One of the most important observances of Torah is in the Biblical calendar when God tells the children of Israel: “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts” (Leviticus 23:2). No were in scripture does it say that the Feasts are Jewish only. He gave them to the Jewish people to celebrate Him. But through Yeshua the Gentiles have been grafted into the same blessings and observances. Romans 11:17
The Jewish people and Gentiles are to join in with God through Yeshua HaMashiac in sanctifying his holy days as they observe them in the manner he prescribed. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans, “The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2). Included in “the oracles of God” that have been entrusted to the Jewish people is the Sabbath and the festivals. Indeed, as Israel stood at the base of Mount Sinai God instructed the Jewish people in his calendar and gave the festivals for them to observe and pass on from generation to generation.
Moadim at Creation
However, before the instructions on the festivals are given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, we find the festivals mentioned in general at creation. Let’s turn to Genesis 1:14:
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”
On the fourth day of creation God created the lights in the sky as markers for seasons, days, and years. However, we miss something in the Hebrew with almost all English translations. “Seasons” is the Hebrew word moadim (מעדים) and this is the first occurrence of the word. Moadim is the plural of mo’ed, which means, “a set time,” coming from the root ya’ad (“to set, designate,” יעד). David Rudolph, in a bulletin, “Festivals in Genesis 1:14, Tyndale bulletin 54, no.2(2003): 23-20, points out that in every other instance where the plural moadim appears in the Hebrew of the Torah English Bibles translate it as “festivals “ and argues that it should be translated as such here in Genesis 1 as well. In turn it would be rendered “And let them be for signs and for festivals, and for days and years.” This is how it is understood in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan:
And the Lord said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for festival times, and for the numbering by them the account of days, and for the sanctifying of the beginning of months, and the beginning of years, the passing away of months, and the passing away of years, the revolutions of the sun, the birth of the moon, and the revolving (of seasons).” (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Genesis 1:14)
This means that the festivals of Israel are first introduced and alluded to here in creation. Although the festivals were later committed and entrusted to the Jewish nation, they contain universal truths and applications for all mankind to celebrate. God set up these holy appointments with his people from the beginning of creation. It’s no wonder then that we find the festivals alluded to in the book of Genesis.
So, as we celebrate the Moadim (Festival or Feasts) of our Lord which is today the beginning of Feast of Tabernacles with Rosh HaShannah the Blowing of Trumpets, September 10-11, Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, September 19, and Sukkot, Tabernacles, September 24-30 let us be reminded of the SEVEN BENEFITS SPOKEN IN SCRIPTURE who honor God’s Holy High Convocations:
SEVEN ANOINTINGS OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES:
1. Holy Spirit’s Glory and Power: John 7: 37-38
2. Revelation and Illumination: John 8: 12
3. Prosperity and 100 Fold Harvest: Malachi 3:8, Mark 4: 20
4. Favor Psalms 118: 5-8
5. Victory Over My Enemies: Psalms 118: 10-13
6. Strength to Live and Not Die: Psalms 118: 14-17
7. Abundant Joy and Rejoicing: Psalms 118: 24-29
Wellspring Israel 