THE PASSOVER-UNLEAVENED BREAD FESTIVAL THE FESTIVAL OF WEEKS THE FESTIVAL OF TEMPORARY SHELTERS PROVISION FOR JUSTICE EXAMPLES OF LEGAL CASES

Transcription

1 1 THE PASSOVER-UNLEAVENED BREAD FESTIVAL THE FESTIVAL OF WEEKS THE FESTIVAL OF TEMPORARY SHELTERS PROVISION FOR JUSTICE EXAMPLES OF LEGAL CASES DEUTERONOMY 16:1-22

2 2 THE PASSOVER-UNLEAVENED BREAD FESTIVAL Text: THE FESTIVAL OF WEEKS THE FESTIVAL OF TEMPORARY SHELTERS Deuteronomy 16:1-22, PROVISION FOR JUSTICE EXAMPLES OF LEGAL CASES 1. Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2. You must sacrifice the Passover animal (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to locate his name. 3. You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt. 4. There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. 5. You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you,

3 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7. You must cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8. You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 9. You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 10. Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you. 11. You shall rejoice before him you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. 12. Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes. 13. You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. 14. You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages. 15. You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!

4 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed. 17. Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. 18. You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 19. You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort the words of the righteous. 20. You must pursue justice alone so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you. 21. You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 22. You must not erect a sacred pillar, a thing the Lord your God detests. (NET) Introduction: I. Main points:... A. Observe festivals to worship God. (1-17) 1. The Passover-unleavened bread (1-8) 2. The festival of weeks (9-12)

5 The festival of temporary shelters (13-17) B. Provisions for justice. (18-21) 1. Appoint judges and civil servants (18-20) C. Examples of legal cases. (21-22) II. Key quote: A warning against idolatry (21-22) A. Deuteronomy 16:1, Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night. (NET) Commentary: The Passover-Unleavened Bread Festival Deuteronomy 16:1-8, Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night. You must sacrifice the Passover animal (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to locate his name. You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt. There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first

6 6 day remain until the next morning. You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. You must cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. (NET) I. Observe festivals to worship God (verses 1-8) A. The Lord required the men to make three pilgrimages a year to honor Him in the place where He has chosen to locate His name, or dwell. 1. Women were excluded from the mandatory order to appear at the festivals presumably because their menstrual cycles would make them ritually unclean, therefore, unable to participate in the worship. a. Leviticus 15:19, 31, When a woman has a discharge and her discharge is blood from her body, she is to be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. Thus you are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. (NET)

7 These assemblies were similar to those in the Suzerain covenants of the ancient middle east that, in part, required the vassals to appear before their overlord or king three times a year to offer tribute and acknowledge the pledge of the covenant. B. The first and most important of these festivals is the festival of Passover and the unleavened bread (verses 1-8). C. Passover was observed in Abib, the first month of the Hebrew year, on the fourteenth day. 1. Exodus 12:1-2, The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. (NET) 2. Exodus 13:3-4, Moses said to the people, Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, for the Lord brought you out of there with a mighty hand and no bread made with yeast may be eaten. On this day, in the month of Abib, you are going out. (NET) 3. The month of Abib was later known as Nisan which corresponds to March-April on our calendar. D. The animal to be sacrificed was to be a one year old male, lamb or kid, perfect and spotless, without blemish.

8 Exodus 12:5, Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (NET) 2. Leviticus 22:19, if it is to be acceptable for your benefit it must be a flawless male from the cattle, sheep, or goats. (NET) 3. Deuteronomy 15:21, If they have any kind of blemish lameness, blindness, or anything else you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. (NET) E. The lamb was to be selected on the tenth day of the month and cared for until the sacrificial day, the fourteenth of Abib. 1. Exodus 12:3, 6, Tell the whole community of Israel, In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families a lamb for each household. You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. (NET) 2. Leviticus 23:5, In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the Lord. (NET) 3. Numbers 28:16, On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord s Passover. (NET)

9 9 F. The animal was to be sacrificed... in the place where He (God) chooses to locate His name. (verse 2) 1. It was not to be sacrificed where the people lived but at the house of the Lord. a. Deuteronomy 12:5-6, But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there. And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. (NET) b. 2 Chronicles 7:11-12, 16, After Solomon finished building the Lord s temple and the royal palace, and accomplished all his plans for the Lord s temple and his royal palace, the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have answered your prayer and chosen this place to be my temple where sacrifices are to be made. Now I have chosen and consecrated this temple by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. (NET) G. The sacrifice was to be offered at sunset as a reminder that it was at night that Pharaoh released them.

