Ceremonial observances such as tithing aren’t the weightier matters of God’s law, according to Jesus (Mt.23:23). But there are Christians who unnecessarily do treat some rituals and ceremonial things as weighty matters. This tendency has resulted in a measure of division in the Body of Christ.
The Lord’s Old Testament (OT) feasts were ceremonial things. When did the feasts originate, and who were they for? What did God require for their observance? How were they kept When and where were they to be observed?
There are several chapters of the Bible devoted to describing the occasions ancient Israel observed throughout the year…the appointed times (moedím), pilgrim feasts (chagím), new moons, sabbaths, shabbathóns (like sabbatoids). ref Ex.12, Le.16, Le.23, Nu.9:1-14, Nu.28 & 29, De.16:1-17, 2Ch.30, 2Ch.35:1-19, Ne.8. Also, within other chapters are shorter related passages. All verses taken as a whole provide a description of the purposes for those occasions, their order during the year, and the do’s & don’ts of their observance. Those several occasions had some similarities, but also significant differences.
Since Adam, there’s no example of God ‘dwelling’ with any group or nation in Genesis. But in Exodus, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and they became His sole nation above all other peoples. Ex.25:21-22 YHVH Himself ‘dwelled’ among Israel, so to speak, on the mercy seat above the cherubs atop the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle! Ex.28:36-38 the Name of YHVH was inscribed on the gold plate across the Levitical high priest’s forehead as he served in the tabernacle sanctuary. 2Sm.6:2 “the ark of God which is called by the Name (HaShém), the very name of the Lord of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”
That was the specific place where the Lord dwelt among humanity and put His Name. Le.9:23-34 & 6:13 holy fire from the Lord was to be kept burning continually on the altar at that sanctuary! (see the topic “Fire From Heaven!”.) There was no other place like it on the face of the earth!
The Lord YHVH took special measures and enacted regulations to help safeguard ancient Israel from going into idolatrous pagan worship. Pilgrim feasts were enacted to worship the Lord God and offer sacrifices. De.12:11 “The place in which the Lord your God shall choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you.” De.16:16 “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before YHVH your God in the place He chooses…and they shall not appear empty-handed.”
The three pilgrim feasts were to be kept only at the location where God placed His Name, the location of the sanctuary/tabernacle/temple. De.16:5-6 “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.” See also De.12:5, 14, 17-18, 26, 14:23-25, 16:1-2, 10-11, 15-16 concerning keeping pilgrim feasts at that one place only. That one place was in the Holy Land, not elsewhere in other nations!
A detailed sequence of many animal sacrifices was also required at that place during those feasts (Nu.28:16–29:40…that’s 55 verses about sacrifices!). They were burnt by God’s holy fire. Israelites were to bring their sacrifices, tithes, and other kinds of offerings to that place (1Sm.1:3, De.12:5-6).
The three pilgrim feasts were: 1) Passover (which began the days of Unleavened Bread), 2) Feast of Weeks/Péntecost/Shavúot, 3) Feast of Booths/Sukkót/Tabernacles/Ingathering. The timing of the feasts was based upon the agricultural cycle in Israel. God’s people were to keep them solely at the city where the sanctuary was, never at two or more locations simultaneously! Keeping God’s three feasts elsewhere was not allowed in His Word! (And man was not to add to nor take away from His commands, De.4:2.)
Since the ancient tabernacle was portable, at what locations or cities did YHVH place His Name as time passed, during ancient Israel’s history? Prior to the building of the tabernacle, the very first Passover feast (Ex.12) was kept in the first month Abíb of the sacred year, only in Góshen Egypt. This particular Passover was a one-time event, having some instructions which wouldn’t apply to any succeeding Passover (according to Dr. J.H. Hertz, late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire).
For example: they were to eat that one Passover in haste with their loins girded and staff in their hand (Ex.12:11); the animal blood was put on the doorposts of houses rather than sprinkled at the altar (Ex.12:7 versus Le.3:8, 2Ch.30:15-16 & 2Ch.35:11); that Passover was taken only from the flock and not also from the herd (Ex.12:5 & De.16:2); in Egypt there was no conditional allowance to keep the Passover in the second month of the year (compare Nu.9:1-14).
