THE SEVEN MO’ADIM

Pesach – Matzah – Bikkurim

Shavuot

Yom Teruah – Yom Kippur – Sukkot

The names mean; Pesach (Passover); Matzah (unleavened bread); Bikkurim (Firstfruits);

Shavuot (weeks); Yom Teruah (day of shouting); Yom Kippur (day of atonement); Sukkot (Tabernacles); Holy Convocation (day of assembly); Mo’ed or Mo’adim (appointed time).

The Seven Mo’adim are known in Scripture as the “appointed times of YHVH.” Each one is a special occasion when we as Talmidim of Yeshua come into the presence of our God, not out of obligation, but rather because we desire to observe what YHVH commanded for his people Isra’el. None of the appointed times can be observed as they originally were given in Scripture, because of the absence of the sacrificial system. However, they hold a great significance for us, as they speak about Yeshua.

Three Clusters of Mo’adim?

As shown above the seven fall into three groups. The first three (Pesach, Matzah and Bikkurim) are known as the Spring Mo’adim, because all three occur in the first month of the scriptural calendar, which begins in March or April each year (springtime in Isra’el). Then fifty days after Bikkurim comes Shavuot, which occurs in May or June. The third group are fall appointments that all occur during the months of September or October. There are no Mo’adim between the end of October and March, over the winter months in Isra’el.

The scriptural requirements are laid forth in Vayikra (Leviticus) Chapter 23 along with the timing for each Moed in that chapter sets forth the offerings that were required on each occasion. However, since the destruction of the 2nd Temple the offerings have no longer been possible, so the people of Isra’el offer prayers in place of their sacrificial offerings.​

Yeshua in the Seven Mo’adim?

The whole of Vayikra Chapter 23 prophetically points to the seven stages in the life of Yeshua in a profoundly significant way. Each stage matches one of the seven Mo’adim, with the first three completed during the month of Aviv (1st month) in 30 CE, followed by Shavuot 50 days later on the eighth day of the 3rd month. Then at Yeshua’s return it is most likely that the final three Mo’adim will be fulfilled. In chronological sequence just as the three spring Mo’adim and Shavuot were all fulfilled by Yeshua in 30 CE. 

As Yeshua fulfilled the first four Mo’adim exactly on time we are now left with the final three as shown in red, which are yet to be fulfilled at the time of his return and beyond. 

Yeshua and the Three Fall Mo’adim

The first fall Moed is likely to be fulfilled at Yom Teruah, which will be heralded by the sounding of the Great Shofar and the upward call of all who have been called by Yeshua to be part of his bride. That event is likely to be followed by divine retribution against all the nations of the world who have all had a part in the persecution of the people of Isra’el over many millennia. If the pattern set by the fulfilment of the three spring Mo’adim, then it makes sense that the divine retribution will occur on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) just ten days after the gathering of the bride at Yom Teruah. Then the third and final event would be Sukkot, which appears to be the marriage banquet in heaven. 

Awaiting the 5th Mo’ed

In this 21st century we are now eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of the next and final phase of Vayikra Chapter 23. Having fulfilled the first four Mo’adim in the year 30 CE, it follows that the remaining three autumn or fall Mo’adim will also be fulfilled in exactly the same manner on the specific days of Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot sometime in the future.

As Talmidim of Yeshua are presently looking forward to the time when on a yet unknown Yom Teruah the 1st day of the 7th month, Yeshua will return for the upward call of his bride in accordance with the words of Sha’ul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:-  Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become sad the way other people do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died. When we say this, we base it on the Lord’s own word: we who remain alive when the Lord comes will certainly not take precedence over those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. So encourage each other with these words.
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Following that upward call the last two Mo’adim remain to be fulfilled. They are Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Revelation indicates that while the wedding of the Lamb is taking place in heaven the angels will release the four winds that are presently being held back in Revelation 7:1-3, then in Revelation 19:6-9:-  Then I heard what sounded like the roar of a huge crowd, like the sound of rushing waters, like loud peals of thunder, saying, “Halleluyah! ADONAI, God of heaven’s armies, has begun his reign!  “Let us rejoice and be glad! Let us give him the glory! For the time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and his Bride has prepared herself -- fine linen, bright and clean has been given her to wear.” (“Fine linen” means the righteous deeds of God’s people). The angel said to me, “Write: ‘How blessed are those who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb!’” Then he added, “These are God’s very words.” 
 
Once the three fall Mo’adim have been fulfilled only the last Mo’ed Sukkot will remain in accordance with Zachariah Chapter 14:16-19, because Sukkot will continue as an annual Mo’ed during the reign of Yeshua.

The Mo’adim and Holy Convocations

Along with the seven Mo’adim, Vayikra Chapter 23 also refers to seven Holy Convocations which are times of assembly, when all Isra’el was obligated to appear in the presence of YHVH, in accordance with verses 4 and 38, where we read:- v4 “These are the designated times of ADONAI, the holy convocations you are to proclaim at their designated times.” v38 “it is a day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work.”

