Ne. 8: Ezra Renews the Covenant

Nehemiah 8:12 "Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."

Ezra (not Nehemiah) gets up and reads the book of the law, which was probably the law given to Moses...Exodus through Deuteronomy. Nehemiah may have been the one taking charge...the ruler, the leader, as it were, but it was Ezra who was God's conduit to the people at this point.

As the book of the law is read, again there is open weeping as what was unknown or is ignored is brought to light. Pretty much everytime the covenant is renewed or God's word is discovered. It's pretty emotional. It's a recognition that what you were doing all along was breaking the heart of someone who loved you...whether or not you realized what you were doing was wrong. And it didn't matter if you realized or not.

What was buried was uncovered.

But Ezra says "Don't cry, dry your eye!" This was a time for celebration! The people had to be repeatedly told not to despair. They moved into booths, commemorating their temporary housing as they exodused from Egypt. It was the Feast of Tabernacles. Nehemiah describes this celebration as unlike any in Israel's history since it was celebrated by Joshua, who appears to be the last leader to actually pay attention to what was commanded.

I think this was probably a great time to do this. The people had worked hard to get things back in order, rebuilding the temple, the wall, their lives. It was time to re-emphasize the fact that God was firmly in charge of their provisions. Even in Israel's darkest years, God still looked over them, still watched out for them. And here, with the nation in disarray and confusion, and lacking that sense of history that probably permeated the people before the exile, they could cling to the hope God would give them.

Nu. 29: Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles.

Numbers 29:32 "On the seventh day prepare seven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect."

Further review.

Feast of Trumpets.

In addition to just commemorating the first day of the seventh month with trumpets, as specified in Leviticus 23, We find out that there is a burnt offering, with one young bull (not two), one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. The only difference from the previous burnt offerings is that there is one bull. Why is it different here? The grain, drink and sin offerings are the same as well.

Day of Atonement

Abstinence, rest and a burnt offering as above. The instructions for the priest given in Leviticus 16 are discussed here.

The Feast of Tabernacles

This feast is described in much greater detail here than it was previously in Leviticus 23.
There is a toooooooooon of sacrificing going on here. Again, 15th day of the seventh month. A festival for seven days.

Day one: Burnt offering of 13 bulls (with 3/10ths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil), 2 rams (with 2/10ths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil)and 14 male lambs a year old (with 1/10th of an ephah of flour mixed with oil), without defect, and drink offerings. And a male goat as a sin offering.

Day two: Burnt offering of 12 bulls (with...yadda yadda...

Day three: Burnt offering of 11 bulls (with...yadda yadda...

Day four: Burnt offering of 10 bulls (with...yadda yadda...

Day five: Burnt offering of 9 bulls (with...yadda yadda...

Day six: Burnt offering of 8 bulls (with...yadda yadda...

Day seven: Burnt offering of 7 bulls (with...yadda yadda... Wow. It lines up. Seven on day seven. Seven is a magic number by now.

Day eight: Burnt offering of 1 bull (with...yadda yadda... Also, it was a day to hold the sacred assembly and to do no work. These were all in addition to the vow and freewill offerings, not in place of. So...there were vows and free will stuff that pleased God in addition to the burnt offerings.

I think I get it by now. Lots of offerings. Lots of sacrifices. Lots of dead animals. This countdown from thirteen to seven in seven days is most ponderous. Thirteen is widely regarded as an unlucky number, while seven is the reverse. Is this some sort of perfecting the imperfect? I'll have to do some more thinking on this one.

Nu. 28: Offerings and Feasts

Numbers 28:2 "Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: 'See that you present to me at the appointed time the food for my offerings made by fire, as an aroma pleasing to me.'"

How about another review of the offerings and feasts? (click to enlarge)

Lev. 23: Reminder: Feast!

Well, just as I was mentioning how I was struggling to keep stuff straight, God gives Moses a review of the feasts and special days that the LORD has called to be separate. Just as there were separate people and separate animals, there were separate special days. Chapter 23 is a helpful recap.

The Sabbath - Recap
We know about this one. Work six days, and rest on the seventh, a day of sacred assembly. This is the first an probably foremost ritual that God has set aside. Rest.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread - Recap
The Passover began in the evening on the 14th day of the first month. The next day, the feast of Unleavened Bread begins. For seven days, there was to be no eating of bread with yeast in it, and there was to be burnt offerings to the LORD. On day one and day seven, there was regular assembly, and no work.

Firstfruits - This was never really explained in great detail, but Lev. 23:9-14 covers it pretty concisely and clearly. The first sheaf of the harvest was to be offered to God. It will be waved on the first day after the sabbath. In addition, a male lamb without defect should be brought and offered as a burnt offering, along with the flour and the wine.

The Feast of Weeks - Another one I don't have a great recollection of, but it is explained here. It's mentioned by name in Ex. 34, but that's about it. Apparently you count of seven weeks....seven sevens...after the seventh sabbath, you make a grain offering. 2 loaves with yeast, 7 lambs, a bull and 2 rams. Basically every kind of offering happens here. It's the perfect storm of sacrifices.

The Feast of Trumpets - Another new one. This happens on the first day of the seventh month. Commemorated with trumpets, and treated like a sabbath, with the rest and sacred assembly and all that.

The Day of Atonement - Recap
This is the tenth day of the above seventh month. Abstinence. And doing no work. And a burnt offering. Just seemingly random commands.

The Feast of Tabernacles - Recap
Again, that seventh month is big time for feastery. Starts on the 15th, lasts for ...what else... 7 days. The first day is a sabbath, and the last day is a sabbath. Inbetween, you make burnt offerings. It's a second perfect storm of sacrifices. These have offerings on top of whatever was given as fellowship, vows, and free will offerings. Good times, good times. During the feast of tabernacles, the Israelites were commanded to live in booths, as the people did during the time of the exodus. This makes sense, as by this time, we're a few years out, and some people didn't know what it was like, and some people needed a reminder. Living in a "booth" would kind of suck. It was the Israelites who constantly wanted to remember what it was like, how they had pots of meat and stuff. Now they can remember every year what it was like leaving.