After leaving Egypt, the tabernacle was constructed. The next year Israel kept the Passover encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness (Nu.9:1-5). For 39 years the ark/tabernacle accompanied Israel during their wilderness wanderings. Jsh.5:10 the first feast in the (Holy) Land of Canáan was Passover kept at Gilgál, where the ark/Name abode temporarily after they crossed the Jordan River. Jsh.18:1 the initial established site for the sanctuary was Shilóh. Je.7:12 wrote of this history, “My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first”. Later the ark was moved to Bethél temporarily…Jg.20:26-27 “The ark of the covenant of God was there in those days.” (ref “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)
Centuries after Moses & Joshua, Jerusalem became the ‘permanent’ place for the ark/Name and God’s Levitical priesthood. Solomon’s temple was built there for Christ to ‘dwell’. 2Ch.6:38 “The house which I have built for Thy Name.” 1Ki.8:1 “In Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant.” 8:29 “My name shall be there.” 2Ch.7:1-3 the holy fire from the Lord fell there in Jerusalem on the altar!
The kingdom was divided after the days of Solomon. Big Passover celebrations were later held at Jerusalem (nowhere else) in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reforms of Hezekiah (2Ch.30) and Josiah (2Ch.35:1-19).
But Judah disobeyed, so God sent them into captivity to Babylon. At that time, Christ departed His temple sanctuary in Jerusalem (Ezk.10:4, 18-19, 11:22-23). The armies of Babylon destroyed the temple. The holy fire on the altar was extinguished. There was no longer any sanctuary or animal sacrifices…no earthly place where God’s Name dwelt!
How then could the Israelites/Jews lawfully keep the three pilgrim feasts without a sanctuary (and no holy fire for their sacrifices), no place where God chose to put his Name? The Bible reveals the answer…they couldn’t! Two instances illustrate:
Daniel was a wise and righteous man (Ezk.14:20). Da.10:1-5, 12-13 taken to Babylon, Daniel decided to fast for three weeks at the time of Passover (the 14th day of the first month Abib). It would have been disobedience for him or anyone to keep a pilgrim feast in a town where God wasn’t placing His Name (De.16:5-6)! So instead, Daniel fasted at that time…he didn’t keep Passover.
Later God ‘returned’ to Jerusalem. Subsequently, Ezra recorded the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles again being kept at Jerusalem (Ezr.3:1-4). Ezr.6:15-21 says the Passover was resumed in Jerusalem. Several decades after this, Ezra himself came with many others to Jerusalem. However, God didn’t authorize Ezra or anyone to keep the Passover anywhere else, and not while en route to Jerusalem. See Ezr.7:8-10, 15, 8:15, 21, 30-33…just two days before Passover, Ezra departed the Ahavá River (near the Euphrates) on his four-month journey to the Holy Land. No need for Ezra to delay his journey for three or four days until after Passover. As with Daniel, it would have been disobedience for Ezra and his companions (some were even priests) to keep a pilgrim feast at a site near the Euphrates River away from Jerusalem! So Ezra didn’t keep it. (Then Ne.8:14-18 shows the Feast of Booths also was lawfully celebrated again in Jerusalem.)
For the man who was on a journey in another town at Passover time, God had even allowed him to keep the Passover at the tabernacle/temple the next month (Nu.9:9-11)…since there was no Passover being kept in that other town the man journeyed to in the first month. This allowance is further proof that God had authorized the feast to be kept only at the city of the central sanctuary, and nowhere else! (see “Passover and Peace Offerings“.)
What about Jesus in the New Testament (NT)? Lk.2:41 “His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.” The Name was there on the high priest’s mitre plate. And John 7 shows Jesus going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths too. Why didn’t Jesus and His family just keep those pilgrim feasts in Galilee at a lesser cost, rather than traveling three days each way to Jerusalem? Because, it would have been sin for them to keep pilgrim feasts in a town of Galilee (cf. De.16:5-6)…only in Jerusalem then! And if the sinless Jesus had ever sinned, we’d have no Savior!
