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LEVITICUS 22–24

Week 7, Day 4

Every day is sacred in its own right, but we need special occasions in the calendars of our lives that give a lift to life and that help to center our focus. The several festivals performed that function for Israel. For while there were many laws that reminded them of their differentness, these festivals gave a certain beauty and glory to their role.

Three of the celebrations had to do with nature. The Israelites were an agricultural people, so it was natural for their lives to revolve around seedtime and harvest. Most of us aren’t as conscious of our dependence on nature, because we live more removed from its rhythms; but now and then an earthquake, a flood, or a tornado reminds us that as surely as ever we are dependent on nature.

Only the Day of Atonement called for fasting; other festivals were in a more celebrative mood. Several were intended to remind the people of the power of God in their nation’s history and of the loyalty that was therefore owed to God. The Festival of Booths, in particular, recalled that they had lived in booths when they escaped from the land of Egypt.

But while these occasions came scattered through the year as annual events, there was always the seventh day of the week with its sabbath. As one Jewish philosopher said, “More than Israel kept the sabbath, the sabbath has kept Israel.” It is God’s gift of rest and dignity for those who will receive and observe it.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for days of rest, awe, and laughter. Amen.

Six holy celebrations, besides the sabbath, are described in Leviticus 23. What qualities or characteristics do they have in common?