Commentary - Leviticus 23:15-22

Bird's-eye view

This passage lays out the divine legislation for the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, which stands as the second of the three great pilgrimage festivals in Israel's liturgical calendar. Situated fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, it marks the culmination of the grain harvest. This is not simply an agricultural festival; it is a theological statement written in wheat and bread. The central act is the presentation of two leavened loaves to Yahweh, a unique feature among the offerings. These loaves, baked with the new grain, represent the completed harvest, the people of God, brought into His presence. The prescribed animal sacrifices that accompany the loaves, burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings, frame this presentation within the larger context of atonement, consecration, and fellowship with a holy God. The feast is a holy convocation, a day of rest from laborious work, and a perpetual statute. Crucially, the instructions for this celebration of abundance are immediately followed by a command to care for the poor and the sojourner through the practice of gleaning. This juxtaposition is intentional and potent: true gratitude for God's provision must overflow into generosity toward one's neighbor.

Typologically, this feast points directly to the events of Acts 2. Just as the grain harvest was gathered in, so too on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out, and the first great harvest of souls, three thousand of them, was gathered into the church. The leavened loaves are a picture of the Church, composed of redeemed sinners (leaven often symbolizing corruption) who are nevertheless accepted by God because of the accompanying sacrifices, which all point to Christ. The entire ordinance is a portrait of God's covenant faithfulness, moving from the firstfruits of the resurrection to the full harvest of the Church, all grounded in a rhythm of grace that demands a response of joyful, open-handed charity.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus 23 is the great chapter of Israel's sacred calendar. It details the "feasts of Yahweh," the appointed times when Israel was to cease its regular work and gather for holy convocation. This chapter is not a random collection of holidays but a structured, Christ-centered liturgy that unfolds the entire story of redemption. It begins with the foundational rhythm of the weekly Sabbath (23:1-3). Then, it moves chronologically through the year, starting with the spring feasts: Passover and Unleavened Bread (23:4-8), which commemorate the Exodus and point to Christ's death, and Firstfruits (23:9-14), which celebrates the beginning of the harvest and points to Christ's resurrection. The Feast of Weeks (23:15-22), or Pentecost, follows as the climax of the spring harvest festivals. Later in the chapter, the fall feasts are detailed, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles, which point to Christ's second coming, the final judgment, and the eternal rest. So, the Feast of Weeks is not an isolated event; it is a crucial link in a chain, connecting the resurrection of Christ (Firstfruits) to the birth of the Church (Pentecost).

Key Issues

The Shape of Gratitude

God is not interested in abstract gratitude. He is not interested in a vague, sentimental feeling of thankfulness that floats around in our heads. When God commands gratitude, He gives it a shape, a form, a liturgy. He puts bones on it. The Feast of Weeks is a detailed blueprint for the shape of gratitude. It is gratitude that remembers, gratitude that counts, gratitude that offers, gratitude that rests, and gratitude that gives. It is a full-bodied, concrete, tangible response to the concrete, tangible goodness of God in providing the harvest. And as with all Old Testament liturgy, it is a shadow, and the substance is Christ. This is the shape of the gospel taking root in the life of a community.

Verse by Verse Commentary

15-16 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall bring a new grain offering near to Yahweh.

The instructions begin with an act of counting. This is not busywork. Counting is an act of eager anticipation. It connects the beginning of the harvest to its end. The starting point is the day after the Sabbath during Passover week, the day the firstfruits sheaf was waved before the Lord, the very day our Lord rose from the dead. From that point, Israel was to count seven full weeks, a sabbath of sabbaths, culminating on the fiftieth day. The word Pentecost simply means "fiftieth." This period of counting built a tension, a forward-looking hope. It taught the people that the resurrection (Firstfruits) was not an end in itself, but the beginning of something bigger, a great harvest. And when the count is complete, the result is a new grain offering. The first offering was just a sheaf of barley; this one is a finished product, baked bread. The work is done, the harvest is in, and it's time to celebrate.

17 You shall bring in from your places of habitation two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to Yahweh.

Here we have the central element of the festival: two loaves of bread. Unlike the bread of the Passover, which had to be unleavened, these loaves are explicitly commanded to be baked with leaven. This is highly significant. Leaven throughout Scripture is often a symbol of sin and corruption (1 Cor. 5:6-8). So why is it commanded here? Because this offering represents the people of God. The firstfruits sheaf was Christ, risen from the dead, pure and without sin. But the harvest that grows from that resurrection is the Church, made up of redeemed sinners. We are brought into God's presence not because we are sinless, but because our sin has been atoned for. The leaven is an honest confession of what we are. The fact that these leavened loaves are accepted as first fruits to Yahweh is a profound statement of grace. God accepts His people, leaven and all, on the basis of the sacrifice that accompanies them.

