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Numbers 29:39 - Renewal of feast day requirements - Day 140

Good morning friends,

I think we can all agree that priorities can be identified by the amount of time and effort spent on our activities.  As Israel is nearing the entry to the Promised Land, God sets the priorities for His people.  God told them the time and effort needed to show obedience.  Now that I am mostly retired, the use of time helps me to see where my priorities are.  Spending time preparing these devotions is a blessing to me.  I have had the habit of daily quiet time and mediation, but this is at a new level.  I pray that these daily devotions encourage you to grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Blessings,

Jeff

The appointed feasts established in Leviticus 23 before leaving Sinai are now repeated 40 years later prior to the 2nd chance to enter the Promised Land.  The specific sacrifices were not established at Sinai.

Feast of first fruits and subsequent feast of weeks are for the Promised Land only.  So they had not yet  been celebrated.

Feast of Booth was to be a reminder that they lived in booths.  If they had been obedient and entered the land 40 years earlier, it would have reminded them of obedience.  Since they were disobedient, it is a week long reminder of 40 years of wandering.  In either case, while they were actually living in booths, they may not have celebrated this feast.  

The big picture seems to be that life in the Promised Land was to revolve around religious observance of Sabbath, new moon, new year and annual feasts.  Marking the passing of time seems to be a common practice among many cultures.  When to plant, when to harvest, etc.  But God has specific requirements for the way His people were to observe these times.  By stating the requirements, the practices of the cultures in the Promised Land were excluded.  This is the background for the "regulative principle of worship".  God's people are to celebrate the passing of time in the way that He appoints in His word.  Likewise the New Testament church is to follow the principles of Scripture.  


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