What Does Leviticus 23:8 Mean?

(8) **But ye shall offer.**—Better, *and ye shall offer. *In addition to the daily ordinary sacrifices, there were offered on this day, and on the following six days, two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year, with meat offerings for a burnt offering, and a goat for a sin offering (Numbers 28:19-23). Be sides these public sacrifices, there were the voluntary offerings which were made by every private individual who appeared before the Lord in Jerusalem (Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16), and which, according to the practice during the second Temple, consisted of (1) a burnt offering of not less in value than sixteen grains of corn; (2) a festive offering called *chagigah, *the minimum value of which was thirty-two grains of corn; and (3) a peace or joyful offering (Deuteronomy 27:7), the value of which was left to be determined by the good will of the offerer in accordance with Deuteronomy 27:7. These victims were offered with the ritual prescribed in Leviticus 3:1-5; Leviticus 7:16-18; Leviticus 7:29-34. **In the seventh day . . . ye shall do no servile work.**—This was, in all respects, celebrated like the first, with the exception that it did not commence with the paschal meal. During the intervening days the people indulged in public amusements, as dances, songs, games, &c, to fill up the time in harmony with the joyful and solemn character of the festival. They were also allowed to irrigate dry land, dig watercourses, repair conduits, reservoirs, roads, &c.