AM Bible Study Group; July 20, 2011
Deuteronomy 16:1-17
Theme: In this passage, the people are reminded to observe the three great feasts of the year.
The focus of the various laws we’ve been considering in Deuteronomy has been on worship. This morning’s passage—the first half of chapter 16—brings us to the end of that section on worship; and focuses on the three great feasts of the Hebrew calendar year. As Exodus 23:14-19 makes clear, all the men of Israel were to appear before the Lord (that is, at His tabernacle) for these three feasts.
The importance of these feasts extends beyond the times of the ancient people of Israel; because these three feasts are ‘types’ for which the great events of the gospel of Jesus Christ are the ‘antitypes’.
Notice how this passage specifies to us . . .
I.THE FEAST OF PASSOVER / UNLEAVENED BREAD (vv. 1-8).
A. The calendar of feasts began at the month of Abib; which, to the people of Israel, was the beginning of months (see Exodus 12:2). On Abib, they were to keep the Passover (see verses 1-2). The Passover is described for us in great detail in Exodus 12:1-28. It was the event that commemorated the way that God had delivered His people from bondage by “passing over” the land of Egypt and slaying the first born of all the Egyptians. The lamb of the Passover was slain on the 14th day of the month; and its blood painted on the doorposts of the house. Wherever the Lord saw the blood, he “passed over” that house, and did not slay the firstborn in it.
B. After the Passover came the week long “Feast of Unleavened Bread”. The absence of leaven commemorated the affliction they suffered and their haste in coming out of Egypt (v. 3). They were to eat neither leaven nor the old meat of Passover; for both contained corruption (v. 4). They were to observe the feast at evening; and only in the place where the Lord specified (vv. 5-7). At both ends of the feast was a sacred assembly (v. 8).
C. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, together, picture for us the purity of the sacrifice of our Lord for us on the cross. As Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
II. THE FEAST OF WEEKS (vv. 9-12).
A. The next feast was to occur seven weeks later; and thus was called “The Feast of Weeks” (v. 9). It was commenced from the time that the people began to harvest the produce of the land. It commemorated the provision of God for His people (v. 10). It was a time of great rejoicing for all the people (v. 11); and they were to be sure to include in the celebration all who were in their midst—even the stranger and the fatherless and the widow. They were to remember that they, too, had been slaves; but have now been set free by a wonderful and generous God (v. 12).
B. Another name for this feast is Pentecost. And seven weeks after our Lord rose from the dead; and just a week or so after He ascended to the Father, the Holy Spirit was given. As Acts 2:1-8 tells us, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, [the Lord’s disciples] were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?'” This feast typifies for us the present ministry of our Lord at the right hand of the Father for us; and of the provision of the Holy Spirit in sustaining us until the day we are in the Lord’s presence.
III. THE FEASTS OF TABERNACLES (vv. 13-15).
A. After the Feast of Trumpets, which announced the coming of the Day of Atonement, the people were to celebrate the week long Feast of Tabernacles. After harvest is completed (v. 13), the people were to dwell in booths and commemorate the fact that they had been sojourners looking ahead to a promised land. But it was also a time of great rejoicing (v. 14). It honored God with thanks for the blessing of His provision (v. 15). It was on the last day of this feast that the Lord Jesus once said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
B. For us, this feast points ahead to the coming of our Lord for us; and for our dwelling with Him. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:1-9, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
IV. THE GENERAL COMMAND (vv. 16-17).
It was stressed that all males were to appear before the Lord three times a year on these three feasts (v. 16). What’s more, in none of them are the people to appear “empty-handed” (see Numbers 28:16-29:40 for a detailed description of the offering they were to make).