What is the biblical basis for only keeping the weekly Sabbath while disregarding all the other feasts/holy convocations (Lev 23, Num 28, 29)?

Question

Leviticus 23 introduces several appointed festivals/holy convocations. The chapter starts with:

The Lord said to Moses,

2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. - Lev 23:1-2 (NIV)

Then the festivals / holy convocations are enumerated:

1. The weekly Sabbath (Lev 23:3)
2. The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:4-8)
3. Offering the Firstfruits (Lev 23:9-14)
4. The Festival of Weeks (Lev 23:15-22)
5. The Festival of Trumpets (Lev 23:23-25)
6. The Day of Atonement (Lev 23:26-32)
7. The Festival of Tabernacles (Lev 23:33-44)

Similarly, in Numbers 28 and 29 we find a similar list:

1. Daily Offerings (Num 28:1-8)
2. Sabbath Offerings (Num 28:9-10)
3. Monthly Offerings (a.k.a. New Moons) (Num 28:11-15)
4. The Passover (Num 28:16-25)
5. The Festival of Weeks (Num 28:26-31)
6. The Festival of Trumpets (Num 29:1-6)
7. The Day of Atonement (Num 29:7-11)
8. The Festival of Tabernacles (Num 29:12-40)

It's not rare to come across Christians who claim that the weekly sabbath (Lev 23:3, Num 28:9-10) is still in effect, while all the other festivals and holy convocations are not (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4). What is the biblical basis for that claim?

---

As requested in the comments, I'll briefly summarize the core ideas presented by some of these sites:

1. This site (and this follow-up publication on the same site) basically claims that the weekly sabbath belongs to the moral law, whereas the remaining feasts and holy convocations belong to the ceremonial law, and therefore they conclude that the weekly sabbath still stands but the others are abolished because they were "shadows".

2. This site essentially says the same thing: it talks about the concepts of "ceremonial law" and "moral law", claims that the weekly sabbath in particular is "moral" rather than "ceremonial", and, thus, concludes that the weekly sabbath is still in effect.

Answer 1

A biblical basis for some Christians to claim that the weekly Sabbath is still in effect while the Feasts of Leviticus 23 need not be kept is that it's not clear that the Sabbath is included in the feasts of Leviticus 23 as a feast.

It could be that verse 2 ends by indicating that what is to follow is "concerning the feasts", verse 3 is a parenthetic instructing that Sabbath observance is not to be disregarded during the feasts, verse 4 begins with the introduction "these are the feasts of the Lord" and then verse 5 begins the instructions concerning the feasts.

23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. 

Lev 23:3  “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.

Lev 23:4  “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.

Additionally, the question lists the feasts of Passover and of Unleavened Bread concurrently but if they are enumerated separately (as many hold they should be) then the feasts number 7 without the inclusion of Sabbath. The two are often delineated in Leviticus 23:5-8 under the same (man-made) heading "The Passover" but they are clearly not concurrent. The Passover is a single meal commemorating a single event and occurs on 14 Nissan and Unleavened Bread is a seven day affair beginning on 15 Nissan:

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.” - Leviticus 23:5-8

Unleavened Bread is an example of a feast that lasts multiple days, starting and ending on holy convocations. One of the feast days is, by necessity, a weekly Sabbath. It is not the only feast which also incorporates a weekly Sabbath and so lends credence to the idea of verse 3 being a parenthetic reminder to keep the weekly Sabbath during the festivals.

This explanation does nothing to instruct or suggest whether the Church need or need not keep any or all of them beyond that the audience intended in verse 2 is "the children of Israel" (which thing is an entirely different question).

Answer 2

Technically, Christians today do not and are not "Keeping the weekly Sabbath". The Sabbath was never changed in scripture, by Christ or any writer. The Sabbath is still sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Paul exhorted believers to meet together for worship, but he made the point that it's not important what day we worship, have prayer and take the lord's supper, but that we do it. He didn't say they had to observe the Lord's supper every week, or on Saturday or on Sunday, but that "as often as you do it, do this in rememberance of Christ." This is where we have grace.

In order to best answer the question, we need to understand how the weekly sabbath is similar to the 7 Feasts and how they are different.

The Sabbath was introduced in Exodus at Mt Sinai with the giving of the Ten commandments which God wrote on the stone tablets, and Moses gave to the people. In Hebrew, the word Shabbat means sabbath and the 7 feasts are also Shabbat. So Day of atonement is a feast/ Shabbat and no work can be done. The weekly Sabbath (or Shabbat) is also a day of rest and no work is to be done. The word Shabbat and the part about not working is what they have in common. Here's how they are different - the weekly sabbath was a civil law, not a moral one, and this is why we don't see it repeated in the New Testament. Believers met on Sunday because it was when the women went to the tomb and Christ had risen.

