Sheva Moedim HaAdonai: The Seven Feasts of the Lord
By Eric Carlson in April 2022, newsletter-post on March 30, 2022
Sheva is also woven into biblical culture and lifestyle:
There are the shivat ha-minim, seven spices of the land of Israel found in Deut.8:8. Sheva berakhot, seven blessings of marriage that are recited under the Chupah, Sevah (seven) pairs of each clean animal were taken onto Norah’s ark. Sheva is the number of days it took the priests to be purified before they may enter into the Temple and Adonai’s presence on the eighth day. Sheve (seven) is the number of creation and is the numbers of perfection.
Seven feasts of the annual cycle are primarily covered in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28-29.:
- Shabbat
- Pesach (Passover) & Matzah (Unleavened Bread). Ex 12:14-20; Nu 28:16-25; Deut 16:1-8
- First Fruits
- Shavuot (Pentecost). Nu 28:26-31; Deut 16:9-12
- Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets). Num 29:1-6.
- Yom Kippur (Day of atonement or Purge). Lev 16:2-34, Num 29:7-11.
- Sukkot (Tabernacles). Num 29:12-39, Deut. 16:13-17
Leviticus 23:1-2. (CJB) ADONAI said to Moshe, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘The designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are my designated times.
The feast days are Gods prophetic timeline in eschatology! Convocation in Hebrew is Mikra (calling out of the holy ones) who’s root word is Kaw-raw means rehearsal. Divine Appointment in Hebrew is Moed, a specific date in which the King of heaven comes off the throne to meet His people.
Leviticus 23:4-5. (CJB) “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for ADONAI. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. 7 On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; don’t do any kind of ordinary work. 8 Bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI for seven days.
We see two celebrations here. Pesach/Passover! The day of slaughtering and eating the lamb and departing Egypt followed by the seven days of the Feast of Matzah, seven days of eating matzah! The first and last days of Matzah are no workdays! Pesach marks a transition, the New Year, from Slavery to Freedom, from sin to Salvation in Yeshua! The first celebration coincided with the 10th plaques, the Angel of Death.
Exodus 12:3-11. (CJB) Speak to all the assembly of Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household – 4 except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. 5 Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 “‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. 8 That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror. 9 Don’t eat it raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire, with its head, the lower parts of its legs and its inner organs. 10 Let nothing of it remain till morning; if any of it does remain, burn it up completely. 11 “‘Here is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is ADONAI’s Pesach [Passover].
Israel is at the beginning of their life as a nation yet they have no identity. They are unable to stand as a Nation, They have no realization of their identity and the special covenant they represent! If God didn’t intervene, they would not have survived.
Reflecting back upon this time we wonder why the situation of the Israelites are so tenuous? Why are they in danger? After all they are great in numbers are they not? The word states that even Egypt feared their size and potential power!
The Children of Israel had lived in Egypt for several hundred years. They had become immersed, imbued, overwhelmed, subjected too, infused into Egyptian Culture. They most likely had conformed to Egyptian fashions and as apparent in Exodus 12 that they live come to live in mixed neighborhoods with the Egyptians. They had begun to think like Egyptians including the paganism of Egyptian worship and their multitudes of gods. We see the Children of Israel in Diaspora in Egypt with no culture, no vision, and no hope; There was absolutely nothing Biblical or what would become known as being Jewish about them!! Why should God save them? Why would He save them? To fulfill His own promises and covenants He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Ya’akov!
We know from the Egyptian records that Egyptians and their priests worship include, as one of their main god’s, the Zodiac sign of the sheep (Aries). Remember, every one of the previous nine plaques had come against Egyptian gods-this last one would be no different, only more significant as Aries was considered a higher deity (this is why you absolutely should not read or dabble with the horoscope-it’s ancient Egyptian pagan worship, that’s where it came from!)
Egypt’s deity hood of Aries and sheep led to their banning the slaughter of sheep (which represented a god) and despised sheep traders and shepherds
Genesis 46:34. (CJB) tell him, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our ancestors.’ This will ensure that you will live in the land of Goshen – for any shepherd is abhorrent to the Egyptians.”
Israel was given the land of Goshen to in Egypt to live, set apart and free from the effects of the plaques:
Exodus 8:22. (CJB) But I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live -no swarms of insects will be there – so that you can realize that I am ADONAI, right here in the land.
The Feast Days cycle follows a pattern of seven. Seven in Hebrew is Sheva and is represented by the letter Zain. Seven (Sheva) is the central key to God’s design, Sheva is the building blocks of the universe. The world was created in Sheva (seven) days. There are Sheva (seven) feasts of the Lord in the annual feast day cycle. There are Sheva (seven) days in the week. There is the shenat ha-sheva, the seventh year or Sabbatical year in which the ground is to lay fallow knows as a Sh’mittah year. Sheva shabtot shanim-seven sabbatical years are counted (49 years) which bring in the Yovel, the Jubilee on the 50th year!