The Basics of the Mo'adim: God's Appointed Times

Netivyah International

Mo'adim (מועדים) is the Hebrew word Leviticus 23 uses for the biblical feasts, and it means "appointed times." You will also see it spelled moadim or moedim. The singular is mo'ed. The picture is of a set meeting: days God marked on Israel's calendar when He promised to meet with His people as a community in a special way.

That is worth slowing down on. God can meet anyone, anywhere, on any ordinary Tuesday. Yet in Leviticus 23:2 He announces specific dates, and He calls them "the appointed times of the LORD." He does not call them Israel's holidays. He calls them His.

Two Hebrew words: mo'adim and chaggim

The Torah has a second word for some of these days. In Exodus 23:14 God tells Israel to keep a chag (חג) to Him three times a year. A chag is a pilgrimage festival, a feast you travel to keep at the place where God's house stands. The plural is chaggim. Deuteronomy 16:16 names the three: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

All three chaggim also appear among the mo'adim of Leviticus 23. So mo'adim is the wider word, and it is the one we use for the whole cycle.

Notice the small words in those verses: "to Me," "of the LORD." These days were given to Israel, and through Israel to everyone who belongs to the God of Israel. Scripture contains many holy moments, but the Torah is the one place where God lays out a calendar for His people to meet Him together. You can see the full shape of it in God's Biblical Calendar.

Four ways to read each feast

Every mo'ed can be studied from several angles, and none of them cancels the others:

• Agricultural: what was happening in the fields of Israel
• Historical: what God did for Israel at that season
• Vital truths: what the day teaches about walking with God
• Messianic: how the day points to Yeshua (Jesus)

Here is the cycle in the order Leviticus 23 gives it.

Shabbat, the weekly appointment

Shabbat (שבת) comes first (Leviticus 23:3), before any yearly feast. The word means "to cease." From Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, the work we do to earn a living stops.

In Jewish homes the table is the center: candles are lit, blessings are said over wine and challah, and parents bless their children. Hebrews 4 speaks of a rest that remains for God's people. Shabbat lets us practice that rest with our bodies, trusting what Messiah has finished instead of striving.

At home: Choose one evening this week. Put the phones away, share a good meal and read Genesis 2:1-3 aloud.

Pesach and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

Pesach begins on the 14th day of the first month, Nisan, which falls in March or April (Leviticus 23:5). On the 15th the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread, Hag haMatzot, begins (Leviticus 23:6-8). Jewish tradition treats the two as one season and calls it z'man cheruteinu, "the season of our freedom."

Families clear leaven from the house and gather for the Seder, retelling how God brought Israel out of Egypt. The week of matzah recalls the journey to the sea, where Moses told the people, "Stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14:13).

Paul writes that "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" and that believers "really are unleavened" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Yeshua was crucified at this very feast. Redemption from slavery in Egypt becomes the language for redemption from slavery to sin.

At home: Read Exodus 12 at dinner. Pass around matzah and ask your children what it means to be set free.

First Fruits and counting the Omer

On the day after the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, a sheaf of the first barley was waved before the Lord (Leviticus 23:10-14). This is Yom haBikkurim (יום הבכורים). In Jewish reckoning it falls on the 16th of Nisan. It is most likely the day Yeshua rose from the dead, and Paul calls Him "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).

That same day begins S'firat haOmer (ספרת העומר), the counting of the Omer. Israel counts 49 days, and the 50th is the next feast (Leviticus 23:15-16). An omer is a measure of grain. Farmers once watched the barley ripen and the wheat grow day by day. Today Jewish families say the count each evening with a blessing.

Those weeks also trace Israel's walk from Egypt to Mount Sinai, a people learning one day at a time how to live free. Our guide to counting the Omer walks through it.

At home: Starting on the 16th of Nisan, read a portion of Exodus 14 to 18 each evening, then move into the Gospels as you count toward Shavuot.

Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks

Shavuot (שבועות) is the second first-fruits feast, this time for the wheat harvest (Leviticus 23:15-21). Christians know it by its Greek name, Pentecost. Rabbinic tradition holds that the Torah was given at Sinai at this season, so it is called z'man torateinu (זמן תורתנו), "the season of our Torah." Many communities study through the night, and dairy foods are customary.

In Acts 2 the disciples were in Jerusalem for this feast when the Spirit was poured out. Then a first-fruits harvest of people came in: about three thousand (Acts 2:41). Word and Spirit, given together, at the feast of first fruits.

