Day 51 —  We are in the second month! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.

   Day 51 – Leviticus 22 – 23  (priesthood holiness, the LORD’s festivals)

As in the previous chapter, Leviticus 22 emphasizes how holy and “clean” the priests are to be before the LORD in relationships, bodily & spiritual living, and even in eating the “holy” offerings that they are allowed to eat.

God says to them, “So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD, and you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you…”  

(There is great responsibility in leadership, especially in His service.)

In chapter 23, God tells Moses to instruct the people about seven festivals.  “These are appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations: they are my appointed feasts.”  The Sabbath was to be a continuing weekly time of rest.  Passover and Unleavened Bread, were events that they had already begun to celebrate. It was a time to remember how their God had delivered them from Egypt with great power.

Firstfruits was to be celebrated when they were in the land. It was to come shortly after Unleavened Bread. In it, they would dedicate the very first fruits of their agriculture labor by “waving” grain, flour with oil as a food offering before the LORD (as part of the Priest’s sustenance). They were to eat NONE of their harvests before this was first offered to God.

Weeks (or called Pentecost) came 50 days after Unleavened Bread, and would be another offering from the harvest they’d planted in the Promised Land.  First to God, then to themselves. (And as a side note, they were to leave the “corners” of their fields unharvested, so the poor in the land could glean food for their families.)

Trumpets (Rosh HaShana) would come in the fall as a SOLEMN day of rest. It would precede and prepare the people by confession and making thing “right” with their fellows, for the Most Holy Day of Atonement, the one day when the High Priest would carry the blood of the sacrificial goat into the Holy of Holies before the LORD to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. It would be a time of mourning for the people for their sins, confessing sins, and accepting the forgiveness and cleansing that only God can give.

Booths would be a joyous, fun time when the people recalled how God cared for them in the Wilderness. They would erect and live in booths, or make-shift shelters made out of branches and palm fronds, staying outdoors (like camping out for kids) for seven days. And they would also offer food offerings to the LORD (and priests).

These were happy and solemn celebrations, to remember God their deliverer and provider and the One alone who can cover/forgive their sins.

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(Oh, that my heart would so remember, honor, and thank God throughout the year, weekly, daily, and even minute by minute. He truly is all I need for life and godliness.)