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HOLY APPOINTMENTS!
If someone took a peak at your date book, your
list of appointments, they probably wouldn't glean enough information to steal
your identity but they would become better acquainted with you. For example,
if you were to look at my date book you'd find that I have a lunch appointment
with one of the pastors on Monday the 12th of June to discuss focus groups. That
same night, I have a meeting with the communication team. Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday of that same week is blocked out for an English Immersion
Endorsement class required of all those who are certified to teach in the State
of Arizona. And, of course, every Sunday morning is blocked out for
church.
Then if you were to skip over to the month of
August you would see that I have an appointment with my cardiologist on the 15th
for a "stress" test, one with my dentist on the 22nd, and I need to
need to have my blood drawn on the 29th. The latter is just a routine
check to see where my cholesterol is at on a scale from 0 - 400. If it
is not less than 200 my regular doctor won't be a happy camper. Nor would
I for that would mean I would have to become very serious about eliminating chocolate
in my life!
Clearly, if a stranger happened to be reading
through my date book he or she would know at least three things about me and
could make a pretty good guess about a few other things. For example, they
would know that I'm concerned about heart disease and they could guess that eating "right" is
a daily challenge.
What about your date book? What does it
say about you? Attached is a calendar for the last few days of May, the
month of June, and the first week in July. It's a Jewish calendar so presently
it is the month of Sivan in the year 5766. But for our purposes I simply
want you to jot down some appointments, real or imagined, that reveal something
about your ho-hum, I mean, your fascinating life.1
Assuming you keep a date book, why do you do it? And
why do we get those day-before phone calls reminding us that we have an appointment
with our overeager dentist the next day? Do they really think we would
forget? Do they think we're suffering from Age-Related Cognitive Decline? You
bet! They call because past experience has told them that everyone, young
or old, is prone toward forgetting previous commitments.
Why? Why do we make a commitment to see
someone and/or be somewhere on a specific date at a certain time, then forget
about it? In other words, what excuses do we make for ourselves when we
forget to keep a "date"? We excuse ourselves by saying:
- "I
was so busy I plum forgot."
- "We
celebrate every year?"
- "I
neglected to write it down."
- "I
wrote it down, but forgot where I posted the reminder."
- "Oh,
the 14th of February!"
- "It
must be the medication."
- "The
Hallmark store was closed, and I didn't want to send
less
than the best."
-
Moses, who had more than enough experience with
mankind, knew the Israelites well-enough to suspect they would enter the land
and forget all about God. So in Deuteronomy 6:10 - 12, while he still had
their attention, he said:
"The LORD your God will soon bring you into
the land he swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land
filled with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. 11 The houses
will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from
cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you
did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, 12 be careful
not to forget the LORD, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt."
Moses encouraged them not to forget the Lord their
God and he did so in light of the fact that God, in Leviticus 23, had already
established a varied set of reminders. This tells us that "forgetting
God" is hardly a function of age-related cognitive decline; it's largely
due to a lack of humility. For Moses knew that when they became comfortable,
when the culture medicated their senses, they'd conclude it was all due to self-effort
and in their lack of humility, their pride, they would forget all about God.
Nevertheless, God established a varied set of
reminders designed to insure that Israel would never forget the One who redeemed
them out of slavery and brought them to a land of milk and honey. This
varied set of reminders is found in Leviticus 23. In vv. 1 - 8 we read:
The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to
the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed
feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
"'There are six days when you may work, but
the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to
do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.
"'These are the LORD's appointed feasts,
the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: 5 The
LORD's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6
On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins;
for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day
hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 8 For seven days present
an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly
and do no regular work.'"
Note! The festivals are called moedim in
Scripture - appointed times (v. 4b). Quite literally, God took out his
palm pilot as well as Israel's date book, and wrote down a half-dozen appointments
to be kept by the Israelites. These are times in which he requested that
Israel meet with him and times He has scheduled to meet with Israel. He
expected Israel to keep these appointments and He expected no less of himself.
Though analogies are hardly adequate in this situation,
suppose President Bush let you know that he scheduled an appointment for you
to personally visit him and his wife on July 4th of this year. He wants
to enjoy this festive occasion in our nation's capital with an average
citizen, or above average, and has chosen you.
