Feast Days in the Last Days of the Bible
Feast days in the biblical tradition mark significant religious and agricultural events, often involving communal meals and offerings. The term "feast" can refer to a celebratory meal in general, such as those marking hospitality, domestic joy, birthdays, or marriages [2, 3]. More specifically, in the context of ancient Israel, feasts were integral to the annual religious calendar, often connected with sacrifices [2].
The Old Testament outlines several major annual feasts that required the attendance of the people at the sacred tent or temple, serving to maintain national unity [2]. These included:
- The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost): This feast celebrated the first fruits of the wheat harvest [1, 7].
- The Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles or Booths): This was the third of the three great annual festivals, lasting from the 15th to the 22nd of the seventh month (Tisri, corresponding to September) [4, 10]. It was also known as the Feast of Tabernacles [6]. This festival occurred in the autumn, after the main harvest of corn, wine, and oil had been gathered [4]. The Feast of Tabernacles was distinguished by a greater number and variety of sacrifices than other feasts [11]. Nehemiah 8 provides an account of its observance by Ezra [4]. The last day of this feast, the twenty-third day of the seventh month, was considered a particularly significant day [9, 13].
- The Passover: This feast commemorated the liberation of Israel from Egypt [12].
These three major festivals—Passover, Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), and the Feast of Tabernacles—are frequently mentioned together [12]. Josephus notes that during the Feast of Tabernacles, people would partake of the earth's fruits, offering the first-fruits of their barley to God [8].
Feasts were not only occasions for celebration but also for specific religious observances. For example, Ezekiel describes the preparation of burnt offerings and sin offerings during the seven days of a feast [5]. The duration of feasts could vary; while the law typically appointed seven days for the Feast of Unleavened Bread (associated with Passover), there were instances, such as during King Hezekiah's reign, where the celebration was extended to fourteen days [15].
In the New Testament, Jesus' actions at the Last Supper, where he "took, blessed, breaking, and giving," echo the imagery of a feast and are seen by some as foreshadowing the final messianic banquet in the Kingdom of God, where believers will eat and drink with Jesus [14]. This eschatological vision connects the ancient practice of feasting with future hope.
Sources
- Exodus “Exodus 34:22 (Webster) — And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat-harvest, and the feast of in-gathering at the year's end.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Feast — As a mark of hospitality (Gen. 19:3; 2 Sam. 3:20; 2 Kings 6:23); on occasions of domestic joy (Luke 15:23; Gen. 21:8); on birthdays (Gen. 40:20; Job 1:4; Matt. 14:6); and on the occasion of a marriage (Judg. 14:10; Gen. 29:22). Feasting was a part of the observances connected with the offering up of sacrifices (Deut. 12:6, 7; 1 Sam. 9:19; 16:3, 5), and with the annual festivals (Deut. 16:11). "It was one of the designs of the greater solemnities, which required the attendance of the people at the sacred tent, that the oneness of the nation might be maintained”
- Genesis “He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. -- Genesis 26:30”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Tabernacles, The Feast Of — (Exodus 23:16) ("the feast of ingathering"), the third of the three great festivals: of the Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till the 22d of Tisri. + The following are the principal passages in the Pentateuch which refer to it: (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:34-36; 39-43; Numbers 29:12-38; 16:13-15; 31:10-13) In Nehe 8, there is an account of the observance of the feast by Ezra. + The time of the festival fell in the autumn, when the whole of the chief fruits of the ground, the corn, the wine and the oil, were gathered in. (Exodus 23:16; Le”
- Ezekiel “The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without defect daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. -- Ezekiel 45:23”
- John “John 7:2 (YLT) — and the feast of the Jews was nigh--that of tabernacles--”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Weeks, Feast of — See [665]PENTECOST.”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 10, section 3: sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. And while they suppose it proper to honor God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in the first place, they offer the first-fruits of their barley, and that in the manner following: They take a handful of the ears, and dry them, then beat them small, and purge the barley from the bran; they then bring one tenth deal to the altar, to God; and, casting one handful of it upon the fire, they leave the re”
- 2 Chronicles (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 2 Chronicles 7:10: on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month--This was the last day of the feast of tabernacles.”
- John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on John 7:2: feast of tabernacles . . . at hand--This was the last of the three annual festivals, celebrated on the fifteenth of the seventh month (September). (See Lev 23:33, &c.; Deu 16:13, &c.; Neh 8:14-18).”
- Numbers (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Numbers 29:12: on the fifteenth day--was to be held the feast of booths or tabernacles. (See Lev 23:34-35). The feast was to last seven days, the first and last of which were to be kept as Sabbaths, and a particular offering was prescribed for each day, the details of which are given with a minuteness suited to the infant state of the church. Two things are deserving of notice: First, that this feast was distinguished by a greater amount and variety of sacrifices than any other--partly because, occurring at the end of the year, it might be intended to supply any pa”
- Lamentations (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Lamentations 1:4: feasts--the passover, pentecost (or the feast of weeks), and the feast of tabernacles. gates--once the place of concourse.”
- John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on John 7:36: In the last day, that great day of the feast,.... That is, of tabernacles, as appears from Joh 7:2, which was usually called "the feast", in distinction from the passover and Pentecost (q); and the eighth day of it was called , "the last day of the feast" (r), as here: and it was a "great day", being, as is said in Lev 23:36, an holy convocation, a solemn assembly, in which no servile work was done, and in which an offering was made by fire unto the Lord. According to the traditions of the Jews, fewer sacrifices were offered on this day than on the rest; for on the firs”
- Mark (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Mark 6:41: 6:41 The words took, blessed, breaking, and giving echo Jesus’ words at the Last Supper (14:22-25). Both events envision the final messianic banquet in which believers will eat and drink with Jesus in the Kingdom of God (14:25; Matt 5:6; 22:1-10; see Rev 2:7; 19:7-9; 22:1-2, 14, 17-19).”
- 2 Chronicles (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 2 Chronicles 30:21: the children of Israel . . . kept the feast--The time appointed by the law for the continuance of the feast was seven days [Exo 12:15; Exo 13:6; Lev 23:6]; but in consequence of its having been allowed to fall so long into desuetude, they doubled the period of celebration and kept it fourteen days with unabated satisfaction and joy. Materials for the additional sacrificial meals were supplied by the munificence of the king and the princes.”