Sermon Tone Analysis

*HARVEST FESTIVALS*

                                                            Ref.

882

 

*BIBLE READING*: Exodus 23:16

*INTRODUCTION*: Harvest Festivals throughout the world are times of great rejoicing.

When there has been a good harvest one sees all traits of character revealed.

e.g.

Generosity and Selfishness.

The rich fool that Jesus spoke about was interested only in himself.

God intended it to be a time of sharing and worship.

There are three harvest festivals spoken of in the Bible.

They are the three pilgrimage festivals when all the men had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem at Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles.

*1.

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD*

Origin of the Feast of Unleavened bread.

The feast of Matzoth marked the beginning of the barley harvest, which was the first crop to be gathered.

For the first seven days of the barley harvest, only bread made with the new grain was eaten `without leaven’, i.e. without anything from the harvest of the previous year in it.

It represented, therefore, a new beginning.

Further it was wrong to present oneself before God with empty hands:

EXODUS 23:15  “Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:”).

The characteristic feature of this feast lay, therefore, in an offering of the first fruits.

The feast of unleavened bread was an agricultural feast, and was not observed until the Israelites had settled in Canaan.

The two rituals have nothing in common except the date, and in Israel the Feast of Unleavened bread was always bound up with the week: the feast lasted seven days.

*2.

SHAVUOT*.

Called - i. Feast of the Harvest Exodus 23:16

ii.

Feast of Weeks Exodus 34:22

iii.

Day of First Fruits Numbers 28:26

iv.

Atzeret (Concluding Festival)

v.  Season of the giving of The Law.

vi.

Judgement day of the Trees.

vii.

Pentecost (50)

Bible Readings

a.  Leviticus 23:9 - 22

b.

Exodus 20:1 - 17 (Sabbath of Creation)

Deuteronomy 5:6 - 21 (Sabbath of Exodus)

c.  Ruth Chapters 1 - 4 (One of the 5 Biblical scrolls called `Megilot’.

Ruth has many pastoral scenes.

Ruth traces the ancestry of David.

Who was born and died at Shavuot.

1. Bikkurim - Wheat, Barley, Grapes, Figs, Pomegranates, Olive Oil, Date Honey.

Deu.

8:7-8.

Tied with Reed rope, `Let these be Bikkurim.’

Preparation.

Inhabitants gather night before at an open place.

Early next morning the head of the Ma’amad (district), calls out, `Let us arise and go up to Zion into the house of the Lord our God.’

Procession:-

a.  Fruit in Willow baskets.

b.  Doves tied to baskets (for Burnt Offering).

c.  Ox with horns bedecked with gold, an Olive wreath on its head, led the way - it was to be the Peace Offering.

d.  Flute Player

e.  Temple Officers come out to meet the pilgrims.

f.   Artisans Greeting “Brethren, men of..., we are delighted to welcome you.”

(They had no produce).

g.

At the Temple Court

h.

Levitical Choir “I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast raised me up, and hast not suffered my enemies to rejoice over me.”

Psalm 30:2

i.   Turtle Doves offered.

j.   Fruits presented to the priests.

Holding basket on shoulder the pilgrim recites, DEU 26:3  and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD  your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us.”

DEU 26:4  The priest shall take the basket from your hands  and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

DEU 26:5  Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: 

“My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great  nation, powerful and numerous.

DEU 26:6  But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor.

DEU 26:7  Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery,   toil and oppression.

DEU 26:8  So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders.

DEU 26:9  He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 

DEU 26:10  and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me.”

Place the basket before the    LORD your  God and bow down before him.

k.

Stalls

l.   Teaching - e.g.

Gods voice split into 70 voices, representing the seventy nations.

m.

Hospitality

 

*3.

TABERNACLES*

The feast of Tabernacles completes the sacred festivals of the seventh month.

In contrast to the sombre tone of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the third feast of Tishri was a time of joy.

Israel had passed through a season of repentance and redemption.

The Lord wanted His people  to enjoy the benefits of their renewed relationship with Him.

The rigors of introspection and searching would now make way for the feast called “The Season of Our Rejoicing.

As Israel gathered leaves and branches, meticulously choosing the best and least blemished, as they laid the foundations of the flimsy booths, their every move reminded them of their time of wandering in the wilderness.

It was only by the grace of God that they were granted the security of their present and permanent homes.

As their nostrils filled with the pungent smell of myrtle and freshly cut palm, they remembered their days of uncertainty in the wilderness of Sinai.

According to all natural laws, they should have perished, were it not for the Lord who guided their path, quenched their thirst, and satisfied their hunger above and beyond their needs.

The delicate willow branches, a welcome sight growing along the banks of flowing brooks, filled their minds with thoughts of water springing from desert rocks.

For seven long days and nights the Israelites were to dwell in booths.

The sensitive heart could not help but be overwhelmed with a feeling of poignancy, for certainly joy and plenty have not characterised the history of the Jewish people.

Many a “season of joy” has been marred by prejudice, persecution, desecration, and bloodshed.

Such calamities were graphically predicted by the prophet Moses when he declared to the people: “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God . . .

all these blessings shall come upon you . . .

if you will not obey the Lord your God ....all these curses shall come upon you” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15; see vv. 16-68 and Leviticus 26:14-39).

Moses gave Israel the choice between obedience and disobedience, a life of joy and plenty or curses and desolation.

If Israel chose disobedience, they would have no cause for rejoicing, nor would they care to celebrate the feast in gratitude to the God of joy!

*THE NAMES OF THE FEAST*