23:1.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
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.”
The fact that
God spoke to Moses the representative of law, and not also to Aaron the
representative of grace, declares that these are commands, not options:
every word was to be obeyed. And as throughout Scripture, the literal
commands given Israel are figurative of spiritual instructions to the
Church. The convocations of Israel are types of the assemblages of
believers today, and as His earthly people were to meet according to divine
order so also are we. He didn’t leave the meetings of his earthly people to
human arrangement, nor does he leave the assemblages of those who constitute
the Church. They too are to meet according to the order He himself has
appointed and recorded in His Word.
The fact that
they were called feasts tells us that they were occasions of
abundance and rejoicing, nor should the meetings of the Church be any less
so spiritually. Whether we come together to eat the Lord’s Supper, to pray,
or to study the Scriptures, it should be a time of soul-satisfaction and
gladness.
23:3.
“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an
holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord
in all your dwellings.”
In the
numerology of Scripture six is the number of imperfection and
incompleteness, and it is instructive to note also what is written in 2
Peter 3:8, “... one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day.” It is six thousand years since the creation of Adam, but
in God’s sight those six millennia are the equivalent of just six days, and
it is readily apparent that God’s great “week” is drawing to a close; but as
each work week of six days is followed by a sabbath of rest, so will earth’s
great “week” (six thousand years) of toil be followed by a sabbath: the
Millennium, the thousand years of rest and blessedness that will bring
earth’s troubled history to a glorious peaceful close.
It is
instructive to note that in the old dispensation the people worked for six
days and rested on the seventh; but in the new, they begin with rest, and
then work. Our service is to be rendered, not to try to earn salvation, but
to express our gratitude for salvation bestowed as God’s priceless free gift
in response to faith, the gift of life having been secured for us by
Christ’s perfect work completed at Calvary when He said, “It is finished,”
John 19:30.
23:4.
“These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall
proclaim in their seasons.”
“... feasts” is better translated set times, i.e., times
appointed by God for the assembling of His people to hear His voice. There
were seven such convocations, Passover and the feast of Unleavened bread
being in fact one feast.
During this dispensation of grace all of them have been superseded
by the Lord’s Supper, the weekly commemoration of His death and
resurrection, to which they all pointed.
23:5.
“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.”
The origin of
this feast is recorded in Exodus 12. On the eve of their departure from
Egypt the children of Israel feasted on the Passover lamb, while the Angel
of the Lord passed through the land slaying all the firstborn of the
Egyptians, the firstborn of the Israelites being protected by the blood of
the Passover lamb which they had been commanded to apply to the doors of
their dwellings. Only the spiritually blind will fail to see in the ritual
of the Passover the typological foreshadowing of the greater deliverance
made available to sinners by the blood of the true Passover Lamb shed at
Calvary, as it is written, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for
us,” 1 Corinthians 5:7.
The factors of
fourteen are two and seven, two being the number of witness;
and seven, the number of perfection or completeness, so that the events of
that first Passover night on the fourteenth of the first month, were the
symbolic witness to the perfection and eternal efficacy of the then still
future sacrifice which they foreshadowed.
Since there
are twelve months in the year, and twelve is the number of responsibility,
the fact that the Passover was on the first month, points to the absolute
imperative of man’s responsibility to have his sins atoned for if he is to
escape hell, and enter heaven, that responsibility being discharged only
when he confesses himself a justly condemned sinner, and then trusts in the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior Who has atoned for every man’s sin by taking
man’s guilty place, and shedding His own precious blood at Calvary for the
remission of men’s sins.
The offering
of the sacrifice “at even” marks it as the last sacrifice of the day, that
fact declaring symbolically that the one of which it was but the type, is
the only sacrifice which men can offer to God for the remission of their
sins, as it is written in Hebrews 10:26-27, “For if we sin wilfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”
23:6.
“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread
unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”
This is the OT
equivalent of what is commanded in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Purge out therefore
the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
The factors of
fifteen are three and five, three being the number of
resurrection and full revelation; and five, the number of responsibility.
