You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 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. You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
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Deuteronomy 16:13-15 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 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. 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. You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you; but at the place which Yahweh 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. You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work. 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. You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. You shall rejoice before Yahweh 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 among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes. You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 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. You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh 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 Yahweh empty. Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you. You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 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. You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves. Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
Parallel Translations
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You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.
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.
You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
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Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
Show all 3 translations
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Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress.
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose; because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (28)
- Exodus 23:16 (v13) And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the…
- Leviticus 23:36-42 (v15) Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall offer an…
- Nehemiah 8:9-12 (v14) Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, “Today is…
- John 7:2 (v13) Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.
- Leviticus 23:34-36 (v13) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh. On…
Show all 28 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 30:16 (v15) For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that…
- 2 Chronicles 5:3 (v13) So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.
- Exodus 34:22 (v13) “You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.
- Numbers 29:12-40 (v13) “ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to…
- Deuteronomy 7:13 (v15) He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your…
- Deuteronomy 16:10 (v15) You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to…
- Deuteronomy 16:11 (v14) You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within…
- Deuteronomy 28:8-12 (v15) Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh…
- Zechariah 14:16-18 (v13) It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King,…
- Numbers 29:12-38 (v15) “ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to…
- Deuteronomy 26:11 (v14) You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is…
- Deuteronomy 31:10 (v13) Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,
- 2 Chronicles 7:8-10 (v13) So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the…
- 2 Chronicles 8:13 (v13) even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set…
- Ezra 3:4 (v13) They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty…
- Nehemiah 8:14-18 (v13) They found written in the law how Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the…
- Ecclesiastes 9:7 (v14) Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
- Isaiah 12:1-6 (v14) In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort…
- Isaiah 25:6-8 (v14) In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast of choice wines, of choice meat full of marrow, of…
- Isaiah 30:29 (v14) You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh’s…
- Isaiah 35:10 (v14) Then Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (v14) Always rejoice.
- Deuteronomy 12:12 (v14) You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v13 That is, the 15th day of the seventh month,…
That is, the 15th day of the seventh month, Lev. 23:34.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Deu 16:13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles…
Deu 16:13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
Ver. 13. Thou shalt observe.] {See Trapp on "Exo 23:16"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Of the feast of tabernacles, see on Exo 23:16;…
Of the feast of tabernacles, see on Exo 23:16; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–15 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,....…
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,.... Which began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, or September; see Lev 23:34, &c.
after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16, barley harvest began at the passover, and wheat harvest at Pentecost; and before the feast of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the olives were over, as well as all other summer fruits were got in.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v14 Deu 16:14-16. Thou shalt rejoice — In God, and…
Deu 16:14-16. Thou shalt rejoice — In God, and in the effects of his favour, serving and praising him with a glad heart. Shall all thy males appear before the Lord — That is, from twenty to fifty years of age. The women were not obliged to be present at these solemnities; 1st, Because the weakness of their sex rendered them unable to bear so long a journey as many of them would have had to take, without more fatigue than would have been consistent with their health. 2d, Because the care of their children and servants demanded their presence at home. 3d, Because they were represented in the men. No doubt the chief intention of these sacred feasts was to promote piety toward God, and mutual love toward each other, among the Israelites. By the various solemn services in which they were engaged at these seasons, their minds would be awakened to a sense of the infinite importance of religion, and excited to reverence and stand in awe of the Divine Majesty, while many would be inspired unfeignedly to praise and love the Author of all their mercies. By being brought so often together from all parts of the country, their acquaintance with, and regard for each other, would be both continued and increased, and the bond of union among them, as a community, greatly strengthened. Thus also they would be preserved from the idolatrous rites and superstitious practices of their heathen neighbours, and their attachment to their own happy constitution, both civil and religious, would be confirmed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v15 In joy. Hebrew adds, "surely, or wholly." Hence the…
In joy. Hebrew adds, "surely, or wholly." Hence the Rabbins esteem it unlawful to marry on these days, lest they should blend sacred and worldly joy together.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days--(See…
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days--(See on Exo 23:14; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12). Various conjectures have been formed to account for the appointment of this feast at the conclusion of the whole harvest. Some imagine that it was designed to remind the Israelites of the time when they had no cornfields to reap but were daily supplied with manna; others think that it suited the convenience of the people better than any other period of the year for dwelling in booths; others that it was the time of Moses' second descent from the mount; while a fourth class are of opinion that this feast was fixed to the time of the year when the Word was made flesh and dwelt--literally, "tabernacled"--among us (Joh 1:14), Christ being actually born at that season.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v13 13. Gathered in thy corn and thy wine —…
13. Gathered in thy corn and thy wine — Better thus, in thy gathering from thy threshing floor and thy wine-press. At the present time very little wine is made in Palestine. “No wine is made from the very extensive vineyards of Hebron except a little by the Jews.” — ROBINSON’S Biblical Researches, vol. ii, p. 442. “Wine is not the most important, but rather the least so, of all the objects for which the vine is cultivated.” — Bibliotheca Sacra, Nov., 1846.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–15 13. Thou shalt keep] Heb. perform for thyself, see…
13. Thou shalt keep] Heb. perform for thyself, see on Deu_16:1.
the feast of booths] feast, ḥag, as in Deu_16:10. Booths, suḳḳôth, lit. plaitings or interlacings, whether natural thickets (Job_38:40, etc.) or artificial shelters of branches or planks, especially for the guardians of vineyards (Isa_1:8); applied first by D, and explained by H, Lev_23:39-43, which prescribes that the people shall dwell throughout the feast in booths of palm-fronds, boughs of thick trees and poplars (Neh_8:15, olive, myrtle, palm and thick tree branches). H’s reason for this custom is that Israel dwelt in booths at the Exodus; but the general resort of the cultivators to booths in their vineyards at the time of the ripening of the grapes and the vintage, which still continues in Palestine (Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 81), was no doubt very ancient and the real origin of the name of the Feast. After the centralisation of the cultus, the booths were erected in the courts and on the flat roofs of the city, Neh_8:14-17, which implies that before the restoration of Israel’s worship under Nehemiah the custom had been in abeyance. The term tabernacles is used in the EVV. in the sense given by Johnson of ‘casual dwellings’ (Lat. taberna a hut, tabernaculum a tent).
