Scripture Daily

Context No. 456 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 23:33-38: in context

33The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34“Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to the LORD. 35On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. 36Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work. 37“‘These are the appointed feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering, a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day— 38in addition to the Sabbaths of the LORD, and in addition to your gifts, and in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your free will offerings, which you give to the LORD.

This passage describes the Feast of Booths, the last and most joyful of Israel's yearly festivals, a seven-day celebration in the autumn when the people lived in temporary shelters and rejoiced before God over the harvest. But there is one small detail in the instructions that later tradition made much of, and it is worth noticing. After the seven days of the feast are complete, God adds one more day. On the eighth day, he says, there shall be another holy convocation, a solemn assembly, with no ordinary work. The feast is over, and then God calls the people to stay one more day.

Jewish tradition came to read this eighth day as a day of lingering, and read it tenderly. Picture it this way: the great festival has run its course, the seven days of celebration are done, and the people are about to scatter back to their homes and their work. And God, as it were, asks them to stay just one more day with him, reluctant to let the gathering end. The eighth day is an extension of the joy for no reason other than that God is not eager for the fellowship to be over. It is the gesture of a host who, when the party is winding down and the guests are reaching for their coats, says, do not go yet, stay a little longer. That is a picture of God most of us do not carry around: a God who enjoys the company of his people so much that he adds an extra day just to keep them near.

That reframes something about how I imagine God relates to me. I am prone to picture him as reluctantly putting up with me, tolerating my presence, perhaps a little relieved when my prayers are finished and I stop bothering him. The eighth day suggests the opposite, a God who is eager for my company and reluctant to see our time together end. Do I picture God as barely tolerating me, or as the host of the eighth day who asks me to stay one more day, and am I as reluctant to end my time with him as he apparently is to end his time with me?

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