Exodus 23:14-19
Key verse 23:14
I hoped that all of you enjoyed the Thanksgiving Day. Some
of us gathered on Thursday and had the dinner together at LL’s house. I enjoyed
the turkey M RL cooked. It was so delicious! We can thank God everyday and we
should. But Thanksgiving Day is special and more meaningful in that we share
joy together in God. The people in the Bible time observed specials events
called moed (מוֹעֵד). There were seven
major events God instituted for them. And among the seven, three are called
festivals (חָג), which we are
going to study today.
Today’s passage, however, does not give details on these
festivals because God gave details in separate books (Leviticus 23, Deut 16),
which were written when the book of Exodus was written. So, we are going to
reference those to better understand these festivals. However, in today’s
passage God teaches us the gist of these festivals in a clear way. I pray that
God may fill our hearts with thank and joy and our relationship with him may
grow continually.
Let’s see the setting of the passage first. In the third
month after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to Mount Sinai, where God
wanted to make a covenant with them; that is, if they obeyed God’s commands,
they would be his treasured people. So, the Israelites agreed and God gave them
the Ten Commandments and then more detailed commands and instructions whereby
they could live as God’s people. Today’s passage was given at that time as part
of the covenant so it was grave commands his people must keep.
14 “Three times a year you are
to celebrate a festival to me.
According to Deut 16:16, these three festivals are the
Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.
16 Three times a year all your men
must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will
choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the
Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:
Let’s see first when and how each of them is to be
celebrated.
The Festival of
Unleavened Bread
15 “Celebrate the Festival of
Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I
commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in
that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
In fact, the festival of Unleavened Bread comes just after
the Passover. So they are often called together either the Unleavened Bread or
the Passover. These originated from the exodus of Israel.
For about 400 years, Israel was in Egypt and became slaves
there. They groaned in pain and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and was
concerned about them. (2:24-25) Then, he raised one man Moses and used him to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But the Pharaoh was not willing to let them
go and treated them more harshly. So, God punished Egypt with his almighty
power. He turned the Nile River to blood and afflicted them with frogs, lice,
flies, a disease on cattle, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. However, the
Pharaoh was stubborn and did not let the Israelites go. So, God prepared the
last plague to subdue him, which was to strike down all the firstborn of men
and animals in Egypt. However, it was unlike the other plagues in that it was
God’s judgment on their sins and so the Israelites would not be exempt from it
either. To save them from this judgment God gave them the special instructions in
Exodus 12 such that they could be saved from the judgment. The instructions
were as follows.
·
Take a lamb for his family and it should be a
one-year old male without defect.
·
Take care of them for five days until the
fourteenth day of the month and slaughter them at twilight.
·
Put the blood on the sides and tops of the
doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
·
The same night, eat in haste the meat roasted
over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.
On the fourteenth day of Aviv, God struck down every firstborn
of both men and animals. But he passed over the houses where the blood was put
on the doorframes. In that way, God saved the Israelites from the judgment and
led them out of Egypt the next day. This is called the Passover. God also told
them to commemorate their exodus for seven days (15th – 21th), which
is called the festival of Unleavened Bread. During this period of time, they
were to
·
Eat bread made without yeast.
·
Remove the yeast from your houses. Whoever eats
anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut
off from Israel.
·
One the first day, hold a sacred assembly, and
another one on the seventh day.
God gave all these commands as a lasting ordinance that they
must keep generation after generation. (12:14) Why? It was because this was
God’s great salvation that they and their descendants must remember. (15b; 12:17;
13:3,8-9,14; Deut 16:3)
This shows how important God’s salvation for them is. It is
the basis of their relationship with God. For example, when God gave the Ten
Commandments and made a covenant with them, he first said to them, “I am
the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out
of the land of slavery.” In many other places in the Bible, God emphasized this
over and over again.
As such, our relationship with God begins with his salvation
and must continue based on it. Without this, our relationship with God will be
superficial and thus can be broken easily. When King Josiah tried to revive
Judah, he removed all idols and then ordered all the Israelites to keep the
Passover. 2 Chronicles 35:18 reads,
“The Passover had not
been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and
none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah,
with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the
people of Jerusalem.”
Interestingly, when they did not keep the Passover well they
began to be corrupted but they were revived when they began to keep the
Passover again. Likewise, if we forget God’s salvation, we cannot continue our
relationship with God and eventually will backslide. Our relationship with God
should be established and continued by his grace of salvation. We must not
forget that God is holy and we sinners were doomed to his eternal judgment but
God has saved us by his grace. This must be always remembered and refreshed and
strengthened again and again.
16 “Celebrate the Festival of
Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate
the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in
your crops from the field.
These refer to two different harvest festivals – the
festival of weeks and the festival of Tabernacles.
The festival of weeks
(Pentecost)
The festival of weeks was also called Pentecost. According
to Lev 23:15-22 and Deut 16:9-12, the Israelites were to celebrate this
festival as follows.
·
Celebrate the fifth day from the firstfruit day
of grain (barely and wheat).
·
Present an offering of new grain along with sin
offering and fellowship offering.
·
Present freewill offering in proportion to the
blessings the Lord has given you.
·
Proclaim a sacred assembly.
·
Rejoice before God together with all family
members and all others, remembering their salves in Egypt.
As such, this festival was to present thanksgiving offerings
for the grain harvest. By doing so, they should recognize that God is the Provider
and the sustainer of life.