Only the born-again man is capable of fulfilling the truth portrayed by the
numeral three, i.e., resurrection, for only those who have been
raised up out of spiritual death through faith in Christ as Savior, are
capable of demonstrating by their lives that they have had a spiritual
resurrection.
Relative to
the numeral five, man has five fingers on each hand: he is
responsible to do God’s work. He has five toes on each foot: he is
responsible to walk in obedience before God. He functions by means of his
five senses: he is responsible to act as becomes the masterpiece of God’s
creation, for he has been made in the image of his Creator, Genesis 1:26-27,
and is responsible to demonstrate that fact by his manner of living.
Since leaven
is the biblical symbol of sin, the absence of leaven is the typological
figure of sinlessness. Bread is a symbol of the written Word, so that
Israel’s being commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days is symbolic
of the truth that the believer is responsible to feed his new spiritual life
on the unleavened bread of the written Word; and since the seven days
represent all of man’s life - seven being the number of completeness - the
additional truth being taught is that his eating that spiritual food is to
be a lifelong practice.
23:7.
“In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile
work therein.”
Those seven
days were to begin with their gathering together in holy assembly to hear
God’s voice, i.e., by listening to the reading and exposition of the
Scriptures, undoubtedly by the priests, and by prophets when such were
present.
Since that “first day” is the OT counterpart of the Christian first
day of the week, the lesson being taught is that that day on which we eat
the Lord’s Supper is to be also a day on which we have our souls nurtured
through the ministry of the written Word by those whom God has gifted to do
that work.
The proscription of regular work on that first day applies also to
this present dispensation. It is to be a day of rest, the only work done
being that which the Westminster Catechism very correctly describes as “the
work of necessity and mercy.”
No spiritual mind should have difficulty seeing in this
proscription of work the symbolic announcement of the truth declared in
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should
boast.”
23:8.
“But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in
the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein.”
The Christian
equivalent of the Israelite’s “offering made by fire,” is the presentation
of our worship as we sit around the Lord’s table to eat the Lord’s Supper;
and since fire is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit, the fact that
Israel’s offering was to be “made by fire” translates into the truth that
the worship presented at the Lord’s Supper is to be only that which He, the
Holy Spirit impels. Sadly, and to our shame, the activity of the flesh is
all too often far more evident at that meeting than is the energy of the
Spirit, with the result that God is dishonored, and the souls of spiritual
believers grieved.
Inasmuch as
the offering was to be presented on each of the seven days, we learn the
truth that the presentation of worship isn’t to be confined to the first day
of the week: it is to be daily and lifelong; and from 1 Samuel 15:22 we
learn that obedience is the highest expression of worship, as it is written
there, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as
in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams,” the Lord Himself reiterating that same
truth in His words to the disciples in John 14:15-21, “If ye love me, keep
my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth me....”
The repetition
here of the command given in verse 7 “Ye shall do no servile work therein,”
declares the importance of this directive. God, Who created man, knows also
man’s need of rest, hence His appointment of the seventh day of each week to
be such a day. Man’s rejection of God’s appointment of the seventh day of
the week as a day of rest, and his substitution of any other day of the week
for that same purpose, may seem innocuous, but it isn’t. It has wrought
irreparable harm, for the rest that God provided by designating the OT
sabbath, and the NT first day of the week, as a universal day of rest, was
rest undisturbed by the clamor of the world’s business, and is impossible to
obtain in the midst of that cacophony.
The malaise
which attends the disruption of the Divine order relative to man’s day of
rest is evident everywhere in the nervous and physical disorders now
afflicting so many of the world’s people.
23:9.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
23:10.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into
the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye
shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:”
This sheaf of
firstfruits is generally viewed as a typological picture of Christ in
resurrection, as described in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But now Christ is risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
Since the
priest was God’s representative to the people, their bringing the first
sheaf of the harvest to him was their practical acknowledgment of God as the
Giver of the harvest; and the principle being declared in this is that we
too are to make that same grateful confession relative to everything we
have. Since under law one tenth was the mandated amount to be returned to
God, it should surely be axiomatic that no less is to be given Him during
this dispensation of grace. Nor does grace leave any room for that
parsimonious spirit which would quibble as to whether He should be given His
portion out of our net or gross income. The truly grateful heart will
gladly give generously.