18 Along with the bread you shall bring near seven one year old male lambs without blemish and a bull from the herd and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

The leavened loaves do not come alone. They are surrounded by a flurry of sacrifices. First is the burnt offering, a massive one. This offering symbolized total dedication and consecration to God. The animal was completely consumed on the altar, representing the worshiper giving his all to God. The fact that these offerings are described as a soothing aroma to Yahweh tells us that God is pleased by this act of total surrender. This is what makes the leavened loaves acceptable. The people's consecration is acceptable to God because of the perfect substitute, Jesus Christ, who offered Himself completely on our behalf.

19 You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

Two more types of offerings are required. A goat is offered as a sin offering. This is crucial. It is the direct atonement for the leaven in the loaves. Before the people can be consecrated to God (burnt offering) or have fellowship with God (peace offering), their sin must be dealt with. The sin offering acknowledges the people's guilt and provides the means of purification through the shedding of blood. Then come the two lambs for the peace offerings. This was the fellowship meal. Parts of the animal were burned on the altar, parts were given to the priest, and the rest was eaten by the worshipers and their families in a joyous feast before the Lord. Atonement (sin offering) leads to consecration (burnt offering), which culminates in joyful communion (peace offering). This is the logic of the gospel.

20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before Yahweh; they shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.

The action of waving the offering before Yahweh was a way of presenting it to Him and receiving it back from Him. Here, the priest waves the leavened loaves along with the lambs of the peace offering. This is a beautiful picture of our union with Christ. We, the leavened loaves, are presented to God in the hands of our great High Priest, and we are only acceptable because we are waved together with the perfect Lamb. The offering then becomes the possession of the priest, a provision for his sustenance. This reminds us that our worship is not just for God's glory, but it also provides for and sustains the ministry of the church.

21 On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; it shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your places of habitation throughout your generations.

This celebration was not to be a private affair. It was a public proclamation, a holy convocation. The people were called together to worship as one body. And it was a day of rest. They were to do no "laborious work." This is not a command for inactivity, but a cessation from the regular work of provision in order to focus on the God who provides. This rest is a foretaste of the gospel rest we have in Christ, where we cease from our own works of righteousness and rest in His finished work. The command for this to be a perpetual statute means that the principles embodied in this feast, anticipation, grace, atonement, consecration, fellowship, corporate worship, and rest, are permanent fixtures of life with God.

22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the afflicted and the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God.’ ”

This final verse is a thunderclap of ethical application. It seems almost tacked on, but its placement is divinely inspired. Right in the middle of the laws for celebrating the harvest's completion, God inserts a law about not completing the harvest. The corners of the field were to be left unharvested, and anything dropped was to be left on the ground. This was God's welfare system. It was not a handout, but an opportunity for the poor, the afflicted, and the foreigner (sojourner) to work and provide for themselves with dignity. The connection is profound. You cannot truly thank God for His abundant provision with a clenched fist. True worship always results in open-handed generosity. Your gratitude for the harvest is demonstrated by how you treat those who have no harvest. The final declaration, I am Yahweh your God, is the ultimate ground for this command. This is not a suggestion from a social reformer; it is the character of the covenant God. He is generous, and His people must be too.

Application

First, we must see that our lives are lived between the firstfruits and the final harvest. Christ has been raised, the first sheaf has been waved, and we are now in the period of counting, the age of the Spirit. The church, born on Pentecost, is the fulfillment of this feast. We are the leavened loaves, accepted by the Father because we are presented along with the sacrifice of His Son. We must never forget the leaven. We must be honest about our sin, but we must not despair over it, because the sin offering has been made once for all. Our worship should be shaped by this gospel logic: atonement leading to consecration, resulting in joyful fellowship with God and one another.

Second, this passage demolishes any attempt to separate our vertical worship from our horizontal ethics. It is an abomination to sing praises to God for His provision on Sunday and then on Monday to run our businesses or manage our households in a way that squeezes every last drop out for ourselves, with no thought for the poor or the outsider. The corners of our fields, our bank accounts, our time, our possessions, belong to God, and He has commanded that we leave them for the needy. A budget without a generous line item for charity and hospitality is a pagan budget. A church that celebrates God's grace but is stingy and unwelcoming is a liar. The test of whether we have truly understood the grace of Pentecost is found in the gleanings we leave for others.