At home: Read Exodus 19 and Acts 2 side by side. Ask what each story shows about how God speaks.

Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets

The first day of the seventh month, roughly September, is a day of rest marked by the trumpet blast and called a memorial (Leviticus 23:24). It is Yom Teruah (יום תרועה), widely known as Rosh Hashanah. The trumpet is a shofar, the horn of a kosher animal, traditionally not a cow's.

The Torah does not say what is to be remembered. The shofar's first appearance, though, is at Sinai, sounding louder and louder as God came down to give the Torah and make covenant (Exodus 19:16-19). Paul also writes that the Lord will descend "with the sound of the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Jewish families eat apples dipped in honey, hoping for a sweet year.

At home: Over apples and honey, read Exodus 19 and talk about what it means to hear God's call.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

On the tenth day of the seventh month comes Yom Kippur (Leviticus 23:26-32; Leviticus 16). This was the one day the high priest entered the Holy of Holies. Today Jewish people fast for about 25 hours, spend the day in prayer and confession, and many wear white.

Hebrews 7 to 10 is the natural companion. Yeshua entered "not made with hands" holy places but heaven itself, "by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:11-12). It is a day to think honestly about sin, atonement, forgiveness and cleansing.

At home: Turn off screens for the evening. Write down what you need to confess, pray over it, then tear the paper up as you read Micah 7:19.

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles

Sukkot (חג סוכות) begins on the 15th of the seventh month and lasts seven days (Leviticus 23:33-44). Families build sukkot (סוכות), temporary booths, and eat in them so each generation knows God made Israel dwell in booths after the Exodus (Leviticus 23:42-43). It is the most joyful feast of the year, with a direct command: "You shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days" (Leviticus 23:40).

Harvest, the wilderness and the age to come all meet here. Zechariah 14:16 sees the nations going up to Jerusalem to keep Sukkot. John writes that the Word became flesh and "dwelt" among us (John 1:14), using a word that echoes a tent.

At home: No carpenter needed. A blanket tent in the living room or a camping tent in the yard works. Eat dinner inside and tell your children how God sheltered Israel.

Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day

After the seven days, Leviticus 23:36 calls for an eighth day, a holy assembly with no ordinary work. Its name, Shemini Atzeret (שמיני עצרת), simply means "eighth" and "assembly." The Torah says little else about it.

It arrives as Israel's rainy season begins, and Jewish prayer for rain begins on this day. It is a quiet close to the year's cycle, a good time to look back on what God taught you through the feasts.

Are the mo'adim for non-Jewish believers too?

These days carry special weight for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They hold Israel's own story with God. Keeping them is not what saves anyone. Salvation rests on God's grace in Messiah.

Still, God calls them His appointed times. We believe He invites believers from the nations to stand alongside Jewish believers and celebrate His mighty acts together.

Where to begin

The feasts form a circle, and a circle has no front door. You can step in anywhere. Read Leviticus 23 this week, slowly. Then pick the next appointed time on the calendar and mark it in one small way with the people at your table.

Questions people ask

What does moadim mean in Hebrew?

Mo'adim (מועדים) means "appointed times." The singular is mo'ed. Leviticus 23:2 uses it for the days God set on Israel's calendar to meet with His people as a community, and He calls them "the appointed times of the LORD."

Is it moadim, mo'adim or moedim?

All three spellings refer to the same Hebrew word. The apostrophe in mo'adim marks a break between syllables, and moedim reflects the singular form mo'ed. Each is a way of writing מועדים in English letters.

What are the chaggim?

Chaggim are pilgrimage festivals, from the word chag (חג) in Exodus 23:14. Deuteronomy 16:16 names three: Unleavened Bread, Weeks (Shavuot) and Booths (Sukkot). These are times Israel traveled to keep the feast where God's house stood. All three are also mo'adim, but not every mo'ed is a chag.

Which days are the mo'adim in Leviticus 23?

Leviticus 23 lists Shabbat, Pesach, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, the counting of the Omer, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and the eighth day, Shemini Atzeret. Shabbat comes weekly. The rest fall in the first and seventh months of the biblical year.

Do Christians have to keep the mo'adim?

Keeping the feasts is not a condition of salvation, which rests on God's grace in Messiah. But God calls them His appointed times, and many believers mark them to understand Scripture in its Jewish setting and to celebrate what God has done alongside Jewish believers.