23:11.
“And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the
morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
Waving
involved the priest's presentation of the offering horizontally towards the
altar, and then back to himself, this being the ritual acknowledgment of God
as the Giver, and the offerer, as the recipient, willing to use for the
glory of the Giver, everything that has been given.
Its being
presented “on the morrow after the sabbath” is also instructive, for
it teaches symbolically that we cannot give anything to God until we have
first entered by faith into the eternal rest made available to us through
Christ’s death and resurrection. A further truth is also taught in that it
was the priest, not the man himself, who waved the sheaf: the moment we
accept Christ as Savior and Lord, we become a royal kingdom of priests as it
is written in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light.”
23:12.
“And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without
blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.”
That
unblemished young male lamb is a type of Christ, the sinless One, relative
to Whom it is written in Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Apart from
the Lord’s having first “offered Himself without spot to God,” for the
expiation of our sins, we would have been incapable of ever even approaching
God, never mind having either fitness or desire to offer Him any sacrifice.
23:13.
“And the meat (meal) offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour
mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor:
and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.”
Two tenth
deals were the equivalent of about a fifth of a bushel, the fine flour here
being a type of the Lord’s sinless humanity in perfect submission to the
Holy Spirit, portrayed here, as frequently in Scripture, by the oil. “...
an offering made by fire,” also a type of the Holy Spirit, but emphasizing
His perfect holiness consuming all that is unholy, whereas the oil speaks of
His anointing power energizing the believer’s service.
“... for a
sweet savor” assures us that all Spirit-directed worship and service are as
pleasing to God as is the fragrance of incense to the nostrils of men.
Since wine is
a biblical symbol of joy and gladness, see Psalm 104:15, “wine that maketh
glad the heart of man,” the drink offering which accompanied many of the
other offerings, represents not only the pleasure which the Father found in
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also the joy with which the Son
offered that sacrifice.
Inasmuch as
four is the number of earth and testing, “the fourth part of an hin” may
serve, not only to emphasize the fact that the Lord’s sacrifice of Himself
was here on earth, but also to remind us that the spiritual blessings made
available to us through that sacrifice are to be enjoyed here amid all the
trials of earth, and then eternally in heaven with nothing of earth to mar
our joy.
23:14.
“And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the
selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a
statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”
Nothing of the
harvest was to be eaten until God had first been given the portion which
acknowledged Him as the Giver; and the lesson for us is that He is to be
similarly honored as the Giver of every blessing we enjoy, the greatest of
those blessings being the Lord Jesus Christ given, as He Himself declared in
John 6:32-33, “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father
giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”
In the present
context the spiritual equivalent of Israel’s presentation of that harvest
offering is our presentation of Christ at the moment when we first present
Him to God through faith as our Savior and Lord. As Israel could not eat of
the produce of the new harvest until they had presented Him with the
firstfruits, neither can we partake of the spiritual riches that are
available only through Christ, until we have first, through faith, presented
Him to God as our Savior and Lord. Only then can we begin to feast on the
spiritual riches spread before us on the pages of Scripture, for it is
written, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
23:15.
“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day
that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be
complete:”
23:16.
“Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days;
and ye shall offer a new meat (meal) offering unto the Lord.”
Since the
sabbath speaks of rest; and seven is the number of perfection or
completeness; and fifty (5, number of human responsibility;
multiplied by 10, the number of God as Governor of all things) this brings
us typologically to that stage of a believer’s life where he has learned
that as a child of God he is responsible to obey his heavenly Father, and
accordingly presents himself as a new meal offering, a new man in Christ,
possessed of Christ’s life and nature, to do all that his Father may
command.
This was the
feast of Pentecost, the name being derived from the fifty days; and clearly
it foreshadows the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as
recorded in Acts 2:1-4
23:17.
“Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals:
they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the
firstfruits unto the Lord.”
