Leviticus 23

Leviticus 23:1-3

Blessed Chall with

1. Every blemished beall is forbidden to be offered. The blemishes are pointed out, v. 22. an exception is made, v. 23. in case of a free-will offering; but for a vow, it must not be accepted, even from a stranger. The priests therefore carefully examined the bealls, and rejected those, where such blemishes were found. Note, (1.) Our Lord Jesus was thus a lamb without spot or blemish, and when examined, no fault was found in him. (2.) Is it but mockery, instead of service, to appear before God with blind devotion and lame formality: unless our souls are engaged, and our hearts given up to him, the rest is no better than denomination.

2. Other regulations concerning the sacrifice. It must be eight days old; the dam and her young must not be sacrificed together. Note, God teaches us humanity, even in his sacrifices.

3. The offerings of thanksgiving must be eaten the same day they were offered, as before enjoined, with the reason, He is their God. No obligation so forcible to engage our hearts to keep his commandments, as a sense of his redeeming love.

C H A P. XXIII.

The solemn firsts enjoined, 1. The weekly feast of the Sabbath, ver. 3. 2. The yearly feasts. (1.) The passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, ver. 4. 8. to which was annexed the offering of the sheaf of first fruits, ver. 9—14. (2.) The Pentecost, ver. 15—24. (3.) The solemnities of the seventh month. The feast of trumpets on the first day, ver. 23—25. The day of atonement on the tenth day, ver. 26—32. And the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth, ver. 33—44.

1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 1. 5. 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.

The holy solemnities are appointed. On those days there was a convocation of the people to the door of the tabernacle, to join with united voices in prayer and praise.

The Sabbath was a weekly feast, and still is such, to every true believer, who especially feasts then on God’s word and ordinances. A holy rest was to be observed. We must rest from sin as from labour. There was no it to be a holy convocation. Nothing on that day must keep us from waiting in the courts of God’s house together, nothing but works of necessity. Now, if servants are kept from church to provide for our bodies, when they should be feeding their own souls, the guilt of Sabbath-breaking will be against the heads of that family—And not only by a convocation, but in their dwellings, the Sabbath must be kept: public duties are but a part of the service; on that day every house must be a temple, and rebound with prayer and praise. To prostitute the hours of the evening in vanity, or visiting, or illiterate, is to profane the day, as much as when we forsake the assembly of God’s people.

4. 6. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 5. 7. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even, is the LORD’s passover. 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. 7. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no service work therein. 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 service work therein. 9. 9. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, 11. When ye become into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: 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. 12. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, an be-lamb without blemish, of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto the LORD. 13. And the meat-offering thereof shall be two tenth-deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet favour: and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until

Vol. I.

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Leviticus 23:4-14

The annual feasts are next enjoined. The chief of these being the passover, that is first mentioned. It had been before appointed, for the commemoration of their wondrous deliverance from Egypt: Divine mercies should never be forgotten. During the seven days of unleavened bread which followed, extraordinary sacrifices were offered, Nam. xxviii. 19—24. They who come to acknowledge divine mercies, shall have their souls refreshed, as with marrow and fatuels. The first and last days were holy convocations. On the second day, the first fruits were offered, with a lamb for a sacrifice, in thanks for the produce of the field, and to obtain the Divine blessing upon their harvest. Note, (1.) Holy feast should be observed in a holy manner. (2.) God has a right to his sheaf: we must honour him with part of our feast, and we would have his blessing on the rest. (3.) The first fruits were typical of Jesus rising, as the first fruits from the dead, on this very day, and thereby assuring us of our own redemption.

15. 6. 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: 16. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the LORD. 17. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves, of two tenth-deals: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaves, they are the first-fruits unto the LORD. 18. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish, of the first year, and one young bullocks, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt-offering unto the LORD, with their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet favour unto the LORD. 19. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats, for a fin-offering, and two lambs of the first year, for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. 20. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits, for a wave-offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21. And ye shall proclaim on the self-same day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no service work therein: It shall be a feature for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22. 6. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field, when thou reaped, neither shalt thou gather any gleaming of thy harvests: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 23:15-22

The feast of Pentecost was seven weeks after the passover. The harvest was then gathered in, and they brought their grateful acknowledgments in the two loaves of wheaten bread, for first-fruits to the Lord, with a burnt-offering of thanksgiving, a fin-offering to intimate their unworthiness of these mercies, and peace-offerings to implore a blessing on the fruits they had gathered. That harvest will yield well, where the reapers have such a regard to God: a holy convocation was kept on this day, and all the men required to appear before the Lord, in memory of God’s giving them the law from Sinai. It was at this feast, that the Holy Ghost afterwards was poured out on the apostles, and three thousand souls converted as first-fruits to God and the Lamb.

The charge of having a portion for the poor is repeated. They who will honour God with sacrifice, must also have pity on the needy; and God will accept with greater delight the feeding his hungry faints, than the feeding the fire of his altar with the fat of bullocks or rams.

23. 6. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 25. Ye shall do no service work therein; but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 26. 6. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 27. 7. 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. 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. 29. For whatsoever soul it be M m that