Feast of Weeks

The Biblical Background to the Christian Festivals

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Emerging from its Judaic background, the Christian church did not continue the observance of the festivals of Israelite worship but developed a liturgical calendar of its own, based principally on major events in the life of Christ.

The Pentateuch mandates the observance of three annual feasts (Exod. 23:14–27; Lev. 23; Deut. 16:1–7): Passover, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and the Feast of Ingathering, also called the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus and the earliest Christians were familiar with this Mosaic calendar, and the New Testament records occasions when they took part in these festivals. Jesus cleansed the temple during a Passover observance (John 2:13–17), taught in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:14–39), and instituted the Lord’s Supper during the Passover (Matt. 26:17–30). It was on the day of Pentecost that the apostles, together in Jerusalem, were filled with the Holy Spirit and first preached Jesus as the Christ (Acts 2:1). Paul, on what was to be his final trip to Jerusalem, expressed the desire to be there by Pentecost (Acts 20:16). The Jewish Sabbath was not a festival but a day of rest and of assembling in the synagogue for the study of the Scriptures. The Gospels record Jesus’ participation in the Sabbath service at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:16). Later, however, his attitude toward the Sabbath often drew the ire of the Pharisees, for he opposed their rigorous prohibition of all forms of “work” when it would prevent doing good to people, especially healing the sick.

As the church expanded out of the orbit of Judaism, the Jewish festivals were virtually laid aside. The church could not continue their sacrificial aspects, for Christ himself had offered the only efficacious blood sacrifice (Heb. 9:11–14; 10:1–10) and in his death and resurrection had canceled the decrees of the ceremonial law (Col. 2:13–14). The New Testament draws on the vocabulary and symbolism of the Israelite feasts and of the Sabbath to interpret God’s action in Christ. The Lord’s Supper, as the covenant meal of the Christian ekklēsia, partly absorbed the significance of the Passover; however, it was not an annual festival but, apparently, a weekly observance. The Jewish Sabbath was supplanted by the Christian worship on the Lord’s Day.

The New Testament records no liturgical calendar and gives no directives for observing annual feasts. The apostle Paul expresses indifference to the observance of special days; whether a believer keeps them should be a matter of personal conviction, for the purpose of glorifying and thanking the Lord (Rom. 14:5–6). Historically, however, the Christian church has found a special value in the annual festivals as encouragements to the believer’s identification with God’s action of deliverance in Jesus Christ. Within some segments of the evangelical church, there is a growing desire to return to aspects of the biblical festival calendar; some churches and groups, for example, have begun to observe an annual “Feast of Tabernacles,” a time of heightened celebration of the glory and presence of the Lord.

The following is an introduction to the Lord’s Day and to the major feasts of the church. Omitted in this survey are days that have no scriptural foundation, such as saints’ days, events peculiar to one denominational tradition (e.g., Reformation Day or Aldersgate Sunday), or the events of the civil or popular calendar that may be celebrated in churches (e.g., Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving).

Festal Worship in the Temple of Solomon

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Three national festivals were celebrated yearly in the temple: Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

Three times a year all adult men went to the temple to celebrate the national festivals (Exod. 23:17; Deut. 16:16): Passover (in April), the Feast of Weeks (in May), and the Feast of Booths (in October). When possible the whole family accompanied the men. But if they lived a long way from Jerusalem, they would only go up for one of the festivals (1 Sam. 1:3; Luke 2:41).

These festivals were tremendous occasions. Hundreds of thousands of people converged on Jerusalem. They would stay with relatives or camp in tents outside the city. The temple courts would be thronged with worshipers. The temple choirs sang psalms appropriate for the festival, while the priests and Levites offered hundreds, and at Passover thousands, of animals in sacrifice. The festivals were marked by colorful processions led by leaders of the tribes, accompanied by festive dance and the beat of tambourines (Ps. 68:24–27). The victory shout and the sound of the trumpet proclaimed the Lord’s presence with his people, amid the singing of his praises (Ps. 47:5–7).

Joy was the keynote of the major festivals, for the worshipers celebrated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. At Passover, each family ate roasted lamb and bitter herbs to reenact the last meal their forefathers ate before leaving Egypt (Exod. 12). At the Feast of Booths, they built shelters of tree branches and lived in them for a week, as a reminder that the Israelites camped in tents during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness (Lev. 23:39–43). These great festivals served as reminders of how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and had given them the land of Canaan as he had promised to Abraham.

Each of these festivals lasted a week, but one day of the year was totally different: the Day of Atonement when everyone fasted and mourned his sins. On this day the high priest confessed the nation’s sins as he pressed his hand on the head of a goat. Then the goat was led away into the wilderness, symbolizing the removal of sin from the people (Lev. 16).