Vayikra 23:39-43 (Emor) - The structure of Vayikra chapter 23: Sukkot and mikrei kodesh

One oddity of Vayikra chapter 23 is that from 23:1-23:36 there are laws about the festivals, including Sukkot, then there are two ostensibly concluding verses, 23:37,38, but then 23:39-43 record new laws (about the four species and the sukkah) concerning Sukkot. Why were the laws of 23:39-43 not recorded before the concluding verses of 23:37,38? (For a different answer than below, see our discussion above, “The structure of the book of Vayikra.”)

A possible answer to this question is from the concluding verse in 23:37, which records that these are the festivals that are to be declared or designated as mikrei kodesh, separated days. This declaration also appears in the beginning of the chapter, 23:2, and throughout the chapter, 23:3,4,7,8,21,24,27,35,36, while the phrase does not appear in the verses after the concluding sentences, 23;37,38. This suggests that all the information about the festivals that was recorded in the chapter until 23:37,38 are part of the process of declaring a day a mikrei kadosh, while the laws of the festivals in the end of the chapter 23:39-43 do not relate to declaring or designating a day as a mikra kadosh. All of the verses recorded between 23:1-36 relate to this theme of proclaiming a day a mikra kodesh. 23:3 explain that Shabbat is proclaimed as mikra kodesh since work is forbidden on the day, see our discussion below, 23:1-4, "Designating special days." 23:5 records the obligation to bring the korban pesach on the fourteenth of the first month (Nisan) not because this day is a mikra kodesh, but because the bringing of the sacrifice is part of the process of declaring the holiday of Matzot, and especially the first day of the holiday as a mikrei kodesh. 23:6-8 refer to the prohibition of work on the first and seventh days of the holiday of Matzot, the 15th and 22nd of the first month (Nisan). During this seven-day period, sacrifices are brought and one is to eat of matzot, and these acts proclaim the 15th and the 22nd as mikrei kodesh. 23:9-22 refer to the sacrifices that proclaim Shavuot as a mikra kodesh, the omer and the two loaves. This section also records the obligation to count forty-nine days since the counting connects these sacrifices, and hence the counting is also part of the process of declaring the 50th day of the omer, a special day. Afterwards, 23:22, records laws concerning harvesting crops. These laws are not related to designating any day as a mikra kodesh, but they are recorded as a reminder about how one is to harvest since Shavuot signals the beginning of the harvest season. The following verses are 23:23-25, which records the sacrifices, a ritual act and the prohibition of work that make Rosh Hashanah a mikra kodesh. The next verses, 23:26-32 records the sacrifices, the prohibition of work and obligation to afflict one’s self that make Yom Kippur a mikra kodesh. Finally, 23:33-36 record the prohibition of work on the 15th (the holiday of Sukkot) and on the 23rd of the seventh month, the fact that holiday of Sukkot lasts seven days and the sacrifices that proclaim the 15th and the 23rd day as a mikra kodesh. The next verses are the concluding verses 23:37,38 which end the section of laws that designate a day as a mikra kodesh, a special day, while the following laws of Sukkot do not relate to designating the day of Sukkat as a mikra kodesh.