Introduction With Regard To The Feasts And The Sabbath (Leviticus 23:1-3).
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,'
Once more it is stressed that we have the words of Moses as given to him by God.
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.”
Moses is to declare to the children of Israel what are His set feasts. He is to proclaim them as ‘holy convocations', holy ‘calling-togethers'. They are the times when His people must come together for the purposes of joint worship and renewal of the covenant which bound them all together as His people.
There were, of course, already recognised times of celebration among many nations and tribes. They covered the lamb harvest, the barley harvest, the wheat harvest and the harvest of summer fruits and vintage. But in Israel's case they also included celebration of the deliverance from Egypt at the Passover, and a recognition of the nation's failures at the Day of Atonement, and a reminder of when they had dwelt in tents in the wilderness. Thus they were to celebrate both Yahweh's continual provision in the various harvests and Yahweh's deliverance, both past and present, deliverance from Egypt in the past (Passover), and deliverance from sin in the present (Atonement).