On 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. The sacred assembly at the beginning and end of the seven-day feast frames the entire period as worship. Work is suspended; the community gathers; the festival is corporate rather than individual. Leviticus 23:4–8 repeats these instructions as part of the appointed festivals of the Lord. The rhythm of sacred assembly and rest built into the festival calendar is Israel's embodied theology: time belongs to God, and He claims portions of it for gathering His people. Hebrews 10:25 commands not giving up meeting together — the assembly that frames the week of Unleavened Bread is the ancient template for the gathered community that the New Testament calls the church.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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