Bible Commentaries

Leviticus 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Ver. 1. And the Lord spake.] {See Trapp on "Leviticus 7:22"}

Leviticus 23:2 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.

Ver. 2. To be holy convocations.] Not bare rests, as Plato said, that the gods, pitying men’s labour, appointed their festivals to be a remission of their labour. ^(a) {See Trapp on "Exodus 20:8"} {See Trapp on "Exodus 20:9"} {See Trapp on "Exodus 20:10"} {See Trapp on "Exodus 20:11"}

Leviticus 23:3 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.

Ver. 3. Ye shall do no work therein.] Save only works of piety, charity, and necessity. These are allowed by our Saviour. [Mark 2:23-28; Mark 3:4] The Jews superstitiously hold, ^(a) that it is not lawful for a blind man to lean upon a staff on a Sabbath day, as the lame may: that if a flea bite a man on that day, he may take it, but not kill it. That if a thorn prick him in the foot on that day, he may not pull it out. That a tailor may not carry a needle, much less a sword; that a man may not spet, ^(b) or be taken out of a jakes, as that Jew of Tewkesbury, who said,

“ Sabbata santa colo, de stercore {c} surgere nolo. ”

Whereunto the Earl of Gloucester replied,

“"Sabbata nostra quidem (Solomon) celebrabis ibidem." ”

“(Sir, reverence ^(d) of the Sabbath keeps me here:

And you, sir, reverence ^(e) shall our Sabbath there.)”

In all your dwellings.] Where you are to sanctify this rest, and to repair to your synagogues. [Acts 15:21]

Leviticus 23:4 These [are] the feasts of the LORD, [even] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

Ver. 4. In their seasons,] i.e., Once a year.

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at even [is] the LORD’S passover.

Ver. 5. In the fourteenth day.] {See Trapp on "Exodus 12:18"}

Leviticus 23:6 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.

Ver. 6. Eat unleavened bread.] To teach us to eat the Christian passover, not with the "old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." [1 Corinthians 5:8]

Leviticus 23:7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Ver. 7. No servile work.] But that about victuals. [Exodus 12:26]

Leviticus 23:8 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 servile work [therein].

Ver. 8. But ye shall offer an offering.] What these offerings must be, see Numbers 28:18; Numbers 28:24.

Leviticus 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

Ver. 10. And shall reap the harvest.] Barley harvest; for that was first.

Leviticus 23:11 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.

Ver. 11. And he shall wave the sheaf.] This signified that they and theirs were accepted of God through Christ.

On the morrow after the Sabbath.] Here the Lord’s day was prefigured, saith one, therefore prescribed, and instituted of God. This shake day sheaf was a pregnant type of Christ’s rising again, the firstfruits from the dead. It was fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection, the day after the Sabbath. And because this Sabbath was chiefly meant of the Passover (which was a high Sabbath) it was a double Sabbath wherein Christ rested in the grave. The very next morning was Christ waved before the Lord, when, in the earthquake, he rose from the dead "the firstfruits of them that sleep," and there hence entered the everlasting gates as a King of glory, [Psalms 24:7] which psalm is in the Greek called A psalm of David of the first day of the week.

Leviticus 23:12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

Ver. 12. A he lamb.] Prefiguring Christ, by whom those first fruits were sanctified.

Leviticus 23:13 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 savour: and the drink offering thereof [shall be] of wine, the fourth [part] of an hin.

Ver. 13. Two tenth deals.] This was double to the ordinary proportion, [Numbers 15:4] because on such an occasion.

Leviticus 23:14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: [it shall be] a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Ver. 14. And ye shall eat neither bread.] It was fit that God the giver should have the first.

Leviticus 23:15 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:

Ver. 15. Seven Sabbaths.] That is, seven weeks. The Sabbath is queen of all the days of the week; and therefore carries the name of the whole week.

Leviticus 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

Ver. 16. Shall ye number fifty days.] And then keep the feast of Pentecost or of weeks, so called because it was seven weeks after the passover.

Leviticus 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Ver. 17. Out of your habitations.] That is, Out of the new corn (growing of the same land which God gave them to inherit) not foreign.

The firstfruits,] viz., Of their wheat harvest, as the shake sheaf [Leviticus 23:10] was of their barley harvest. Thus were they to express their thankfulness to God for those precious fruits of the earth. [James 5:7]

Leviticus 23:18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, 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 savour unto the LORD.

Ver. 18. Seven lambs.] Besides which, they had other oblations at the feast of Pentecost. [Numbers 28:27] The service of God was heretofore very costly.

Leviticus 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits [for] a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

Ver. 20. Wave them.] See on Exodus 29:24.

Holy to the Lord.] And wholly to the priest.

Leviticus 23:21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, [that] it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work [therein: it shall be] a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Ver. 21. A holy convocation.] The feast day of Pentecost, kept in testimony of their thankfulness for the land’s fruitfulness, their deliverance from Egypt, [Deuteronomy 16:10; Deuteronomy 16:12] and the receiving of the law at that time of the year. [Exodus 19:11]

Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.

Ver. 22. And when ye reap.] See Leviticus 19:9. In these we entertain Christum convivam, Christ a guest, saith Jerome.

Leviticus 23:24 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.

Ver. 24. Of blowing of trumpets.] This feast signified the spiritual joy and gladness of the saints that are redeemed by Christ, all their life long. [Isaiah 23:10]

Leviticus 23:25 Ye shall do no servile work [therein]: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Ver. 25. See on Leviticus 16:30, &c.

Leviticus 23:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Ver. 26. See on Leviticus 16:30, &c.

Leviticus 23:27 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.

Ver. 27. Also on the tenth day.] {See Trapp on "Leviticus 16:31"} Thus they were kept in sorrow five days, before they might keep their feast of joy. [Leviticus 23:34]

Leviticus 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD.

Ver. 34. The feast of tabernacles.] It signified, the prophet Zechariah being interpreter, [Leviticus 14:16-19] that the remembrance of our redemption by Christ should be perpetuated with all spiritual gladness.

Leviticus 23:42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

Ver. 42. Ye shall dwell in booths.] The siege of Jerusalem by the Romans lasted six months. It began at the passover, and ended at this feast of tabernacles. Ita festum illud fuit finis istius politiae.

Leviticus 23:43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

Ver. 43. That your generations may know.] For which purpose also they had at this feast the law read unto them. [Nehemiah 8:18 Deuteronomy 31:10; Deuteronomy 31:13]