Appointed Feast and Sacred Assemblies
Old Testament Feasts |
  Name   |       OT Refs |       Then |   Now | Description   | Purpose      | NT Refs   |
Sabbath | Ex 20:8-1:1,31:12-17; Lv 23:3; Dt 5:12-15 | 7th day | Same | Day of rest; no work | Rest for people and animals | Mt 12:1-14,28:1; Lk 4:16; Jn 5:9; Ac 13:42; Col 2:16; Heb 4:1-11 |
Sabbath Year | Ex 23:10-11; Lv 25:1-7 | 7th year | Same | Year of rest; fallow fields | Rest for land |     |
Year of Jubilee | Lv 25:8-55,27:17-24; Nm 36:4 | 50th year | Same | Canceled debts; liberation of slaves and endentured servants; land returned to original family owners | Help for poor; stabilize society |     |
Passover (Pecash) | Ex 1-2:1-14; Lv 23:5; Nu 9:1-14,28:16; Dt 16:1-3a,4b-7 | 1st month (Abib) 14 | Mar-Apr | Slaying and eating lamb, with bitter herbs and bread without yeast in every household | Remember Israel's deliverance from Egypt | Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12-26; Jn 2:13,11:55; 1Co 5:7; Heb 11:28 |
Unleavened Bread | Ex 12:15-20,13:3-10,23:15,34:18; Lv 23:6-8; Nu 28:17-25; Dt 16:3b,4a,8 | 1st month (Abib) 15-21 | Mar-Apr | Eating bread made without yeast; holding several assemblies; making designated offerings | Remember how the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt in haste | Mk 14:1,12; Ac 12:3; 1 Co 5:6-8 |
Firstfruits | Lv 23:9-14 | 1st month (Abib) 16 | Mar-Apr | Presenting a sheaf of the first of the barley harvest as a wave offering; making a burnt offering and a grain offering | Recognize the Lord's bounty in the land | Ro 8:23; 1Co 15:20-23 |
Weeks (Pentecost) (Harvest) (Shavout) | Ex 23:16a,34:22a; Lv 23:15-21; Nu 28:26-31; Dt 16:9-12 | 3rd month (Sivan) 6 | May-Jun | A festival of joy; mandatory and voluntary offerings, including the firstiruits of the wheat harvest | Show joy and thankfulness for the Lord's blessing of harvest | Ac 2:1-4,20:16; 1Co 16:8 |
Trumpets (Yom Teruah) | Lv 23:23-25; Nu 29:1-6 | 7th month (Tishri) 1-10 | Sep-Oct | An assembly on a day of rest commemorated with trumpet blasts and sacrifices | Present Israel before the Lord for his favor | many |
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) | Lv 16,23:26-32; Nu 29:7-11 | 7th month (Tishri) 10 | Sep-Oct | A day of rest, fasting and sacrifices of atonement for priests and people and atonement for the tabernacle and altar | Cleanse priests and people from their sins and purlfy the Holy Place | Ro 3:24-26; Heb 9:7,10:3,19-22 |
Tabernacles (Booths)(Ingathering) (Sukkot) | Ex 23:16b,34:22b; Lv 23:33-36a,39-43; Nu 29:12-3,4; Dt 16:13-15; Zec 14:16-19 | 7th month (Tishri) 15-21 | Sep-Oct | A week of celebration for the harvest; living in booths and offering sacrifices | Memorialize the journey from Egypt to Canaan; give thanks for the productivity of Canaan | Jn 7:2,37 |
Sacred Assembly | Ly 23:36b; Nu 29:35-38 | 7th month (Tishri) 22 | Sep-Oct | A day of convocation, rest and offering sacrifices | Commemorate the closing of the cycle of feasts |     |
Purim | Est 9:18-32 | 12th month (Adar) 14-15 | Feb-Mar | A day of joy and feasting and giving presents | Remind the Israelites of their national deliverance in the time of Esther |     |
Every new moon was also a special feast day. (Nu 10:10; 1Ch 23:31; Ex 3:5; Ne 10:33; Ps 81:3; Is 1:13-14,66:23; Hs 5:7; Am 8:5; Col 2:16) Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication (aka Lights) is on Kislev 25 (mid-December) commemorating the purification of the temple and altar. It is not in the Old Testament because it started in 165/4 B.C. during the Maccabean period. John 10:22 has Jesus in Jerusalem during the feast. |
Mosaic Feasts Fulfillment in Jesus |