These two wave
loaves represent the believer; “out of your habitations” emphasizing that
they represent him as a man still in his human body here on earth; there
being two of them speaking of the fact that he has two natures: the old,
Adamic and earthy; and the new, Christological and spiritual, heavenly.
Some however, understand the two loaves to respresent believing Jews and
Gentiles as described in Ephesians 2:14-17, “For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so
making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the
cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.”
“... two tenth
deals” was about a fifth of a bushel. Their being of “fine flour” speaks of
them as being characterized by Christlikeness, for He is frequently set
before us in the OT under the figure of fine flour. Their being baked with
leaven, the biblical symbol of sin, declares that through his cleansing in
the blood of Christ, there is no sin on the believer, but because the
old nature still dwells within him, side by side with the new nature, there
is sin in him, it being his responsibility to strive against the
desire of that old nature to manifest itself by producing sin in his life.
The presence
of that old nature within the believer however, doesn’t alter the fact that
as one who has been born of the Spirit, he is still - body, soul, and spirit
- “a firstfruits unto the Lord;” and however much the flesh may obscure that
truth, the certain assurance is given us that that condition is soon to be
abolished, as it is written, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is,” 1 John 3:2.
23:18.
“And he shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first
year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt
offering unto the Lord, with their meat (meal) offering, and their drink
offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”
While, as we
have seen, the bread represents believers still here on earth, its being
offered in conjunction with seven unblemished lambs of the first year, one
young bullock, and two rams - all of which typify Christ - brings to every
believer the assurance that whatever may be lacking in us, is abundantly
supplied by the fulness that is in Him.
The seven
unblemished lambs speak of the spotless perfection of God’s Lamb, their
being “of the first year” pointing to His having become our Substitute, not
by dying naturally of old age, but by willingly laying down His life in the
full vigor of young manhood.
The young
bullock represents Him in all the vigor of young manhood, going to Calvary
as the strong, patient, willing Servant of God and man, to die in our stead
for the remission of our sins.
Since the ram
is the biblical symbol of dedication, their being sacrificed as a burnt
offering represents Christ’s dedication of Himself even unto death, first
for the Father’s glory, while the second portrays Him as dying in our guilty
stead for our sins.
“... with
their meal offering, and their drink offerings.” The meal, as already
discussed, represents the Lord’s humanity, while the drink offerings (symbol
of joy) point first to the fact that
it was the
Lord’s delight to do His Father’s will, even unto death, as it is written,
“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart,” Psalm
40:8; but He also delighted in “bringing many sons unto glory,” Hebrews
2:10.
“... even an
offering made by fire.” The fire is a type of the Holy Spirit, but
emphasizing His perfect holiness consuming all that is unholy. It was
through the Holy Spirit that the Lord offered Himself to God, see Hebrews
9:14, “... Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God....”
“... a sweet
savor unto the Lord.” This has also been rendered, “whose fragrance will
appease Yahweh.” No other sacrifice could ever appease a Holy God, for all
of them were but types of that one which alone could satisfy His righteous
claims. All of them had to be repeated year by year continually, as it is
written, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the
very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect,” Hebrews 10:1.
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God .... for by one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified,” Hebrews 10:14.
23:19.
“Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two
lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.”
This young
goat represents the Lord Jesus Christ taking our sins upon Himself, and
expiating them by His vicarious death.
The two
yearling lambs represent Him as the One, Who having atoned for our sins, has
“made peace through the blood of His cross,” Colossians 1:20. The two
lambs may point to the dual character of His death: He has satisfied all the
righteous claims of a Holy God; and has also met our dire need by giving His
life as the ransom price of our souls, thus making peace between us and God.
23:20.
“And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave
offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord
for the priest.”
The “bread of
the firstfruits” consisted of the two wave loaves mentioned in verse 17.
They, with the two lambs, were to be presented to the Lord as a wave
offering; and as discussed already, the bread and the lambs are both types
of Christ: the loaves portraying Him as the One Who, by His death and
resurrection, has become the living bread upon which His people feed; while
the lambs set Him before us as the One Who, by His death and resurrection,
has delivered them from death, so that they stand before God, “accepted in
the beloved,” Ephesians 1:6, because they are now possessed of His life and
nature.
