Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 23:14
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
14. times ] Heb. r e glm, lit. feet, i.e. foot-beats, fig. for ‘times’; so besides only Num 22:28; Num 22:32-33 (also E). In v. 17 the more ordinary Heb. word is used ( p e ‘mm).
keep a pilgrimage ] The word ( ag) means a feast accompanied by a pilgrimage (see on Exo 10:9): there were only three of these in the Jewish year. ag is to be carefully distinguished from the wider term m‘d (rendered variously in RV. set feast, appointed feast, solemn [i.e., like the Lat. solemnis, stated, recurring] feast, solemn assembly, solemnity: see e.g. Lev 23:2; Lev 23:4; Lev 23:37; Lev 23:44, Hos 2:11; Hos 9:5; Hos 12:9, Isa 1:14; Isa 33:20, Lam 1:4; Lam 1:15; Lam 2:6-7, Eze 36:38; Eze 44:24; Eze 45:17; Eze 46:9; Eze 46:11), which means properly a fixed time or season, and is applied to any fixed sacred season (including e.g. the Day of Atonement and New Year’s Day), whether observed by a pilgrimage or not (see esp. Leviticus 23, which, as vv. 2, 4 shew, is a Calendar of such m‘dim).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 17. The three annual pilgrimages, at which every male was to appear before God at a sanctuary. These pilgrimages were festivals which marked originally stages in the agricultural operations of the year: they were the occasions of thanksgiving to Jehovah, the Owner of the land, for the gifts of the soil the festivals of Maoth and Harvest celebrating the beginning and close of harvest, and the feast Ingathering the completion of the vintage and olive-gathering. In later times a historical significance was attached to them, and they were regarded as commemorative of events connected with the Exodus; in the case of Maoth and Ingathering this character is attached to them in the OT. itself, in the case of the feast of Harvest (or of weeks), it is first met with in the post-Bibl. literature (see on v. 16a). The present passage, with the nearly verbal parallel in Exo 34:18; Exo 34:22 f., contains the earliest legislation on the subject: the festivals are already recognized institutions; and the Israelite is merely commanded to observe them. The later codes prescribe the ritual with which, as time went on, they gradually came to be celebrated: see Deu 16:1-17; Leviticus 23 (H, expanded in parts from P); Numbers 28-29 (P); and (for Maoth) Exo 12:14-20 (also P).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 19. Further ceremonial regulations (cf. Exo 20:24-26, Exo 22:29-31).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is the first mention of the three great Yearly Festivals. The feast of Unleavened bread, in its connection with the Paschal Lamb, is spoken of in Exo. 12; 13: but the two others are here first named. The whole three are spoken of as if they were familiarly known to the people. The points that are especially enjoined are that every male Israelite should attend them at the sanctuary (compare Exo 34:23), and that he should take with him an offering for Yahweh, presenting himself before his King with his tribute in his hand. That this condition belonged to all the feasts, though it is here stated only in regard to the Passover, cannot be doubted. See Deu 16:16.
Exo 23:15-16
On the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or the Passover, see Exo. 12:1-20, Exo 12:43-50; Exo 13:3-16; Exo 34:18-20; Lev 23:4-14. On the Feast of the Firstfruits of Harvest, called also the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Pentecost, see Exo 34:22; Lev 23:15-21. On the Feast of Ingathering, called also the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34-36, Lev 23:39-43.
Exo 23:16
In the end of the year – Compare Exo 34:22. The year here spoken of must have been the civil or agrarian year, which began after harvest, when the ground was prepared for sowing. Compare Lev 23:39; Deu 16:13-15. The sacred year began in spring, with the month Abib, or Nisan. See Exo 12:2 note, and Lev 25:9.
When thou hast gathered – Rather, when thou gatherest in.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.] The three feasts here referred to were,
1. The feast of the PASSOVER;
2. The feast of PENTECOST;
3. The feast of TABERNACLES.
1. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.
2. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, Ex 34:22, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, which took place fifty days after, and hence called by the Greeks Pentecost.
3. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated about the 15th of the month Tisri to commemorate the Israelites’ dwelling in tents for forty years, during their stay in the wilderness. See Clarke on Le 23:34.
“God, out of his great wisdom,” says Calmet, “appointed several festivals among the Jews for many reasons:
1. To perpetuate the memory of those great events, and the wonders he had wrought for the people; for example, the Sabbath brought to remembrance the creation of the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the giving of the law; the feast of Tabernacles, the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness, c.
2. To keep them faithful to their religion by appropriate ceremonies, and the splendour of Divine service.
3. To procure them lawful pleasures, and necessary rest.
4. To give them instruction for in their religious assemblies the law of God was always read and explained.
5. To consolidate their social union, by renewing the acquaintance of their tribes and families; for on these occasions they come together from different parts of the land to the holy city.”
Besides the feasts mentioned above, the Jews had,
1. The feast of the Sabbath, which was a weekly feast.
2. The feast of the Sabbatical Year, which was a septennial feast.
3. The feast of Trumpets, which was celebrated on the first day of what was called their civil year, which was ushered in by the blowing of a trumpet; Le 23:24, &c.