In verse 4, the holy convocations are called designated times of YHVH, and in verse 38, they are further defined as times of public assembly, on which no ordinary work was to be done! The timing of the seven holy convocations is also specified as follows:-

Verses 7 – “On the 1st day [of Matzah] you are to have a holy convocation; don’t do any kind of ordinary work.” 

Verse 8 – “On the 7th day [of Matzah] is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.’”

Verse 21 - On the same day [of Shavuot], you are to call a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.

Verse 24b - In the 7th month, the first of the month [Yom Teruah] is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy  convocation announced with blasts on the shofar.

Verse 27 - “The 10th day of this seventh month is Yom-Kippur; you are to have a holy convocation, you are to deny yourselves, and you are to bring an offering made by fire to YHVH.

Verse 35 - On the 1st day [of Sukkot] there is to be a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.

Verse 38b - on the 8th day [of Sukkot] you are to have a holy convocation and bring an offering made by fire to YHVH; it is a day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work.

Yeshua and Bikkurim

We see from these verses, that the 1st and 7th days of Matzah along with the 1st and 8th days of Sukkot, plus, Shavuot, Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are all holy convocations, that together give a total of seven. Bikkurim is not mentioned. Instead it is replaced with the 7th day of Matzah, which is not referred to as a Moed. So, why is Bikkurim treated differently from the other six Mo’adim?

It is because Bikkurim was not a day of assembly for the people of Isra’el. Their only part in the observance was to bring a sheaf of barley to the Cohen. Then it was the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) who made the wave offering on behalf of Isra’el as recorded, Vayikra 23:9-11 then 15-16, where Moshe (Moses) says:- 
ADONAI said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen.  He is to wave the sheaf before ADONAI, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat.... v15 “‘From the day after the day of rest — that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving — you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to ADONAI. 

In these verses there appear to be two reasons why the Cohen waved the sheaf of firstfruits (Bikkurim). Firstly, in verse 11 to provide acceptance of Isra’el before YHVH on the day after the Shabbat that falls midway between the 1st and 7th days of Matzah. The second is verse 15 which established the date on which the “Count of the Omer” commenced. The Omer count lasted fifty-days starting on the day of Bikkurim and ending on the day Shavuot all in accordance with verse 16. But, in these verses neither function appears to relate to Yeshua.

However, it was on Bikkurim that Yeshua ascended to the presence of his Father, in Yochanan 20:17. Also on that day he said to Miryam:- “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father.” (The KJV says – “Touch me not”). He said those words in the morning, then later that same day, after he had been into the presence of his Father, he appeared to the two of his followers on the road to Amma’us late in the afternoon. Then that same evening, he entered the Upper Room in Luke 24:39 and said:- Look at my hands and my feet — it is I, myself! Touch me and see — a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I do.” 

There is a very important difference between the statements of Yochanan 20:17 and Luke 24:39, because Yeshua in his resurrected form could not have human contact before he ascended into the presence of his Father, such contact would have rendered him ritually unclean and therefore, unable to enter into the Heavenly Sanctuary and the presence of his Father. By contrast, having returned in the evening of that same day, he could then say touch me, because while in Heaven he was given all authority in Heaven and on Earth by his Father – El-Elyon (God Most High).

What we are seeing here in these two verses is a direct reflection of B’midbar 19:17, where Moshe is speaking about the ashes of the red heifer, when he says:- 

“Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with [these ashes] on the third and seventh days; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

While Miryam was not a corpse, she was at that point in time ritually unclean by contrast with Yeshua’s ritually clean in his resurrected body. That is why she could not touch him, which is more correctly rendered in the KJV. The difference between Yeshua and Miryam, was that Yeshua had passed from death to life eternal, while Miryam was still subject to the Adamic death. This must be seen in the context of Yeshua’s own words in Luke 9:59-60:-  To another he said, “Follow me!” but the man replied, “Sir, first let me go away and bury my father.”  Yeshua said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!” 

​Clearly, the man who made that statement was not himself physically dead, otherwise he would not have been able to bury his father. So, in the context of those words, Yeshua was showing the difference between life after resurrection and life before. The man, just like Miryam were still living in a state of death. Neither had passed from death to life eternal, which human beings can only do, when Yeshua returns and either awakens them from the sleep of Adamic death or gives the upward call to those still living as part of his body, as stated by Sha’ul in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-18.

​Yeshua and Shavuot

Just ten days after Yeshua ascended to the right hand of his Father, he sent the Ruach HaKodesh down upon his called out Talmidim who were present in the Temple Court for the observance of Shavuot. The events of that day are recorded for us in Acts Chapter 2. See the 7th panel – Bikkurim to Shavuot for more details. That outpouring of the Ruach, was the beginning of the Messianic Community, which developed and grew in numbers over the next forty-years, until the destruction of the 2nd Temple. Beyond that time the original leadership of the Messianic Community, had died off or been killed. Therefore the leadership began to move into the hands of the Gentile followers and what became known as the Christian Church began to form. See the 9th panel – Judaism and Christianity for more details.

​"This essay was written by Graeme Purdie – Founder of Talmidei Yeshua Messianic Ministry of NZ and may only be shared in full and must include this citation at all times. All scriptural references, unless stated otherwise, have been taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029 www.messianicjewish.net."

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