What is a holy convocation?

Answer

A convocation is a summoned assembly. The holy convocations commanded in the Mosaic Law were held on special religious days that required a gathering of God’s people. Some translations refer to the holy convocations in the Law as “sacred assemblies.”

Some examples of holy convocations in the Bible are Sabbaths (Leviticus 23:2-3); Pentecost “And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”, (Leviticus 23:21); Passover (Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 23:7); and the Feasts of Weeks, Tabernacles, and Trumpets (Numbers 28:26; Numbers 29:1; Leviticus 23:35-36; 23:24). The Feast of Unleavened Bread called for two holy convocations, one on the first day and the other on the seventh day “The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.”, (Exodus 34:18). Every year on the tenth day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement; Israel was commanded to fast on this day and to gather at the tabernacle or temple. This was referred to as the “holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:27; Numbers 29:7; ESV).

Today, the word convocation used in religious contexts is often associated

Associated with the convening of a synod, a council that convenes to decide on doctrines or the implementation of doctrines within an organization. A convocation can be an ecclesiastical assembly of significance, an academic assembly led by a university, a gathering of alumni at a college, a meeting of governing officials to appoint a chancellorship or other high office, or merely a graduation ceremony.