Ac.2:1, 9-11 devout Jews living elsewhere in the Roman Empire came to Jerusalem to observe the pilgrim Feast of Pentecost. In Ac.20:16 the apostle Paul was “hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost”. Ac.18:21 KJV Paul said, “I must by all means keep this feast at Jerusalem”. All NT passages about pilgrim feasts show them being kept only at Jerusalem. There’s no scriptural example of a NT church convoking for any pilgrim feast in their local town/city…God hadn’t authorized it. (Most Jews today call their spring celebration a séder. It’s not a real Passover…that’s impossible now.)
Neither in the OT nor in the NT do we read of people, with or without the Holy Spirit, keeping pilgrim feasts in a town away from the environs of the central sanctuary where God had put His Name! Not Elijah, not Daniel, not Ezra, not Jesus, not Peter, not Paul, not the Ephesians or Thessalonians…no one. In the 900s BC, the man Jeroboám had disobediently tried to institute a feast site away from the altar of holy fire, the physical place of God’s Name in Jerusalem…but his hand withered (1Ki.12:32-13:5)!
Another of God’s requirements for keeping pilgrim feasts was physical circumcision. Ex.12:48 “When a stranger/ger sojourns with you and does the Passover, let all his males be circumcised. No uncircumcised person may eat of it.” Ezk.44:9 “Thus says the Lord God, ‘No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter My sanctuary.” (also Lam.1:10, Ac.21:28-29.) Uncircumcised gentiles were not allowed in the temple where the Passover and other pilgrim feasts were kept by circumcised Israelites/Jews & Jewish proselytes! Outsiders could come no closer than the Court of the Gentiles.
John even went so far as to refer to God’s Passover and Feast of Booths as a “feast of the Jews” (Jn.6:4 & 7:2). John so refers because the people keeping them were physically circumcised Jews, whereas God didn’t authorize the uncircumcised (who would also hear John’s gospel) to keep them. Also Jn.11:55 “the Jews‘ Passover.” When ancient Israel had entered the Holy Land, Joshua made sure all the males were physically circumcised, so they could lawfully keep the upcoming Passover at Gilgal (Jsh.5:6-10).
There’s no scriptures indicating the existence of any pilgrim feasts for saints who lived prior to the nation of Israel! Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Job…none had pilgrim feasts. There were no pilgrim feasts for gentiles in Genesis. There was no Passover prior to the time when God the Word “passed-over” Egypt in Ex.12:23 and saved the Israelite firstborn sons. (“Christ our Passover”, 1Co.5:7 according to the circumcised Jews, Paul & Sosthénes, 1Co.1:1 & Ac.18:17.) Pilgrim feasts weren’t authorized for observance by anyone except the physically circumcised peoples from Israel & Judah and circumcised proselytes/aliens! These feasts were only in the (Holy) Land. see “Circumcision in the Bible”.
After the temple was destroyed again in 70 AD, there have been a small minority of Christians through the centuries who’ve claimed they’re keeping the above pilgrim feasts. But what they’re actually doing is celebrating a church event or attending a church retreat or camp meeting…and just calling that occasion of theirs the Passover or Feast of Tabernacles/Booths. They aren’t really keeping God’s feast…because they aren’t doing the necessary characteristic activities or requirements which defined God’s pilgrim feasts! They’re ‘keeping’ a pilgrim feast in name only! A pseudo-feast. It’s been said, ‘You can call something whatever you want, but it doesn’t make it so’.
For example, you can call a possum a lion…but it’s still a possum. Although both animals have four legs and fur, they aren’t the same creature. I played some baseball in high school, and tennis. A baseball game shouldn’t be called a tennis game, and vice versa. Although both activities are sports with a ball and were played in the same season at school, they also have big defining differences.