In that the
lambs and the loaves were “for the priest,” i.e., for his food, the truth
being thus symbolically declared is that the Christ Whom they represent is
the spiritual food which sustains the life of the believer, who through
faith in Him, has become a spiritual priest, as it is written, “And (He)
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,” Revelation 1:6, and
again, “And (He) hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall
reign on the earth,” Revelation 5:10.
Relative to
there being two lambs, as noted already, the one represents Christ’s
dedication of Himself even unto death, first for the Father’s glory, while
the second portrays Him as dying in our guilty stead to expiate our sins.
23:21.
“And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy
convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a
statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”
Since this is
a virtual repetition of verse 7, the comments on
that verse apply here also.
23:22.
“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean
riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou
gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and
to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.”
This is
likewise a virtual repetition of 19:9-10,
so that the comments there apply here also.
23:23.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
23:24.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the
first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of
trumpets, an holy convocation.”
As the seventh
day of each week was to be observed as a sabbath of rest, so also was the
first day of each seventh month, the special character of this command being
related to the fact that seven is the biblical number of completeness
or perfection; and a month, the twelfth part of a year, being connected with
those under the government of God, e.g., the twelve tribes of Israel; and
the Church, built upon the foundation of the doctrine of the twelve
apostles.
The blowing of
trumpets may point both to the rapture of the Church, and also to the
regathering of Israel at the beginning of the Millennium.
In addition to
the prophetic nature of this feast, there may be also the intimation of the
spiritual truth that those who are submissive to God’s government experience
joy and gladness, the explanation for this being given by the Lord Himself
in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The blowing of
trumpets speaks also of the sounding forth of the good news of the Gospel,
it being the responsibility of every believer to be such a “trumpet” in the
hand of the Holy Spirit.
Its being also
“an holy convocation” reminds us that holiness is required of all who would
enjoy true peace, rest, and gladness.
23:25.
“Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by
fire unto the Lord.”
Since this
verse is virtually the same as verse 8, the same
comments made there apply here also.
23:26.
“And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying,”
23:27.
“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict
your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”
Since ten
is the number of God in government, the mention of the tenth day reminds us
that this was a command, not an option.
“...
atonement” is also rendered Day of propitiation or expiation. It was
the day when the offering of the prescribed sacrifices would propitiate God
for one year by putting away Israel’s sin: but only for a year! The ritual
would have to be repeated the next year, for it was merely a symbol of the
only sacrifice that could make perfect and eternal atonement for sin, i.e.,
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written, “And every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God,” Hebrews
10:11-12. His sitting down signifies the perfection of His sacrifice.
Another would never be needed.
Every OT
sacrifice was merely a type pointing to that one perfect sacrifice which
would need no repetition, it being written in Hebrews 9:12-14 relative to
the Lord’s presentation of Himself without spot to God the Father, “Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
“... and ye
shall afflict your souls,” is also rendered practice self-denial; humble
your souls; abstain and fast.
This
emphasizes the truth that we are not to do anything that would cater to the
flesh, which is the enemy of the spirit.
“... and offer
an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” As discussed already, every such
offering was but a type of that offered by the Lord at Calvary, where He,
“... through the eternal Spirit (typified by the fire) offered himself
without spot to God,” Hebrews 9:14.
23:28.
“And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to
make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.”
The comments
on verse 7 apply here also.
23:29.
“For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he
shall be cut off from among his people.”
“...
afflicted” conveys the thought of being humbled, repentant, sorrowful, the
truth symbolically declared in this being that there is no pardon for those
who refuse to repent of their sins, the reality of the repentance being
certified by abandonment of sin. In the life of the believer sin should be
accidental and regretted, never premeditated and enjoyed. The deadly
consequence of refusal to repent is announced in the fact that the
unrepentant Israelite was to be “cut off from among his people,” it being
unclear whether the cutting off was to be by death, or expulsion from the
camp of Israel. There is however, no uncertainty relative to the
consequence of refusal to repent of one’s sins: he who dies unrepentant will
die “the second death,” Revelation 20:14, i.e., suffer eternal torment in
the unquenchable flame of the dreadful lake of fire.
