Jewish Holidays
Since Passover, I have been giving alot of thought to the idea of celebrating Jewish holidays. Since I have been to Israel twice and was able to participate in a number of holidays, they hold a place in my heart! As Christians, we consider the Sabbath and the importance of taking that rest and connecting with God. Why not also consider some of the other holidays? Passover and Purim are two that stand out the most. Consider this about Passover...
Exodus 12:14 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. .
Exodus 12:24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
And this about Purim...
Est 9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
Est 9:26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews (and what of Spiritual Jews?), nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
There are more holidays I could address - Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and even Chanukah - of which the history of the Maccabean rebellion was prophesied in Daniel. But I won't go any further today that Passover and Purim.
But I guess I have been struck with the fact that we as Christians do not observe these holidays ... but why not? Don't we, more than the Jews, have reason to remember the things God has done ... and the preservation of the Jewish race in order to usher in the Messianic kingdom through Jesus Christ? Without the history of Passover and Purim - the Jewish people would be obliterated. But God chose to preserve them in order to bring Jesus to earth ... without whom none of us would have hope! Maybe we should consider making some of the Jewish holidays part of our calendar ... and praise and worship God through the rememberance of what He has done ... as far back as the Exodus!
Exodus 12:14 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. .
Exodus 12:24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
And this about Purim...
Est 9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
Est 9:26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews (and what of Spiritual Jews?), nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
There are more holidays I could address - Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and even Chanukah - of which the history of the Maccabean rebellion was prophesied in Daniel. But I won't go any further today that Passover and Purim.
But I guess I have been struck with the fact that we as Christians do not observe these holidays ... but why not? Don't we, more than the Jews, have reason to remember the things God has done ... and the preservation of the Jewish race in order to usher in the Messianic kingdom through Jesus Christ? Without the history of Passover and Purim - the Jewish people would be obliterated. But God chose to preserve them in order to bring Jesus to earth ... without whom none of us would have hope! Maybe we should consider making some of the Jewish holidays part of our calendar ... and praise and worship God through the rememberance of what He has done ... as far back as the Exodus!
posted by Lisa Stucky at 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
I have loved our discussion about this topic. I am excited about the new thing God is doing in opening my eyes to some of these things. I always wish I had all the good traditions already in place and sometime I let myself get bogged down and discouraged about so many things I'm not doing that are so great. But God is gracious and I know it's not a reason not to start, just a barrier for me.
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