Annie's Feasts of the Bible Page

"These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations,
which ye shall proclaim in their seasons."
~Leviticus 23:4 KJV~

Lev 23:2 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."

Feasts of The Bible
There are 7 major FEASTS of the Bible. God's Chosen People the Jews have celebrated them since Moses was given the instructions from the Lord. 4 of the 7 feasts have been LITERALLY fulfilled. There are still 3 to be fulfilled.

There are 3 spring feasts and 3 fall feasts. The feast in the middle is "Pentecost" and that has been fulfilled with the New Testament Believers. Jesus fulfilled the first 3 with his life, death and resurrection. We can indeed expect the last 3 feasts to be fulfilled with His Glorious Second Coming.

The Feasts are still celebrated today by the Jewish people. The Messianic Jews also celebrate the feasts but they do so with an understanding of the fulfillment and yet have an expectancy that the last 3 feasts will be fulfilled. Some Christians today even celebrate these feasts. I am not saying whether you should indeed celebrate these feasts BUT you do need to know about them.

Col 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Messiah.

The Annual Holy Days can be divided into two main groups, Spring, and Fall, which are separated by a period of time. Jesus fulfilled the first part of God's feasts. It would seem that we are living in the time between the two Feast periods, and that Jesus will fulfill the second half of the Feasts very soon. Jesus fulfilled all of the Spring Festivals on the exact dates of the Jewish calendar.

Will He return, and fulfill the Fall Festivals on the exact dates of the Jewish calendar?

The Seven Major Jewish Feasts
NEW - Annie's "Jewish Calendar Dates for 5770" Page

Pesach (Passover)

Related Bible References: Leviticus 23:4-8; Exodus 12:1-17; 1 Cor 5:7b;
Exodus 12: 24,26-27; Exodus 2:23-24; 6:5-8; 13:3,14
Celebrated: Annie's "Jewish Calendar Dates for 5765" Page
Symbol: BLOOD Remembers the Exodus from Egypt. A great time to have
one of our "Messiah in the Passover" programs. Remember Israel's
deliverance from Egypt.
Reading: Song of Solomon
Fulfillment: 1 Cor 5:6-7; John 8:34; John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:5; Galatians
4:3-5,9; 5:1; 2 Peter 2:19; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1 Peter
1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 10:1-10; John 1:36;
John 13:1-16 & Luke 22:13-20

Annie's "Passover Feast" Page - learn about the Passover meal

Feast of Unleavened Bread - (Hag Ha Matzah)

Related Bible References: Exodus 12:15-20; 1 Cor 5:7-8 & Leviticus
23:4,6-14
Celebrated: one week -- Nisan 15-21
Symbol: Matzah. A week of eating bread made without yeast (Matzah),
to remember how God brought the Isrealites out of Egypt in haste.
Fulfillment: 1 Cor 5:6-8; Acts 12:3-4 & Acts 20:6

First Fruits - Yom HaBikkurim

Related Bible References: Leviticus 23:7-14
Celebrated: Nisan 16 The day after the Sabbath.
Symbol: Known as the Feast of First Fruits. Presenting a sheaf of the first harvest. Jesus' resurrection: He is "the firstfruits" from the dead (1 Cor 15:20,35). Harvest Offering First day after the Sabbath after Passover (Sunday) Leviticus 23:9
Reading & Fulfillment: 1 Cor 15:20-21

Shavuoth - (Feast of Weeks - Pentecost)

Related Bible References: Leviticus 23:9-22 & Deut 16:9-12
Celebrated: Annie's "Jewish Calendar Dates for 5765" Page
Symbol: It celebrates the time of the giving of the Law to Moses on
Mount Sinai. From Acts 2:1-41, this holiday is a celebration of the
birthday of the church. Holy Spirit was given the Day of Pentecost.....
"and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" --Acts 2:1-13. Harvest
Offering Fifty Days (hence: Pentecost) after Passover.
Reading: Ruth
Fulfillment: Acts 2:1-13 & Acts 26:23

Rosh Hashanah - (Feast of Trumpets)
The Jewish New Year

Related Bible References: Leviticus 23:23-25
Celebrated: Tishri 1
Symbol: Celebrates the beginning of the Jewish Civil year. It is both a time of rejoicing as well as a holy occasion (see Nehemiah 8:2, 9-12). The Shofar (Ram's horn Trumpets are blown to proclaim a gathering for worship. A trumpet is often a symbol of war. It is also a symbol of calling together or gathering. There are two different "schools of thought", so to speak on how it will be fullfilled, either The Feast of Trumpets is representative of The Second Coming of Jesus Christ or The Rapture.