4. The feast of the New Moon, which was celebrated on the first day the moon appeared after her change.
5. The feast of Expiation, which was celebrated annually on the tenth day of Tisri or September, on which a general atonement was made for all the sins, negligences, and ignorances, throughout the year.
6. The feast of Lots or Purim, to commemorate the preservation of the Jews from the general massacre projected by Haman. See the book of Esther.
7. The feast of the Dedication, or rather the Restoration of the temple, which had been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. This was also called the feast of Lights.
Besides these, the Jews have had several other feasts, such as the feast of Branches, to commemorate the taking of Jericho.
The feast of Collections, on the 10th of September, on which they make contributions for the service of the temple and synagogue.
The feast for the death of Nicanor. 1Mac 7:48, &c.
The feast for the discovery of the sacred fire, 2Mac 1:18, &c.
The feast of the carrying of wood to the temple, called Xylophoria, mentioned by Josephus. – WAR, b. ii. c. 17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
14-18. Three times . . . keep afeast . . . in the yearThis was the institution of the greatreligious festivals”The feast of unleavened bread,” orthe passover”the feast of harvest,” or pentecost”thefeast of ingathering,” or the feast of tabernacles, which was amemorial of the dwelling in booths in the wilderness, and which wasobserved in the seventh month (Ex12:2). All the males were enjoined to repair to the tabernacleand afterwards the temple, and the women frequently went. Theinstitution of this national custom was of the greatest importance inmany ways: by keeping up a national sense of religion and a publicuniformity in worship, by creating a bond of unity, and also bypromoting internal commerce among the people. Though the absence ofall the males at these three festivals left the country defenseless,a special promise was given of divine protection, and no incursion ofenemies was ever permitted to happen on those occasions.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Three times thou shall keep a feast unto me in the year. The feast of the passover, on the fourteenth of the month Nisan or March; and the feast of weeks or pentecost fifty days after that; and the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth day of Tisri or September.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Fundamental Rights of Israel in its Religious and Theocratical Relation to Jehovah. – As the observance of the Sabbath and sabbatical year is not instituted in Exo 23:10-12, so Exo 23:14-19 do not contain either the original or earliest appointment of the feasts, or a complete law concerning the yearly feasts. They simply command the observance of three feasts during the year, and the appearance of the people three times in the year before the Lord; that is to say, the holding of three national assemblies to keep a feast before the Lord, or three annual pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Jehovah. The leading points are clearly set forth in Exo 23:14 and Exo 23:17, to which the other verses are subordinate. These leading points are or rights, conferred upon the people of Israel in their relation to Jehovah; for keeping a feast to the Lord, and appearing before Him, were both of them privileges bestowed by Jehovah upon His covenant people. Even in itself the festal rejoicing was a blessing in the midst of this life of labour, toil, and trouble; but when accompanied with the right of appearing before the Lord their God and Redeemer, to whom they were indebted for everything they had and were, it was one that no other nation enjoyed. For though they had their joyous festivals, these festivals bore the same relation to those of Israel, as the dead and worthless gods of the heathen to the living and almighty God of Israel.
Of the three feasts at which Israel was to appear before Jehovah, the feast of Mazzoth, or unleavened bread, is referred to as already instituted, by the words “ as I have commanded thee, ” and “ at the appointed time of the earing month, ” which point back to chs. 12 and 13; and all that is added here is, “ ye shall not appear before My face empty.” “ Not empty: ” i.e., not with empty hands, but with sacrificial gifts, answering to the blessing given by the Lord (Deu 16:16-17). These gifts were devoted partly to the general sacrifices of the feast, and partly to the burnt and peace-offerings which were brought by different individuals to the feasts, and applied to the sacrificial meals (Num 28 and 29). This command, which related to all the feasts, and therefore is mentioned at the very outset in connection with the feast of unleavened bread, did indeed impose a duty upon Israel, but such a duty as became a source of blessing to all who performed it. The gifts demanded by God were the tribute, it is true, which the Israelites paid to their God-King, just as all Eastern nations are required to bring presents when appearing in the presence of their kings; but they were only gifts from God’s own blessing, a portion of that which He had bestowed in rich abundance, and they were offered to God in such a way that the offerer was thereby more and more confirmed in the rights of covenant fellowship. The other two festivals are mentioned here for the first time, and the details are more particularly determined afterwards in Lev 23:15., and Num 28:26. One was called the feast of Harvest, “of the first-fruits of thy labours which thou hast sown in the field,” i.e., of thy field-labour. According to the subsequent arrangements, the first of the field-produce was to be offered to God, not the first grains of the ripe corn, but the first loaves of bread of white or wheaten flour made from the new corn (Lev 23:17.). In Exo 34:22 it is called the “feast of Weeks,” because, according to Lev 23:15-16; Deu 16:9, it was to be kept seven weeks after the feast of Mazzoth; and the “feast of the first-fruits of wheat harvest,” because the loaves of first-fruits to be offered were to be made of wheaten flour. The other of these feasts, i.e., the third in the year, is