23:30.
“And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same
soul will I destroy from among his people.”
“... destroy”
is also rendered “put to death,” a dreadful example of such a death being
that of the man in Numbers 15:32-36, who was stoned to death by God’s
command for gathering sticks on the sabbath day; and we are missing the
lesson being taught here if we fail to see in that man’s death God’s warning
against the folly of attempting to be saved by works rather than faith in
Christ, apart from works, see Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved
through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is gift of God: not of works,
lest any man should boast,” and again, “Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5.
23:31.
“Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout
your generations in all your dwellings.”
The repeated
warnings against the fatal consequences of working on the sabbath emphasize
the deadly nature of attempting to be saved by our own good works. All such
effort will bring the offender down to hell and the eternal torment of the
lake of fire, the severity of the punishment being because all such work
denigrates the sacrifice of Christ.
23:32.
“It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in
the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate
your sabbath.”
“... and ye
shall afflict your souls,” is also rendered practice self-denial; humble
your souls; abstain and fast, i.e., do not gratify the lusts of the
flesh.
As noted
already, God’s numerical system operates on base seven, eight being simply
the number of a new beginning, so that the spiritual significance of numbers
greater than seven is obtained by factorizing. Nine therefore is the
number of fulness of resurrection, for its factors are three raised
to the second power, and three is the number of resurrection: Christ, e.g.,
was raised on the third day. Israel’s celebration of a sabbath on the ninth
day is the symbolic declaration of the truth that we who have been raised up
out of spiritual death, through faith in a resurrected Savior, are also to
walk in the full enjoyment of that glorious truth.
“from even
unto even” makes it clear that the “affliction of their souls” continued
through a night and a day, and in this is foreshadowed our own experience,
for we pass through the experience portrayed by the night and day; those of
the night being the events which we can’t understand, and which all too
often evoke the impatient question, Why, Lord? while those of the day
correspond to what we can understand: we are all too well aware of
our wrongdoing that has provoked God’s chastisement.
All of this
prompts the obvious question, How can a period of trouble, of soul
affliction, be called a sabbath, a period of rest? The answer is simple:
the spiritual believer, no matter how severe the trial, rests in the
peaceful assurance of knowing the sufficiency of God’s grace in every
circumstance of life, the assurance given Paul being also given us, “My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness,”
2 Corinthians 12:9, there being added the further assurance, “And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28; those who love God
being they who obey Him, see John 14:15,21
It was his
grasp of this truth that impelled the hymnist to pen the words, “When we’ve
reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving has only
begun.”
23:33.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
23:34.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this
seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the
Lord.”
The factors of
fifteen are three and five, three being the number of
resurrection; and five, of responsibility, so that the order appointed for
Israel during those seven days is the OT figure of God’s appointment for us
during the time represented by the seven days, i.e., the whole of our
Christian lives. As those who have been raised up out of spiritual death -
resurrection being portrayed by the numeral three - we are
responsible, (responsibility being portrayed by the numeral five), to
be God’s instruments to make the good news of the Gospel known to all men.
Since seven
is the number of perfection or completeness; and a month (the twelfth part
of a year) speaks of our responsibility to be obedient under God’s
government, Israel’s experience during the feast of tabernacles is the
symbolic picture of what should characterize the whole of our lives, that
period being represented by the seven days of the feast of tabernacles.
23:35.
“On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein.”
23:36.
“Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the
eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an
offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall
do no servile work therein.”
That first day
of the feast was a type of the first day of the week during this present
age, and as Israel was to meet in holy assembly, and refrain from the work
that would be legitimate on the other six days, so are we to assemble on the
first day of the week to eat the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of His death
and resurrection.