Yom Kippur - (Day of Atonement)

Related Bible References: Leviticus 16:1-34 23:26-32 & Isaiah 34:5-6
Celebrated: 10 Tishri
Symbol: Is the holiest day of the Jewish year. A time to consider Jesus as our atonement. Sacrifices for sins of the nation. Hebrews 9 & 10 and Romans 5:10,11. Some believe that this will be fulfilled by The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Succoth - (Feast of Tabernacles/Booths)

Related Bible References: Leviticus 23:33-44; Neh 8; Zechariah 14:16-19 & Zechariah 14:1-4, 9
Celebrated: Beginning at sunset. Lasts 7 days. Tishri 15-21
Symbol: Sukkot recalls 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, living in tents (booths) and worshiping in a portable tabernacle. Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Ingathering - a wonderful harvest holiday. Wanderings in the Wilderness. Feast of Tabernacles Temporary Booths are constructed to remind Israel of the Wilderness wandering. A Lulav of Palm Branches are waved ushering the Kingdom. This feast consists of seven days with the first day being a Sabbath. Concludes and on the 8th day The Last Great Day (of the Feast) is celebrated. See John 7:37-38. Some believe that this will be fulfilled by the Millenium Reign of The Lord Jesus on earth.
Reading: Ecclesiastes

* The observance of all Jewish Holidays begins at Sundown on the preceding evening and ends at sundown on the days listed.

Here is what Encarta says about: Jewish Festivals
The Jewish year includes five major festivals and two minor ones. Three of the major festivals originally were agricultural and are tied to the seasons in the land of Israel. Pesach (Passover ), the spring festival, marks the beginning of the barley harvest, and Shabuoth (Weeks or Pentecost) marks its conclusion 50 days later. Sukkot (Tabernacles) celebrates the autumn harvest and is preceded by a 10-day period of communal purification. From an early date, these festivals came to be associated with formative events in Israel's historical memory. Passover celebrates the exodus from Egypt. Shabuoth is identified as the time of the giving of the Torah on Sinai. It is marked by the solemn reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue. Sukkot is still observed primarily as a harvest festival, but the harvest booths in which Jews eat during the festival's seven days also are identified with the booths in which the Israelites dwelt on their journey to the Promised Land. The 10-day penitential period before Sukkot is inaugurated by Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and concludes with Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement. According to tradition, the world is judged each New Year and the decree sealed on the Day of Atonement. A ram's horn (shofar) is blown on the New Year to call the people to repentance. The Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish year, is spent in fasting, prayer, and confession. Its liturgy begins with the plaintive chanting of the Kol Nidre formula and includes a remembrance of the day's rites ( avodah ) in the Temple. The two minor festivals, Hanukkah and Purim are later in origin than the five Pentateuchally prescribed festivals. Hanukkah (Dedication) commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian king Antiochus IV in 165 BC and the ensuing rededication of the Second Temple. Purim (Lots) celebrates the tale of Persian Jewry '92s deliverance by Esther and Mordecai. It occurs a month before Passover and is marked by the festive reading in the synagogue of the Scroll of Esther (megillah). Four fast days, commemorating events in the siege and destruction of the two Temples in 586 BC and AD 70, complete the liturgical year. The most important of these is Tishah Ab, or the Ninth of Ab, observed as the day on which both Temples were destroyed.

More information about the feasts from The World Book Encyclopedia:
Sukkot, pronounced su KOHTH or pronounced su KOHT, is a Jewish festival that begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (approximately September and October). It lasts seven days. The festival is also called the Feast of Tabernacles.

The ancient Hebrews celebrated Sukkot as a festival of thanksgiving and brought sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem. Jews still observe the holiday by making joyous parades in synagogues and carrying lulabs (palm branches), etrogs (citrons), and myrtle and willow branches. During Sukkot, traditional Jews live in a hut called a sukkah as a reminder of the temporary dwellings in which their ancestors lived during their wanderings in the wilderness in Biblical times. Following Sukkot is a supplementary two-day celebration called Shemini Atzeret, the second day of which is called Simchat Torah.

Simchat Torah, pronounced sihm KHAHT toh RAH, is a Jewish festival of rejoicing in the Torah, or Law. Simchat Torah marks the end of the annual cycle of readings from the Torah that take place in the synagogue every Saturday morning. The cycle begins again on the first Saturday after Simchat Torah. The festival falls on the 23rd day of the Hebrew month of Tishri. Tishri usually occurs in September and October. Jews in Israel and Reform Jews observe the festival on the 22nd day of Tishri.
Simchat Torah begins NEW - Annie's "Jewish Calendar Dates for 5770" Page

Yom Kippur, pronounced YOHM kih POOR, is the Jewish day of atonement and the most important and sacred Jewish holy day. It falls in September or October, in the Jewish month of Tishri. It lasts from sunset on the ninth day of Tishri until three stars appear after the tenth day.

Jews observe Yom Kippur as a day of fasting and worship. On this day, devout Jews think of their sins, repent, and ask forgiveness from God and from other people. In ancient times, the high priest held a service in the Temple in Jerusalem and sacrificed certain animals as a ceremonial offering. The service, part of the process of repentence and atonement, was the main event of the day. Today, Jews fast, perform no work, and attend services in the synagogue or temple. The laws about Yom Kippur are found in Leviticus 16; 23: 26-32; 25: 9; and in Numbers 29: 7-11.

Scapegoat, pronounced SKAYP goht, originally meant one of the two goats received by the Jewish high priest in ancient Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. One was for Yaweh (Jehovah), the Hebrew God, and was killed as a sacrificial offering. The second was called the scapegoat. This one was for Azazel, which may have been the spirit of evil. The priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat as he confessed the people's sins. Then the priest sent the scapegoat into the wilderness. This was a symbol that the sins had been forgiven. Today, a person who has been blamed for something which is the fault of another is referred to as a scapegoat. The ritual is described in Leviticus 16.