Gestation and Biblical Feasts―What's the Connection?

October 13th, 2023

In today's blog, our very own Alyssa Glander addresses the relationship between the human gestation period and the Jewish Feasts of the Lord. Yes, there really is a connection, and it gives us a beautiful glimpse into another aspect of our God's ingenuity and omniscience.

Hi, it’s Alyssa Glander, and I am 33 weeks pregnant TODAY! Up front, I want to credit Zola Levitt, a since passed but well-known Messianic Jewish Bible teacher, with the research behind today’s blog, as well as my father-in-law, Dave Glander, who introduced me to this topic.

Please know this is not your average “birds and the bees” talk, but rather a completely new perspective about “the making of a baby.” This topic addresses the relationship between the human gestation period and the Jewish Feasts of the Lord! The intricacies of gestational development have left me both floored and exhausted during this time of development for my precious daughter. I can honestly say I've never felt so alien in my own body, yet I’m also incredibly amazed by what God created it to do.

I’ll begin with the gestation calendar for pregnancy and will show how it parallels the Jewish feast calendar as part of an apparent and intentional plan.

The egg appears on the 14th day of the first month. While a woman's body prepares for ovulation during her menstrual cycle, the egg needed to help create the child appears. What also happens on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar is what we know as Passover (Numbers 28:16)! In the celebration of the Passover, during the Seder meal, it is customary for Jews to use an egg on the Passover table as a symbol for new life.

Boom! That right there (as we say in the south) was enough to hook me and get me excited to read further about the correlations between these times of celebration. (It also made me crave cheesy eggs with bacon because I'm 33 weeks pregnant and am in a serious love affair with breakfast food right now.)

The newly appeared egg MUST be fertilized within 24 hours, or it will pass on. This would fall on the 15th day of the first month and marks the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6)!

Both leavened and unleavened bread were typical in the ancient Near East. Unleavened bread would be made hastily when serving a meal to an unexpected guest due to the speed at which it was prepared. However, the most common use of unleavened bread would, of course, be used for the celebration itself. This feast commemorates the Jewish people fleeing from Egypt. The Feast of Unleavened Bread signifies anxiety and readiness for an awaited new journey and new life promised to us by God.

Within two to six days, the fertilized egg travels down the tube toward the uterus before it becomes implanted. This reflects the Festival of First Fruits, the spring planting festival which also does not fall on a specific date but occurs and is observed two to six days after Passover!

At 50 days, our little one is developing slowly. Now, we can recognize the new life of having hands, feet, eyes, and legs―fully embracing its beautiful and recognizable form―a “complete” anatomy, if you will. Most secular doctors would say that this is when the child can be first recognized as “ taking on human form.” This time period marks Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, the day that the Israelites confirmed their covenant as the people of God. It marks the day God gave His Law (Torah) to His people on Mount Sinai. The Jewish people recognizing God’s law was the recognition of the beginning of them as His chosen people.

Next is what I would consider to be the COOLEST time during a pregnancy. The baby's hearing fully develops at the beginning of the seventh month. It can recognize and become familiar with her parents’ voices and other distinguished sounds (maybe a trumpet, for instance (; ). The Feast of Trumpets occurs at this time!

In the second week of the seventh month of the baby's development, oxygen is carried throughout the body by the iron-containing protein, “hemoglobin, " found in red blood cells. The baby’s hemoglobin begins changing to become more like that of adult hemoglobin. This change better adapts the baby to live in the outside world, breathing air rather than living in the womb. This time period correlates to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During this time, each believer would present a sacrifice with blood that was acceptable and mature to atone for their sins.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the lungs fully develop, making it possible for the baby to survive outside the womb. This incredible development corresponds to the date of the Feasts of Tabernacles. This time celebrates a joyous feast remembering the days that God lived with the Jews in the wilderness. During this time, God’s people lived in temporary booths and worshiped in a portable tabernacle. (Just as the womb is a temporary accommodation for the child) The “Tabernacle” is the House of the Spirit. “Spirit” and “breath” come from the same word, whether in Old Testament Hebrew (ruach) or New Testament Greek (pneuma).

The average gestation period is 280 days. From Passover to Hanukkah is 280 days; this festival symbolizes victory and a new birth of Israel.

There is so much information on these festivals/celebrations that I BARELY skimmed the surface. I hope this information makes you, like me, want to dive deeper into the details, for when we do that, the more apparent it is that God does nothing without intention.

Author Bio:
My name is Alyssa Glander! I have been walking with the Lord since I was about 17, and He has shouldered me all the way!! I am a content and social media manager at Reasons For Hope and the second youngest member of the team! I've been happily married to my amazing husband Marc for about five years now, and we reside in Georgia with our certifiably insane (but sweet) Boston Terrier, Axel! We're also so very excited to welcome a new addition to our family in November.

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