Leviticus 23:1-44

C. Sanctification of the Sabbath and the feasts of Yahweh ch. 23

God considered the Israelites (chs. 17-20), the priests, the holy gifts, and the sacrifices (chs. 21-22) as set apart to Him as holy. He regarded certain days and times of the year in the same way (ch. 23). This chapter contains a list of seven festal days and periods of the year when the Israelites were to celebrate holy meetings. These were normally convocations (Leviticus 23:2) when the Israelites assembled around the tabernacle area. The recurring phrases "holy convocations" and "rest days" indicate that this calendar was primarily for the benefit of the ordinary Israelites rather than for the priests.

"There must be days set apart from the calendar of ’secular,’ self-serving activity so that the servant people might ponder the meaning of their existence and of the holy task to which they had been called." [Note: Merrill, p. 59.]

The Israelites observed a solar year, which contains 365 days, and a lunar month. Lunar months have 29 and 30 days alternately. The Egyptians followed these alternations carefully giving them six months of 29 days and six months of 30 days. The Israelites followed the Mesopotamians, however, who observed 12 months of 30 days. All three civilizations made up the difference between 12 lunar months and one solar year by inserting another month after several years. [Note: See Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, Part I, Chapter 2: "Divisions of Time."]

The chapter begins with an introduction (Leviticus 23:1-2) that bears repetition at the end (Leviticus 23:44).