Would you forget about it? Would you fail
to show up? I don't think so! I think you would tell everyone about
it for weeks ahead of time and you would do everything that needed to be done
so as to arrive well ahead of time. You'd be a little nervous, but
it would be a great time. In like manner, who would neglect an appointment
that God scheduled on His calendar and in our date book?2
The first of these scheduled appointments was
a weekly event - the Sabbath. In the beginning, as in Genesis 2:2 - 3,
God rested (ceased) because everything he had created was perfect and good. Even
Adam and Eve had been "set at rest" (2:15) in the Garden of Eden. But,
as you know, sin ruined the rest they had in their fellowship with God and spoiled
God's rest in all that he had created.3
Immediately God began his work of redemption and
at Mt. Sinai the observance of the Sabbath was instituted because God had redeemed
a people for himself. It was given to a people who had been brought into
a covenant with God by his mighty power. Thus it was an appointed time to commemorate
God's work of redemption. It is interesting to note that it was the only
commandment within the Ten Commandments that didn't apply to the rest of mankind. It
was aimed at a redeemed people, Israel, and served as a sign of the covenant
between God and them.
Yes, this day of rest was a time of physical refreshment
since five working days can certainly make one weak! But the instructions
to make this a holy day reveal a greater purpose then simply the regathering
of one's strength. It was a day that belonged to God, and he graciously
invited those he had redeemed to share it with him so they could consciously
take delight in his work and he in them.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread marked
the beginning of Israel's national feast. Passover began at twilight on
the 14th day of the first month, the month of Nisan. It was the festival
of freedom. It celebrated judgment, hope, redemption, and freedom from
slavery. The next day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commenced and for
seven days the Israelites ate bread without yeast - unraised bread. This
was a week in which Israel preserved its spiritual heritage.
During this same week (vv. 9 - 14) a sheaf of
the first grain harvested was brought to the priest. It was giving God
the first of their income as a token of their devotion. To give it to God
acknowledged his priority in life and expressed confidence in his continued provision.
So the first sheaf was brought at the end of Passover. Forty-nine
days later the last cereal crop was brought during what was called the Feast
of Weeks or Shavuoth. It was given the name Pentecost in the Septuagint
translation of the Bible because of the fifty days. This feast is celebrated
on the 6th and 7th during the month of Sivan.
But instead of bringing a sheaf of grain, the
Israelites brought loaves of bread made from wheat. This festival celebrated
what the harvest produced or more precisely what the Lord had produced through
them. For this reason it is sometimes called the Feast of First Fruits!
If bounty comes from God, and it does, duty also
comes from God. The harvest met the needs of the Israelites, and it provided
opportunity for them to meet the needs of others. Hence v. 22 reminded
the people what genuine gratitude meant and it also served to curb greed.
Three more festivals came together in the fall
during the harvest of summer fruits and olives. The Feast of Trumpets on
the 1st of Tishri, the seventh month, marked the end of the harvest season and
the beginning of the New Year on the civil calendar. Much like our New
Year's, it was a time of celebration, prayers for peace, and a time of reflection.
On the 10th day of the seventh month was the holiest
day during the entire year - the Day of Atonement, commonly known as Yom Kippur. This
was the day set aside for the removal of all the sins of the people. On
this day the slate of one's soul was wiped clean and everyone was given a fresh
start for the new year.
Yes, provision was made for the Israelites to
deal with personal sin throughout the year and some took advantage of God's provision
in this regard. But given the extent of sin and defilement, known and unknown,
it made sense to have this one day in which the depth and breadth of sin was
atoned for through sacrifice and by laying all our sins on the scapegoat and
sending it into the wilderness (see Leviticus 16).
Then on the 15th of the same month was the Feast
of Tabernacles which recalled the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. But
thankfully God fulfilled his promises and brought them into a land flowing with
milk and honey. In like manner, we can look forward to living in a land
oveflowing with God's goodness!
1 The "year" on Jewish calendars represents the
number of years since creation. It is calculated by adding Adam's age
to Seth's adjusted age to Enosh's adjusted age and so on down through the ages. This
doesn't necessarily mean the universe is 5,766 years old. It just
means that since the time of Adam the world has seen 5,766 different
sunsets. [I say adjusted age because we would need to subtract out the
period of time in which their lives overlapped.]
2 We ought to be grateful for a God who recognizes our tendency
to forget and schedules appointments to jar our memory!
3 It should be noted that the Hebrew verb sabat ("to
rest") does not mean to rest from exhaustion. It means "to
cease" from one's labor so as to celebrate the completion of God's work.
LEVITICUS - GOD'S GUIDEBOOK TO WORSHIP 6/11/06 1
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