Ken G said it well in his answer - "It is not overly clear that the Sabbath should be included in the list of Leviticus feasts mentioned in the above question. Properly speaking the Jewish Sabbath was not a feast at all. For one thing is that the Sabbath is a weekly occurrence. Whereas the feasts listed above were a yearly festivity."

But the most important point - to answer your question about whether Christians should or should not keep the feasts is that technically - the weekly Sabbath is still Saturday, observed by Jews around the world, Messianic Jews, and some Protestant denominations, and we have to look at the context or the audience. This passage was written to Jews in the Pentateuch [Hebrew Torah] and while the first Christians were Jews in the NT, the Jews rejected the Messiah, and even in the 1st century, the church became predominately Gentile.

We also see evidence in the book of Acts, that the early church believers were already beginning to meet and worship on Sunday, - which became known as the Lord's Day. Some in the church were insisting that people needed to keep OT dietary laws, keep the feasts and be circumcised as a requirement for Salvation. Paul was a rabbi and a Pharisee, well schooled in the scriptures, and it was he who told the mixed Jewish and Gentile converts in the early church not to judge each other based on special holidays, and sabbaths, and New Moons. All Jewish months start on the New Moon, and he also said that for believers in Christ, the dietary laws do not apply, and that we are now not under the law, but under Grace. This was why Jesus said "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27. Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

Answer 3

What is the biblical basis for only keeping the weekly Sabbath while disregarding all the other appointed festivals listed in Leviticus 23?

For one thing is that Jesus taught us that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." - Mark 2:23-28

It is not overly clear that the Sabbath should be included in the list of Leviticus feasts mentioned in the above question. Properly speaking the Jewish Sabbath was not a feast at all.

For one thing is that the Sabbath is a weekly occurrence. Whereas the feasts listed above were a yearly festivity.

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. - Leviticus 23:3

The Sabbath Day is for the Ancient Jewish people was a solemn day of rest.

Most Christians of are hold Sunday as a special day of remembrance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some hold it as a feast and a holy day of obligationsuch as Catholics.

In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation are days on which the faithful are expected to attend Mass, and engage in rest from work and recreation, according to the Third Commandment.

The expectation is attached to the holy day, even if transferred to another date, as sometimes happens in the Roman Rite. However, in some countries a dispensation is granted in such circumstances.

The holy days of obligation for Latin Rite Catholics are indicated in canon 1246 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law:

Can. 1246. §1. Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation. The following days must also be observed: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints.

§2. With the prior approval of the Apostolic See, however, the conference of bishops can suppress some of the holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.

Answer 4

The Seventh day Adventist perspective considers that the sabbath is an institution from God from the very beginning of time and was established at creation.

It was then reiterated at Sinai with the words "remember the Sabbath day" as it had been forgotten during the time of slavery in Egypt.

The feast days are not bundled into this weekly reminder of God's creation rather are part of the sanctuary system which points to God. Jesus complete the actual ceremonies in heaven or at the cross. The ones in Leviticus are patterns of the ones in heaven.

These are no longer kept or celebrated as Jesus fulfilled each of these in his ministry. The last was the feast of yon kip pour, or day of atonement. Many Seventh-day Adventist believe that this was fulfilled at the end of the 2300 day prophecy in Daniel and happened in October 22 1844. Where Jesus began his high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

Answer 5

The Days in the Seventh Month
Since Jesus' death on the cross is the once for all sacrifice for sins, no Christian should observe the Day of Atonement which occurs in the seventh month of the year. Jesus' death on cross took place during the time of Passover which comes in the first month of the year. This suggests Christians should compare the two months to more completely understand the timing of Jesus' sacrifice:

Seventh Month                         First Month
1  Trumpets                           1  First day of the year
10 Day of Atonement                   10 Choose the Passover Lamb
14 [Build booth]                      14 Passover - kill the Lamb
15 Day of rest - Tabernacles begins   15 Day of rest - Unleavened Bread begins
21 Tabernacles ends                   21 Day of rest - Unleavened Bread ends
22 Day of rest after Tabernacles

The Day of Atonement is only a type or shadow of the real sacrifice which was to come. Today it is a reminder of the inefficacy of the sacrificial system to correct the problem of sin which could only be done by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Historically, the Day of Atonement remembrance which comes in the seventh month of the year simply shows the significance of the number seven while pointing to the actual time in the future on which the Passover Lamb would be revealed before being offered. This day most likely corresponds to Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and cleansing of the Temple.

