Exodus 34:22

22 “You must celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season.

Exodus 34:22 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:22

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks
The feast of Pentecost, called the feast of weeks, because seven sabbaths or weeks, or fifty days, were to be reckoned from the day in the passover feast, on which the sheaf of the wave offering was brought, ( Leviticus 23:15 Leviticus 23:16 ) and which was also called the feast

of the first fruits of wheat harvest,
to distinguish it from the barley harvest, at the time of the passover, when a sheaf of barley was the wave offering to the Lord; but at this two loaves or cakes of fine wheaten flour were brought as the first fruits of the wheat harvest, see ( Leviticus 23:17 )

and the feast of ingathering at the year's end;
which was the feast of tabernacles, called the feast of ingathering, because at this time all the fruits of the earth, the corn, wine, and oil, and all others were gathered in; and this was at the close of the old year, and at the beginning of the new, according to the ancient account, which made Tisri or September the first month in the year; (See Gill on Exodus 23:16).

Exodus 34:22 In-Context

20 A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the LORD by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son. “No one may appear before me without an offering.
21 “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.
22 “You must celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season.
23 Three times each year every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the LORD, the God of Israel.
24 I will drive out the other nations ahead of you and expand your territory, so no one will covet and conquer your land while you appear before the LORD your God three times each year.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew Festival of Weeks; compare 23:16 . This was later called the Festival of Pentecost. It is celebrated today as Shavuot (or Shabuoth).
  • [b]. Or Festival of Ingathering. This was later called the Festival of Shelters or Festival of Tabernacles (see Lev 23:33-36 ). It is celebrated today as Sukkot (or Succoth).
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.