Leviticus 23:6

23:4-14 The feast of the Passover was to continue seven days; not idle days, spent in sport, as many that are called Christians spend their holy-days. Offerings were made to the Lord at his altar; and the people were taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation. The sheaf of first-fruits was typical of the Lord Jesus, who is risen from the dead as the First-fruits of them that slept. Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered. We are taught by this law to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Pr 3:9. They were not to eat of their new corn, till God's part was offered to him out of it; and we must always begin with God: begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord,.... Which was the day the children of Israel went out of Egypt with their dough and leaven, having not time to leaven it; in remembrance of which this feast was appointed: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread; see Exodus 12:15.

Verse 6. - The Feast of Unleavened Bread was instituted at the same time with the Feast of the Passover ( Exodus 12:15-17 ), and from the beginning the two festivals were practically but one festival, never separated, though separable in idea. The Passover, strictly so called, lasted but one day, Nisan 14; the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days, Nisan 15-21. The whole made a festival of eight days, called indifferently the Feast of the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The bread to be eaten throughout the festival was unleavened, in order to remind the Israelites of the historical fact that on account of the urgency of the Egyptians, "the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders" ( Exodus 12:34 ), and quitted the land of their affliction in haste. Accordingly, in the Book of Deuteronomy it is appointed, "Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the laud of Egypt all the days of thy life" ( Deuteronomy 16:3 ). Leviticus 23:6

Feast - The three festivals (often called the Great Festivals), Passover, Pentecost and tabernacles, to which the name חג chag, i. e. a feast or rejoicing properly belongs Leviticus 23:6 , Leviticus 23:34 , Leviticus 23:39 , Leviticus 23:41 , were distinguished by the attendance of the male Israelites at the national sanctuary (compare Exodus 23:17 ; Exodus 34:23 ; Deuteronomy 16:16 ). In later times they were called by the rabbins "pilgrimage feasts." It is worthy of note that the Hebrew word is identical with the Arabic "haj", the name of the pilgrimage to Mecca, from which comes the well-known word for a pilgrim, "haji".

Le 23:5-8. The Passover. 5. the Lord's passover—(See Ex 12:2, 14, 18). The institution of the passover was intended to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances attending the redemption of the Israelites, while it had a typical reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual people. On the first and last days of this feast, the people were forbidden to work [Le 23:7, 8]; but while on the Sabbath they were not to do any work, on feast days they were permitted to dress meat—and hence the prohibition is restricted to "no servile work." At the same time, those two days were devoted to "holy convocation"—special seasons of social devotion. In addition to the ordinary sacrifices of every day, there were to be "offerings by fire" on the altar (see Nu 28:19), while unleavened bread was to be eaten in families all the seven days (see 1Co 5:8).

The leading directions for the Passover and feast of Mazzoth are repeated from Exodus 12:6 , Exodus 12:11 , Exodus 12:15-20 . עבדה מלאכת, occupation of a work, signifies labour at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exodus 35:24 ; Exodus 36:1 , Exodus 36:3 ; hence occupation in connection with trade or one's social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, and so forth; whilst מלאכה is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food ( Exodus 35:2-3 ). On the Sabbath and the day of atonement every kind of civil work was prohibited, even to the kindling of fire for the purpose of cooking ( Leviticus 23:3 , Leviticus 23:30 , Leviticus 23:31 , cf. Exodus 20:10 ; Exodus 31:14 ; Exodus 35:2-3 ; Deuteronomy 5:14 and Leviticus 16:29 ; Numbers 29:7 ); on the other feast-days with a holy convocation, only servile work ( Leviticus 23:7 , Leviticus 23:8 , Leviticus 23:21 , Leviticus 23:25 , Leviticus 23:35 , Leviticus 23:36 , cf. Exodus 12:16 , and the explanation on Leviticus 12:1-8 :15ff., and Numbers 28:18 , Numbers 28:25-26 ; Numbers 29:1 , Numbers 29:12 , Numbers 29:35 ). To this there is appended a fresh regulation in Leviticus 23:9-14 , with the repetition of the introductory clause, "And the Lord spake," etc.

When the Israelites had come into the land to be given them by the Lord, and had reaped the harvest, they were to bring a sheaf as first-fruits of their harvest to the priest, that he might wave it before Jehovah on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., after the first day of Mazzoth. According to Josephus and Philo, it was a sheaf of barley; but this is not expressly commanded, because it would be taken for granted in Canaan, where the harvest began with the barley. In the warmer parts of Palestine the barley ripens about the middle of April, and is reaped in April or the beginning of May, whereas the wheat ripens two or three weeks later (Seetzen; Robinson's Pal. ii. 263, 278). The priest was to wave the sheaf before Jehovah, i.e., to present it symbolically to Jehovah by the ceremony of waving, without burning any of it upon the altar. The rabbinical rule, viz., to dry a portion of the ears by the fire, and then, after rubbing them out, to burn them on the altar, was an ordinance of the later scribes, who knew not the law, and was based upon Leviticus 2:14 . For the law in Leviticus 2:14 refers to the offerings of first-fruits made by private persons, which are treated of in Numbers 18:12-13 , and Deuteronomy 26:2 .