Deuteronomy 16:1 - Meaning and Application

Much of Israel’s life with God was kept alive through the three yearly feasts. These feasts, and the laws about them, had already been given before, but they are repeated here. They kept religion visible in the nation and reminded the people of God’s works among them.

The first feast is the Passover, a solemn event so important that it gave the whole month its weight. “Observe the month Abib” means they were to give careful attention to that month (Deuteronomy 16:1). Even though only one week was set apart as a festival, the days before and after were to be marked by serious preparation, thought, and gratitude. Abib, or the month of new fruits, corresponds to part of March and part of April, and God made it the first month of the year to remember Israel’s rescue from Egypt (Exodus 12:2).

They were to keep the Passover in memory of the night when God brought them out of Egypt. The wording about “by night” points to that night of deliverance, even though they were not to leave their houses until morning (Exodus 12:22). The feast laws are then explained in detail.

First, they had to sacrifice the Passover only at the place God would choose (Deuteronomy 16:2), and nowhere else (Deuteronomy 16:5-7). The Passover itself was a sacrifice, which is why Christ, our Passover lamb, is said to have been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). Other sacrifices were also offered during the seven days of the feast (Numbers 28:19 and following), and those are included here. The people were not free to invent their own way of worship. They had to go to the place where God had put his name, and that kept them focused on him rather than on themselves (Deuteronomy 16:2, 6).

When the feast was over, they could return to their tents (Deuteronomy 16:7). Some thought this meant they could leave the morning after the Passover meal, but the first day of the feast was itself a holy gathering, not a day of scattering (Leviticus 23:7; Numbers 28:18). The sense is better taken as, after the feast ended, they were to go back to their towns. In practice, they stayed together through the whole week (2 Chronicles 35:17).

Second, they had to eat unleavened bread for seven days, and no leaven was to be seen anywhere in their land (Deuteronomy 16:3, 4, 8). This bread is called the bread of affliction because it was plain and hard, fitting for a people remembering slavery and haste. It reminded them of the trouble of their bondage and of the hurry in which they left Egypt, with no time for the dough to rise. Jewish writers say that at the Passover meal the head of the family broke this bread and gave each person a piece, saying, in effect, “This bread stands for the bread of affliction your fathers ate in Egypt.”

The apostle Paul gives the spiritual meaning of this feast in Christ’s light (1 Corinthians 5:7). Since Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us, we should keep the feast in a holy way. That means a life free from malice toward others and hypocrisy toward God, with sincerity and love like unleavened bread. The feast was meant to make them remember the day they left Egypt, not just once a year, but all through life (Deuteronomy 16:3). In the same way, we remember Christ’s death at set times so that we may remember it always and live for the one who died and rose again for us.

Seven weeks after the Passover came the feast of Pentecost, and the people were told how to count toward it. They were to begin from the time they first put the sickle to the grain (Deuteronomy 16:9), meaning from the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread. On that day, a sheaf of barley was offered to God as firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10). Some think this also showed God’s special care over the land, because the harvest would be ready at the proper time.

They were also told how to keep this feast. First, they were to bring an offering to God (Deuteronomy 16:10). It is called a tribute of a free-will offering, because it was owed to God as their Lord and owner, yet the amount was left to each person’s generosity. Whatever they brought had to be given gladly. It was a thankful gift for the good harvests God had given them, and they were to give in proportion to how much God had blessed them.

Second, they were to rejoice before God (Deuteronomy 16:11). Holy joy is the heart of thankful praise, and praise is the outward expression of that joy. They were to rejoice both in what they received from God and in what they returned to him in worship and sacrifice. Their duty was to be their delight, just as their blessings were.

They were to let even their servants join in the joy of the feast. Moses reminds them, “Remember that you were slaves” (Deuteronomy 16:12), and they would have been very thankful if their masters had given them time and reason to rejoice. Since God brought them out of Egypt so they could keep this feast with gladness, they should be kind to their servants and make their lives easier.

It also seems that the general command, “You shall keep these statutes and do them,” is added here for a special reason. This feast remembered the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, fifty days after they left Egypt. So the best way to show thanks to God for giving his law is to obey it and live by its commands.

III. They must keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). Here Moses does not repeat the law about the many sacrifices that were to be offered at this feast, which was already given in detail (Numbers 29:12 and following). The priests and Levites, the religious servants who handled the sacrifices, did not need the reminder as much as the people did. And the most important part of the feast was its holy joy, which pleased God and pointed forward to the lasting joy of a gospel life.

Notice how strongly this is stressed: “You shall rejoice in your feast” (Deuteronomy 16:14), and, “because the Lord will bless you, you shall surely rejoice” (Deuteronomy 16:15). This shows, first, that God wants his people to be cheerful. If those under the law had to rejoice before God, how much more should we, who live under the grace of the gospel. The gospel makes it our duty not only to rejoice at feasts, but to rejoice always, and to rejoice in the Lord at all times.

Second, when we rejoice in God ourselves, we should also help others rejoice in him. We can do that by comforting those who are sad and helping those in need, so that even the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow can share in our joy. See Job 29:13.

Third, we should rejoice in God not only for what we have already received from him each day, but also for what he has promised us and what we still expect from him. “Because he will bless you, therefore you shall rejoice.” Those who make God their joy may rejoice in hope, because he is faithful to keep his promises.

IV. The laws about the three great feasts are summed up again (Deuteronomy 16:16-17), as they were earlier (Exodus 23:16-17; Exodus 34:23). The main commands are these: first, all the men were to appear before God in person. By gathering often to worship in the same place and according to the same rule, they would be kept steady and faithful in the holy religion established among them.

Second, no one was to come before God empty-handed. Each person was to bring some offering, as a sign of trust in God and thankfulness to him. God did not ask anything unreasonable. He only required that each person give according to what he could afford, and nothing more was expected. That is still the rule for giving to others. Those who give according to their ability are accepted, but those who give beyond their ability are honored greatly, like the poor widow who gave all she had (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 8:3; Luke 21:4).