In the Bible, there appears to be a close link between the weekly Sabbath and the Israelite festivals. For instance, the instructions for observance of Yom Kippur, which God communicated to Israel through Moses, stipulate that “you shall do no manner of work."
It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you” (Lev. 16:29, 31; NJPS). Several other festival days throughout the year (Matzot, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, and Sukkot) call for lesser sabbaths of rest from occupational work (23:7-8, 21, 24-25, 35-36, 39).
What is the nature of the relationship between the weekly Sabbath and the festival sabbaths? Is their meaning and application the same, or does Scripture draw distinctions between them?
There is no question that in the Bible, the weekly seventh-day Sabbath is the foundation of all sacred time. By blessing and consecrating this day of cessation from work at the close of creation (Gen. 2:2–3), God invested it with a special relationship to Himself. Elsewhere in the Creation story, God’s activity of creating light, food, air, and companionship was for the benefit of all human beings. Similarly, on the seventh day, He created sacred rest by resting. To receive the blessing of Sabbath rest, human beings created in God’s image (1:27) would follow His example by consecrating the day as He did.
Because God instituted the weekly Sabbath before the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin (Gen. 3), its ongoing significance as the “birthday celebration of Planet Earth” does not depend on human need for redemption from sin in any era. So Sabbath is not one of the temporary "types or symbols that God has put in place after the Fall in order to point forward (in history) or upward (to His temple in heaven) to greater realities by which He reconciles people with Himself.
The annual festivals of ancient Israel, on the other hand, did originate from the historical crux of redemption and symbolize milestones on the way to ultimate salvation in the future. In addition to commemorating the past deliverance of the chosen people from Egypt and their present enjoyment of agricultural bounty, the Israelite festivals also connected worship of the one true God with the future. The New Testament identifies this future: Yeshuah, the Passover Lamb, was sacrificed (John 19:14; 1 Cor. 5:7; compare Exod. 12) and rose again on the day after the Sabbath following Passover (John 20:1) as a special “firstfruits” offering (compare Lev. 23:11—elevated sheaf, so-called “wave sheaf”) to pave the way for a great “harvest” of human beings from death through the way of resurrection that He provides (1 Cor. 15:20).
For Israelites, the festivals served as historical memorials of faith, expressions of thanks and praise to God, and harbingers of things to come. Of course, their function as harbingers ceased when the future became present and the events to which they pointed were fulfilled. Now the focus of our worship is directed toward God’s temple in heaven (compare Ps. 11:4), where, according to the book of Hebrews, Yeshua is our sacrifice (rather than many animals) and High Priest (rather than a mortal, sinful man).
So should modern followers of Yeshua feel obligated to keep the Israelite festivals today? We can certainly identify with the experience of historical rescue and the gratitude for present blessings that they express, even though we would not wish to participate in sacrifices that serve as harbingers because our Lamb has come. A major problem with keeping the festivals is a practical one. To really keep the essential biblical requirements for festival observance, we would be required to go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices there at a functioning temple of Adonay (Exod. 23:14–17; 34:22–24; Lev. 23; Num. 28–29). But although we can travel to Jerusalem, the Romans tragically destroyed the Second Temple in 70 A.D. So today, it is simply impossible to keep the biblical festivals as such.
Christians are not obligated to keep the festivals, with their core of animal sacrifices that can no longer be practiced. Nevertheless, we can have the privilege of voluntarily participating in Jewish holidays, which involve rich expressions of faith adapted from important biblical elements that require neither sacrifice nor pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In this way, we can trace and reinforce our journey with God and gain a deeper understanding of our common heritage as spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham and heirs of the covenant promise (Gal. 3:29).
What about the weekly seventh-day Sabbath? Has this requirement also passed away? It is true that the Israelite ritual system honored the Sabbath with ceremonies performed on this day (Lev. 24:8; Num. 28:9–10). Indeed, it would be strange if Sabbath were not acknowledged in the Israelite institutions of worship. But the fact that these rituals have passed away does not diminish the original core value of the Sabbath as acceptance of sacred rest from the Creator (Gen. 2:2–3; Exod. 20:8–11; 31:12–17), implying allegiance to Him as Lord of human life. According to the Bible, the weekly Sabbath originated before the Fall (see above) and was made for all human beings (compare Mark 2:27). It has never been a temporary harbinger of things to come that passes into obsolescence when greater realities arrive.
It is true that in Heb. 4, God offers a total Sabbath-like rest experience to those who believe, but this does not supersede the literal weekly Sabbath. In Ps. 95:7–11, to which the epistle to the Hebrews refers, ultimate rest was available to Israelites in Old Testament times, and they failed to receive it only because of their unbelief, not because their weekly Sabbath was only a foretaste of better things to come. The fact that both the seventh-day Sabbath and the “rest” offered in Heb. 4 were available at the same time proves that the former was not a temporary “type” to be superseded by the latter.
So what about Col. 2:16–17, which appears to include Sabbath among things that are a “shadow” of what is to come? Does Paul here regard Sabbath as a temporary historical “type”? In verse 16, as in Ezek. 45:17 and Hos. 2:11, the order “festival—new moon—Sabbath” reverses the “Sabbath—new moon—festival” order in the festival calendar of Num. 28–29, which lists sacrifices on weekly Sabbaths (28:9–10), at new moons (verses 11–15), and at yearly festivals (28:16–29:40). This kind of reversal (chiasm) was a common way for an ancient author to establish a literary connection. Since the source to which Paul alludes is Num. 28–29, which deals with sacrifices, he is not referring to basic Sabbath rest but to rituals performed on the Sabbath and pertaining to Sabbath in that sense, which served as “shadows” (= harbingers). His point is that Christians are not obliged to partake in the ritual system.
Just as the Lord appointed weekly and yearly times of worship and thanksgiving for the Israelites, we can benefit from regularly scheduled times to celebrate our ongoing relationship with Him. As we continue to observe the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, it reminds us that we have come from the hand of our Creator, God. He sustains every breath we take (Dan. 5:23), and everything good comes from Him. Even in our pressured, goal-oriented lives, the Sabbath liberates us from slavery to work.
Although we no longer keep the Israelite festivals, we can learn much from them and their fulfillment. They teach us that God has a carefully crafted plan and process, now in progress, to complete our redemption from evil and all its effects and to bring us to a better promised land.
Roy E. Gane is a professor of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern languages.
Image: Yakov Chernin for Shalom L.C.
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