We find it in Leviticus 23:
The most basic celebration of all is the Sabbath: “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places” (Leviticus 23:3). Notice that the Israelites cease from work this day, meet with other believers and dedicate the day to Yahweh. Notice also that this celebration coincides with the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:1-3 (as we saw in Exodus 20:11). There is no planetary phenomenon or earthly observation that forms a basis for a week of seven days, only the work of creation. Therefore, in its most basic sense, the Israelites give thanks to Yahweh for creation and for their lives, for this great gift of His mercy on which all the rest of His blessings depends.
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover” (Leviticus 23:5). Perhaps it surprises us, in a book as detailed as Leviticus, that a festival as important as the Passover is mentioned in only one verse. But it makes sense if we remember the “algebra” of the Mosaic Law: this was explained in detail in Exodus 12, so there is no need to repeat it.
“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (Leviticus 23:6). Again we find little explanation of this festival because it was explained to us in Exodus 13.
“When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest” (Leviticus 23:10). This feast is celebrated the day after the Sabbath, after Passover, and the first ripened grains of barley are given in thankfulness for all the harvest that is about to ripen.
“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:15-16). In this Feast of Weeks, the Israelites celebrate the close of the wheat harvest and present two loaves of bread baked with leaven as firstfruits to the LORD among other offerings. From the Greek translation of the 50 days that are counted, this festival is also known as Pentecost.
“In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24). The trumpets call the people to thankfulness and rejoicing for the end of the fruit harvest and to self-examination and repentance to request the rain needed for next year’s planting.
“Now on this tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a time for you of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:27). We saw this celebration, called Yom Kippur, in detail in Leviticus 16.
“On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD… You shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook… You shall dwell in booths for seven days… that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:34, 40, 42, 43).
Therefore, besides the Sabbath every seventh day (what we call Saturday), Leviticus 23 lists seven annual festivals to Yahweh. But that’s not all, because Yahweh commanded them to hold festivals for cycles of years: “When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard” (Leviticus 25:2-4).
And in seven cycles of seven years, the celebration becomes even more special: “Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan” (Leviticus 25:9-10). The debts of all Israelites are erased; the families that have sold their land inheritance because of economic pressures can now receive them again. Everyone has the opportunity to start anew, spiritually for the Day of Atonement and economically for the Year of Jubilee.
And a common denominator to all of these festivals is rest – complete rest to unite with the community, focus on Yahweh and thank Him for His blessings, past, present and future. As we continue to read the Bible this year, we will watch the development of this special theme, the future rest that Yahweh promises.