The Feast of Tabernacles follows the Day of Atonement. Since the first day is a day of no work, the booth in which one is to spend the next 7-days must be completed on the 14^th day of the month. This corresponds to the day the Passover Lamb is to be killed. Thus, Tabernacles points the Christian to the seven days of Unleavened Bread. While this parallel could be used to argue Unleavened Bread should be observed, comparing both feasts shows that neither is adequate to fully remember the sacrifice of the cross which brings both the Living Bread and a "tabernacle" for those who believe. In other words, the 7-days of Unleavened Bread now serve only as a reminder of the unfinished work of the original Passover of bringing the people out of Egypt. Today it is a reminder of the sacrifice of the cross which brings people out of bondage to sin and into Jesus' Father's House. The Christian has both Living Bread and a Tabernacle: a combination not found in any single annual observation.

Other than "Trumpets" all of the Feast days in the seventh month can be seen as "types" or shadows pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus which would occur in the first month of the year. However, after the seven days of Tabernacles, the people were to observe one final day:

...On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. (Leviticus 23:36)

This eighth day observance concludes the annual calendar and it summarizes the completed work of Jesus. That is, this day rightly summarizes the annual calendar in the light of Jesus' death and resurrection. This "day" has no name and is like the weekly Sabbath except it requires no animal sacrifice. Arguably, it is the one annual day which comes closest to remembering the completed work of the cross, if one remained in the booth for the extra day and shared in the food offering to the LORD.

"The" Sabbath Rest
The primary reason for the "remembering" any day is to remember God's work:

• The weekly Sabbath: God's work of creation and blessing the seventh day
• The annual days: God's bringing the people out of bondage to Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt

Not only is the work of creation a "greater" work; it was God's first work and, arguably, a work which should be recognized and acknowledged by all mankind, not just those who accept His work of redemption.

From this historical perspective the Bible states the rest which the Sabbath remembers was the first day experienced by man and will be a day in the future which the people of God will experience:

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰ for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4) [ESV]

It is clear from both the Old Testament and New the rest envisioned in the letter to the Hebrews was not experienced by those who received the explicit instructions after being brought out of Egypt¹or by those to whom the letter is addressed. In other words, just as there was an initial day of rest which the first man and woman experienced, there will be a future day of rest, literally "Sabbath-rest" σαββατισμός, not Sabbath σάββατον rest κατάπαυσις which the people of God will experience. In this way observing the Sabbath now remembers both mankind's first rest living with God and that rest with Him in the future:

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21)

After God rested on the seventh day, He continued to work (John 5:17). Once His final works of re-creation and redemption are completed, mankind will experience the promised Sabbath-rest. The "eighth day" of Tabernacles points to this future day.

The Other Annual Days
The first days which are instructed to be remembered are Passover and Unleavened Bread:

¹ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

¹⁴ “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ¹⁸ In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.(Exodus 12)

Absent the creation narrative in Genesis, the seven-day period appears to be arbitrary.² However, once the seven days of God's work of creation is known, four things are obvious about the instructions for Passover and Unleavened Bread:

• Both require 7-days
• Both end with a day of rest
• The 7-day period begins on the 14^th day of the first month of the year which was the first day the first man and woman would have been able to observe their first Sabbath.
• The first day is a day of no work, just as the seventh day for the first man and woman (their first day) was a day of no work.

Therefore, it is apparent both the work and remembrance of being brought out of bondage to Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt was patterned after man's experience and remembrance of God's 7-days of creation. That is to say, a present day remembrance of the Sabbath which remembers the 7-days of creation, illuminates God's work of bringing His people out of Egypt.

There was no specific mention of the Sabbath until the second month of that year (cf. Exodus 16). From the details of the manna, the first Sabbath the people observed was was the 22^nd day of that month. This means the people would have already observed at least two Sabbaths before receiving the Ten Commandments.³ It also allows us to "look backward" and place the Sabbaths on the annual calendar:

First Month                              Second Month 
1  Start of the year                     1  [Sabbath #5] 
3  [Sabbath #1]
                                         8  [Sabbath #6]
10 [Sabbath #2] Choose Lamb
14 Passover - Kill Lamb                  14 [Pesach Sheni]
                                         15 [Sabbath #7]
                                         16 First day of manna
17 [Sabbath #3]
18 [First Fruits]
21 Final day of Unleavened Bread
                                         22 First Sabbath observed
24 [Sabbath #4]
                                         29 Second Sabbath observed

God could have identified the Sabbath in the first month but He waited seven Sabbaths before instructing the people to begin to observe the Sabbath. Therefore, the command to observe the Feast of Weeks by counting seven Sabbaths recalls the seven Sabbaths not observed when the people were brought out of Egypt. In addition, the specific day on which the people crossed the Red Sea is not identified, but a case can be made it was on the 17^th. If so, the Feast of First Fruits commemorates the first day the people were truly freed from Pharaoh.

