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Timing and General Order of the Festivals:
- Gen 1:14-18 [Hint: look at the Hebrew word that most translations render “seasons”]
- Ex 12:2, 13:4 [Hint: study “aviv” / “abib”]
- Ex 23:14-17; 34:23-24 [Hint: there are 3 times (groupings) of festivals throughout the year]
- Ex 31:13 [Hint: very interesting plural riddle going on here. Notice it is says keeping Sabbaths plural, but it (singular) is a sign... grammatically: the keeping (singular) of the Sabbaths (plural) is the sign between us and the Creator that we are set apart as His, and distinctly different from the world. These are the kind of awesome details that are so easy to miss, but sometimes even surface in plain English if we read carefully, and more so digging into the original languages.]
- Lev 23 [Hint: weekly Sabbath included in calendar appointments]
- Num 28 & 29
- Deut 16:16
The Festivals / Appointments are for Observing / Keeping Forever:
- Ex 12:14, 24 (Passover)
- Ex 31:16-17 (Weekly Sabbath)
- Lev 16:30-31 (Yom Kippur / Atonement)
- Lev 23:21 (Shavuot / Weeks / Pentecost)
- Lev 23:31 (Yom Kippur / Atonement)
- Lev 23:41 (Sukkot / Tabernacles)
Blessings Connected to Guarding / Keeping the Creator’s Appointments:
- Lev 26:2-13
- Is 56:2
- Is 58:13-14
The Festivals are for Observing / Keeping by both Native-born Israelites and Grafted-in / Adopted through Messiah Israelites and are a Sign of being Set Apart / Separated by YHWH from the World:
- Ex 13:9, 16 (Passover, sign)
- Ex 24:47-49 (Passover, native and adopted foreigner)
- Ex 31:13 (Sabbaths plural, sign)
- Is 56:3-7 (Weekly Sabbath, adopted foreigner)
- Ez 20:12, 20 (Sabbaths plural, sign)
- Col 2:16 (festival, new moon, Sabbath, adopted foreigner) [Hint: generally misinterpreted backwards to mean let no one judge you for NOT keeping the Appointments of the Creator, in context it means the opposite – let no one judge you for keeping them, because though the audience was originally foreigners they had been circumcised in heart by belief in Messiah (v.11) and therefore whereas they’d otherwise not be allowed to participate in the appointments now COULD participate because of their adoption, and the “handwriting of ordinances against us... nailed to the cross” (which most people say misinterpret as the Law and Commandments) is actually plainly in context that which would otherwise validly prevent us from participating because of our uncleanness and separation from His people... it isn’t the Appointments or Commandments that were nailed to the cross – it’s our status under the Law as uncircumcised foreigners which was negated through our adoption, and our penalties / punishments required by the Law (not the Law itself) that was nailed to the cross. The historical setting was that religious Jews were judging non-Jewish believers who were entering in to the fullness of the Appointments and Commandments after coming to belief in Messiah and obedience in love to their King, but some wanted to not allow them to participate sort of viewing them as second-class Kingdom citizens, and THAT’s what Sha’ul / Paul was addressing – he was defending non-Jewish Believers right to participate. Side-note: the Jewish race only represents 1 of the 12 tribes of Israel / Yah’s People
]- Eph 2:11-17 [Hint: Great parallel / companion to Col 2 with the same context, but so often ignored and completely interpreted opposite. Context is that they were once (but no longer) “gentiles” and now citizens of the Kingdom in Messiah. The “enmity” of the “dogmasin” (Gk) was abolished – the barrier separating gentiles from Israel (not the Law or Appointments themselves) so that through Messiah even Gentiles could become Israel / His People / Kingdom Citizens through Adoption. Which, provision, incidentally was always present in the Law as already seen – One Torah (Instruction, but mistranslated “Law”) for all Yah’s People whether native-born or grafted in (and even native-born have to be grafted-in through Messiah). ]
The Festivals are the Millennial Kingdom National Holidays:
- Is 66:22-24 (New Moons and Weekly Sabbaths)
- Ez 44:14; 46:1-4, 12 [Hint: context is Ez 43 after the Return]
- Zech 14:16-19 (Sukkot / Tabernacles)
- Matt 26:29, Mark 14, Luke 22:15-18 (Passover) [Hint: “fulfilled” doesn’t mean completed in the sense of over with, it means executed in the sense of observed and lived out]
SPECIFIC FESTIVALS / APPOINTMENTS
Weekly 7th day Sabbath:
- Gen 2:2-3
- Ex 16:23-30
- Ex 20:8-11
- Ex 23:12
- Ex 31:13-18 [Hint: consider “shall certainly be put to death” in the context of words to Adam, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”... interesting]
- Ex 34:21
- Ex 35:1-3
- Lev 23:3
- Deut 5:12-15
- Matt 12
- Matt 24:20
- Mark 2:23-27
- Luke 13:13-16
- Acts 13:44
- Acts 18:4 [Hint: hmmmm... what were the “Greeks” doing in the synagogue...?
]- Hebrews 4:9-11 [Hint: have to go back to the Greek on this one to get it... most translations are horrible on this verse. Literal Gk says: “So their remains a Sabbath-Keeping for the people of Elohim (God),” which makes way more sense as v.11 follows logically. But this was watered down by the anti-Jewish translators first to Latin and then to English.]
SPRING – Gathering Time 1
Pesach / Passover
- Ex 12 & 13
- Lev 23:5-8
- Num 28:16
- Deut 16:1-7
- 1 Cor 5:7-8 [Hint: “therefore let us keep the feast...” is talking about the literal Feast of Passover]
Feast of Unleavened Bread:
- Ex 12 & 13
- Lev 23:5-8
- Num 28:17-25
- Deut 16:8
First Fruits [Barley]:
- Lev 23:10-14 [Hint: “morrow after the Sabbath” is referring to the weekly Sabbath following Passover, in other words always S-nday or the First Day of the week]
SUMMER – Gathering Time 2
Shavuot / Feast of Weeks / Pentecost / First Fruits [Wheat]:
- Ex 34:22
- Lev 23:15-21
- Num 28:26
- Deut 16:9-12
FALL – Gathering Time 3
Yom Teruah / Feast of Trumpets:
- Lev 23:24-25
- Num 29:1-6
Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement:
- Lev 16
- Lev 23:27-32
- Num 29:7-11
Sukkot / Feast of Tabernacles / Booths / Feast of Ingathering [corn, olives / oil, grapes / wine]:
- Ex 34:22
- Lev 23:34-43
- Num 29:12-39
- Deut 16:13-15
- Zech 14:16-19
- Neh 8:14-18