The fact that
the offering was to be “made by fire,” - the fire being a type of the Holy
Spirit - reminds us that our worship is to be only as indited by Him. It is
not left to us to compose what we present in worship. Every hymn sung,
every Scripture read, every prayer offered, is to be as impelled by the Holy
Spirit. Everything else is the self-willed product of the flesh, and is not
only an abomination to God, but a distraction to spiritual believers.
The seven days
are the equivalent of the seven days of our week, and the command to Israel
to offer an offering translates into instruction to us to also present God
with an offering: not just our worship as we meet on the first day of the
week to eat the Lord’s supper, and thus remember His death and resurrection,
but also the daily sacrifice of an obedient life as commanded in Romans
12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.”
The seven days
however, have a broader typological significance: they represent also the
whole of our earthly lives. Worship is not just for Sunday: it is to be
daily, and lifelong.
The repeated
command to do no servile work emphasizes the fact that we cannot be saved by
good works, but only by faith in Christ as Savior.
23:37.
“These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy
convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt
offering, and a meat (meal) offering, a sacrifice, and a drink offering,
every thing upon his day:”
The repeated
emphasis on the need to keep the appointed feasts, is no doubt related to
the fact that in the midst of the world’s distracting clamor we tend very
quickly to forget about the things of God.
The continued
mention of the fire is to reiterate the truth that in connection with our
worship everything which isn’t impelled by the Holy Spirit is worthless; and
the reference to the burnt offering is to remind us that our worship is to
be all for God’s glory, anything in it which would bring glory to man being
of the flesh, not of the Holy Spirit.
The meal
offering, as always, represents the Lord’s perfect humanity, which was no
less holy than was His deity; and the drink offering declares the pleasure
He found in doing His Father’s will, even to the laying down of His life,
His delight in rendering that sacrifice being undiminished by the terrible
agony of His having to die by crucifixion.
“...everything
upon his day” is also rendered “according to the day’s program; according to
the ritual of each day; as the rite of each day prescribes.” This continues
to remind us that worship is to be according to God’s order, and not
according to the vagaries of man’s imagination, but at the impulse of the
Holy Spirit.
23:38.
“Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your
vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.”
This teaches
the truth that besides all the varied ways in which we might express our
individual love and gratitude to God, we are to assemble around the Lord’s
Table on the first day of each week to present our corporate worship in the
manner He Himself has appointed; this being announced in the unambiguous
language of the NT in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and
so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
23:39.
“Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in
the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on
the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.”
This was the
harvest festival in which they gave thanks to God for His bounty; and the
spiritual import of its beginning on the fifteenth day is easily read, for
five is the number of human responsibility; and three, of
resurrection. Only those who have fulfilled their responsibility to
associate themselves by faith with a crucified and risen Savior, will
participate in the resurrection of life, John 5:28-29, when their bodies
will be raised in power and glory to dwell for ever with Christ in heaven,
see 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.
Its being on
the fifteenth day of “the seventh month” declares the truth that obedience
will yield its abundant reward in what the seventh month represents: the
completion of life’s journey, and our entering into the enjoyment of eternal
rest in heaven.
An obvious
question presents itself here: in what way can harvest possibly be
associated with resurrection, since it involves the cutting down of the
grain? The answer is that what was reaped was what had resulted from the
earlier sowing of the seed. It was the symbolic evidence of God’s ability
to bring life out of death, as the Lord Himself declared, “Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit,” John 12:24. The Lord’s death and resurrection
were the confirmation of this truth.
It is only by
living as those who have” become dead to the law by the body of Christ,”
that we can bring forth spiritual fruit for
God’s glory,
and our own eternal enrichment, Romans 7:4
The fact that
the first and last days were sabbaths has also something to teach us. The
equivalent of the “first day,” is the day when we first entered into rest by
trusting Christ as Savior; and the counterpart of the last day will be that
on which we enter into the enjoyment of eternal rest in heaven. But the
last day was the eighth, and since eight is the number of a new beginning,
the truth being presented symbolically here is that our last day on earth,
and our first in heaven, will be a new beginning that will never have an
end, for it will bring us into the enjoyment of eternal life in heaven.
23:40.
“And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches
of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and
ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.”
