APPOINTED TIMES (LEV.23)
And YAHUSHA said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Yisharal. These are My Appointed Times which you are to proclaim as official days for set-apart gatherings.
THE SHABATH DAY
You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is the Shabath day of COMPLETE REST, an official day for set-apart assembly (SHOULD WE BE LEAVING OUR HOMES TO GATHER ON THIS DAY THOUGH?). It is My Shabath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. In addition to the Shabath Day, these are My Appointed Times, the official days for set-apart assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year.
PASSOVER/UNLEAVENED BREAD
My Passover Season begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month, and on the next day (the fifteenth of the month), you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast (SYMBOL OF DISOBEDIENCE). On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for set-apart assembly and for seven days you must present special gifts to Me. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for set-apart assembly. (TAKE THE FIRST AND LAST DAY OFF WORK).
THE FIRSTFRUIT HARVEST
When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Shabath, the priest will lift it up before Me so it may be accepted on your behalf. On that same day you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as an ASCENDING-NEAR OFFERING to Me and with it you must present a LOVE-GRAIN OFFERING consisting of 4.4 Litres of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to Me. You must also offer one litre of wine as a liquid offering. Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to Me. This is a permanent Instruction for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.
THIS FEAST WAS TO BE PROPERLY OBSERVED AFTER YISHARAL ENTERED THE PROMISED LAND OF CANAAN.
FESTIVAL OF WEEKS (SHABUOTH/PENTECOST)
From the day after the Shabath (that you brought the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering), count off seven full weeks and keep counting until the day after the seventh Shabath (7 x 7 weeks + 1 day = fifty days later). Then present an offering of new grain to Me. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before Me as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to Me from the first of your crops. And along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as ASCENDING-NEAR OFFERINGS to Me and these, together with the LOVE-GRAIN OFFERINGS and liquid offering, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to Me. Then you must offer one male goat as a PURIFYING OFFERING and two one-year-old male lambs as an INTIMATE-PEACE OFFERING. The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to Me, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are set-apart to Me, belong to the priests. And an official day for set-apart assembly will be proclaimed that same day, on which you will do no ordinary work. This is a permanent Instruction for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.
When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you, for I am Yahuah your Alahim.
THE FESTIVAL OF TRUMPETS (YOM TERUAH)
On the first day of the seventh month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for set-apart assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet and you must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to Me.
THE BLOWING OF TRUMPETS SIGNIFIES A CALL TO THE WHOLE CONGREGATION OF YISHARAL TO ASSEMBLE BEFORE YAHUSHA FOR A SET-APART GATHERING (JUST LIKE A CALL TO BATTLE). AND JUST AS EVERY OTHER MAJOR EVENT IN THE LIFE OF YAHUSHA OCCURRED ON A HIGH-FEAST DAY, SO TOO WILL THE EVENTS THAT UNFOLD AT HIS SOON RETURN.
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (YOM KAFAR)
Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month (ten days after the Festival of Trumpets). You must observe it as an official day for set-apart assembly, a day to afflict your beings by fasting and presenting special gifts to Me. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you to make you right with Me. All who don’t afflict themselves through fasting on that day, will be cut off from My people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent Instruction for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. This will be a Shabath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must afflict yourselves by fasting. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.
THE FESTIVAL OF BOOTHS (SUKKOTH/TABERNACLES)
Begin celebrating the Festival of Booths on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (five days after the Day of Atonement) for this festival will last for seven days and on the first day of the festival you must proclaim an official day for set-apart assembly, when you do no ordinary work. For seven days you must present special gifts to Me. The eighth day is another set-apart day on which you present your special gifts to Me. This will be a solemn occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day. On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees, palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before Me for seven days. You must observe this festival to Me for seven days every year for this is a permanent Instruction for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month from generation to generation. For seven days you must live outside in little shelters (all native-born Yisharalites must live in shelters). This will remind each new generation of Yisharalites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt, for I am Yahuah your Alahim.
These are My Appointed Times, so celebrate them each year as official days for set-apart assembly by presenting special gifts to Me, ASCENDING-NEAR OFFERINGS, LOVE-GRAIN OFFERINGS, sacrifices, and liquid offerings (each on its proper day). These festivals must be observed in addition to My regular Shabath day, and the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts (the offerings you give to fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to Me)".
So Moses gave the people of Yisharal these instructions regarding the annual festivals of YAHUSHA.