called “ the feast of Ingathering, at the end of the year, in the gathering in of thy labours out of the field.” This general and indefinite allusion to time was quite sufficient for the preliminary institution of the feast. In the more minute directions respecting the feasts given in Lev 23:34; Num 29:12, it is fixed for the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and placed on an equality with the feast of Mazzoth as a seven days’ festival. does not mean after the close of the year, finito anno, any more than the corresponding expression in Exo 34:22, , signifies at the turning of the year. The year referred to here was the so-called civil year, which began with the preparation of the ground for the harvest-sowing, and ended when all the fruits of the field and garden had been gathered in. No particular day was fixed for its commencement, nor was there any new year’s festival; and even after the beginning of the earing month had been fixed upon for the commencement of the year (Exo 12:2), this still remained in force, so far as all civil matters connected with the sowing and harvest were concerned; though there is no evidence that a double reckoning was carried on at the same time, or that a civil reckoning existed side by side with the religious. does not mean, “when thou hast gathered,” postquam collegisti ; for does not stand for , nor has the infinitive the force of the preterite. On the contrary, the expression “ at thy gathering in, ” i.e., when thou gatherest in, is kept indefinite both here and in Lev 23:39, where the month and days in which this feast was to be kept are distinctly pointed out; and also in Deu 16:13, in order that the time for the feast might not be made absolutely dependent upon the complete termination of the gathering in, although as a rule it would be almost over. The gathering in of “ thy labours out of the field ” is not to be restricted to the vintage and gathering of fruits: this is evident not only from the expression “out of the field,” which points to field-produce, but also from the clause in Deu 16:13, “gathering of the floor and wine-press,” which shows clearly that the words refer to the gathering in of the whole of the year’s produce of corn, fruit, oil, and wine.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 14-19:
Private devotions are commendable for God’s child in any age. But God also wants public worship, Heb 10:24, 25. He appointed three major public gatherings for Israel:
1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread. This festival began with the Passover, and continued for seven days following. There was a “holy convocation” on the first and the last days of this week, Le 23:5-8. It was in the month Abib, April at the beginning of the barley harvest.
2. The Feast of Harvest, also called the “Feast of Weeks.” Fifty days were numbered from the day the barley sheaf was offered. From this the name “Pentecost” arose. Most agree this was celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan, corresponding to the latter part of May. The main ceremony consisted of the offering of two leavened loaves of bread, made from the finest flour from the wheat just gathered. It lasted only one day, but it was a particularly joyous celebration.
3. The Feast of Ingathering, also named the “Feast of Tabernacles” Le 23:34; De 16:13; 31:10. The people lived in “booths” or “brush arbors” during the time of this festival. It began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, corresponding to the first part of October, and lasted seven or eight days. It came when the olive harvest was completed, and signified the completion of all Israel’s harvests.
The people were to assemble at the place God would later appoint, on these three occasions each year. This would be a unifying force within the nation, and a reminder of their relationship to Jehovah.
Custom held that the flesh of a kid (young goat) was more palatable if boiled in milk; and the mother’s milk would be the more readily available. The prohibition against seething (boiling) a kid in its mother’s milk has both a symbolic and practical application (1) It was in recognition of the tender relationship God has ordained between parent and child; and (2) medical science has learned that
meat and milk digest at a different pace; thus it is unhealthy to cook and eat the two together.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Exo 23:14
. Three times shalt thou keep a feast. It is strange that Moses, who elsewhere enumerates several feast-days, should here only command them to appear in God’s presence thrice a year. Where then is the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement? for undoubtedly all were to be celebrated at Jerusalem. In the first place, it is to be observed that the principal ones, to which the greater honor appertained, are here mentioned. Secondly, because the three holidays in the seventh month were almost continuous, (it is probable (358)) that some indulgence was given them, lest they should be absent from their homes the whole month; for at the beginning of the month the trumpets sounded, on the tenth day was the solemn fast, and on the fifteenth they began to dwell in the booths. If the necessity of remaining in Jerusalem had been imposed on all, so long a stay would have been burdensome. But, if they chose to be present from the beginning to the end, still there would have been only one journey, which is named after the most remarkable day. And certainly (359) the word רגלים, raglim, which Moses uses, means, metaphorically, rather journeys than times, although I allow that פעמים, phagnemim, which signifies times, is used in Deuteronomy in a similar sense. At any rate, it appears that God spared His people, when prescribed only three necessary convocations, lest the fathers of families and their children should be wearied by the expense and trouble of them, since he approves of no service which does not proceed from a cheerful heart.
(358) Added from Fr.
(359) רגלים and פעמים each signify the feet, in their primary sense; and each are used, but the latter more commonly, for times, as when we say, “so many times.” — W
It is so used in Deu 1:2, and Deu 16:16.
