year 1, Day 112: Leviticus 23

Hebrew High Holy Days

I’m going to keep this one short.  I’m keeping it short intentionally.  Once you read why, and remember that today is Good Friday, you’ll understand.

Leviticus 23 is about keeping a few special holy Sabbath days.  These Sabbath Days are not the typical Sabbaths (the seventh day of the week).  Rather, these are days that we in the Christian Church might call High Holy Days.  These special Sabbaths could fall on any day of the week, whereas the regular Sabbath always fell on Friday sunset through Saturday sunset.  So we need to understand that the word Sabbath in the Old Testament can mean “one of the ordinary Sabbaths” as well as “one of the High Holy Feast Sabbaths.”

God makes it a point here to tell Moses that there are a few days that a His follower should dutifully remember.  There are a few days that are worth ignoring the world for.  Things like delivering the people from Egypt and bringing them into the Promised Land.

I think the same is true for us.  Sure, we understand Christmas and Easter.  But what about Maundy Thursday?  The day the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper is just a wee bit important.  What about Good Friday?  The day that we remember the crucifixion of our Lord is also just a wee bit important.  Yet these are often neglected, abused, and ill-remembered.

So I’m keeping this reading short.  Let’s remember the holy day that today is.  Today we in western Christianity acknowledge that our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross.

Ordinary Work

I do want to make an interesting observation within this chapter.  Notice the words that are used to describe what cannot be done on the Sabbath?  In the ESV we are told that “ordinary work” cannot be done.  The NRSV says that you shouldn’t “work at your occupation.”  The NIV tells us that “regular work” is to be avoided.  The Holman Bible tells us to avoid “daily work.”

Why is this important?  Each of these descriptions seems to be indicating the routine and mundane work of the world.  God wants His people to avoid allowing the Sabbath to become “just another day of the week.”

What you don’t hear in these words is the pronouncement that work is to be avoided completely.  The mundane and ordinary work is to be avoided, but religious work – God’s work – is more than acceptable.  God wants us to be about His work!

Jesus is accused in the New Testament about working on the Sabbath.  Where the religious leaders of His day get it wrong is that Jesus isn’t doing ordinary work.  He isn’t doing occupational work.  Rather, Jesus is doing the Lord’s work.  Jesus is doing spiritual work.  There is nothing wrong with what Jesus is doing in the Gospel stories!

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