contains the special heading for the yearly feasts. בּמועדם at their appointed time.
verses 5-14
The leading directions for the Passover and feast of Mazzoth are repeated from Exo 12:6, Exo 12:11, Exo 12:15-20. עבדה מלאכת, occupation of a work, signifies labour at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exo 35:24; Exo 36:1, Exo 36:3; hence occupation in connection with trade or one's social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, and so forth; whilst מלאכה is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food (Exo 35:2-3). On the Sabbath and the day of atonement every kind of civil work was prohibited, even to the kindling of fire for the purpose of cooking (Lev 23:3, Lev 23:30, Lev 23:31, cf. Exo 20:10; Exo 31:14; Exo 35:2-3; Deu 5:14 and Lev 16:29; Num 29:7); on the other feast-days with a holy convocation, only servile work (Lev 23:7, Lev 23:8, Lev 23:21, Lev 23:25, Lev 23:35, Lev 23:36, cf. Exo 12:16, and the explanation on Lev 12:1-8 :15ff., and Num 28:18, Num 28:25-26; Num 29:1, Num 29:12, Num 29:35). To this there is appended a fresh regulation in Lev 23:9-14, with the repetition of the introductory clause, “And the Lord spake,” etc. When the Israelites had come into the land to be given them by the Lord, and had reaped the harvest, they were to bring a sheaf as first-fruits of their harvest to the priest, that he might wave it before Jehovah on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., after the first day of Mazzoth. According to Josephus and Philo, it was a sheaf of barley; but this is not expressly commanded, because it would be taken for granted in Canaan, where the harvest began with the barley. In the warmer parts of Palestine the barley ripens about the middle of April, and is reaped in April or the beginning of May, whereas the wheat ripens two or three weeks later (Seetzen; Robinson's Pal. ii. 263, 278). The priest was to wave the sheaf before Jehovah, i.e., to present it symbolically to Jehovah by the ceremony of waving, without burning any of it upon the altar. The rabbinical rule, viz., to dry a portion of the ears by the fire,
