Harvest Festivals: What Do They Signify?
The three greatest ancient Jewish festivals were directly connected to their agricultural harvests, theirs being a predominantly agrarian society. The first was the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which began on Nisan 15, a day after the Passover Feast. This festival was celebrated during the barley harvest time. On Nisan 16, the high priest took a sheaf from the firstfruits of the barley harvest and symbolically waved it before God, thus declaring open the feasting and rejoicing that followed. (Lev. 23:6-11). This festival ran from Nisan 15 to 21. Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, and it correspondents to March/April.
The second Jewish harvest festival came up during the third month of the Jewish calendar, which is Sivan. This month correspondents to May/June. This festival, called the Festival of Weeks (that is the Pentecost), took place seven weeks (49 days) after Nisan 16. To declare this harvest festival open the high priest would also perform a wave offering as in the Festival of Unleavened Bread, but this time with two leavened loaves made from the first fruits of the wheat grain. Usually this festival fell on Sivan 6.
The third harvest festival was the Festival of Ingathering. It was referred to as the Festival of Booths (or the Feast of Tabernacles). This one began on the 15th day of the seventh Jewish month (i.e. Ethanim 15). The month Ethanim falls within mid-September and mid-October. The Festival of Ingathering used to be the grand finale of the Jewish agricultural year as well as of the harvest festivals. (Lev. 23:33-36, 39-43). This usually stretched from Ethanim 15 – 21; the 22nd being declared a Sabbath with a solemn assembly.
Reading through Exodus 23:14 – 17, Lev. 23:1 – 43 and Deut. 16:1 – 17, one finds these three harvest festivals which the Israelites were commanded to celebrate. Though they were joyous occasions celebrated with pomp, they invariably culminated in solemn assemblies. Indeed, in one of these festivals, the Feast of Tabernacles precisely, the Israelites, while residing in tents during the seven-day festival, were also to engage in thoughts and discussions about their deliverance from Egyptian slave masters. (Lev. 23:42 – 43).
These symbolic harvest festivals began in Israel under the leadership of Joshua, almost 1,500 years before Christ’s resurrection and the Pentecost of the year 33 AD. Curious Bible-studying Christians will observe that Christ’s resurrection in 33 AD coincided with Nisan 16 when the Jewish high priest usually waved a single sheaf of the first fruits of barley before the altar of Yahweh, thus declaring open the celebration of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. It may also have come to the notice of keen Bible readers that the Pentecost of the year 33 AD coincided with the receiving of the Holy Spirit which Christ had promised his disciples.
It should be noted that, apart from the Lord’s Supper which Jesus himself commanded his disciple to observe in remembrance of his death, the early Christians never celebrated both the Festival of Unleavened Bread and the Pentecost because they had been convinced by means of the Holy Spirit that these symbolic festivals had fulfilled their purposes since 33 AD. What were these purposes?
Since the Mosaic Law was only a shadow of forthcoming better things, the single sheaf of barley – which the high priest usually waved during the Festival of Unleavened Bread for about 1,500 years – pointed to Jesus. As the barley sheaf presented to God by the wave offering was never adulterated by leavening, so was incorruptible Jesus resurrected on the very day that the high priest would wave the raw barley before the altar.
But as for the Feast of Weeks (the Pentecost), it will be noted that what the high priest presented before the altar as wave offering were two loaves made from wheat that had been leavened with yeast. This practice had been going on since the days of Joshua the son of Nun. As a human being the priest would have only two hands and therefore the two loaves held in both hands would suffice to represent the plurality of the adulterated humanity that would be redeemed by grace so that they could be presentable before God as fellow-brothers of (or joint-heirs with) Christ. The anointing of the 120 disciples with the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost of 33 AD was the fulfillment of the purpose for which God had instituted this particular festival.
