Three Annual Feasts
August 22, 2021
Commentary
As these various laws for the Israelites continue to be given we will continue with our outline:
V. Things concerning the Sabbaths
1. Concerning the sabbatical year (vv. 10-11). The Sabbath year provided rest for the land and free food for the poor. This was made possible because God supplied a double amount during the sixth year. The sabbatical year reminded Israel that God owns the land and that it was theirs merely to use.
2. Concerning the Sabbath day provided rest for the animals as well as for humans.
VI. Things concerning annual Feasts – (vv. 14-19). God gives instructions to the Israelites concerning three annual feasts. Three times in the year all males were required to appear before the Lord.
1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread – This was held in March or April, about the time of the barley harvest.
2. The Feast of First Fruits – This was at wheat harvest, usually in May.
3. The Feast of Ingathering – This was held in October at the end of the agricultural year.
Application
Although I am no longer under the law there are certain principals of life that are still good for me today. I need to discuss with my family what some of these principles are.
Exodus 23:10– 19 (NET)
10 “For six years you are to sow your land and gather in its produce. 11 But in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and the resident foreigner may refresh themselves.
13 “Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods—do not let them be heard on your lips.
14 “Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me. 15 You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.
16 “You are also to observe the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in your harvest out of the field. 17 At three times in the year all your males will appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.