Feasts, solemn assemblies, and evergreen branches
Origen is commenting on Leviticus 23, distinguishing which holy days are mere feasts and which are also solemn assemblies, then explaining the palm branches of the Feast of Tabernacles as signs of grace and hope in Christ.
Verse 2: “These are the feasts of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:2). Every cheerful day on which it has been prescribed to do certain special things as on a holy day, beyond what is done on the remaining days, is called a feast. But not every feast is a solemn assembly; rather, according to the name, it is when people are gathered together from everywhere to the same place. So a solemn assembly is also a feast, but a feast is not necessarily also a solemn assembly. For example, Sabbaths and New Moons are feasts, but Unleavened Bread, the days of the Weeks, and Tabernacles are not only feasts but also solemn assemblies.
Verse 40: “And adornments of palms” (Leviticus 23:40). Through these things it is possible to understand that God apportions to us again in Christ the delights of paradise. The branches of evergreen trees signify in themselves the perpetual nature of grace and the unfading quality of hope.
Greek
Στίχ. β΄. Αὗται αἱ ἑορταὶ Κυρίου. Πᾶσα ἱλαρὰ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ προτέτακται (19), ὡς ἐν ἁγίᾳ τάδε τινὰ ποιεῖν παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ἐξαίρετα, ἑορτὴ καλεῖται. Οὐ πᾶσα δέ ἐστι πανήγυρις· ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοὔνομα, ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συναθροίζονται πανταχόθεν. Ὥστε ἡ μὲν πανήγυρίς ἐστι καὶ ἑορτή· οὐκέτι δὲ ἑορτὴ, καὶ πανήγυρις· οἷον· Σάββατα καὶ Νουμηνίαι, ἑορταί εἰσιν· Ἄζυμα δὲ, καὶ ἡμέραι τῶν Ἑβδομάδων, καὶ Σκηνοπηγίαι οὐ μόνον ἑορταὶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πανηγύρεις.
Στίχ. μ΄. Καὶ κάλλυντρα φοινίκων. Πάρεστι διὰ τούτων νοεῖν (20), καὶ πάλιν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ τὰς ἐν παραδείσῳ τρυφὰς ἀπονέμει Θεός. Φυτῶν δὲ τῶν ἀειθαλῶν οἱ κλάδοι, τὸ διηνεκὲς τῆς χάριτος καὶ τὸ ἀμάραντον τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῖς σημαίνουσι.