However, the purpose of the third Jewish of the third Jewish harvest festival is yet to be fulfilled. This was the Feast of Tabernacles. The present-day church harvest festivals have their roots in this third Jewish agricultural festival. It is sad to note that church harvest thanksgiving has turned to a money-making venture, especially with the inclusion of bazaar in the harvest festivals of some churches. This new form defeats the very purpose for which Yahweh had instituted the harvest Festival of Tabernacles. What we read in Revelation 7:9 – 10 has been prefigured by this particular harvest festival if we consider the example at Nehemiah 8:14 – 18. The parable of Jesus at Matthew 13:24 – 30 and 36 – 43 points to the fulfillment of the purpose of this third Jewish harvest as we can foresee in the ingathering of the great crowd at Rev. 7:9 – 17. See what Jesus had said long ago:
“The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the Kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are angels.” – Mat 13:37 – 39.
While the great crowd will have the joy of everlasting life, the reverse will be the case for those who do not qualify to be harvested. Rev. 14:17 – 20 points to the everlasting destruction of such ones at the end of the age. With the understanding that fire represents everlasting destruction, we can be sure that Matthew 3:11-12 also refers to the upcoming everlasting destruction of the evil ones.
Knowing that these things will come true, what should be our attitude toward church harvest festivals and end-of-year thanksgiving services? Should we not be circumspect and remind ourselves of what the harvests symbolize at the end of the age when Christ ushers in his millennial reign? However, in the light of Colossians 2:16, 17 should Christians necessarily engage in harvest festivals as some churches do today?
C.F. Monye
Owerre-Olubor, 17 Nov. 1999
Some Questions
“Knowing that these things will come true, what should be our attitude toward church harvest festivals and end-of-year thanksgiving services? Should we not be circumspect and remind ourselves of what the harvests symbolize at the end of the age when Christ ushers in his millennial reign? However, in the light of Colossians 2:16, 17 should Christians necessarily engage in harvest festivals as some churches do today?”
Yes, Mr Agbaje, those were the concluding questions that you referred to in the tract, Harvest Festivals: What Do They Signify? As for our attitude to church harvest festival, the simple answer is that they should be avoided if we have the guts to do so. Now look at it, the church harvest festival (or thanksgiving, as some call it) has in most part degenerated to an occasion of waste of resources, time and energy; scarcely does anything edifying come out of it. Some even end up in schism within the church! And the scriptures advise against wastage in any form, especially in the aspect of time. – Eph. 5:15-17.
Note that since the casting down of Satan upon the earth, he has been working in frenzy to rope in a large chunk of humanity, knowing that his time is short. (Rev. 12:12). Today, man’s time too is very short and that is why people want to achieve so many things because they know that lifespan has become very short; gone are the days of centenarians! So if time is so short, why not make the most of it by being circumspect and working out our salvation with fear and trembling, moreso, as the end-of-the-age harvest is near? Can the harvest festival (thanksgiving service) in its present format of frivolous junketing help us to realize this goal of eternal salvation when the righteous shall end up in the joy of being in Christ’s barn? – Mat. 13:30, Rev. 7:9, 10, 14.
You mentioned that during the harvest week the injunction at Lev. 23:42-43 is somewhat adhered to by churches when they invite guest speakers and “revivalists” who through their expositions and exhortations remind the congregation to seek God’s Kingdom first and earnestly hold on to the faith that would sustain and lead them to the glorious Kingdom. However, you said that organizing this sort of thing sometimes cost a lot of money by way of paying and entertaining the guest speaker-revivalists. If it costs so much to “hire” such visitors, then they have already received their reward and they may have no part in the Kingdom that they are exhorting others to strive to enter! In terms of humbuggery, this kind of expenditure is not different from bazaar.
If there must be harvest festival at all, the theme of the harvest week should be Christ’s parable at Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Anything outside of this runs against what the Festival of Tabernacles symbolizes. To revert to the literal practice by the Israelites of just residing in tents and feasting is to flout the Biblical advice to Christians of these last days. That advice is found in Colossians 2:14 – 18.
C.F. Monye
23 Nov. 1999
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