Our modern day feasts (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc…) are a staple of American culture.

While it really is the most wonderful time of the year, I think the function of these feasts have been clouded by modern day individualism, and there are some things the Old Testament feasts can teach us about how to enjoy these gatherings.

To be clear, I’m not saying the Old Testament feasts are exact substitutions for our modern day feasts. Additionally, all of the ceremonial requirements in the law, including these feasts, have been fulfilled in Christ.

But I do think we can learn from how these feasts worked in the annual cycle of God’s people. So let’s jump in.

The 7 Annual Feasts

There are 7 annual feasts in the Old Testament, all outlined in Leviticus 23:

Spring:

• Passover

• Unleavened Bread

• First Fruits

• Trumpets

Fall:

• Pentecost

• Atonement

• Booths

6 Observations from these Feasts

Here are some of the similarities between all these feasts:

God-centric

These feasts were all created by God and pointed the people back to Him in their celebrations.

Worshipful

Each of the feasts all had some kind of rest day where the people stopped what they were doing to worship God.

Reflective

These feasts served as appointed times to stop and remember something about God and what He did.

Purposeful

Each of the 7 feasts served distinct purposes, from repentance, to celebrations, to memorials, etc…

Sacrificial

Each of the feasts required some kind of giving up of something, whether it was a sacrificial lamb, harvest wheat, etc…

Relational

Each of the feasts were corporate, in the sense that the people of God celebrated them together.

3 Things to Learn From These Feasts

With these observations in mind, here are three ways these Old Testament feasts have helped me think through modern day Holiday feasts:

1. Self-Worship ➡️ God Worship

From a cultural perspective, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years tend to celebrate us, rather than be reflective and point us back to God and what He has done.

Rethinking the purpose of why we are gathering in the first place can help us recapture the worship of God in these feasts.

This thinking really helps us orient an attitude towards eating.

Why am I feasting in the first place?

Is it merely to please myself? Or is it something more?

That reorientation has been transformative in the way I’ve approached eating during these feasts.

2. Individualism ➡️ Community Focused

The next step from self-worship is a neglect of others. Once we start focusing on how these feasts impact us as individuals, we can neglect the community aspect of celebrations.

God’s people celebrated these feasts together, as a way to corporately remember the good things God has done for His people.

Personally, I’ve found the Holiday gatherings with God’s people have made these feasts even sweeter. Eating together has a unique way of strengthening bonds and relationships.

Lastly, these types of gatherings require some level of sacrifice. This is true when my wife and I have been the hosts of these meals, or when we have traveled to gather elsewhere. The giving these feasts require, in either material resources or time, has always yielded a return in terms of relationships.

3. High Activity ➡️ Purposeful Activity

This is another progression from self-worship and individualism. When these celebrations become more about the stuff done than the substance of the celebration, this generally creates a high level of activity without a clear picture of why it’s done in the first place.

This activity can create unrealistic expectations that are burdensome. For instance, the Thanksgiving meal can be prepared for a picturesque Pinterest board instead of prepared for the preferences of the bellies the food will go into.

I think this can apply to rest as well. While most U.S. workers take a lot of time off around these Holidays, I’ll be the first to tell you that when I took this time off I filled my schedule up to the brim.

I restlessly looked at the additional time off I had as an opportunity to get non-work stuff done. And in hindsight, I regret this high level of activity.

The feasts in the Old Testament typically were served with a side of an allocated time for rest. And that is a delicious dish when set aside and savored.

If you liked this, check out the Fit Tip Friday newsletter, where I release similar content like this every week.