Deuteronomy 16

Chap. XVI. Ver. 1—22. Three times in the year—namely, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, every Israelite was to appear at the tabernacle; or, after it was erected, at the temple at Jerusalem. Of these great feasts we have already spoken. It is enough here to observe their general import and design. 1. The Passover to the nation generally was a commemoration of their redemption from Egypt; to believers, the true seed of Abraham, it also pointed out that atonement by which we, as well as they, are redeemed from sin and hell. 2. The feast of weeks, or of the barley harvest, was an acknowledgment of the goodness of Providence in supplying us with daily food; and intended to excite believers to bring forth ‘‘the fruits of the Spirit,”

in every good word and work. Accordingly it was at this season (the day of Pentecost) that the Holy Spirit was conferred on the apostles and disciples at Jerusalem. 3. The feast of Tabernacles at the close of the vintage, and of the ingathering of all their fruits. This followed within a few days of the great day of atonement, and seems designed to teach the people, and us also, that the only just foundation of rejoicing is in the forgiveness of our sins. But these feasts appear to have had also a farther design in promoting brotherly love and domestic harmony. ‘I was glad (says the Psalmist) when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord, whither the tribes go up…. to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.”

((Psalms 122:1-4).) “The Lord thy God shall bless thee (says the inspired legislator) in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.” Nor was this all. Gratitude to God was not to be expressed in words only: “They shall not appear before the Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee.” And this also affords the just measure of our benevolence. God gives us before we can give at all, and we should be liberal as he is gracious. The concluding verses of this chapter enjoin a rigid equity in administering judgment. “Justice! Justice!” as the margin reads, should be the ground of all our decisions between man and man.

But while we are taught this, we are taught also that this is not the whole of our duty: we must have a regard not only to the rights of man, but to the rights of God, whose honour must not be compromised by mingling in any shape or degree the services of idolatry with the worship of Jehovah.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVI. Ver. 1. Observe the month of Abib.—The first fifteen verses of this chapter are little more than what we have had before. 1. On the passover, see (Exodus 12)xiii. (Leviticus 23:4), &c. 2. On the feast of weeks, or pentecost, see (Exodus 23:16-19). (Leviticus 23:10), &c. 5. On the feast of tabernacles, see (Leviticus 23:34); &c. Ver. 10. Atribute.—Margin, “A sufficiency.” The Hebrew Méssah, which is only found in this place, is a contribution, as Mas is often used for a tribute. (Ainsworth.) To the chapter preceding, (ver. 8.) the same learned commentator remarks, “Sufficient for his need,” is by the Chaldee expounded Missath, the very word here used by them; and he infers, that beside the rigid demands of the ritual law, something was expected as a proof of their ready and cheerful obedience.

Ver. 11. Thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, &c.—There was a law similar to this enacted at Athens, by Cecrops, who ordained that the master of every family should, after harvest, make a feast for his servants, and eat together with them who had taken pains for him in tilling his ground; for God delighted in the honour done to servants, in consideration of their labour. This law it is probable he borrowed from Moses. Ver. 18. In all thy gates.—(This expression probably refers to the gate of the city being the forum or place of public concourse among the Israelites, where a court of judicature was held for trying all causes and deciding all affairs. The same practice obtained among other Eastern nations.

The Ottoman court, it is well known, derived its appellation of the Porte, from the distribution of justice, and the dispatch of public business at its gates. And the square tower which forms the principal entrance to the Alhambra, retains to this day the appellation of the Gate of judgment, from its having been the place where justice was at one period summarily administered.—Bagster.