Three Yearly Feasts
August 22, 2021
Commentary
After giving Israel laws about justice and compassion, God also taught them to rest and celebrate His goodness. These commands reminded them that all of life, work, rest, and worship belonged to Him.
First, God gave laws about the Sabbaths (vv. 10–12). Every seventh year was a sabbatical year, when farmers let their land rest and did not plant crops. Whatever grew naturally was left for the poor and for wild animals to eat. This was made possible because God supplied a double amount during the sixth year. This reminded Israel that God owns the land, they had to trust Him, and that it was only theirs to manage. The weekly Sabbath also brought rest, not only for people but even for animals and servants. Everyone was to stop working, worship, and remember that God is our source of strength.
Next, God gave instructions about annual feasts (vv. 14–19). Three times each year, all the men were to appear before the Lord to celebrate His blessings. The Feast of Unleavened Bread marked Israel’s freedom from Egypt during the early barley harvest in March or April. The Feast of Firstfruits, also called the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, took place at the wheat harvest in early summer, usually May, when they brought the first part of their crops in gratitude. Finally, the Feast of Ingathering (or Tabernacles) came in October, celebrating the final harvest of the year and remembering God’s care in the wilderness.
Each of these celebrations taught Israel to rest, rejoice, and rely on God’s faithful provision. Life was not just about work or rules—it was about relationships. God’s people were called to trust, thank, and honor Him in eve-ry season.
Application
When life feels busy or pressured, do I still make time to rest and thank God? The Sabbath and feasts reminded Israel to trust His care, not their own effort. Do I honor God with the first part of my time, income, and energy? This week, I want to pause, worship, and celebrate His faithful provision in my life.
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.
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