by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
Negotiations for a hostage-prisoner exchange deal with a 6-week ceasefire conducted by expert negotiators from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel have floundered as Hamas continues to reject it.
Meanwhile, a 52-year old Israeli Bedouin hostage, Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi, has been rescued by the IDF last August 27. Al-Qadi is a Muslim; a father of 11 who worked as a security guard and was captured by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel. Another dead body of an IDF soldier, whose name was not disclosed at the request of his family, was recovered from the Gaza Strip the next day, August 28. This soldier died during the October 7, 2023 attack and his body was kept hostage. An additional 6 bodies of hostages (4 men and 2 women) were recovered last August 31, about a kilometer away from where hostage Al-Qadi was rescued alive. These hostages (one of them an American-Israeli) were abducted alive from the Nova music festival and from Kibbutz Be’eri. The IDF says they were murdered by their fleeing Hamas guards shortly before their tunnel was searched. The number of hostages has gone down to 101 with more than 30 confirmed dead. All the remaining hostages are still held somewhere in Gaza where they have been in captivity for nearly 11 months since the Hamas attack on Israel last October 7, 2023.
Let us continue to pray for the release of all the remaining hostages and for a just end to the wars against the Jewish nation. Let us continue to stand with Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9).
As we have seen, Leviticus 23 is the significant chapter of the Old Testament (OT) that specified the holy festivals of the LORD and these also referenced the land promised to the Israelites as their possession, their inheritance. The feasts of the LORD were meant to be celebrated when the Israelites would be living in Canaan.
The next occurrence of a sacred occasion with the land mentioned is found in Leviticus 23:22. The Hebrew verse of Leviticus 23:22 is given below (read right to left, top down) with the LORD instructing the Israelites about the harvesting the fruit of the land during the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot):
וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶ֞ם אֶת־קְצִ֣יר אַרְצְכֶ֗ם לֹֽא־תְכַלֶּ֞ה פְּאַ֤ת שָֽׂדְךָ֙ בְּקֻצְרֶ֔ךָ וְלֶ֥קֶט קְצִירְךָ֖ לֹ֣א תְלַקֵּ֑ט לֶֽעָנִ֤י וְלַגֵּר֙ תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֔ם אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) translation is given below:
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 needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God.’”
The LORD tells his people that while they observe the festival in the land they are to look after the welfare of the poor and the needy sojourner/stranger. This is perhaps a reminder to the Israelites that they were once aliens in Egypt treated harshly by the Pharaoh. The words used are “your land” using the familiar Hebrew noun אֶרֶץ “erets” with an attached plural possessive (pronominal) suffix; and “your field” using another Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה “sadeh” with an attached possessive (pronominal) suffix. This last Hebrew noun can also be translated as “land” but field itself would naturally be part of the land.
In verse 31, part of the LORD’s instructions about the Day of Atonement, “your dwelling places” in context would refer to the land the Israelites would possess as part of the land of Canaan promised to them as their possession and the verse again states that it is a statute that should be observed in perpetuity by all succeeding generations. The same Hebrew word דּוֹר “dor” is also used in this verse for generations as we saw in earlier verses. Likewise, the same Hebrew word מוֹשָׁב “moshab” in verse 31 is used for dwellings or dwelling places we saw earlier in verses 3, 14, and 17.
In the instructions about the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths, Leviticus 23:39 specifies that the produce of the land (אֶרֶץ “erets” with a definite article prefix in the Hebrew) should be gathered to celebrate this festival. Verses 40-43 specify the taking of the fruit of trees and branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and rejoicing while living in temporary booths/tabernacles made from these tree branches and leaves for 7 days on the 7th month of the year. The temporary shelters are to be a perpetual reminder throughout the future Israelite generations living in the land promised that the LORD brought them out of the land of Egypt. They had to dwell in temporary tents/shelters while making their way to the land that was to be their possession, their inheritance. The observance of the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot) would always make the Israelites remember their deliverance from their hardship in Egypt, their dwelling in temporary tents while proceeding to the land of Canaan, and celebrating the festival when they would be in their permanent home.
Leviticus chapter 23 thus specifies the appointed festivals of the LORD that would be observed perpetually by all Israelite generations in the permanent place of their dwellings, in the land promised to them by the LORD.
We will continue next time.
God bless us all.