For this critical sentence, the following is substituted in Fr., “ Ainsi trois festes y eussent este comprises; pource qu’ils ne fussent point retournez jusques a ce qu’elles eussent este aceomplies;” thus, three festivals would have been comprised in it; because they would not have returned until they were all completed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Exo. 23:19. Thou shalt not seethe, &c.]This command, taken in connection with the preceding one, justifies the explanation of ancient commentators that it was given to banish a pagan rite, in the offering up as an harvest thanks-offering of a kid seethed in its mothers milk. With the milk of this oblation the fields, gardens, and orchards were sprinkled, in the belief that favour of the deities for a good harvest in the coming year would be thus secured. This commandment may, however, also imply a prohibition against cruelty and outrage of nature. Rabbinism took occasion to adduce from this commandment injunctions of an extensive culinary kind, according to which every Jew was strictly prohibited, not only from using milk, butter, or cheese with meat, but he is obliged to keep separate sets of kitchen utensils for each of those two classes of food.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 23:14-19
PILGRIMAGE FEASTS
The three feasts referred to in this passage areThe Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles or ingathering; and may be regarded as the pilgrimage feasts. We do not consider them to be of patriarchal origin. They evidently refer not to a pastoral but to an agricultural state of society. The offerings are such as an agricultural people might be expected to present. They are indicative of the fact that the people were not mere keepers of sheep, but tillers of the land. Our religious feasts must be appropriate to our conditions. Our religious offerings must be characteristic of our state, and proportioned to our means. God requires from us only that which we are able to give. Let each give according to that which he has received from the great Giver.
I. Religious feasts are memorials. The feasts of this world very often are made only for empty laughter, and too frequently the laughter is turned into mourning. Many of those who give feasts give them in order to minister to the desire of display, or for the purpose of gaining some advantage. For this reason our blessed Lord tells the givers of feasts to call in the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. But the feasts appointed to be observed by God are memorials. These three feasts are
1. Memorials of Gods past dealings. The word Passover indicates the nature of the feast of unleavened bread. It is a memorial, not of the fact that the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea; but of the fact that the destroying angel passed over the abodes of the Israelites. It is a memorial of a wonderful Divine deliverance. Of all the feasts of the Jewish economy, this is the one great feast which has been brought into prominence by the observance of the feast of the Lords Supper. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. This great memorial feast of the Jews was typical and prophetical. It pointed onwards through the intervening centuries to the greater feast of the Lords Supper. The one feast celebrated the deliverance of the natural Israel, while the other celebrates the deliverance of the spiritual Israel. The one feast has become absorbed and lost in a greater feast; but the other feast will be perpetually celebrated. We shall pass away from drinking the symbolical wine of earth to the glorious privilege of drinking the new wine in our Fathers kingdom. The one feast was local, but the other was intended to be universal. It is a significant fact that the feast of the Lords Supper has been so widely observed. Churches that have departed from the faith and lapsed into idolatry have stuck to this Christian ordinance. And we may consider it prophetical of the destined universality of Christs kingdom.
2. Memorials of our dependence upon Gods care. While the feast of unleavened bread brings into prominence the lesson that God is a deliverer to His people, the feasts of harvest and of ingathering bring into prominence the lesson that God is a provider and a sustainer. They make impressive, and teach by appropriate symbolism, the utterance of the great singer of the Israelitish ChurchHe maketh peace in thy borders, He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. They have a manifest tendency to raise the heart in adoring gratitude to God, who gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and fills our hearts with food and gladness. Let us never forget that it is God who makes the earth fruitful. While some keep their feasts in honour of natural causes, the uniformity of Natures laws, and a fortuitous concourse of atoms, let us keep our feasts to celebrate the goodness of Him who is the first cause of all so-called natural causes, the Giver and Enforcer of Natures laws, and the Glorious Designer who causes the atoms to consort together, so as to produce the useful and the beautiful.
3. Memorials of our present condition. Not only and merely in the sense of being dependent creatures, but that while in this world we are but pilgrims. The feast of ingathering was the feast of tabernacles. During this festival, the Jews were to dwell in tents or booths. It was a reminder of their wilderness life. Even in our feasts let there be the chastening thought that here we have no continuing city. Our feasts are but temporary as were the booths in which the Israelites dwelt. The only perpetual feast is that which shall be celebrated in heaven. This earth is not our rest.
II. Religious feasts are not to interfere with the duties of life. The wisdom of Divine arrangements is seen in the appointment of these feasts. The Passover was observed in the month Abibthe month of the ears of corn; the Feast of Pentecost, after the corn had all been safely gathered; and the Feast of Tabernacles, after the vines and fruit-trees had been stripped, so that no feast interfered with those times when work was most pressing. Diligence in business is, or may be, religious worship. God may be honoured by the work of this life. Those are divine who do lowliest acts in a divine spirit. The Jew was religious, not only when he brought the first-fruits of his labours as an offering to God, but when he ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, that he might have first-fruits to place upon Gods altar.
