Holidays
Each tribe has a holiday (holy day) on the annual calendar. The following table explores.
| Tribe | Holiday | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Judah | Selection Day | 1/10 |
1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
2"This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
3Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. Exodus 12:1-11 (Exodus 12:1-3 NIV) | ||
| Reuben | Passover | 1/14 |
5The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. (Exodus 12:5 NIV) | ||
| Gad | Unleavened Bread | 1/15 |
6Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
7Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (Exodus 12:6-7 NIV) | ||
| Asher | Unleavened Bread | 1/21 |
8That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. (Exodus 12:8 NIV) | ||
| Naphtali | First Fruits | by observation |
9Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire -- head, legs and inner parts. (Exodus 12:9 NIV) | ||
| Manasseh | New Grain | 50 days later |
15For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
16On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat -- that is all you may do. (Exodus 12:15-16 NIV) | ||
| Simeon | Trumpets | 7/1 |
23When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
24"Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. Exodus 12:24-28 (Exodus 12:23-24 NIV) | ||
| Levi | Atonement | 7/10 |
26And when your children ask you, `What does this ceremony mean to you?'
27then tell them, `It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped. (Exodus 12:26-27 NIV) | ||
| Issachar | Tabernacles | 7/15 |
33The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!"
34So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. Exodus 12:33-36 (Exodus 12:33-34 NIV) | ||
| Zebulun | Tabernacles | 7/22 |
36For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work. (Leviticus 23:36 NIV) | ||
| Joseph & Benjamin | Purim | 12/14 & 12/15 |
20Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,
21to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
22as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. Esther 9:20-22 (Esther 9:20-22 NIV) | ||
| Dan | Sabbath | Every 7th day |
3"`There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. Leviticus 23:3 (Leviticus 23:3 NIV) | ||
Notes on mapping
There are several decisions being made for this grid to come out as it is. First, there are only 12 holidays a year, so Dan ends up with the weekly Sabbath instead of an annual holiday. This works, however, as each tribe also gets a New Month/Month for the year, including Dan, though only on leap years that contain a 13th month, such as the 7th and 50th years. When you realize that every tribe has a month in the year and thus a New Month holiday, and every tribe, except Dan, has an annual holiday, the only holiday left is the weekly Sabbath, which MUST grid to Dan.
In order to get 12 holidays in a year several tribes share a holiday. Gad and Asher share Unleavened Bread. This makes plenty of sense though as there is both an "opening assembly" and "closing assembly" that book-end the week-long meeting. In the same way Issachar and Zebulun share Tabernacles later in the year.
Another thing that's going on to arrive at 12 holidays is to give Judah "Selection Day" on the tenth day of the first month. This is the day you "select" the lamb for Passover on the fourteenth, and it appears to be a legitimate day in and off itself and fits nicely with Judah (which we'll explore below).
The third and last decision causing there to be 12 holidays in the year is to give Purim two dates since it was originally practiced across two days. So Joseph takes the first date and Benjamin the second.
Observations
Gad is the table of bread in the tent, so his alignment with the opening of Unleavened Bread is a wonderful match. His brother, Asher, matches the closing assembly of this holiday.
Naphtali has "goodly words." Words are not something, they are a description or communication of something. Words are like First Fruits, a sample of the thing, but not the thing. They give you an essence. This is why Jesus says things like words reveal the heart.
Manasseh makes sense on New Grain since it counts 50 days from the First Fruits holiday. 50 is a common prophetic number for Manasseh and matches his 50 states.
Simeon lands on Trumpets, which matches his theme of giving/receiving counsel.
Levi makes lots of sense on the day of Atonements since only the high priest entered the holy of holies in the temple with blood once a year on the day of Atonement and the priests were always from the tribe of Levi.
Purim makes sense for Benjamin, since modern Israel is basically a Jewish state and Purim is a Jewish holiday instated after ancient Israel was scattered into the world.