Appointed Feast, Sacred Assemblies, and Hebrew Calendar

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

Hebrew Calendar

Hebrew Calendar and Selected Events