III. Stated religious feasts are helpful to a religious spirit. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. There are some who object to set times, and say that set times develop mere empty formalism, and that we ought always to be in a religious spirit. The Divine Legislator did not follow this method. And while the gospel sets us free from the trammels of the law, it nevertheless shows the propriety of stated religious observances. And we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The more loyal a man is, the more he will rejoice in stated seasons for the expression of his loyalty. The more spiritual a man is, the more thankful will he be for opportunities of public worship, to break up the course of his earthly life, and to develop his spiritual nature.
IV. Religious feasts must promote the social and benevolent instincts of our nature. All are to appear together before the Lord God. The separateness brought about by daily pursuits is to be broken up. There is to be a commingling of feeling and sentiment. This is an Old Testament provision which is greatly needed in these times. Cold isolation pervades the business, the social, and the religious worlds. We do not appear together before the Lord God. None are to appear empty before the Lord. The grasping spirit of selfishness must not be allowed to move on without being disturbed. The best way to uproot selfishness and to develop benevolence is to give unto Gods cause.
V. The offerings at religious feasts must be
Exo. 23:1. Pure. No leavened bread is to be eaten. Nothing that savours of corruption. We must seek for purity of motive in our religious feasts. They must be free from heathen luxury, or heathen magical arts. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk. Arabs boil the flesh of kids in sour milk. A delicacy for the feast. Or to scatter the milk on the field for the production of a good harvest.
2. Of the best. The best of the first-fruits. The best in the Old Testament, and surely the best in the New Testament. Such offerings are productive of prosperity. The very effort to secure a surplus will promote care and develop provident habits. Nothing that is given to God can be lost.W. Burrows, B.A.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
GODS PROVISION FOR HIS PEOPLES ENJOYMENT.Exo. 23:14-16
We remark
I. That seasons for rejoicing were commanded. Let those who think that the old dispensation was gloomy remember that there was Divine injunction for joy and feasting three times a year.
II. That these seasons for rejoicing were conveniently appointed. Not in winter, but
1. In spring, Passover.
2. Summer, first-fruits.
3. Autumn, ingathering.
III. That these seasons for rejoicing had a religious basis.
1. The feasts were unto God.
2. Were in remembrance of Divine services which made rejoicing possible.
IV. That these seasons for rejoicing were connected with religious acts, Exo. 23:17 to Exo. 19:1. Personal dedication.
2. Sacrifices.
V. That seasons of rejoicing must not engender slovenliness and uncleanness, Exo. 23:18.
VI. That seasons of rejoicing must not be desecrated by unnatural or superstitious ceremonies, Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk; an outrage on nature and connected with witchcraft. In conclusion
If Judaism was a religion of joy, much more so is Christianity. The latteri. was inaugurated as glad tidings of great joy. ii. Its leading fact and doctrines are grounds of joy (1Jn. 1:1-4). iii. Its great central and fundamental principle is an occasion of joy (Rom. 5:11). iv. The fruits of the Spirit are joy. v. It provides an eternity of joy. vi. But remember the joy of the Lord is your strength, and it is only in the Lord that we can rejoice evermore (Php. 4:4).
J. W. Burn.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Mosaic Morals! Exo. 23:1-19. A modern jurist, Hennequin, says: Good right had Moses to challenge the Israelites, what nation hath statutes like yours? a worship so exaltedlaws so equitablea code so complex? A Frenchman and an infidel, he observes that, compared with all the legislations of antiquity, none so thoroughly embodies the principles of everlasting righteousness. Lycurgus wrote, not for a people, but for an army: It was a barrack which he erected, not a commonwealth. Solon, on the other hand, could not resist the surrounding effeminate influences of Athens. It is in Moses alone that we find a regard for the right, austere and incorruptible; a morality distinct from policy, and rising above regard for times and peoples.
But what could Moses law have done
Had it not been divinely sent?
The power was from the Lord alone,
And Moses but the instrument.
Newton.
Festival Functions! Exo. 23:14-17. The Israelites were to be peculiar people. They existed not for themselves, but they had a function to fulfil towards all mankind. In order to fulfil this function, it was needful that they should be for a time a people separate and self-contained, singular in their usages, and sequestered in their dwellings. In order to fix them down to one spot, they had their local worship. It was a law that all the men amongst them should rendezvous at the central shrine three times a year. Thus foreign settlements and distant journeys were made impossible more or less. The Hebrew home must be within a short and easy radius round the Temple; and if he went abroad, he carried this tether, and was pulled back again by the Passover or some other feast.
Whereer I roam, whatever realms I see,
My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee;
Still to Mount Sion turns with ceaseless strain,
And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
Goldsmith.
