신명기 Chapter 16

Translation: ESV

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.

Key Message

Remembering and commemorating historical saving events maintains the identity of the faith community.

▸Chapter 16 addresses Israel's three festivals—Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

Chapter 16 addresses Israel's three festivals—Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. The festivals were the core of Israel's communal worship and historical memory. Passover is observed in the month of Abib (Nisan, March-April) and commemorates the exodus.

Related Verses

This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
2

And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Key Message

Worship must be communal. Individual faith and communal worship must be in balance.

▸The Passover sacrifice must be offered at the central sanctuary chosen by God.

3

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

Key Message

The food and rituals of the festival are a way of making history alive. The act of eating is training in memory and identity.

▸Unleavened bread is 'the bread of affliction.

4

No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning.

Key Message

The thorough removal of traces of sin and contamination is the spirit of the sacred festival.

▸For seven days, leaven must be removed from all of Israel's territory.

5

You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you,

Key Message

The place and manner of communal worship are important for maintaining the unity of the faith community.

▸The Passover sacrifice cannot be offered just anywhere.

6

but at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.

Key Message

Remembering the time and manner of the historical saving event preserves the roots of faith.

▸The specific time is presented: 'in the evening at sunset'—this coincides with the time of departure from Egypt.

7

And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the LORD your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

Key Message

Worship offered at the place designated by God is important.

▸The Passover sacrifice is cooked and eaten at the sanctuary, and in the morning one returns home.

8

For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.

Key Message

Concluding the festival with a special act of worship is the completion of faith.

▸The Feast of Unleavened Bread continues for seven days.

9

You shall count seven weeks. From the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.

Key Message

Thanksgiving for the harvest is expressed in worship offered to God. The abundance of nature is God's gift.

▸The beginning of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is described.

10

Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.

Key Message

Offerings must be given voluntarily and in proportion to what has been received. A compelled offering is not true worship.

▸The offering for the Feast of Weeks is given 'according to how God has blessed you' and 'freely.

11

And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Key Message

True joy is complete when shared with all, leaving none marginalized.

▸The joy of the Feast of Weeks is shared by everyone together.

12

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

Key Message

Past experiences of suffering become the motivation for present compassion and kindness.

▸The motivation for observing the festival is presented.

13

You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.

Key Message

Giving thanks to God after an abundant harvest is a beautiful expression of faith.

▸The third festival, the Feast of Booths (Sukkot), is introduced.

14

You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.

Key Message

All are invited to the feast of the kingdom of God. A true celebration is one that includes the marginalized.

▸As with the Feast of Weeks, at the Feast of Booths all must rejoice together.

15

For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

Key Message

Joy is the fruit and command of faith. Rejoicing in God's grace is proper worship.

▸'You shall be altogether joyful'—this is a command.

16

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.

Key Message

Regular attendance at worship and thankful offerings are essential elements of the life of faith.

▸The three pilgrimage festivals of Israel are summarized.

17

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

Key Message

Offerings must be proportional to what has been received. Thanksgiving according to one's means is true worship.

▸Offerings must be proportional to what God has given as a blessing.

18

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

Key Message

A just judicial system is an essential element of the kingdom of God. Justice is the practice of faith.

▸The subject suddenly shifts from festival regulations to the judicial system.

19

You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

Key Message

Righteous judgment requires fairness, equality, and integrity. Bribery destroys justice.

▸Three principles of righteous judgment are presented: do not pervert justice (prohibition of biased verdicts), do not show partiality (prohibition of discrimination based on status and power), do not accept a bribe.

20

Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Key Message

Justice is the life of the faith community. Passionately pursuing justice is God's command.

▸'Justice, and only justice, you shall follow'—this is the core command of chapter 16.

21

You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God that you shall make.

Key Message

True worship is exclusive. Serving the LORD together with other gods is a denial of the LORD.

▸A warning against setting up an Asherah pole beside the altar of the LORD.

22

And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

Key Message

God hates any form of idol. Creating convenient religious tools can also become idolatry.

▸A pillar (matstsevah) is a sacred stone column that was a symbol of the male deity in Canaanite religion.