman is a Greek word that refers to after the meal – the end of the meal becomes the central point of the meal.  It comes from the tradition of putting three matzahs in the folds of a napkin or a special pouch with three pockets.  The middle matzah is broken, half is wrapped in linen and is hidden at the beginning of the Seder.  After dinner the youngest in attendance search for the Afikoman and when it is found each person at the table receives a piece of the Afikoman.  Through the course of the Seder four cups of wine are poured and serve as anchor points throughout the Seder.  The third cup is the Cup of Redemption and is shared after the meal.  The Afikoman and Cup of Redemption are what we remember when we share communion on Sunday morning.  What a beautiful picture of Messiah as He became the perfect sacrifice for sin.

The first coming of Yeshua was to fulfill the offices of Sacrifice Lamb and, after His resurrection, as High Priest.  He fulfilled each part from the preparation of the Passover Lamb to His Resurrection on the exact date and time as outlined in Torah.  Prophecy fulfilled!

Exodus 12: 3 The 10th of Nissan was the day that the sacrifice lamb was to be selected and observed and tested until the 14th of the month.  This was done to make sure it was perfect and without blemish.

Yeshua’s Triumphal entry was the presentation of The Sacrifice Lamb.  Traditionally for a king or his family to ride in on a donkey was a statement that they were coming in peace.  When a king entered riding on a horse he was coming as a conqueror or warrior.  At this point the Jews did not understand the two-coming program of the Lord. 

Matthew 21: 1-11 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.” Now this [a]took place so that what was spoken through [b]the prophet would be fulfilled:

“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold your King is coming to you,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on [c]the cloaks. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

[d]Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord;
[e]Hosanna in the highest!”

10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Over the next four days Yeshua was tested by the spiritual leaders to try and discredit Him.

  1. Matthew 21: 23-27 & Luke 20: 1-8 – The Chief Priests and the Elders
  2. Matthew 22: 15-22 & Luke 20: 20-26 – The Pharisees’ Disciples and Herodians
  3. Matthew 22: 23-33 & Luke 20: 27-40 – Sadducees
  4. Matthew 22: 34-40 & Mark 12: 28-34 – the Pharisees and Sadducees

There are additional accounts of the testing in the other Gospels as well.  

Exodus 12: 6-14 [a]You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it [b]at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [c]of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread [d]and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment [e]belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [f]live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you [g]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 23: 14 Until this very day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new produce. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

Also Read Isaiah 53 for a description of the Messiah’s crucifixion written centuries before it became a form of Roman execution.  

Yeshua the Messiah was hung on the cross at 9 AM when the sacrifice lamb was being offered up as a sacrifice for sin.  The sacrifice lamb was to be roasted and no bones were to be broken.  Breaking the legs was a common practice during a crucifixion but The Messiah’s legs were not broken.  Yeshua’s perfect sacrifice is why we can now come into the throne room of the Lord because we are covered by the blood of The Messiah!

Leviticus 16: 1-28 This passage describes the work of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.  He washed his flesh, put on “Holy Garments” of white linen before entering the Holy of Holies.  When the sin offering had been sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and before the Mercy Seat the sin offering was completed.  Between the ritual bath of cleansing, the sacrifices are made and then a ritual bath after he entered the Holy of Holies.  During this time the High Priest could not be touched or he would be rendered ceremonially unclean.  

Yeshua’s first act as High Priest was to cleanse the Heavenly Tabernacle. 

John 20:17 Jesus said unto her (Mary Magdalene), “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, ‘I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”(KJV)

The fact that He had not entered the Holy of Holies to apply the perfect blood sacrifice would explain why He told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him when she met Yeshua in the morning on Resurrection Day.  Later in the day when He met other disciples He allowed them to touch Him.  

Hebrews 9: 11-12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things [a]having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect [b]tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, [c]having obtained eternal redemption. 

His second act was to cover the sins of the Old Testament Saints who lived under the Mosaic Law that believed in the Messiah to come.  

Hebrews 9: 15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

His third act was to apply the covering for sin to the New Testament saints.

Hebrews 10: 8 – 10 In saying first, “You neither willed nor were pleased with animal sacrifices, meal offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings,” things which are offered in accordance with the Torah; and then, “Look, I have come to do your will”; he takes away the first system in order to set up the second. 10 It is in connection with this will that we have been separated for God and made holy, once and for all, through the offering of Yeshua the Messiah’s body. (CJB)

Hebrews 10: 12 – But this one, after he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from then on to wait until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.[a] (CJB)

Unleavened Bread – 

Leviticus 23: 6-8 Then on the fifteenth 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 the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”

Exodus 12:15 – 20 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that [a]person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be [b]prepared by you. 17 You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your [c]multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a [d]permanent ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that [e]person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

Leaven, when used symbolically in the Bible, is symbolic of evil or sin.  

The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts a week and begins the day after Passover. It reminds the people that the Exodus from Egypt was done in a hurry so the bread was made without leaven because there was no time to let it rise.  It recalls the hardships they faced as they fled from Egypt.  To prepare the house for this week long festival all of the leaven is removed from the house and unleavened bread is eaten for seven days. A tradition in some Jewish households is to leave a few crumbs of leaven in the house.  The father and children search for the leaven armed with a feather, wooden spoon and linen napkin.  When it is found the father uses the feather to sweep the leaven into the wooden spoon.  It is the wrapped in the linen napkin and taken outside the house where all of it is burned.     

This Holiday speaks to the sinless life of Messiah when He was on the earth and His sinless blood sacrifice.  For the believer we want our lives to reflect a lack of sin to be more like the Messiah.  Look at the warning in Exodus 12: 15 – the person who eats leaven during this feast will be cut off!  Praise God that we are under the Law of Grace as a result of The Messiah’s perfect sacrifice!

1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread have such amazing imagery of what was accomplished by the Messiah as His time among His people culminated in His sacrificial death on the cross.  All of the Old Testament books of the Bible are filled with prophecy of God’s perfect Sacrifice for sin to restore fellowship with His children.  In the next study we will dive into the Feast of First Fruits of the Resurrection and Second Fruits of Pentecost.  

Resources for Bible Study

Through the Bible, www.ttb.org offers a 5-year study of the whole Bible and is available to listen to, or you can request study materials from the website.

Ariel Ministries www.ariel.org offers “Yeshua The Life of the Messiah from a Messianic Jewish Perspective”, by, Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, TH.M,PH.D which is a great resource for an in-depth study of the Harmony of the Gospels.  Dr. Fruchtenbaum has spent the better part of his ministry publishing line-by-line studies of the books of the Bible from a Messianic Jewish perspective.

Notes:

  • Ryrie Study Bible, NASB offers commentary, historical information and cross-references to enhance your personal study. Different versions of the Bible are available at BibleGateway.com where you can compare passages in different versions online.