Humanity and Heathenism! Exo. 23:19. Various explanations have been given of this precept. It may have been intended, like Lev. 22:28, to enforce humane feelings towards animals. But probably the forbidden dish was connected with idolatry. Thomson says that the Arabs are fond of it, highly seasoned with onions and spices. The Arabs call it Lehn imm. The Jews will not eat it, because they say that it is an unnatural and barbarous dish. It is also a gross and unwholesome dish, calculated to kindle up animal and ferocious passions. It is associated with immoderate feasting, and was connected with idolatrous sacrifices. As the Abyssinians are fond of slicing the shoulders and hips of living animals, and as other civilised and semi-civilised heathen are addicted to boiling and roasting animals alive, there may have been a similar practice extant among them in the time of Moses of shearing the kid, and seething it alive. MCheyne, when in Poland, offered a Jewish boy some bread-and-butter. Though he looked eagerly at it, he laid it aside for some hours, remarking that he had just eaten flesh, and if he had immediately tasted butter, it would have been a violation of Exo. 23:19.
Verily, they are all thine; freely mayest thou serve thee of them all;
They are thine by gift for thy needs, to be used in all gratitude and kindness.
Tupper.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(14-17) The first great festivalthe Passover festivalhad been already instituted (Exo. 12:3-20; Exo. 13:3-10). It pleased the Divine Legislator at this time to add to that festival two others, and to make all three equally obligatory. There is some reason to suppose that, in germ, the feast of harvest and the feast of ingathering already existed. All nations, from the earliest time to which history reaches back, had festival seasons of a religious character; and no seasons are more suitable for such festivities than the conclusion of the grain-harvest, and the final completion of the entire harvest of the year. At any rate, whatever the previous practice, these three festival-seasons were now laid down as essential parts of the Law, and continuedsupplemented by two othersthe national festivals so long as Israel was a nation. In other countries such seasons were more common. Herodotus says that the Egyptians had six great yearly festival-times (ii. 59); and in Greece and Rome there was never a month without some notable religious festivity. Such institutions exerted a political as well as a religious influence, and helped towards national unity. This was more especially the case when, as in the present instance, they were expressly made gatherings of the whole nation to a single centre. What the great Greek panegyries, Olympic, Pythian, &c., were to Hellas, that the three great annual gatherings to the place where God had fixed His name were to Israela means of drawing closer the national bond, and counteracting those separatist tendencies which a nation split into tribes almost necessarily developed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14-16. Three times a feast unto me in the year These three great annual festivals, ordained for Israel, are here called the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of harvest, and the feast of ingathering. They are more fully described in other passages, but when the entire arrangement for the three is considered as a whole, it exhibits a magnificent scheme of national festivity, naturally and beautifully connected, and wisely adapted to serve as a great national bond. “Whoever has a thorough knowledge of these festivals,” says the learned Ewald, “will be persuaded that they have not arisen by slow degrees from the blind impulse of external nature, nor from the history of the people, but are the product of a lofty genius.” These festivals were arranged on a system of sevens, as if growing out of sabbatic ideas. The feast of unleavened bread is more commonly known as the passover, instituted at the Exodus, and described in Exo 12:1-28; Exo 12:43-51; Exo 13:3-10, where see notes . It was to be a feast of seven days’ duration, and to commence on the fifteenth day of the first month, (Abib,) that is, after twice seven days from the beginning of the year. This occurred at the time when the firstfruits of the barley harvest could be waved as an offering before Jehovah. Lev 23:10-12.
The feast of harvest was observed seven weeks after the offering of the wave-sheaf of the passover, that is, on the fiftieth day thereafter, (Lev 23:15-21,) whence it obtained also the names of “Pentecost,” (Act 2:1,) and “the feast of weeks . ” Exo 34:22; Deu 16:10. This was the time of the wheat harvest, so that passover and Pentecost enclosed the harvest season, which in Palestine extends from March-April into June-July. The feast of in-gathering is more commonly known as “the feast of tabernacles,” (Leviticus xxiii, 34-41; Deu 16:13-15,) and occurred in the end of the year, that is, of the agrarian year, “after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.” Deu 16:13. This end, or going forth, ( ,) of the year, (in Exo 34:22, called the , circle of the year,) occurred in the seventh month, (September-October,) which was observed as the sabbatic month . Its first day was signalled by the blowing of trumpets, (Lev 23:24; Num 29:1😉 the tenth, was the great day of atonement, (Lev 16:29-34; Lev 23:27-32😉 after which, on the fifteenth, (the day following the twice seventh from the feast of trumpets, which opened the sabbatic month,) the feast of tabernacles commenced and continued seven days, and the eighth was also consecrated as a sabbath. Lev 23:39. The sounding of the trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month of the fiftieth year (the one following seven times seven years) was the proclamation of the year of jubilee, and of “liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Lev 25:10. Thus all the great Hebrew festivals were linked by a system of sevens, and form one complete plan .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Regulations Concerning The Annual Feasts ( Exo 23:14-19 ).
The people have arrived at Mount Sinai and are preparing for what lies ahead. These laws are therefore providing them with a blueprint of that future and acting as a spur. It is always a sign of good leadership to picture the final fulfilment of what is in front as an encouragement in the face of difficulties. As these specific regulations for the future were read out to them at various times and seen as God’s law they would renew their vision for that future. It was so easy in the wilderness to lose sight of that future.