10 Exodus 12:31, 42, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, and so on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil to the Lord for generations to come. (NET) H. The only perfect sacrifice for mankind was given as Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross upon the hill known as Golgotha. Right beside that hill in the temple of God thousands of inadequate animal sacrifices were being offered. 1. Matthew 27:45-46, Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land. At about three o clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (NET) 2. Mark 15:33-34, Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. Around three o clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (NET) 3. Luke 23:44-46, It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, because the sun s light failed. The temple curtain was torn in two. Then Jesus,

11 11 calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! And after he said this he breathed his last. (NET) 4. The definition of sunset to the Hebrew can be different than our interpretation. a. NET, page 149, 24tn.... the Talmud explains... the time between sunset and the time stars became visible. Also... when the sun begins to decline in the west and casts its shadows, and the second evening is the beginning of night. And the view adopted by the Pharisees... is that the first evening when the heat begins to decrease and the second evening begins at sunset, or roughly from 3-5 p.m. I. The festival of unleavened bread commenced on the fifteenth day of Abib and was observed for seven days. A. Exodus 12:18, In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat bread made without yeast until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. (NET) B. Exodus 13:6, For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord. (NET) C. Numbers 28:16-17, On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord s Passover. And on

12 12 the fifteenth day of this month is the festival. For seven days bread made without yeast must be eaten. (NET) D. Leviticus 23:6, Then on the fifteenth day of the same month will be the festival of unleavened bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. (NET) J. The bitter herbs were a symbolic reminder of the miseries they endured as slaves in Egypt. K. On the twenty first day of the month, the final day of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread was observed with a sacred assembly to God. THE FESTIVAL OF WEEKS Deuteronomy 16:9-12, You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you. You shall rejoice before him you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes. (NET) I. The festival of weeks (verses 9-12)

13 13 A. The festival of weeks was also known by other names. 1. Pentecost from the Greek word for fifty, pentekostos. It was celebrated fifty days after the end of Passover. a. Leviticus 23:16, You must count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath and then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. (NET) 2. The day of first fruits. a. Numbers 28:26, Also, on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work. (NET) 3. The feast of the harvest. a. Exodus 23:16, 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. (NET) B. The term weeks identifies the period of time between the barley harvest to the wheat harvest.

14 14 C. The day of first fruits was the time when the Israelites were to present their offerings of first fruits to God. D. This was a time of joyful thanksgiving for the harvest of the winter crops. 1. Deuteronomy 16:11, You shall rejoice before Him. E. Two loaves of bread baked from the newly harvested wheat were to be presented as a wave offering to the Lord. 1. Leviticus 23:17, From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as first fruits to the Lord. (NET) THE FESTIVAL OF TEMPORARY SHELTERS Deuteronomy 16:13-17, You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages. You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice! Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of

15 15 Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed. Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. (NET) I. Festival of temporary shelters (verses 13-17) A. This festival also had other names. 1. The feast of tabernacles or booths both of which refer to tents or temporary shelters. 2. The feast of ingathering. B. This celebration took place on the fifteenth day of Tishri (October) when the grapes and grain were harvested. 1. Exodus 23:16, 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. (NET) 2. Exodus 34:22-23, You must observe the Feast of Weeks the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year. At three times in the year all your men must appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. (NET)

16 Leviticus 23:34, 39, Tell the Israelites, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days to the Lord. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. (NET) C. During this time the Israelites built temporary shelters to live in for the seven day festival. 1. Typically these huts were constructed of branches of myrtle, willow and palms indigenous to the land around Jerusalem. a. Leviticus 23:40, On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. (NET) b. Nehemiah 8:14-15, They discovered written in the law that the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month, and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message in all their cities and in Jerusalem: Go to the hill

17 17 country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written. (NET) D. The booths were A symbol of God s shelter and protection during the Israelites forty (40) year journey through the wilderness. 1. Psalm 18:2, The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge. (NET) 2. Psalm 27:5a, He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger; he will hide me in his home; he will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit. (NET) 3. Psalm 91:4, He will shelter you with his wings; you will find safety under his wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. (NET) 4. Isaiah 4:6, By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat, as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour. (NET) E. No one was to come empty handed. All were to give back to the Lord a portion of the bounty with which he had been blessed.

