The Father made these feast/festivals part of the covenant, they are important. I think He started them to remind the People of important events and they are prophetic for us now.

This is a reference section.

• Leviticus 16 – This is detailed instructions for the sons of Aaron and the Day of Atonement when they go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place. A New Testament connection is this is what Zechariah was doing when he spoke to Gabriel in Luke 1.  
• Leviticus 23 – This covers seven feast and the Sabbath.
• Numbers 28:16 to 29:40 – This covers five feast and gives instructions for the offerings to be made for each feast.
• Exodus 23:14-19 – This has the three feast that all the men were to attend. Other requirements are stated and then these are repeated in Ex 34.
• Exodus 34:18-23 – This also states that all men are to appear three times a year and then in verse 24 it has a promise about the land. (Two witnesses.)
• Deuteronomy 16:1-17 – The three required feast are listed with reminders of the requirements and some encouragement for the feast.
• Ezekiel 45 + 46 talks about offerings and specifically mentions Passover.

The festivals that I am concerned with today is the Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles (John 7) and the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah it is in John 10:22 (this one is not found in the Torah). The narrative of the man born blind (John 9) is in-between these two feast. Image when there were no chapters or verses; the text flowed from one feast to the next with the conversations and the miracle in-between. There are some early manuscripts that do not have the story of the woman caught in adultery, but what a great story of redemption to have right there. Tabernacles is the end of twenty-one days, after all the crops are in, given to the Lord. The seventh month starts with Trumpets, then the Day of Atonement, and finally all of Israel celebrating the journey to the Promised Land. These three also mark the harvest seasons.

I noticed that there are many conversations from Chapter 7 to 10 that flow from the symbolism of the feast. The three required feast for all the men to attend were: Passover, Weeks or Pentecost, Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles.

• Passover is the start of the Jewish religious year. It is when the Death Angel passed over Israel and struck Egypt. The first crop is barley, which is associated with the Children of Israel.
• Weeks or Pentecost (Shavuot) marks the length of time it took Israel to get to Mt. Sinai and meet God. It is seven weeks +1 day or fifty days after Passover. This is the wheat harvest; think about Ruth and Gideon. Wheat can represent abundance and blessing, which then speaks to spiritual growth and maturity. Jesus ascended forty days after Passover, allowing the disciples to pray for ten days.
• Ingathering/Tabernacles (Sukkot) marks the end of all the harvest (fruit); it starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and last for seven days. The Children are to ‘live’ in shelters of branches for this time.

God was looking ahead to the Promised Land when he gave these feasts as part of the covenant while they were in the desert.

• Hanukkah is not in the Torah, but it is part of God’s Song. Jerusalem and Israel were under Greek control; they desecrated the Temple. When the Maccabees beat the Greeks, they wanted to rededicate the Temple for God’s use. (This Temple was built by Zerubbabel [See Haggai and Zechariah] and is known as the Second Temple; Herod used this temple as the Holy of Place in his temple.) Part of the process required that the Temple Menorah be burning using special oil. They only had enough oil for one day, but they started the dedication anyway. The Lamp burned off of that one-day supply for eight days allowing the Temple to be rededicated. This joyful holiday is noted for the miracle supply of oil and for Light.

The Man Born Blind

We do not know the exact time that this miracle took place, but it was between the end of Tabernacles (Jn7:37) and before Hanukkah. This is the time period when the barley crop is planted for the harvest at Passover. The end of Jesus’ ministry is coming, so the disciples have been with Him for three years and He is about to ride into Jerusalem to pay the Bride’s price for His Church, and say, “It is finished”.

In John 9:2 the disciples ask a question that stems from the Second Commandment (Ex 20:5); who sinned? Interesting! (Remember, the Day of Atonement has just happened, that is the day for Israel’s sins to be covered for that year.) Jesus’ answer, Neither. I will bet that many people did not understand that and it shook some religious paradigms to the core. After all it was in the Bible.

I am going on a “what if” journey. Did this man stay with Jesus and see Lazarus brought out of the tomb? Was he with them when Jesus washed feet? Could he have been in the Upper Room on Pentecost and spoke in tongues? Did he get picked to be a deacon? What if he did not go and wash because he knew someone in his family had sinned and he was paying the price? After all it was the Sabbath and walking and washing sounds like work. It is worth noting Jesus never told the man what would happen when he washed. The ‘traditions’ formulated while in Babylon said healing was not allowed on the Sabbath, so that was work.

Jesus was gathering fruit, planting seeds, and being the Light.