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Leviticus 23:1-25:23<\/strong><\/span> Today in Leviticus chapter 23 we read about the Appointed Festivals!\u00a0 The NIV Study Bible has a great chart summarizing the Old Testament Feasts and Other Sacred Days, which is significantly paraphrased below with just Name & Purpose:<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Sabbath <\/strong>\u2013 Rest for people and animals Bible.org\u2019s commentary on Leviticus chapter 23 titled \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Appointed Times\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span>at this link<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n Today in Leviticus chapter 24 we read the well known law of retaliation from verses 19 & 20: \u201cAnyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted\u2013 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever anyone does to hurt another person must be paid back in kind.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 I\u2019ve read commentaries that say that this law of retaliation was actually compassionate for its time \u2013 in that it limited what one person could to another person in a very lawless age.\u00a0 If you lost an eye, you could take an eye \u2013 but you could not kill in return, for example.\u00a0 So, I see the logic behind saying that the law of retaliation limited punishments\u2026. but, I also think we would do well to remember Jesus\u2019 words in the Sermon on the Mount where he quotes from Leviticus 24 verse 20 in Matthew chapter 5 verse 38 & 39: \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.\u2019 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Jesus teaches that there is a higher law of love that is better than the law of retaliation. Commentary on Leviticus chapter 24 titled \u201cThe Lamp, the Loaves and The Loudmouth\u201d <\/strong>\ud83d\ude42 is at Bible.org <\/span>at this link<\/span>.\u00a0 Commentary on Leviticus chapter 25 is <\/span>at this link<\/span> and <\/span>at this link<\/span>.<\/span> Well, I learned something new!\u00a0 This is pretty awesome \u2013 the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is so named because this statement from Leviticus chapter 25 verse 10 is written on the bell: \u201cProclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 (which you won\u2019t be able to see well in this photo below \u2013 I believe the inscription is around the top of the bell, where you\u2019ll see 2 lines near the top and can make out the word \u201cProclaim.\u201d)\u00a0 <\/span> In Leviticus 25 verses 9 & 10 today we read: \u201cThen on the Day of Atonement of the fiftieth year, blow the trumpets loud and long throughout the land. This year will be set apart as holy, a time to proclaim release for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you returns to the lands that belonged to your ancestors and rejoins your clan.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Worship Video:<\/strong> Today\u2019s readings reminded me of the song \u201cBe Thou My Vision.\u201d Here\u2019s a great live version by Shane & Shane:<\/span><\/p>\n
~ Click here to read today\u2019s Scripture on Bible Gateway ~<\/span><\/em>
~ Listen to today\u2019s Scripture with <\/em>The ESV Bible<\/em><\/span> ~<\/p>\n
2. Sabbath Year \u2013<\/strong> Rest for land.
3. Year of Jubilee \u2013<\/strong> Help for poor; stabilize society.
4. Passover<\/strong> \u2013 Remember Israel\u2019s deliverance from Egypt.
5. Unleavened Bread<\/strong> \u2013 Remember how the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt in haste.
6. Firstfruits <\/strong>\u2013 Recognize the Lord\u2019s bounty in the land.
7. Weeks (Pentecost or Harvest)<\/strong> \u2013 Show joy and thankfulness for the Lord\u2019s blessing of harvest.
8. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah-New Year\u2019s Day)<\/strong> \u2013 Present Israel before the Lord for his favor.
9. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)<\/strong> \u2013 Atone for the sins of priests and people and purify the Holy Place.
10. Tabernacles (Booths or Ingathering)<\/strong> \u2013 Memorialize the journey from Egypt to Canaan; give thanks for the productivity of Canaan.
11. Sacred Assembly<\/strong> \u2013 Commemorate the closing of the cycle of feasts.
12. Purim <\/strong>\u2013 Remind the Israelites of their national deliverance in the time of Esther.
13. Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication or Festival of Lights)<\/strong> \u2013 Commemorated the purification of the temple and altar in the Maccabean period.
14.\u00a0 New moons were also often special feast days.
(Above is from Zondervan\u2019s \u201cNIV Study Bible\u201d pp. 176-177)<\/em> Below is a Jewish calendar, which includes many of the feasts and sacred days listed above:<\/span>