Leviticus 23

Leviticus 23:3

Lev. 23:3. “Convocation.” By this it appears that although the children of Israel were obliged to meet together at the Temple but three times in the year, yet the weekly sabbath among them was from the beginning a day for their meeting together for some sort of religious public worship, which is confirmed from 2 Kings 4:23; Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:3. Whence it may be argued that the people had something like synagogues among them long before the captivity in Babylon, which is confirmed by Psalms 74:8. The word translated “synagogue” signifies a convention, congregation, or meeting together. See also Psalms 83:9.

Leviticus 23:10

Lev. 23:10. The sheaf was to be offered to God on the first day of the week after the Passover, on the same day that Christ rose. It was the first-fruits of all the seed sown. So Christ was “the first-fruits of them that slept.” The body that dies and is buried is compared to the seed of bread, corn sown in the earth (1 Corinthians 15:36; 1 Corinthians 15:37); and Christ’s resurrection in particular is compared to this (John 12:24), and the end of the world, the time of the resurrection, is represented by the harvest (Matthew 13:39). Things rising in the Spring, after all seemed to be dead in winter, is a lively image of the resurrection. This sheaf was the first-fruits of the earth that they had in the Spring; and it is to be noted that the time when this sheaf of the first-fruits was offered was not only on the same day of the week, but at same time of year, the first day of the week after the Passover, as that was.

Leviticus 23:34-36

Lev. 23:34, 35, 36. Mat. 1. Luke 2. The feast of tabernacles - The birth of Christ - Lord’s day. Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology, makes it appear exceeding probable that Christ was born on the feast of tabernacles; as also Mather on the Types. And besides what Mr. Mather on the Types observes of this feast, and of the time of Christ’s birth, there are the following things observed by Mr. Bedford.

1. He shows that in this month, about the same time of the year that Christ was born, the world was created; thus the beginning of the new creation and the old, the creation of the first Adam and the second, are at the same time of year.
2. That Moses, this type of Christ, came down from mount Sinai, which was a type of heaven, on the first day of this month, and declared that God was appeased, and the people pardoned, and his face shone as if the divinity had inhabited the manhood, so that the Israelites could not look upon him; and he then gave directions that they should immediately set about building the tabernacle (which was hitherto hindered by, and because of, the golden calf), seeing that God would now dwell among them, and forsake them no more: upon this the people bring their offerings, which were viewed and found to be sufficient. And then immediately they pitch their tents, knowing that they were not to depart from that place before the divine tabernacle was finished. And thus they set about this great work with all their might, at this time of the year. Hence the fifteenth day of this month, and seven days after, were appointed for the feast of tabernacles, in commemoration of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, when God dwelt in the midst of them.
3. That Christ was not only born at the feast of tabernacles, and so circumcised on the last day, or eighth day of that feast, which was a great day, and probably appointed out of respect to the circumcision of Christ that was to be on that day; but also that the feast of tabernacles in which Christ was born fell out on the first day of the week, and so the eighth day of the feast, on which he was circumcised, also fell on the same day of the week.
4. That the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon (which was a type of the body of Christ, as well as the tabernacle), was not only held on the feast of tabernacles, the feast on which Christ was born; but also that that feast happened to be on a Sunday, as the day of Christ’s birth was, and so the last and great day of the feast was also held on a Sunday. Vide Scripture Chronology, book 4, chapter IV.
5. I would further observe, that on that day the Godhead did, in a sensible manner, descend in a pillar of cloud, to inherit the temple, as in the incarnation of Christ, the Godhead descended to dwell in flesh. See No. 396. Note on Zechariah 14:16, etc.