CHAPTER 16

(1451 B.C.)

THE PASSOVER

¹Observe the month of Abib (our April), and keep the Passover unto the LORD your God: for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night (the Passover was to remind Israel and future generations of the great deliverance from Egypt, and that they were to never forget it).

²You shall therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place His Name there (the greatest reason for the Passover was that it would serve as a Type of the coming Redeemer, Who would die on a Cross on this very day; in effect, Jesus was the Passover).

UNLEAVENED BREAD

³You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. (The Feast of Unleavened Bread began the day after Passover, and lasted seven days. Whatever it meant to the Jews then, its total meaning had reference to Christ and His Perfection, symbolized by the bread that was unleavened. Leaven is a type of fermentation.)

⁴And there shall be no leavened bread seen with you in all your coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which you sacrificed the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.

⁵You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you:

⁶But at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place His Name in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt.

⁷And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go unto your tents.

⁸Six days you shall eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God: you shall do no work therein (symbolizing the fact that Salvation is by Grace through Faith, and not of works [Eph. 2:8-9]).

FEAST OF PENTECOST

⁹Seven weeks shall you number unto you: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as you begin to put the sickle to the corn (wheat; there was no corn there as we think of such now; the Feast of Pentecost took place exactly 50 days after the Passover).

¹⁰And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks unto the LORD your God with a tribute of a Freewill Offering of your hand, which you shall give unto the LORD your God, according as the LORD your God has blessed you (nothing is specifically prescribed; each was to give of his own freewill, as the Lord had prospered him):

¹¹And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place His Name there. (As to the Feasts, Williams says, God surrounded Himself with joy, He invited His people to share that joy, and He urged them to bring the stranger and the needy into that joy. Christ and His fullness were pictured in these gladsome Feasts.

But there was an interesting distinction between the joy of Pentecost and the joy of Tabernacles. The one was associated with redemption from Egypt, and its joy was to be joined with watchfulness. But the joy of Tabernacles was to be without care, for it foreshadowed the kingdom.)

¹²And you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these Statutes.

FEAST OF TABERNACLES

¹³You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, after that you have gathered in your corn and your wine (this is a type of the coming Kingdom Age, when Christ will reign supreme over the entirety of the world):

¹⁴And you shall rejoice in your Feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates.

¹⁵Seven days shall you keep a solemn Feast unto the LORD your God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD your God shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.

¹⁶Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (April), and in the Feast of Weeks (the first days of June), and in the Feast of Tabernacles (October): and they shall not appear before the LORD empty (must bring Sacrifices):

¹⁷Every man shall give as he is able, according to the Blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

LAWS OF JUSTICE

¹⁸Judges and Officers shall you make you in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, throughout your Tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment (no instruction is given as to the number of Judges and Officers, or as to the mode of appointing them).

¹⁹You shall not wrest judgment (do not render dishonest judgment); you shall not respect persons (whether rich or poor), neither take a gift (no bribery): for a gift does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

²⁰That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.

²¹Thou shall not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the Altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make thee. (This was not the planting of trees, as we think of such, but rather the erecting of the asherah. This was an idol of wood in the form of a pillar, usually placed by the side of the altars of Baal. It was the symbol of Astarte, the great Canaanitish goddess, the companion and revealer of Baal. Unspeakable orgies were also conducted at these sites.)

²²Neither shall you set up any image; which the LORD your God hates (there must be nothing that lends toward idolatry).