Deuteronomy 16
McGeeCHAPTER 16THEME: Three main feasts: Passover, Pentecost, TabernaclesIsrael was given three feasts which all the males were required to attend: Passover, Pentecost (or Weeks), and the Tabernacles.
Deuteronomy 16:1
THE FEAST OF PASSOVERThe Feast of Passover was instituted as a memorial to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and their adoption as Jehovah’s nation. The Passover is a festival that laid the foundation of the nation, Israel’s birth into a new relationship with God. To get the background of the celebration of Passover, turn back to Exodus 12. The children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt. Moses had been chosen by God to lead His people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Pharaoh had stubbornly refused to release them, and God revealed His power to Pharaoh by bringing plague after plague upon Egypt. On the fateful night that the final plague was about to descend upon the people, the children of Israel were to express their faith by slaying a lamb, and placing its blood outside the door of the home. Upon seeing the blood, the death angel would pass over the house, which spared the firstborn from death. Because the firstborn died in every home where the blood was absent (including his own), Pharaoh released the children of Israel. God wanted His people to remember this tremendous deliverance and so instituted the yearly Feast of Passover.
Deuteronomy 16:5
That was the Feast of Passover. It was to be observed in one place, which was in Jerusalem. All the males of Israel were to go to Jerusalem at that time.
Deuteronomy 16:9
THE FEAST OF PENTECOSTNotice that they were to number seven weeks after Passover, which would be forty-nine; then the next day would be the Sabbath, the fiftieth day. Because the Greek word for “fifty” is pentecoste, this Feast of Weeks is known as Pentecost. It is also called the Feast of Harvest or the Day of First Fruits. It celebrated the first or earliest fruits of the harvest.
Deuteronomy 16:13
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLESThis was another feast of rejoicing. It lasted seven days and it, too, was to be kept in the place which the Lord should choose, which was Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy 16:16
These are the three feasts which were to be celebrated in Jerusalem, which all males were required to attend. Three times a year they were to travel to Jerusalem to keep these feasts. It was to be a time of rejoicing. Notice they were to come before the Lord with joy.
Deuteronomy 16:18
JUDGES IN THE GATESThe chapter concludes with commandments regarding judges. The courthouse in that day was not a building in the center of town or even in a courthouse square. Instead of being in the center of town, it was at the edge of town, at the gate in the wall around the city. The reason for that was that it was the place where all the citizens entered or left the city. It was the gathering place, just as the square is the gathering place in some of our little towns. Knowing the human heart as God does, He warns against distorting justice, about respect of persons, and about accepting a bribe.
Deuteronomy 16:21
A grove was connected with idolatry and with sinful worship in that day. That was the reason they were not to make groves. It was in those groves that the altars and images and idols were made to heathen and pagan gods. You can see that this is very close to the worship of the Druids in Europe. Paganism goes in for that that type of thing, and God is warning His people against it.