Those who cavil at such detailed provisions being made in the wilderness have never been on a long march into the unknown under arduous conditions, when often the only thing that holds the spirits up is the consideration of the future. As they heard these regulations read out, it assured them that, although the going was tough now, in the not too distant future there would be harvests, there would be ingatherings, they would have fields to leave fallow, for this is what the regulations guaranteed. It was worth struggling through the wilderness for. It was worth going on for, it was worth fighting for. And later the outline would be filled in as they neared their final goal. (Moses was not expecting it to take forty years. That would be due to disobedience).
We can analyse this as:
a Three times in a year a feast is to be kept (Exo 23:14).
b The feast of unleavened bread. None shall appear before Him empty (Exo 23:15).
c The feast of harvest. The firstfruit of their labours which they sow in their field (Exo 23:16 a).
b The feast of ingathering. When they gather in their labours from the field (Exo 23:16 b).
a Three times in a year all to appear before the Lord Yahweh (Exo 23:17).
Note that in ‘a’ they are to keep feasts three times a year, and in the parallel they are to appear before Yahweh three times a year. In ‘b’ in the seven day feast of unleavened bread none are to appear before Him empty, and in the parallel in the seven day feast of ingathering they will gather their labours from the field. Both suggest plenteous provision. In ‘c’ is the central one day feast where they offer the firstfruits of their labour, their rent and tribute.
Exo 23:14
“Three times you shall keep a feast for me during the year.”
There were to be three feasts, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the religious year, the feast of harvest (or ‘sevens’) celebrating the firstfruits, and the feast of ingathering (or ‘tabernacles’) ‘at the end of the year’, that is at the end of the period of sowing and reaping. Note the concentration on the fruitfulness of the ground. Their future was bright indeed.
Exo 23:15
“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt. And none shall appear before me empty.”
Compare Exo 34:18. This first feast was closely connected with the Passover and has already been outlined in Exodus 12 and Exodus 13. It was the time when the harvesting began (Deu 16:9). It would ever remind them of their deliverance from Egypt when they had to eat unleavened bread because of the haste in which they came out. It would include the waving of the sheaf before Yahweh (Lev 23:11).
“None shall appear before me empty.” (Compare 34:19-20; Deu 16:16). All must appear bringing offerings and sacrifices from their firstlings (34:19-20) and gifts from their harvest firstfruits to Yahweh as they are able. But the especial point is that all will have such gifts to bring.
Exo 23:16 a
“And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of your labours which you sow in the field.”
Compare Exo 34:22 where it is the Feast of Sevens. This feast would be held seven sevens plus one day after the feast of unleavened bread (Lev 23:15-21; Num 28:26-31; Deu 16:9-12), and would celebrate the wheat harvest. It would include the waving of two wave loaves of fine flour baked with leaven as firstfruits to Yahweh, and celebrated the firstfruits of their labours (Exo 34:22 has ‘the firstfruits of the wheat harvest’). It was later called the Feast of Sevens (weeks), and Pentecost.
Exo 23:16 b
“And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your labours out of the field.”
This was celebrated in the seventh month and was later called the feast of tabernacles. This was the final celebration of the whole harvest including the grapes and olives, the vintage was gathered in and the threshing was over for another year (Lev 23:33-44; Num 29:12-38; Deu 16:13-15).
“At the end of the year”, that is, the agricultural ‘year’ when the harvests had been gathered in. We need not assume that Moses saw them as having two official calendars. The final gathering in of the vintage and summer fruits would necessarily be seen by them as ‘the end of the year’. Agriculturally the next step would be sowing for the following year. But their official calendar now began in April. Fixation of calendars was far from Moses’ mind. Whatever happened later he was dealing in practicalities.
These three feasts encapsulated all the hopes of the children of Israel. They were promised here to a landless people who were encamped in the wilderness but who looked forward in the future to owning their own land, with fruitful fields and full harvests in the land of milk and honey. In these commandments their hope for the future was written large. What encouragement must have been theirs as they contemplated them together.
This was all probably patterned on the feasts they had kept of old in Canaan, the sheepshearing and the harvests. Such customs tend to linger on, especially in a strange land, even when the specific events connected with them have ceased.
Moses would certainly have enquired into conditions in Canaan in preparation for their arrival there. He would have been incompetent not to. And there would almost certainly be a number among the people who had more recently been in Canaan before going to Egypt
Note how brief the descriptions are and their concentration on ‘none shall appear before me empty’, ‘the firstfruits of your labours’, and ‘you gather in your labours out of the field’, just the ideas suited to encouraging a pilgrimage people.
Exo 23:17
“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.”
This is the first specific indication to the reader that all are to gather three times a year at a central sanctuary to celebrate God’s goodness. At these times sections of the history and the covenants would be read out as a reminder to the people of God’s promises and requirements, including the earlier covenants with the fathers and the initial covenants with Adam (Gen 1:28-30; Gen 3:17-19) and Noah (Gen 9:1-7) with their background histories, and the people would make their response. Every seven years the whole of the Law which had been given to Moses and which he had written down (Deu 31:9; Deu 31:24) would be read out (Deu 31:11).