18 The offering is a physical expression of spiritual devotion. a. Deuteronomy 8:17-18a, Be careful not to say, My own ability and skill have gotten me this wealth. You must remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; (NET) b. Deuteronomy 14:22, You must be certain to tithe all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year. (NET) IV. Provision for Justice (verses 18-22). A. Judges and civil servants were to be appointed to maintain justice in the Israelites new homeland. 1. Isaiah 32:1, Look, a king will promote fairness; officials will promote justice. (NET) B. This was similar to the plan Moses father-in-law Jethro suggested to him as recorded in Exodus chapter 18. C. A hierarchy of Judges was established to settle disputes and legal matters. 1. Exodus 18:21, But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people

19 19 as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (NET) 2. Deuteronomy 1:13, 15, Select wise and practical men, those known among your tribes, whom I may appoint as your leaders. So I chose as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. (NET) D. The ethical standards God set forth for judges and civil servants are the same qualities we should look for in our leaders today. 1. They should have a reputation for fairness and honesty. a. Leviticus 19:11, You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen. (NET) 2. They must not show partiality. a. Leviticus 19:15, You must not deal unjustly in judgment: you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. (NET) b. Deuteronomy 1:17, They must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly

20 20 and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing. (NET) 3. They must be above reproach and not accept bribes of any kind. a. Job 15:34, For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. (NET) b. Ecclesiastes 7:7, Surely oppression can turn a wise person into a fool; likewise, a bribe corrupts the heart. (NET) E. Gifts or bribes of money blind the judge to the true facts of the case. 1. Exodus 23:8, You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous. (NET) F. A caveat is added to emphasize why honesty and fairness of the judicial system are important. 1. If the judges seek personal gain instead of justice, the new homeland God is giving to the Israelites will become corrupted and eventually lost.

21 21 G. King Solomon understood the importance of judicial wisdom and that was his single request of God when he became king. Conclusion: 1. 1 Kings 3:7-12, Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced. Your servant stands among your chosen people; they are a great nation that is too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning mind so he can make judicial decisions for your people and distinguish right from wrong. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours. The Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request. God said to him, Because you asked for the ability to make wise judicial decisions, and not for long life, or riches, or vengeance on your enemies, I grant your request, and give you a wise and discerning mind superior to that of anyone who has preceded or will succeed you. (NET) I. God institutes the festivals. A. The festivals were religious celebrations to remember the miraculous acts of God that delivered the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery and sustained and protected them during the Exodus.

22 22 B. The first festival of the year was the celebration of the Passover and the unleavened bread. This was the remembrance of deliverance out of slavery in Egypt and the Exodus to their promised land. 1. The Hebrews were to always remember that they were saved by the power of God, not by any act of their own strength or military power. C. The second festival was the feast of weeks also called the day of first fruit, or the feast of the harvest and Pentecost. 1. This was a time of giving thanks to God for the harvest and the rains that made the crops grow. D. The final feast of the year was the feast of the tabernacles, also known as the feast of the ingathering and the festival of booths. 1. This was a time of joyous celebration that commemorated the protection and shelter that God had provided for forty years in the wilderness. 2. It was also the feast of the harvest and a time of thanksgiving for all that God had provided. E. The recurring theme of these celebrations is that of giving thanks to a gracious God who has blessed us with everything we have including life itself and all that we need to sustain it.

23 In return, we are to worship and praise His name for all His goodness and mercy, and continually remember the love He has shown us. It is His gift to us, a true gift we have not earned. 2. We acknowledge it by presenting our offerings to Him and by worshiping and praising His holy name. 3. We are to perpetually remember Him and all of the blessings He has given us. II. The judges and civil servants. A. God set the standards high for those who were chosen as judges. B. He is the supreme judge of our lives here on earth and He expects our terrestrial judges to exhibit character traits of honesty, truthfulness, fairness and morality. C. God established lofty goals for those who judge to remind us that we are to judge others as we want Him to judge us. 1. Psalm 9:8, He judges the world fairly; he makes just legal decisions for the nations. (NET) 2. Psalm 96:13 b, c, For he comes to judge the earth! He judges the world fairly, and the nations in accordance with his justice. (NET) 3. Matthew 7:1-2, Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For by the standard you judge

24 24 you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. (NET) 4. Luke 6:37, Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. (NET) 5. John 5:30, I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. (NET) 6. John 7:24, Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment. (NET)

25 25 Questions on Leviticus 16: The Hebrew men were required to make pilgrimages a year to honor God. 2. Explain why women were not required to participate in these feasts. 3. (a) The first and most important feast was (b) The festival took place in the month of. 4. Explain why the Passover lamb was sacrificed at sundown.

26 Could the sacrifice of the Passover lamb be offered at home? Explain. 6. (a) The festival of unleavened bread began on the and it was observed for. 7. The bitter herbs eaten at the festival of the unleavened bread symbolized 8. The festival of weeks was also called because it was celebrated fifty days after the end of. 9. Explain what the term weeks identifies in the festival of weeks.

27 The festival of temporary shelters was also known as 11. The festival of temporary shelters was celebrated in the month of which corresponds to our month of. 12. The harvest of and was celebrated at the festival of temporary shelters. 13. The temporary shelters symbolized 14. Explain what materials were used to construct the temporary shelters at the festival. 15. Name three of the qualities that judges and civil servants should possess