“The people of Israel camped at Gilgal, and they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of Yericho. The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and roasted ears of grain that day.The following day, after they had eaten food produced in the land, the man ended. From then on the people of Isra’el no longer had man; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Kena‘an.”-Joshua 5:10-11
Now that Israel has been circumcised, they are finally given the go-ahead to observe the spring festivals.
Let me clear up one common point of confusion for those who aren’t too familiar with the Biblical feasts.
Even though only PESACH or Passover is mentioned here, understand that Unleavened Bread and First Fruits is also included.
It was just understood that PESACH(Passover), MATZAH(Unleavened Bread) and BIKKURIM(First Fruits) came together as one package because on the calendar they arrived one after another consecutively.
Passover occurred on the 14th day of Nisan (the 1st month).
Matzah kicked off on the 15th day of Nisan.
And Bikkurim took place on the 16th day of Nisan.
Can you see why it’s important for every believer-whether of Jewish or Gentile extraction-to study the Torah?
Because there ain’t such a thing as just celebrating just one of the feasts and not the others.
You either observe the whole kit and kaboodle or you observe nothing.
Anyways, just know that while the text says that Israel celebrated Passover, by default they also observed Matzah and First Fruits.
Heck, verse 10 tells us they ate MATZAH and also partook of the produce of the land.
These are plain-as-day references to BOTH the feasts of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits.
Also, understand that the celebration of these three feasts at this point in the Scriptures represents a revolutionary change in lifestyle for Israel.
Instead of everyone sitting on their butts and waiting for God to rain down Manna from heaven on them, the people would now have to work the land and produce their own food.
Of course, the produce Israel ate during this first observance of Passover was food grown by their enemies-the very people who they would be conquering.
In fact, until Israel succeeded in taking all the land, they would celebrate many feasts using the food grown by the Canaanites.
The important thing was that Israel consumed the veggies, fruits and grains etcetera that were produced inside the Holy Land.
Now, there’s an important takeaway here I don’t want you to overlook.
Just as the Lord expected a now more matured Israel to live off the land He gave them instead of what He rained down from the heavens, so too does He expect us to produce our sustenance from the resources He gives us in our lives.
This is a key step in our spiritual growth that many of us have a tendency to resist.
We all just want to sit on our couch, chomp on Doritos and watch Netflix all day while expecting the Lord to just shower blessings upon us.
However, that hound dog ain’t gonna hunt man.
Prayer AND getting off of our butts is necessary.
Growing in our faith journey takes blood, sweat and tears and requires a much higher degree of trust in God.
But isn’t that what true fulfillment is all about?
I know a lot of us (including me) would rather just sit on our butts and pray for Hashem’s blessings, but that’s just now how things work homies.
Of course, God could have supernaturally destroyed Israel’s enemies in the land just as easily as He rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, but in His wisdom he chose not to.
I believe the reason is because He wants us to grow from a baby believer who only drinks milk to a mature believer who can handle steaks and the only way to achieve that growth (and get true fulfillment) is to go through the fire.
There is no growth in comfort.
Alrighty, on that note, I’ve got some weights to lift.
See ya all next time.
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