What Are the "Feasts of the LORD"?

 In Leviticus 23, we find, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts”’” (Lev. 23:1-2). The rest of the chapter follows with a list and description of each of God’s feast days. This seems pretty straightforward, but surprisingly there seems to be some controversy out there over which days are God’s feasts. So which days are they?

First, it’s important to note that the NKJV translation of Lev. 23:2, which we just read, isn’t quite faithful to the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word translated “feasts,” moed (Strong’s # H4150), simply means, “an appointed time, place, or meeting.” A better translation would be, “The appointments of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My appointments.”

Does it matter? Yes, a bit. For example, the Day of Atonement, a day on which “you shall afflict souls” (Lev. 23:27), a day of fasting and humbling oneself before God, is one of the appointments listed in Lev. 23. Misunderstanding moed as “feast” would mean the Day of Atonement is a feast! Some of God’s Holy Days ARE feasts, but that’s a different word. More on that later.

Next, notice that each of these appointments is also a holy convocation. Twice more in this same chapter, in verses 4 and 37, we’re reminded that these appointments are also holy convocations.

And what is a holy convocation? It is a sacred assembly ordained by Almighty God. Dictionary.com defines “convocation” as “a group of people gathered in answer to a summons; assembly.” The Hebrew word translated as “convocation” is miqra (Strong’s # H4744), which means “a calling together, convocation, an assembly.”

So each and every one of God’s moedim, His appointments, is a holy day on which He has commanded His people to assemble together before Him. Now, then, what are these appointed times, these holy convocations? This requires nothing more than a straightforward reading of the text.

The Appointments of the LORD

The first is the weekly Sabbath: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:3).

In addition to the weekly Sabbath, God appointed seven annual Holy Days. All we have to do is count them up.

The first is the First Day of Unleavened Bread: “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (Lev. 23:6-7).

The second is the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread: “The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (Lev. 23:8).

Immediately after this, Leviticus gives instructions for the wave sheaf offering which initiated the count to Pentecost. Some have mistakenly assumed this to be a Holy Day or Feast. However, the Bible NOWHERE describes this as a Holy Day, a special feast day (apart from the whole Feast of Unleavened Bread), a holy convocation, or anything else of the like — not here in Lev. 23 or anywhere else in the Bible!

No, the third annual holy convocation listed in Lev. 23 is the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost: “And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it” (Lev. 23:21).

The fourth is the Day of Trumpets: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Lev. 23:24).

The fifth is the Day of Atonement: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you” (Lev. 23:27).

The sixth is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles: “The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it” (Lev. 23:34-35).

The seventh is the Eighth Day: “On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it” (Lev. 23:36).

That’s it. Seven annual appointments with our Creator, which are also holy convocations. Numbers 28-29 likewise lists all these days, including the Sabbath, as holy days, neither adding to the list nor taking away from it. Throughout the entirety of Scripture, no other days are called holy convocations. None.

The day of the wavesheaf offering is nowhere called “an appointment of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be a holy convocation.” The day of the Passover sacrifice, Abib 14, which is also called “the Preparation Day of the Passover” (John 19:14), is nowhere called a holy convocation. And, except for the Day of Trumpets, the so-called “new moons” (a phrase never found in the Hebrew text) are nowhere called “appointments of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.”

But, as always, please don’t take my word for it. Search the Scriptures like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-11), and see if there is one mention of God making any other day a holy convocation!

The FEASTS

Near the beginning of this post, we saw that the phrase “feasts of the LORD” isn’t quite correct, but is more accurately translated as “appointments of the LORD.” Nevertheless, God’s Word DOES call some of His appointments “feasts.”

These are enumerated, among many other verses, in Deut. 16:16: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.” In this verse, the word “feast” is translated from the Hebrew khag (Strong’s # H2282), which means “festival-gathering, feast, pilgrim feast.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day feast (Lev. 23:6), including the Holy Days on the first and last days. Pentecost is both a Holy Day and a one-day feast. The Feast of Tabernacles, like Unleavened Bread, is a seven-day feast (Lev. 23:34, 39, 41), including the Holy Day on the first day.

Notably, neither the Day of Trumpets nor the Day of Atonement is ever called a khag, or “feast.” Nor, for that matter, is the weekly Sabbath.

Folks sometimes call both the Day of Trumpets and the Sabbath “feasts,” but the Bible doesn’t call them that. They are appointments and holy convocations, as we’ve already seen, but they aren’t feasts. Aside from the three annual feasts, and the Holy Days contained therein, no other day is described as a “feast” in the Bible.

This isn’t to say one shouldn’t feast on Trumpets or the Sabbath, of course; we should rejoice before God always (Phil. 4:4), let alone on His Holy Days. But some of them God appointed as feast-days, and others He didn’t.

The Meaning of Seven

It’s only fitting that, in addition to the seventh-day Sabbath, there are seven annual “appointments of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.” No more, no less. Why?

As we’ve noted elsewhere, the number 7 portrays a few different things in Scripture. But ultimately, it represents completeness, for God completed His creation in seven days: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Gen. 2:1-2).

Thus God established seven annual Holy Days to picture His plan for mankind. No more, no less. They are complete. Can you add to that which is complete? Of course not. If you add to something, then it was never complete! When God’s plan for His people is completed, it will be COMPLETE. Finished.

Likewise, you cannot add to the seventh-day Sabbath. There is no eighth day of the week. The Sabbath is the end of the week. It completes it. After the Sabbath, you can only start over with the first day of the week again, and indeed we do each week.

But when the Sabbath is ultimately fulfilled in the Kingdom of God — “let us labour therefore to enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:11) — there will be nothing else after that! God’s Kingdom, His eternal Sabbath rest, will never end. It is the completion of God’s plan.

Conclusion

So, to recap, these are “the appointments of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.” The first is the weekly Sabbath, followed by these seven annual Holy Days:

1. First Day of Unleavened Bread

2. Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread

3. Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks)

4. Trumpets

5. Atonement

6. First day of the Feast of Tabernacles

7. The Eighth Day (or Last Great Day)

God does everything for a reason. Every instruction He gives us is for a reason. Every plan He makes is for a reason, whether we understand it right now or not.

If God says a day is holy, then it is. If He doesn’t say a day is holy, then it isn’t. We cannot make days holy which God has not made holy, and we cannot make days unholy which God has made holy. No man has any such authority.

Let’s be careful not to add to or take away from what the Almighty Creator has commanded us! “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deut. 12:32). “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar” (Prov. 30:5-6).