Deuteronomy 16

The Festival of Passover

1 "Observe the month of Abib[a] and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib.[b]
2 Sacrifice to the Lord your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have His name dwell.
3 You must not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship-because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry-so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.
4 No yeast is to be found anywhere in your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day is to remain until morning.
5 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns the Lord your God is giving you.
6 You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where the Lord your God chooses to have His name dwell. [Do this] in the evening as the sun sets at the [same] time [of day] you departed from Egypt.
7 You are to cook and eat [it] in the place the Lord your God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning.
8 You must eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God, and you must not do any work.

The Festival of Weeks

9 "You are to count seven weeks, counting the weeks from the time the sickle is first [put] to the standing grain.[c]
10 You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you.
11 Rejoice before the Lord your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell-you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow among you.
12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt; carefully follow these statutes.

The Festival of Booths

13 "You are to celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in [everything] from your threshing floor and winepress.[d]
14 Rejoice during your festival-you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, as well as the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates.
15 You are to hold a seven-day festival for the Lord your God in the place He chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you will have abundant joy.
16 "All your males are to appear three times a year before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.[e] No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed.
17 Everyone [must appear] with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

Appointing Judges and Officials

18 "Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
19 Do not deny justice or show partiality [to anyone]. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20 Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.[f]

Forbidden Worship

21 "Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for the Lord your God,
22 and do not set up a sacred pillar; the Lord your God hates them.[g]

Deuteronomy 16 Commentary

Chapter 16

The yearly feasts. (1-17) Of judges, Groves and images forbidden. (18-22)

Verses 1-17 The laws for the three yearly feasts are here repeated; that of the Passover, that of the Pentecost, that of Tabernacles; and the general law concerning the people's attendance. Never should a believer forget his low estate of guilt and misery, his deliverance, and the price it cost the Redeemer; that gratitude and joy in the Lord may be mingled with sorrow for sin, and patience under the tribulations in his way to the kingdom of heaven. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight, as well as our enjoyment. If those who were under the law must rejoice before God, much more we that are under the grace of the gospel; which makes it our duty to rejoice evermore, to rejoice in the Lord always. When we rejoice in God ourselves, we should do what we can to assist others also to rejoice in him, by comforting the mourners, and supplying those who are in want. All who make God their joy, may rejoice in hope, for He is faithful that has promised.

Verses 18-22 Care is taken for the due administration of justice. All personal regards must be laid aside, so that right is done to all, and wrong to none. Care is taken to prevent following the idolatrous customs of the heathen. Nothing belies God more, or tends more to corrupt the minds of men, than representing and worshipping, by an image, that God, who is an almighty and eternal Spirit, present every where. Alas! even in gospel days, and under a better dispensation, established upon better promises, there is a tendency to set up idols, under one form or another, in the human heart.

Footnotes 7

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 16

This chapter treats of the three grand yearly festivals, of the feast of passover, when, where, and what was to be sacrificed, how to be dressed, and in what manner to be eaten, De 16:1-8, of the feast of pentecost, when to begin it, where and how it was to be observed, De 16:9-12, and of the feast of tabernacles, when, where, and how long it was to be kept, De 16:13-15, which three times in the year all the males were to appear before the Lord, and not empty, De 16:16,17, an order is given for the appointment of judges in the land, to execute judgment, De 16:18-20, and the chapter is closed with a caution against planting groves, and setting up images, De 16:21,22.

Deuteronomy 16 Commentaries

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