Deuteronomy · chapter 16 of 34
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Deuteronomy 16 commands Israel to celebrate three festivals each year at the place the Lord chooses: the Passover with unleavened bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths. Everyone is to rejoice, including servants, Levites and the needy. The chapter ends with the appointment of just judges and the prohibition of sacred poles or worship pillars.
After the laws about the poor and the servant, Deuteronomy 16 returns to worship with the yearly calendar of the three great feasts. Each recalls the Lord's salvation or provision, and all are celebrated at the place he chooses. The chapter joins the joy of the festivals with justice at the city gate, because worship and justice cannot be separated.
Moses commands them to observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, sacrificing at the place he chooses. For seven days they will eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because they left Egypt in haste. No leaven is to be seen in their territory, and none of the meat of the evening sacrifice may remain until morning. The Passover may not be sacrificed in any of their towns but only at the chosen place, at sunset, at the time of day they left Egypt. The next morning they return to their tents, and the seventh day is a solemn assembly.
Seven weeks after beginning the harvest they will celebrate the Feast of Weeks with a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing received. They will rejoice before the Lord with their children, servants, Levites, foreigners, fatherless and widows, and remember that they were slaves in Egypt.
After gathering the grain and the wine they will celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days, rejoicing with their whole household and with the needy, because the Lord has blessed all their produce. Three times a year all males will appear before the Lord, and none empty-handed. Then comes the command to appoint judges and officials in every town, to judge with justice, not twisting the law or accepting a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise. They are to pursue justice, and only justice. They must not plant an Asherah pole or set up a pillar, which the Lord hates.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Unleavened bread is the bread of affliction, eaten so that they remember the departure from Egypt all the days of their lives. The feast is not just a rite but a living memory of what God did.
The joy of the feast is shared with children, servants, Levites, foreigners, the fatherless and widows. The Lord's presence gathers all at one table, leaving no one out.
Each will give according to the blessing the Lord has given him. The offering is measured by what was received, and it is a response of gratitude, not an identical tax for all.
Justice, and only justice, is what Israel must pursue in order to live and possess the land. The repetition stresses that true worship requires upright judges and a people who do not twist the law.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because they left Egypt in haste. — Deuteronomy 16:3
Answer: At the place the Lord would choose to put his name. — Deuteronomy 16:2
Answer: Seven weeks. — Deuteronomy 16:9
Answer: Servants, Levites, foreigners, the fatherless and widows. — Deuteronomy 16:11
Answer: Seven days. — Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Answer: Because it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. — Deuteronomy 16:19
Israel's feasts teach that faith is celebrated and remembered in community. The Passover recalled deliverance, Weeks the provision, Booths the care in the wilderness. The church can ask whether its gatherings leave room to remember what God has done and to rejoice together, including those who are usually left out.
The end of the chapter recalls that worship is not separate from justice. Whoever worships the Lord must act with integrity at work, in business and in decisions that affect others. In a group you can reflect on where we are tempted to twist what is right for personal gain.
Deuteronomy 16 joins the calendar of the feasts with the commitment to justice at the city gate. The next chapter continues with rules about sacrifice, the judging of hard cases and the law of the king, who is to be a servant under the word of God.
The New Testament presents Christ as the Passover lamb, and Jesus instituted the Supper during a Passover meal. Just as Israel remembered deliverance from Egypt, Christians remember deliverance from sin through the death of Christ.
It was a wheat harvest festival, seven weeks after the start of the harvest. It was later called Pentecost, meaning fifty, for the days counted. In the New Testament it coincides with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It was a wooden pole or tree that the Canaanites used in their worship, tied to a fertility goddess. Israel was not to set one beside the Lord's altar, because that mixed his worship with idolatry.