The children of Israel would be, and indeed already were, divided into twelve sub-tribes whose unity was to be maintained by their connection with a central sanctuary. The arrangement is called an Amphictyony (the pattern occurred elsewhere including in ancient Greece). This was a well known form of organisation among such peoples and we have already seen indications of such arrangements among peoples connected with Abraham (Gen 22:20-24; Gen 25:2-4; Gen 25:13-15; Gen 31:23; various combinations in Genesis 36 (e.g. 36:15-19, 29-30, 40-43 – note that they were not only sons but chieftains or ‘dukes’). Indeed the name Oholibamah means ‘tent of the high place’).
“All your males.” The gathering was to be officially of the males, but they would often later be accompanied by their families. Such a gathering would also be called for when danger threatened (Jdg 5:13-23).
“Shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.” Note the title. Yahweh is now their Overlord. The phrase ‘appear before’ occurs in 23:15; 34:20, 23, 24; Deu 16:16; Deu 31:11; Isa 1:12 in this technical sense. They would come to His central sanctuary to worship and renew the covenant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exo 23:14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year It is very evident, from the appointment of these three solemn festivals, when all the males were to appear before the Lord in that place where he peculiarly manifested himself to them, that the Jewish religion was never designed to be an universal religion; which this single appointment rendered impossible. And, no doubt, the command was given no less with this view, than to strengthen the national union and harmony, by this frequent assemblage of the people together. This law, it is most probable, was not to take place till they were in possession of the land of Canaan. See ch. Exo 34:23-24.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Those seasons were – in the spring, summer, and autumn, namely, the feast of the Passover, that of Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles. It is worthy observation, that in after ages, under the gospel state, the Lord Jesus was crucified on the one; namely, the Passover, which that solemn service typified: and the Holy Ghost descended during the commemoration of the other; namely, the feast of Pentecost, which confirmed also that great ordinance of God. See Mat 26:2 ; Act 2:1-2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Ver. 14. Three times. ] See Deu 16:16 . The Hebrew hath it three feet, because the most went up to those three feasts every year afoot, saith Aben Ezra.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Three times. No. of Divine perfection. App-10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Three times
Cf. Lev 23:4-44. Exodus for the wilderness; Leviticus for the land.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Exo 34:22, Lev 23:5, Lev 23:16, Lev 23:34, Deu 16:16
Reciprocal: Exo 34:23 – Thrice Lev 23:2 – the feasts Lev 23:4 – General Jdg 21:19 – a feast 1Sa 1:3 – yearly 1Sa 2:19 – from year to year 1Ki 9:25 – three times 2Ch 8:13 – three times Ezr 3:1 – the seventh Eze 46:9 – come before Luk 2:41 – went Joh 5:1 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THREE TIMES A YEAR
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.
Exo 23:14
I. Thanksgiving and thankoffering, systematically cultivated by Divine ordinances.Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Why? To remember Gods goodness, to give thanks to His name, and to offer gifts. Each of these meetings was to be a National Thanksgiving, (a) The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, was designed to keep the Exodus in perpetual remembrance; exactly as the Lords Supper keeps Calvary ever in view. (b) The Feast of Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, stood at the beginning of harvest, and was meant to awaken gratitude for earths wealth then breaking forth upon them, (c) The Feast of Ingatheringor Tabernaclesat the end of the harvest. It was the Harvest Thanksgiving of the entire nation. But remembrance and song, gladness and stately worship, were not enough. Gifts, generous and costly, were necessary to the deeper reality, the purer joy, the nobler worship. The great, glad Giver longed for His people to be like himself; so thanksgiving was ever linked with thankoffering.
II. Hence the great law common to each of these thanksgiving festivals:None shall appear before Me empty. Review these facts, and see what pains the Lord took to train His people in the habit of remembrance, thanksgiving, and thankoffering.
Illustration
In each life there should be the constant commemoration of the Passover of Calvary; of Jesus Christs resurrection, the first-fruits of the resurrection of the dead; and of the advent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is also a good motto to give the first-fruits of everything to God. Oh! that blessed Angel of the Covenant, who ever goes in front of us to keep us, to bring us whither God would have us be, and to be an adversary to our foes: let us not grieve Him. Reverently appropriate these blessed privileges that follow on obedience. Deliverance from our inbred Canaanites, the blessing of God on food and water, the absence of sickness, the flight of foes, the extended cost. Shall not we claim these by our obedient faith?
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Exo 23:14. The passover, pentecost, and feast of tabernacles, in spring, summer, and autumn, were the three times appointed for their attendance; not in winter, because travelling was then uncomfortable; nor in the midst of their harvest.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
All the male Israelites had to make a pilgrimage to the sanctuary (tabernacle) three times a year for the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits (Weeks, Pentecost), and Ingathering (Booths, Tabernacles). Women and children would have normally accompanied the males. This requirement fostered the maintenance of the national and social unity of the 12 tribes as well as their spiritual unity.