It’s scripturally impossible to really keep a pilgrim feast today! For nearly 2,000 years, the required singular earthly sanctuary where God was placing His Name hasn’t existed! And I might add, in scripture pilgrim feasts weren’t authorized to be kept just anywhere by people whose bodies are the temple of God via the Holy Spirit (1Co.3:16). Without that one place available, there was no lawful pilgrim feast! Furthermore, many if not most Christian men aren’t physically circumcised (and don’t need to be, religiously).
Many churches occasionally have special church events, retreats, or camp meetings. But there are a relatively few church organizations who set up their own simultaneous so-called pilgrim feast sites (plural) in various cities during the seasons of the ancient pilgrim feasts…and to these they invite physically uncircumcised members and others. They call it God’s Feast of Booths/Sukkot/Tabernacles. (And calling it that makes their event sound scriptural and may increase the monetary offerings they receive.) Yet what they’re doing doesn’t have the defining characteristics and requirements of God’s pilgrim feasts. What those groups are naming their event is a significant misnomer, or a counterfeit. It can be inculcated.
Yes, these church groups and ancient Israel both worshiped the same God, and the modern so-called feasts are held at the same seasonal times as were the OT feasts…but there are big differences, as the above examination of scripture reflects. The Lord’s commands regarding His pilgrim feasts weren’t just about what and when, but also about who, how and where!
Groups traditionally promoting pilgrim feast-keeping also can pharisaically cause other Christians, who don’t claim to be observing pilgrim feasts, to feel less righteous or perhaps lacking in Bible understanding. This harms the “body of Christ” and causes division. And division is further caused by calendar differences even among the groups trying to promote and pinpoint the exact when for their supposed feast observances.
The months in ancient Israel were reckoned by the moon. But the Bible doesn’t define exactly what constituted the new moon. Although Jewish historians have cited the method in use in the 1st century Holy Land to reckon the new moon, scripture doesn’t clearly reveal a method. Consequently, moderns who think they’re keeping the ancient feasts even disagree among themselves regarding whether the new moon is reckoned by: the first visible crescent as seen locally or seen from Jerusalem or calculated, Hillel II’s Hebrew calendar of around 350 AD, or the astronomical conjunction (‘dark’ moon). It is confusion.
In narrowing this topic to the feasts, the other OT appointed times or the sabbaths or shabbathons haven’t been addressed. Although some days falling within the pilgrim feast periods were shabbathons (Strongs Hebrew h7677), none were full sabbaths (h7676), other than the regular 7th day weekly sabbath. (To confirm this, reference Strongs numbers in interlinear Bibles or see the Septúagint/LXX or the Jewish JPS Tanákh.) The annual Day of Atonement was a double sabbath, according to the LXX Le.16:31 & 23:32.
Following is a listing of Israel’s God-ordained annual days and the time of year they occurred: Passover, with the seven days of Unleavened Bread & Wave Sheaf, occurred in early April. Pentecost was fifty days later, near June 1. The Day of Trumpets/Shouting, Rosh Hashánah (“Beginning of the Year”, Ezk.40:1a), occurs near the beginning of autumn. The Day of Atonement or Yom Kíppur fast is ten days later, near October 1. Lastly, the 7-day Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering and the Last Great Day 8 (Shémini Atzerét) began five days after Yom Kíppur in October. see “Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained”.
The weekly sabbath, the remaining days of Unleavened Bread (subsequent to the Passover & Wave Sheaf), Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are unlike the pilgrim feasts in that those special days weren’t to be kept solely at the environs of God’s earthly sanctuary. As G.J. Goldberg noted, “On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur there was no command to gather in the Temple“. Those days were observed in all their houses and towns (ref Le.23:3, 23-24, 31-32, Ex.12:19-20). Israelite laymen weren’t enjoined to bring animal sacrifices to the temple on those special days. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur aren’t pilgrim feasts. Those two, and the recurring 7th day sabbath, may be kept in any homes (without physical circumcision).
After going up to Jerusalem for the Passover (and Wave Sheaf) as commanded, in Lk.24:13 we read of two people returning home to Emmaús for the remaining days of Unleavened Bread. Abroad, Luke refers to the days of Unleavened Bread (Ac.20:6). And “the fast” Luke mentions in Ac.27:9 is thought by most to be Yom Kippur. God had allowed these occasions to be observed anywhere. The fact that Luke references them outside the Holy Land indicates they were being kept by Jews, and probably by some Christians too.
