UNROLL
A spring dusk in the hill country: a full moon rises over fields of ripening barley while a thin line of tiny lamp flames winds along a road far below, pilgrims walking by night.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 16

Three times a year Israel went up to rejoice before God, and no one came empty-handed.

22 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenant
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighborChapter 16
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a death

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

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At first light after the Passover night, families walk back through a camp of pilgrims’ tents, a father carrying a sleeping child, the last fires smoking low.

The law

Passover at the place

  1. The place

    The sacrifice at the chosen place

    You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

  2. The bread

    Unleavened bread of affliction

    You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

  3. No leaven, no meat left till morning

    No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

  4. The place

    Not in any of your towns

    You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

  5. Only where His Name dwells

    You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

  6. The hour

    At sunset, the hour you left

    Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.

  7. The meal

    Roast it, eat it, then home

    And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.

  8. Rest

    Six days, then a solemn assembly

    For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

Hebrew men carrying wooden kneading bowls of flat, unrisen dough wrapped in cloaks on their shoulders through a dark village street at first light.

Reflect

The day you left

Every spring Israel ate flat, hard bread for a week, “so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.” A meal kept the rescue fresh. What did God bring you out of? Write down the day or the season you first knew He had saved you, and one thing you can do this week to remember it with thanks.

The Feast of Weeks

Moses

The Feast of Tabernacles

On an autumn evening, rows of leafy booths of branches stand on a hillside with lamps glowing inside, families on the slope, and a heap of grapes and baskets of olives by the nearest booth.

You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.

0:30

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.

Three feasts

Passoverspring · rememberEgypt · 1–8Weeksfirst harvest ·9–12Tabernaclesautumningathering ·13–15The place Hechoosesthree times a year ·16Christ ourPassover1 Corinthians 5:7

Whiteboard

Three journeys a year, each tied to the harvest and to remembering. In spring, Passover and a week of unleavened bread recalled the night God brought Israel out of Egypt. Seven weeks later came the Feast of Weeks, when the grain was in. In autumn, after the threshing and the grapes, the Feast of Tabernacles. Each time the whole household went up to the place the LORD chose, servants, Levites, foreigners, orphans and widows with them, and rejoiced before Him. The New Testament sees the Passover fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb sacrificed for us.

Question

Quick question

Each of Israel’s three feasts was tied to a moment in the farming year.

Which feast came seven weeks after the first sickle went into the grain?

Judges and Justice

You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

On a stone bench in a town’s gathering place, an elder judge’s open hand firmly pushes back a small leather pouch heavy with silver that a richly dressed man slides toward him.

Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 16:20

Pray

For those who judge

Moses told Israel to “Pursue justice, and justice alone.” Pray today for the judges, police, teachers, managers and parents who make decisions about others. Ask God to keep them from favoritism and bribes, to give them courage to do what is right, and to make you fair in the small judgments you make every day.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God, and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

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Deuteronomy 16

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A verse to carry with you

Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 16:20

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