The Christian "Easter Sunday" is a remembrance of the Feast of First Fruits, one of two days on the annual calendar which is determined primarily by a weekly Sabbath. The other is the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost: the day Church began in Jerusalem immediately following the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Many Christians do observe these days, although the remembrance is not necessarily done according to the Jewish annual calendar.

Conclusion
There is good Biblical reason why many of the annual feast days should not be observed as they fail to fully or correctly remember the work of the cross. For example, the Day of Atonement completely misrepresents the timing and/or understanding of Jesus' atoning work.

On the other hand, the continued observation of the Easter and Pentecost may rightly be considered to be "required" days as they do recall the work of Jesus. First Fruits is the day of Resurrection and Pentecost the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. Many Christians continue to observe these days, although not according to their placement on the Jewish calendar, and not acknowledging their full significance to the Judeo-Christian faith.

What is lacking from most Christian calendars is Trumpets and the eighth day of Tabernacles. It may be presumptuous, but it is reasonable to see these two days as pointing to the final Coming of the Lord and as such the Church should treat them as "types" as are the other days in the seventh month and they are not to be observed.

One awaits the Trump of God and one now observes the weekly Sabbath as a regular reminder of both the seventh day of creation and the final day in seventh month (i.e. the completed) annual calendar. This final day is in a sense anticipated when the weekly Sabbath is observed without the required animal sacrifices yet retaining all other elements.

---

Notes:

1. The first explicit command to observe the Sabbath is given in Exodus 16, before the giving of the Ten Commandments or the Law. Thus the command to "Remember the Sabbath..." (Exodus 20:8) is explicit to continuing the practice of observing the Sabbath on the specific day of the week. Moreover, it was God who gave a physical sign as to identify the day of the week which was the Sabbath (no manna), so the command is not a general principle of "rest:" it is instruction of rest on a specific day.
2. Although there is no astronomic sign or celestial means by which any seven-day period can be tracked. It is only remembered by first identifying the point at which to begin and then counting the days.
3. So "Remember the Sabbath..." means to continue to observe the Sabbath on the day of the week which you have been.

Answer 6

There are several sources or examples from scripture that people use to support the practice of only keeping the Sabbath, but disregarding all the other feasts/holy convocations.
First, I want to simply raise the point that part of the question is confusing and not clear.
That is to say that the overwhelming majority of Christians around the world technically do not observe the Sabbath, rather, they observe the Lord's Day on Sunday.
The only exception to this is Seventh Day Adventists, and Messianic Jewish congregations. The majority meet for worship and the Lord's supper on Sunday, but this is not the sabbath. It's the Lord's Day.

The sabbath always was the 7th day and it still is - Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. It is in fact why 7th day adventists observe the sabbath like the Jews, because they correctly say that the Sabbath was never changed in scripture, but rather church tradition changed the day of worship.
The reason from scripture is that Catholics and Protestants point to scriptures of early church Christians who were meeting for rest and worship in the mixed congregations of Jews and Gentiles - the churches to whom Paul's epistles were written - the mixed believers at Corinth, Galatia, Rome, Thessalonica, Philippi, etc. Gentile believers were meeting for worship on the first day of the week as did the apostles. We have Biblical evidence from multiple churches in different cities, where we see the mixed believers - Jew and Gentile, meeting on the first day of the week.
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/The-First-Day-Of-The-Week

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/The-First-Day-Of-The-Week What they don't find is examples of whole congregations celebrating Passover, and Day of Atonement, and Feast of Booths, after the crucifixion, but they somehow miss (out of ignorance maybe)- the fact that after the resurrection, the early church believers all gathered together for Pentecost, which is Feast of Weeks, and it was at this feast that the Holy Spirit was poured out. It seems that you are pointing out or implying that this is a bit inconsistent. Yes, it is.
The other reason Christians disregard the feasts, is that they use the reasoning that the passage in Leviticus was explicitly addressed to the Jews - and therefore those feasts are for the Jews, not for Gentiles. The biggest proof text actually comes from Paul in the letter to the Jewish and Gentile believers at Colosse Colossians 2:16-17. 16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.