Many Jews (and some Christians) still observe them. Jews traditionally refer to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (in the early autumn) as the High Holydays. The sabbath of Yom Kippur is the most sacred day of the year for the Jewish people. They renew their search for God, doing teshúvah/repentance during their ten traditional Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews who never go to synagogue at other times will attend the services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! Then some Jewish families traditionally erect a hut in their own backyard, in which they eat a few meals over seven days…but this isn’t viewed as really ‘keeping’ the pilgrim Feast of Booths as God had commanded it, e.g. De.16:16. They go to work or school during the 7 days, since they can no longer lawfully keep the Feast anyway.
Goldberg wrote, “With the destruction of the Temple, the pilgrimage festivals could no longer be observed in their prescribed forms”. Actually, God had commanded native-born Israelites to build temporary booths in the environs of the central sanctuary on the first day of the Feast of Booths, in which they’d dwell for seven days (Le.23:40). Messianic Rabbi Jack Zimmerman wrote, “All Jewish men from near and far were required to journey to Jerusalem….crowds made their way to the Temple….since this was a pilgrimage feast, every Jewish man would have to be there.” And again, God never authorized Israelites or Jews (or gentiles) to keep His pilgrim feasts outside the Holy Land.
Also seen in scripture are the two annual Jewish feasts of Hanukkah/Feast of Dedication/Festival of Lights (Jn.10:22, 2Mac.10:5-8) and Purím (Est.9:27-28). They aren’t God’s pilgrim feasts. So these later man-ordained commemorations of God’s visitations weren’t restricted by YHVH to the city of the central sanctuary, and are celebrated happily in other countries today (though limited in Arab nations). During Hanukkah some Jewish families opt to exchange gifts, such as books and games, for seven nights.
Again, the scriptural exhortation is to not add to nor take away from God’s commands. Some Christians mistake their church traditions for God’s written word. Some knowingly prefer their traditions. Jesus said of the Pharisees, “You reject the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition” (Mk.7:9)!
Paul wrote of those who “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Ro.10:2). Although there are well-meaning Hebrew roots groups and Christians who think they’re observing pilgrim feasts in various cities simultaneously…there isn’t a way by which God’s pilgrim feasts can be lawfully kept today. It’s one thing to attend a Sunday church service at the approximate time of the year when the ancient Feast of Pentecost was held…but it’s quite another thing to think one is actually ‘keeping the feast’, considering all that God required to really keep it! It’s not that God is against supposed feast-keepers worshiping Him. God seeks worshipers (Jn.4:23). Christians in this nation are free to (prudently) set apart a day or days to worship God with church or family. The issue is…masquerading they’re really keeping His pilgrim feasts!
Elder John Kiesz wrote of the minister in the Church of God 7th Day who, decades ago, started teaching the OT pilgrim feasts should be kept in the USA. “It was in the fall of 1937 when elder’s [name withheld] credentials were revoked by the Church of God organization. The reason given by the Board of Twelve for this action was because he taught and kept the annual Feast days.” For this error, COG7 didn’t allow him to continue in their official ministry.
Pilgrim feasts don’t exist in scripture apart from the required: 1) sole earthly sanctuary with God’s Name (and holy fire), 2) animal sacrifices, 3) physical circumcision! Those definitive characteristics of pilgrim feasts aren’t part of the New Covenant. The feasts are part of the Levitical order, not the order of Melchisedek (He.5:6). And again, the timing of pilgrim feasts was linked to the agricultural cycle in Israel. It’s not relevant to non-Jews in other nations where there are other cycles and climates, e.g. those in remote areas or in the southern hemisphere which has opposite seasons. Yet the feasts and their typologies do remain good Biblical teaching tools of the Lord’s salvific acts, and show how YHVH worked with His people ancient Israel.