The Israelites
were to cut boughs and branches of leafy trees, and make of them booths in
which they would dwell for the seven days of the feast; all of this
declaring symbolically that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth,
as are we, their citizenship and ours being in heaven, “For here have we no
continuing city, but we seek one to come,” Hebrews 13:14. We are to be like
Abraham, of whom it is written that, “He looked for a (the) city which hath
foundations whose builder and maker is God,” Hebrews 11:10.
The reality of
our heavenly citizenship however, is not certified by our living in booths
for seven days each year, but by our attitude to the things of this world.
We are not to be scrabbling for its wealth, fame, pleasure, etc., and if our
eyes are fixed on Christ and the treasure laid up for us in heaven, what the
world calls treasure will hold no attraction for us. We will be content to
leave its so-called wealth to the poor worldling whom Satan has blinded
relative to its worthlessness.
The Israelites
were to rejoice during the seven days of their dwelling in booths, and in
this God would have us learn that during our spiritually correspondent time
here on earth, we too are to be living daily in the happy enjoyment of our
salvation, while looking with glad expectation for the Lord’s return, or of
our being called home to heaven to be for ever with Him.
23:41
“And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It
shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in
the seventh month.”
The seven days
(number of perfection or completeness) represent the totality of our lives
here on earth; and as those seven days were to be for Israel a time of
feasting and joy, so are the days of our lives to be passed, not in literal
feasting, but in the spiritual equivalent: feeding our souls on the
spiritual food of the Scriptures, the ambrosia of heaven.
“... in the
seventh month.” As discussed already, seven, the number which concludes
God’s numerical series, is the number of completeness or perfection; and in
the present context represents the whole of our earthly lives. Spiritually
speaking we are in the “seventh month” of that experience, our death, or the
rapture bringing the series to an end; and surely the glorious prospect
awaiting us in heaven should transmute that “seventh month” into a joyous
celebration.
23:42.
“Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall
dwell in booths:”
The time of
booth-dwelling was exclusively for those who were Israelites by birth, and
the truth being taught symbolically in this is that the equivalent
experience is only for those who have been born again spiritually through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
23:43.
“That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell
in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your
God.”
In this
present context booths means tents, shelters, huts as of entwined
boughs; and the fact that Israel dwelt in tents during the forty years of
their sojourn in the wilderness reinforces the truth that we who are God’s
redeemed people today are to live in spiritually equivalent fashion. We are
not to be settling down in the world as do those who are of the world. On
the contrary, we are to demonstrate by our lifestyles that we are pilgrims
and strangers here, passing through on our way home, our citizenship being
in heaven. It is instructive to note that of all the Israelites who left
Egypt on the night of the Passover, the only ones who entered Canaan were
obedient Joshua and Caleb. All the others died in the wilderness, it being
their children, the second generation, who entered Canaan; the second
generation, as always in Scripture, representing those who have been born
again spiritually through faith in Christ.
It is a sorry
reflection on their spiritual state that the lives of the majority of
professing Christians today declare their citizenship to be of earth, not
heaven. It behooves each one of us to be absolutely certain that our
citizenship is in heaven; or to use the terminology of the believers
of an earlier generation, to be certain that we “have the root of the
matter.” It will be eternally too late to die and discover with unutterable
horror, that what Satan had deluded us into thinking was the narrow way to
heaven, was instead the broad and crowded way to hell.
23:44.
“And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.”
This is just
another way of saying that Moses instructed the people in the things of
God. He is a wise man who emulates Moses.
Relative to
the feasts, The Believer’s Bible Commentary makes the following
instructive observation: “A definite chronological progression can be traced
in the Feasts ... The Sabbath takes us back to God’s rest after creation.
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread speak to us of Calvary ...
the Feast of Firstfruits pointing to the resurrection of Christ. The Feast
of Pentecost typifies the coming of the Holy Spirit .... the Feast of
Trumpets pictures the regathering of Israel. The Day of Atonement
foreshadows the time when a remnant of Israel will repent and acknowledge
Jesus as Messiah. Finally the Feast of Tabernacles sees Israel enjoying the
millennial reign of Christ.”