A discussion of commonly confusing Scriptures may be found at COMMENTARY LY-55 .

3  FEASTS of YAHWEH (Hag Yahweh)

God said, "Three times a year you shall keep a feast to me" (Exodus 23:14). Such a Feast is referred to as a "Feast of Yahweh" (Hag Yahweh - Leviticus 23:39); this term is translated as "Lord's Supper" in many English versions of the Gospels and Epistles.

7  HOLY DAYS

There are seven annual Holy Days associated with the three Feasts (Leviticus 23:7, 8, 21, 24-25, 27-32, 35, 36). They are observed like Sabbaths (which are also Holy Days). A Holy Day is a day dedicated to the worship of Yahweh, and therefore mundane work is to be set aside. A Holy Day requires a public worship assembly (mikra kodesh). A Holy Day must be "distinguished" (Ezekiel 20:20, 44:24) from the other days; that is, its beginning and ending are to be marked out, so that the time between is consciously set aside for worship: this is traditionally done with candle-lighting - Erev Yom Tov and Havdallah.

BIBLICAL MONTHS and YEARS

For explanation and determinations of months and years, see ROSH HODESH .

For a program for celebrating Rosh Hodesh, see end of SABBATH SIDDUR .

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Feast of Unleavened Breads (Hag haMatzot - Exodus 23:15)

This is a seven-day long Feast that must include lamb (in Temple times, on the first night), unleavened breads (matzot), and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8). There is so much food set aside for this Feast, that a family should invite the poor to share in it. It lasts from the beginning of Nisan 15 until the end of Nisan 21 (Leviticus 23:6).

Nisan 14: On this "day prior", between noon and sunset, the Passover (lamb) must be offered - slain and roasted. "You shall prepare it (the Passover) at its appointed time" (Numbers 9:2). Translations of this verse are often misleading, using terms such as "Keep the Passover" or "Observe the Passover", misunderstood as eating a feast: in Biblical usage, the Passover is a lamb, not a day or a feast. Starting at noon on this day, no leaven may be present: while the Feast does not start until sundown, leaven cannot be present at slaying time. See Exodus 12:6 and John 19:14, 31, 42. Yeshua was presented as Messiah Prophet, Priest, and King during His examination at the Temple grounds in the previous four days. He went through all of the preparation rites for the Paschal Lamb, and was found to be without blemish. Now, this was the day of His crucifixion. See PASSION WEEK HARMONY .

The First Day (Yom haReshit - Leviticus 23:7)

Nisan 15: When the Passover lamb is fully prepared, at sunset, the Feast of Unleavened Breads begins on this new day . The Passover (lamb) must be eaten by midnight, but the Feast continues for seven days. This is "the feast of our freedom" - the celebration of a slave-girl being redeemed from Egypt, which represents sin. At this Feast, we take four cups, anciently called "the Blood of the Covenant", representing the four parts of the Covenant: sanctification, deliverance, redemption, and glorification. We also break matzah (unleavened bread, which is pierced and striped), representing the death of Yeshua's body - without sin (leaven), being pierced, and scourged. See PASSOVER SEDER HAGGADAH .

Nisan 16 - Waving Day: As soon as it was dark, the beginning of the new day, Priests would go to a field and reap an ephah (about a bushel) of the best new barley. In the morning, it would be processed into an omer of fine flour, mixed with olive oil, and waved with a lamb before Yahweh, then burned upon the Altar. This is the first of fifty days of Counting the Omer. See OMER for details. (Torah never uses the term bikkur (firstfruit) in reference to this day; it is not called "Feast of Firstfruits.") After the slave-girl celebrates the Holy Day of her redemption, she starts counting down the days to her betrothal to Messiah.

