It was a perilous journey. The Atlantic Ocean on September 1620 was tumultuous.  Then on November 9th, a shout was heard from the deck of the ship called Mayflower, “Land-Ho!”  In humble thanks to God, the Separatists from the Church of England, fell on their knees and sang Psalm 100.  

Their first winter was disastrous.  Less than 50 survived of the 102 that sought religious freedom in the New World. Later, in the providence of God, two English speaking natives came to the settlement and taught them to hunt, fish and cultivate local food.  By the following year the Puritans were blessed with a bountiful harvest.  Desiring to offer thanks to God, they modeled the first American Thanksgiving on the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.      

According to the ancient rabbis, during Temple times, Psalm 100 was sung at the time of the peace offerings (Targum). The Peace offering usually signified fellowship and praise.  However, it was also viewed as an expression of sincere gratitude of thanks for God’s Salvation.

In the Old Testament sin was atoned by means of the sacrificial system. Priests were delegated the responsibility of ministering in the Temple.  The priests served as the people’s mediator and it was all an elaborate ritual. It was a good system but, something better and lasting was promised to come.

 

Only priests were allowed to enter the inner Temple gates.  But now, through the finished work of Jesus the Christ, the Great High Priest, all may “enter into His gates with thanksgiving.”  Animal sacrifices are no longer required. Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered Himself to cleanse us from all sins. So now, any believer in Jesus can enter “His courts with praise.”  Therefore, there is a constant open opportunity in a spirit of gratitude, to always “be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

The ancients regarded thankfulness and gratitude as supreme expression.  There’s an old Jewish saying, “In the days to come, all prayers will be abolished, except prayers of thanksgiving” (Wayyikra Rabbah, 9:7). It was also anticipated in fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, “that in the Messianic era all sacrifices will cease, but only the sacrifice of peace, gratitude and thankfulness will continue on for ever” (Midrash).  

Psalm 100:4 is an invitation to a grateful heart. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

 

Thanksgiving is a special time shared by all Americans who gather together to eat tons of turkey, watch parades and football games, and share with one another all of the reasons they are thankful.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday rooted in the history of this great country. In 1621 pilgrims and puritans celebrated Thanksgiving for the full harvest they received from God, and by 1789 our first president George Washington marked Thanksgiving “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.”

However, the notion of offering thanks to God didn’t originate with the pilgrims and puritans who emigrated to America; it actually goes back as far as the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.

The book of Leviticus is full of commands and laws from God for the Israelites to offer up sacrifices on certain days, at certain times, for certain reasons. The majority of these sacrifices were required of the Israelites… no ifs, ands, or buts!

However, there was one sacrifice in Leviticus that wasn’t a requirement. This sacrifice was to be a pure expression of thanks to God, it’s called the Todah (“Thanks”) offering. In fact, today when you travel to Israel one of the first words you learn in Hebrew is todah–– “thank you”!

So, as an Israelite if you simply wanted to say thank You (todah) to God for all the blessings He’s bestowed on you as one of His children, you would follow the law outlined in Leviticus 7:11–15.

According to the rabbis the thankful Israelite would bake 40 loaves of bread (30 unleavened/10 leavened) mentioned in Leviticus 7:12–14. After baking his loaves of bread he would choose his finest lamb or goat and travel to the Temple in Jerusalem. This walk could be an hour or days journey depending on where you live, just to say, “todah, Lord!”

When the thankful Israelite would arrive at the Temple he would give a portion of his bread (about 5 loaves) to the priests. The priest would take the offered lamb or goat and sacrifice it to the Lord; that whole lamb would be offered up to God. After it’s been cooked the priest would take that barbecued lamb off the altar and give it to the thankful Israelite who was required to eat all of it by the end of the day: “The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning” (Lev. 7:15).

Now, for Thanksgiving we all buy turkeys that range from 12-20 lbs., which that can feed  8-15 people, with some leftovers for a casserole or turkey sandwich the next day. According to Leviticus, the thankful Israelite was required to eat all of the lamb (100+ lbs.) by the end of the day! Now he has 35 loaves of bread and 100+lbs. of lamb to eat. I certainly hope there’s no tryptophan in lamb!

You’re probably asking, “So how would he eat all of that food?” The thankful Israelite would take his abundance of meat and bread that he used to show thanks to God and bless family, friends, and even strangers with a filling meal. As they would sit around to eat, inevitably they ask why the Israelite was so thankful to the Lord, which gave him an opportunity to glorify the Lord and what He has done in his life.

I love the way the Lord structured this sacrifice. First, it wasn’t required, which means God doesn’t want a manufactured “Thank You” from us. Instead, He wants us to give Him the praise and thanks He deserves from the heart. Second, the Lord didn’t take sacrifice for Himself, instead His impossible demand to eat all of the meat by the end of the day encouraged the thankful Israelite to glorfy God and bless others.

Let me ask you, what are you thankful to the Lord for this season?

CJK