The festival of
Tabernacles
According to Lev 23:23-43 and Deut 16:13-17, they were to
celebrate the festival of Tabernacle as follows.
·
For seven days from the fifteenth day of the
seventh month (Tishri) after gathering the crops of fruit.
·
For seven days, present burnt offerings, grain
offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings, and food offerings.
·
Hold a sacred assembly on the first day and another
on the eighth day.
·
Live in temporary shelters for seven days,
remembering God’s provision and care for Israel after he brought them out of
Egypt.
·
By joyful with all the people for God’s
blessings.
The festival of Tabernacles is to give thanks to God for
fruit harvest. During this festival they rejoice together in God’s care,
remembering their life in the desert after their exodus and appreciating their
abundant life in the land of promise. So, this festival is the most joyful and
relaxing festival.
So far, we have learned about the three major festivals. The
festival of Unleavened Bread is to thank God for his salvation and the festival
of weeks and the festival of Tabernacles are to appreciate God’s provisions.
Instructions for the
festivals
There are many things involved in keep these festivals. But
in verses 17-19, God is teaching them the most important things they must do
when they keep the festivals.
17 “Three times a year all the
men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 “Do not offer the blood of a
sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until
morning.
19 “Bring the best of the
firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
First, God demanded them to present offerings to God for all
the festivals and the offerings must be presented as follows.
·
Sacrifice must be without yeast.
·
No fat is left until morning.
·
The best of the firstfruits must be offered.
Here we can see that God is very concerned about offering in
terms of what they are to offer and how they should be presented. In these
offering instructions, we can learn about who God is and how we should recognize
and honor him.
·
God is holy. Yeast here refers to ungodliness or
sin. God does not tolerate such things in nature. We must serve and worship him
in a holy way. If not, it is dishonoring him and he will be not pleased with us
at all. We should serve him without any tinge of our sinful desire and human
agenda. If not, whatever we do for him is meaningless and even disgusting to
him.
·
God is worthy of our best. He deserves our first
and best from our incomes and whatever we earn. By offering our best, we truly
recognize that he is our savior and our king and Lord. He must be the first in
our heart and in our life.
·
God is the source of blessing. Presenting the
firstfuit to God means that we confess that God is the owner of ours and will
provide for us continually and that we depend on him alone.
As such, the key element of festival is offering given by
faith and with reverence. Offering is our appreciation to God for what he has
done for us. It is our confession that God is the only true God we must worship
and praise. It is also our faith that God will provide for us continually. Presenting
offering is the most basic attitude toward God for his people to do. Offering
is presented not because God is in want but because he wants to sustain our
life and bless us more. God wants to be the first in your heart. God wants to
be honored as God. His ultimate desire is to have the right relationship with
us so that he may be honored and we may be blessed more.
Another interesting thing here is that God demanded all men
of Israel to appear before him and celebrate these festivals together. To celebrate
is not just to observe a festival individually or at home, but to make a
pilgrimage to observe it. The word “celebrate” in verse 14 means to keep a
pilgrimage feast. In other words, they are to travel to an appointed place God
would choose and observe a festival. By celebrating these festivals together,
they can encourage one another to remember God’s grace and participate together
in honoring God and rejoicing in him. It is much better and beneficial to
celebrate God’s grace together. So, it is very recommendable to get together
and share thanksgiving topics together at church.
Lastly, as the conclusion, let’s think about why God demanded
the Israelites to keep these three festivals. Let’s read verse 14 one more
time: “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.”
These festivals are not like holidays nowadays, which are
designed for man’s need. The festivals are special days dedicated to God. That
is why God said, “celebrate a festival to me.” It is to remember God and
celebrate his grace for them. So, they can live as God’s people continually and
God will be their God forever. These festivals are all about God and their
relationship with him. He saved them and now provides them with all their needs.
Now they must respond to God as his people with honor and thanks so that their
relationship with God can be closer and deeper. Again, this command was given
as the covenant, which they must keep.
We Christians do not observe such festivals. But thankfully we
have Thanksgiving Day. It is much like the festival of weeks (Pentecost) and
the festival of Tabernacles. They share the same spirit - the spirit of thank,
joy, and the desire to honor God.
Thanksgiving Day is the day when we should remember what God
has done for us each year. The word of feast in Hebrew means the appointment
with God. This is the appointed time for us to celebrate it to God. It is time
to honor him as God and give thanks to him with our best.
Some of you are thankful for God’s blessing this year. Some
of you underwent difficult times, however. And some others are still
experiencing difficulties and hardship. Yet, we all have good reasons to thank
God and rejoice in him because he is our God! He is our Savior, our provider
and protector. Thanksgiving Day is about God, not about us and what situation
we are in. We all have plenty of reasons to thank him. Any problems and
difficulties cannot overshadow or eclipse God’s grace of salvation, his
provisions, and his promise of his kingdom. By presenting offering to God and
thanking him, we look forward to the joy in the kingdom of God.
Let’s rejoice together in God’s salvation and his blessing
for us. It is God’s command. Let’s present the offerings of thank due him. God
told his people not to appear before him with empty hands. In this way, we can truly
honor him as God and live as God’s people. The spirit of the festivals may be
with us so that we all may be thankful and joyful before God together. May God
bless all!
By David Yun
By David Yun
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