God's Appointed Times in the Mosaic Law
The Mosaic law designates specific times for Israel's worship and communal life, anchoring the rhythm of the covenant community in divinely ordained seasons. These "appointed times" (Hebrew mo'adim) appear throughout the Torah as fixed festivals and observances that structure Israel's calendar around God's redemptive acts and agricultural cycles. According to the command of Moses, Israel was to observe "sabbaths, and on new moons, and on appointed seasons, three times in a year—in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths" [3].
The Theocratic Foundation
The Mosaic law operates on a fundamentally theocratic principle: it "refers at once to the commandment of God as the foundation of all human duty" [1]. This theocratic character extends to the temporal order itself. The appointed times are not merely cultural conventions but divine appointments, moments when God meets his people in prescribed ways. Psalm 104:19 observes that "He appointed the moon for seasons," linking the celestial order to the liturgical calendar [4]. The festivals thus embed Israel's worship in creation's rhythms while simultaneously pointing beyond natural cycles to historical acts of deliverance.
The Three Pilgrimage Festivals
The law mandates three annual pilgrimage festivals: Passover and Unleavened Bread (commemorating the exodus), the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (celebrating the grain harvest and, later, the giving of the law), and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (recalling wilderness wandering). These festivals required male Israelites to appear before the Lord at the central sanctuary [3]. The repetition of these observances "three times in a year" established a perpetual memorial, ensuring that each generation would rehearse God's saving acts and renew covenant loyalty.
Continuity and Fulfillment
The law's dependence on the Abrahamic covenant shapes how these appointed times function within redemptive history [2]. While the festivals regulated Israel's worship under the old covenant, New Testament writers interpret them as anticipating Christ's work. The "fulness of time" for the Messiah's appearance [7] suggests that God's appointed seasons reach their culmination in the incarnation and paschal mystery. The law's temporal structure, like its moral and ceremonial dimensions, finds its telos in Christ, who fulfills what the festivals prefigured while establishing a new covenant community no longer bound to the Mosaic calendar's specific observances [5, 6].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply "the Law" (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written code it is called the "book of the law of Moses" (2 Kings 14:6; Isa. 8:20), the "book of the law of God" (Josh. 24:26). The great leading principle of the Mosaic law is that it is essentially theocratic; i.e., it refers at once to the commandment of God as the foundation of all human duty.”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Law Of Moses — It will be the object of this article to give a brief analysis of the substance of this law, to point out its main principles, and to explain the position which it occupies in the progress of divine revelation. In order to do this the more clearly, it seems best to speak of the law, 1st. In relation to the past; 2d. In its own intrinsic character. + (a) In reference to the past, it is all-important, for the proper understanding of the law, to remember its entire dependence on the Abrahamic covenant. See (Galatians 3:17-24) That covenant had a twofold ch”
- II Chronicles “II Chronicles 8:13 (YLT) — even by the matter of a day in its day, to cause to ascend according to the command of Moses, on sabbaths, and on new moons, and on appointed seasons, three times in a year--in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths.”
- Psalms “He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set. -- Psalms 104:19”
- Galatians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Galatians 5:14: 5:14 the whole law can be summed up (or the whole law is fulfilled): Christ’s followers fulfill the law by exercising love toward every neighbor (Lev 19:18; see Matt 7:12; Luke 6:27-36; 10:25-37; John 13:34-35; 15:9-17; Rom 13:8-10).”
- Galatians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Galatians 5:14: all the law--Greek, "the whole law," namely, the Mosaic law. Love to God is presupposed as the root from which love to our neighbor springs; and it is in this tense the latter precept (so "word" means here) is said to be the fulfilling of "all the law" (Lev 19:18). Love is "the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2; Mat 7:12; Mat 22:39-40; Rom 13:9-10). is fulfilled--Not as received text "is being fulfilled," but as the oldest manuscripts read, "has been fulfilled"; and so "receives its full perfection," as rudimentary teachings are fulfilled by the more perfec”
- Mark (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Mark 1:15: And saying, the time is fulfilled,.... Either that which was fixed for the end of the law and prophets, the legal and Mosaic dispensation, and the Jewish church state; or the fulness of time for the Messiah's appearance in the world; which was agreed upon between the Father and the Son, was predicted in various prophecies, and the people of the Jews were in a general expectation of: and the kingdom of God is at hand: the same with the kingdom of heaven, in Mat 3:2, see the notes: See Gill on Mat 3:2, Mat 4:17. repent ye, and believe the Gospel. He called them to rep”