Lastly, there are several differing eschatological interpretations extant in Christendom today. But if a person’s view or expectancy of reinstituted ceremonial things of God were to impute disobedience to God’s commandments, then their eschatology would be inconsistent with scriptural commands! For example, some people eschatologically interpret Zec.14:16-21 in a literal manner which wouldn’t match God’s requirements for His feasts and sanctuary. However, we read that even Zechariah’s Feast of Booths with uncharacteristic holiness concepts is kept only in Jerusalem! Not in Egypt, not in two or more locations simultaneously, not anywhere else…only in Jerusalem (v.16-19) in the Holy Land!
{Sidelight: Zec.14:16-21. Much of the book of Zechariah is symbolic. To interpret him as saying Egyptian non-Jews wouldn’t get rain for their failure to go up to Jerusalem in the future, is an understood irony. Because Egypt is arid desert which only averages 3 inches of rainfall a year anyway! (Egypt’s crops were dependent on the Nile River’s annual flooding, not on rainfall.) Israel’s ancient oppressor didn’t get rain to speak of (cf. the traditional water pouring ceremony). Gill Exposition v.16-ff says they’re not literally keeping a Feast of Tabernacles. Furthermore in v.20, the “Holy to YHVH” on the horses’ bridles is also symbolic, as it alludes to the “Holy to YHVH” on the high priest’s golden plate (Ex.28:36). It’s not literal. The horses won’t really be holy as the high priest was! The cooking pots won’t really be as the sanctified bowls in which the priest caught the blood and splashed it on God’s altar. Zec.14:21 neither will people throughout Judea really be cooking holy animal sacrifices unto the Lord in their homes. This is symbolic too. There’s no need for animal sacrifices of boiled offerings anyway! Jesus’ final sacrifice finished it! He ended the need for inferior animal sacrifices. The book of Hebrews is clear on this (e.g. He.10:1-18).
The overall meaning of Zechariah’s passage relates to YHVH’s holy Name becoming known to all nations as the gospel spreads (e.g. Ezk.38:23, Ps.145:21b). Matthew Henry said of the passage, “The life of a good Christian is a constant Feast of Tabernacles”. Zec.14:8 “And it will come about that living water will flow out of Jerusalem”, to the east and to the west, in summer and in winter. The Holy Spirit is that living water of which Jesus spoke at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jn.7:37-39 (also ref Jn.4:10-14), as Christians year-round are spreading the Name of the Lord to Egypt and to all nations! Glory to God!
Pulpit Commentary Zec.14:16 “It is evident the announcement could never be literally fulfilled.” Yes, Zechariah would have known that rainfall in Egypt is always scarce. And he wasn’t really saying common horses’ bridles would have inscribed on them the Tetragrámmaton Name as was on the high priest’s holy mitre plate! Zechariah didn’t mistake profane cookware for the holiness of God’s sanctuary vessels. As a priest, he surely knew that God hadn’t authorized or sanctified kettles in common Judean kitchens for holy use. Zechariah didn’t err about temple holiness or literally contradict God’s commandments or mean that physically uncircumcised gentiles will really go up and offer animal sacrifices in God’s earthy sanctuary! We can trust the veracity of God’s precepts and requirements. It’s faulty exegesis to interpret (prophetic) passages in a manner that has God literally contradicting His own requirements in scripture! e.g. Jn.6:54 Jesus saying to eat His flesh & blood isn’t literal, since human cannibalism is sin (unclean)! Much of the book of Zechariah is symbolic anyway…1:18-21, and almost the entirety of chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 11! The imagery of Zec.14:16-21 is also symbolic, not to be interpreted literally as an actual Feast of Booths. (Yet even Zechariah’s symbolic “feast” occurs only in Jerusalem, not in the USA or anywhere else!)}
To conclude…God doesn’t contradict His prescriptions. The Lord wants a people who are right examples of His truth to family, neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates…not advocating modern pseudo-feasts as God’s truth. Let’s have a right fear of God and not disobey His commandments (Ec.12:13). And worship Him in truth! Ec.8:12b “It will be well for those who fear God.”
Bible Topic Exposition 