Nisan 17 - Resurrection Sabbath: The third day after the Passover was slain (the third day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Breads) is the day Yeshua came out of the tomb - in defeat of Satan's armies, in fulfillment of Jonah's prophecy of three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and in fulfillment of His own words of God raising His lamb from a pit on the Sabbath Day. When two women came to the tomb before sunrise, angels rolled away the stone to show that He was already gone (Matthew 28:1). On the Sabbath Day, which memorializes (among other things) the Resurrection, an elevation offering is made - two lambs.

Day of Faith - Seventh Day (Yom haShbi'i - Leviticus 23:8)

Nisan 21: This is the day that Israel was brought through the Sea on dry ground, then saw the Egyptian army drowned in it. (Messianic description being rewritten.) See SEVENTH DAY.

Iyyar 27: The forty-second day of Counting the Omer, the date that Noah's flood waters were dried from the earth (Genesis 8:14). The water of life ascended from the earth. This being forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), Yeshua ascended into the heavens, after saying, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2-3). After redeeming the slave-girl, He must go to His Father's house to prepare a dwellingplace for their future married life. John later foretells of this prepared city that will come down from the heavens adorning the bride for her husband (Revelation 21:2).

Feast of Weeks (Hag Shavuot - Exodus 34:22)

This is a one-day Feast that is also called:

Day of the Firstfruits (Yom haBikkurim - Numbers 28:26)

Sivan 6: The fiftieth day of Counting the Omer (Pentecost means fiftieth day). On this day a peace offering is made by the prospective bride: two lambs are waved on this day, with two large loaves of leavened bread, each made from an omer of fine wheat flour. See Exodus 34:22, Leviticus 23:15-17, Numbers 28:26.

Pentecost is about Messiah giving a betrothal contract to His future bride.

Over thirty-three-hundred years ago, on Pentecost, the Torah was given with two stone tablets as a betrothal contract in the tongue of angels (Hebrew) and the tongues of men (languages of the 70 nations. In a similar manner, almost two-thousand years ago, on Pentecost, the Gospel was given in the tongue of angels and the tongues of men, displaying an "earnest contract" with the bride (Acts 2:1-11, Ephesians 1:14).

At this feast, we take the bride's Betrothal Cup, saying, "All that the Lord our God says, we will obey, and we will learn" (Deuteronomy 5:27). We will literally and perfectly and whole-heartedly fulfill this when we are glorified and dwelling with Messiah. See PENTECOST MACHZOR .

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The Month of Elul - the thirty days preceding Yom Teruah, are known as the Days or Repentance, repentance being followed by immersion in a mikvah. At this season John the Baptizer was preaching "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" - Luke 3:3.

Day of Trumpeting (Yom Teruah - Leviticus 23:24)

Tishrei 1: This day is also known as Rosh haShannah (Head of the Year for Sabbatical and Jubilee years). This is the day that "no man knows the day or the hour". It is observed as a forty-nine hour Sabbath during which we are to stay awake and watch! On this day the Shofar (Ram’s Horn Trumpet) is blown many times, with a shout preceding each trump. The command for this day is to “Hear the Shofar.” (Yom Teruah is pronounced Yome Te-ROO-ah.) See Leviticus 23:24, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:52; explanation of Hebrew texts in Mishnah: Rosh HaShannah. On this day, a ram's-horn trumpet, called a shofar, is blown several times with specific sounds (see I Corinthians 14:8). Each trump of the shofar has a specific meaning indicated by a preceding shout. The Last Trump of the shofar is preceded by the shout of "Tekiah Gedolah," which translates as the Great Return.

The Day of Trumpeting is about Messiah returning for His bride.This celebration is an annual rehearsal for that day when the archangel will shout "Tekiah Gedolah" , and the Last Trump will be heard (I Thessalonians 4:16). Then the righteous dead will be raised immortal (I Corinthians 15:52-54), and Yeshua will return for His coronation as King of the Whole Earth.

The ten days from the Day of Trumpeting to the Day of the Atonements are called Yamim Noraim, translated the Days of Awe. We shall kneel in awe before Messiah Yeshua.