Deuteronomy Chapter 16
1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God; for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4 No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you;
6 but at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt.
7 You shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents.
8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.
9 You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.
10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how the LORD your God blesses you.
11 You shall rejoice before the LORD your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are amongst you, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
13 You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.
14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.
15 You shall keep a feast to the LORD your God seven days in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty.
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God's blessing which he has given you.
18 You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgement.
19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
20 You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.
21 You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the LORD your God's altar, which you shall make for yourselves.
22 Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which the LORD your God hates.
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Deuteronomy Chapter 16 Guide
As the section dealing with the statutes commenced with the place of worship, it closed with the restatement of the importance of the great feasts which by their annual recurrence set the whole year in relation to worship.
The year commenced with the Passover. Thus at the beginning the Hebrews were reminded of how their true national existence resulted from their deliverance by God out of Egypt's bondage. The Passover feast must be maintained in the land and observed at the proper centre of worship in order that the day of the exodus might be remembered perpetually. Thus their fundamental relationship to God was to be brought to mind at the beginning of every year.
The next event of importance in the consecration of the year was the feast of Pentecost, in which the first fruits of the harvest were to be presented to the Lord, thus reminding them that not only their existence as a nation, but their perpetual sustenance was dependent on the selfsame fact of relationship to Him.
Finally, in this particular application came the feast of Tabernacles. This was to be a time of rejoicing in which master and servant, people and priests, fathers and children, the prosperous and the bereft were all to be included.
On these three occasions all the males were called upon to appear before God and to bring with them gifts. Thus the value and importance of stated and united worship were solemnly enforced on the people as they stood on the threshold of their land.
In this chapter, verse eighteen, we have commenced the section dealing with the subject of judgments. Here Moses commanded the appointment of judges and officers and declared the principles on which they were to act. These were to be those of strict righteousness without any wresting of judgment. There must be no respect of persons and no reception of bribes. There must be no false worship.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Deuteronomy Chapter 16 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- The yearly feasts. -- (1-17)
- Of judges, Groves and images forbidden. -- (18-22)
Verses 1-17
The laws for the three yearly feasts are here repeated; that of the Passover, that of the Pentecost, that of Tabernacles; and the general law concerning the people's attendance. Never should a believer forget his low estate of guilt and misery, his deliverance, and the price it cost the Redeemer; that gratitude and joy in the Lord may be mingled with sorrow for sin, and patience under the tribulations in his way to the kingdom of heaven. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight, as well as our enjoyment. If those who were under the law must rejoice before God, much more we that are under the grace of the gospel; which makes it our duty to rejoice evermore, to rejoice in the Lord always. When we rejoice in God ourselves, we should do what we can to assist others also to rejoice in him, by comforting the mourners, and supplying those who are in want. All who make God their joy, may rejoice in hope, for He is faithful that has promised.
Verses 18-22
Care is taken for the due administration of justice. All personal regards must be laid aside, so that right is done to all, and wrong to none. Care is taken to prevent following the idolatrous customs of the heathen. Nothing belies God more, or tends more to corrupt the minds of men, than representing and worshipping, by an image, that God, who is an almighty and eternal Spirit, present every where. Alas! even in gospel days, and under a better dispensation, established upon better promises, there is a tendency to set up idols, under one form or another, in the human heart.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.