Festivals in Ancient Israel

Three agriculture-related pilgrimage festivals are mandated in Exodus 23:14-17, a seven-day springtime festival of Unleavened Bread, around the barley harvest; an early summer festival of Harvest, when the wheat ripens; and an autumn festival of Ingathering, when olives, grapes, and other fruits are harvested (Exod 34:18-23).

The book of Leviticus gives regulations for feast days that are to be celebrated "with a sacred assembly," including the weekly sabbath (Lev 23:1-4) and seven annual feast days: Passover (7 days, incl. unleavened bread), First fruits, Pentecost or Weeks, the New Year, the Day of Atonement, the first day of Booths, and the eighth day of Booths (Lev 23:5-44)

These festivals were later combined with commemorations of historical/religious events, and while the people were originally allowed to bring their offerings to any major sanctuary, they were later required to go to the Jerusalem temple, most importantly for the three main pilgrimage festivals listed next, (Deut 16:1-17).

Feast of Passover (Pesach) and Unleavened Bread (Mazzot)

• The barley-harvest festival was transformed to include the commemoration of the original Exodus, when the Hebrews came out of Egypt, ?~ 1300 BC.
• The Passover was originally celebrated in each family's house where an unblemished lamb was slaughtered and eaten, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts with a branch of the hyssop plant (Exod 12:1-13, John 19:29).
• The lamb was slaughtered on the afternoon of the 14th day of the month of Nisan/Abib (known as the "Day of Preparation"), and the Passover meal eaten just after sunset.
• The seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread was also related to the Exodus since the Hebrews did not even have time to let bread rise when they hurriedly left Egypt (Exod 12:14-20, Exod 13:3-10).
• Both festivals combined became a major pilgrimage feast, with the people going to the Jerusalem temple to offer the sacrificial lamb (Lev 23:4-14, Num 9:2-5, Deut 16:1-8).

Feast of Weeks (Pentecost or Shavuot)

• The older "Wheat-Harvest" festival was later mandated to be held 7 weeks (=50 days) after the Passover (Lev 23:15-21, Num 28:26, Deut 16:9-12).
• Later it also became a commemoration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai (Exod 19-20).
• In the NT it is called "Pentecost" since it is held "50 days" after Passover (Acts 2:1, 1 Cor 16:8).
• Today, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogue services during the this Feast.

Feast of Booths (Tabernacles or Sukkoth)

• The older "Ingathering" or "Fruit-Harvest" festival became a commemoration of the 40 years that the Hebrews wandered in the desert and lived in shelters like tents, (or "booths" Lev 23:33-36, Deut 16:13-15).
• In the Second-Temple period, it became an 8-day festival employing the imagery of water and light. Water was brought daily from the Pool of Siloam ( John 9:1) up to the Temple and poured over the altar; light was provided by large lamps that were lit nightly in the temple courtyards.
• The eighth day of Sukkoth feast, considered the greatest day, included an assembly of all the people (Lev 23:36).

Other Feasts and Special Days

• Weekly Sabbath (Shabbat):
  • Resting from work on the seventh day of the week is mandated in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:8-11, Deut 5:12-15).
  • It is based on the story that God rested from his work after the six "days" of creation (Gen 2:1-3).
• First of the Month (Rosh Kodesh):
  • The sighting of the new moon each month was an event celebrated as a minor festival in biblical times (1 Chron 23:31, 2 Chron 2:4, Psalm 81:3)
• New Year (Rosh HaShanah):
  • The first day of the seventh month (the month of "Tishri") is celebrated with "sabbath rest" and a "sacred assembly" (Lev 23:23-25, Num 29:1).
  • On this day burnt offerings were reestablished by the priest Ezra following the Babylonian Exile (Ezra 3:6, Neh 8:2).
  • Festivities include the blowing of the Shofar (trumpet made out of a ram's horn).
• Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur):
  • An annual purification ritual, involving a sacrifice offered for the purification of the temple and the all the people (Lev 16:1-34, Lev 23:26-32).
• Feast of Dedication or Feast of Lights (Hanukkah):
  • In 167 BC, the temple of Jerusalem had been "desecrated" by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
  • After their revolt, the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the Temple and the Altar in 164 BC, mandating an annual 8-day celebration to commemorate this event.
  • This winter-time feast is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, (but only in the apocryphal books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees).
• Feast of Lots (Purim):
  • Commemorates Queen Esther's 400 BC defeat of a plan to slaughter all Persian Jews, (as told in the Book of Esther).
  • In modern Judaism, the entire Book of Esther read on the day of Purim.

New Testament

The Synoptic Gospels have only one Passover meal that Jesus celebrates just before his death (Mark 14:12-26, Matt 26:17-29, Luke 22:15-20)

The Fourth Gospel reports three different Passovers during Jesus' public ministry (John 2:13-23, John 6:4, John 11:55) but never mentions "Unleavened Bread"), as well as the festival of Booths.

In the Book of Acts it is said that after the resurrection of Jesus his disciples remained in Jerusalem until Pentecost (Acts 2:1), when they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts also records how, several years later, James was killed and Peter arrested during the feast of Unleavened Bread, although Peter is miraculously delivered from the prison just after the Passover feast had concluded (Acts 12:1-4).

Finally, Acts also reports that a few decades later, Paul and his companions leave Philippi just after the feast of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6), and that Paul wishes to reach Jerusalem in time for the next pilgrimage festival, the day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16).

In Paul's letters, he once refers to Christ as "our Passover" or "paschal lamb" (1 Cor 5:7). Later in the same letter he also tells the Corinthians, "I shall stay in Ephesus until Pentecost" (1 Cor 16:8).

Finally, the Letter to the Hebrews once mentions the original Passover at the time of Moses (Heb 11:28).