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seven days] So H, Lev_23:39, to which P, Num_29:35, adds an eighth, with a convocation. Passover and Weeks are one day each.
threshing-floor and winepress] Deu_15:14.
13–15. The Feast of Booths
To be observed for seven days after the harvest of corn and wine by each family and their dependents, at the One Altar; and that altogether joyfully because of God’s blessing.—For the parallels and the other name of the Feast see introd. to Deu_16:1-17. This feast is also called the feast par excellence (1Ki_8:2; 1Ki_8:65, etc., cp. Jdg_21:19 ff.) not so much for its length, as because it crowned the year. See further Deu_31:10.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v13 Deu_16:13-15. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
Deu_16:13-15. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
(13) Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days.—For details of the observance see the passages already referred to in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but more especially Lev_23:33-43.
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(14) Thou, and thy son . . .—The rejoicing of the Feast of Tabernacles was proverbial among the Jews. On the persons who are to share the joy, Rashi has an interesting note. “The Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow,—My four (Jehovah’s), over against thy four—thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant. If thou wilt make My four to rejoice, I will rejoice thy four.”
(15) Seven days.—An eighth day is mentioned both in Lev_23:36 and Num_29:35. But the seven days of this feast are also spoken of in both those passages (Lev_23:36 and Num_29:12). There is, therefore, no contradiction between the two passages. The eighth day is treated apart from the first seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, somewhat in the same way as the Passover is always distinguished in the Pentateuch from the six days which followed it, and which are called the Feast of Unleavened bread. The reason for the distinction in that case becomes clear in the fulfilment of the feast by our Lord. The Passover is His sacrifice and death. We keep the feast of unleavened bread by serving Him in “sincerity and truth.” The Feast of Tabernacles has not yet been fulfilled by our Lord like the two other great feasts of the Jewish calendar. Unfulfilled prophecies regarding it may be pointed out, as in Zechariah 14. Our Lord refused to signalise that feast by any public manifestation (Joh_7:2-10). There may, therefore, be some reason for separating the eighth and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles from the former seven, which will appear in its fulfilment in the kingdom of God. It is remarkable that the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the commencement of the second temple and the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, all occurred about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Thou shalt surely rejoice.—In the Hebrew this is a somewhat unusual form of expression. Literally, thou wilt be only rejoicing. Rashi says it is not a command, but a promise.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v13 Vers. 13-15. The Feast of Tabernacles, properly, Booths. (cf.…
Vers. 13-15. The Feast of Tabernacles, properly, Booths. (cf. Lev_23:33-44; Num_29:12-38) This feast was to be observed at the end of harvest, after the corn had been gathered into granaries, and the produce of the vineyard had been put through the press. Nothing is added here to the instructions already given respecting this festival; only the observance of it at the appointed sanctuary is enforced, and stress is laid on their making not only their sons and daughters and domestics, but also the Levite, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger participators in their rejoicings. Thou shalt surely rejoice; rather, thou shalt be wholly joyous; literally, rejoicing only; Rosenm., adnodum laetus.
Vers. 13-17. The Feast of Tabernacles, or of Ingathering.
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festival of tabernacles, as originally instituted, presents but little symbolism. Its primary design was to give expression to joy and gratitude in view of the products of the earth, every kind of which had now been gathered; and it was therefore also called the Festival of Ingathering." As the Passover commemorated the first deliverance, so the Feast of Booths would recall the wilderness life. And "nothing was more natural than to associate in thought the richness of their inheritance with the probationary trials by means of which the nation had been prepared to possess it" (Atwater"s "History and Significance of the Sacred Tabernacle of the Hebrews," Dodd and Co., New York, 1877). It is scarcely necessary here to do more than suggest the underlying principles which are presented here. They must needs have some similarity with those in the preceding Homily. Israel is taught the following truths:
1. After the corn and wine have been gathered in, and the anxieties of the year are so far over, they are then expected to look up gratefully to God as the Author of all.
2. God"s mercies are to be enjoyed, in grateful and delightful repose.
3. With the gladsome rest there is to be associated a thankful memory of past guidance and help in the wilderness life.
4. In this rejoicing and thankfulness, master and servant are alike to share, as both equal in the sight of God.
5. By Israel"s gladness, the sorrows of the poor, the sad, the lonely, are to be relieved, and the solitary ones are to be made conscious of a kindly care encompassing them.
6. The recognition of a reception of mercy is to be accompanied with a loving offering to God in return (vers. 16, 17). According to the blessing, so is to be the tribute.
7. Thus Israel"s nationality is to be thrice sealed every year, as a specifically religious one, in holy and joyful covenant with the Lord their God. Manifestly on each of these points, Israel"s temporary and local forms illustrated permanent and worldwide principles, in the exposition of which the Christian teacher may well delight.
Vers. 13-16. The Feast of Tabernacle.
I A FEAST OF THE INGATHERING. (Ver. 13.) Held in the seventh month, when all the fruits of the earth had been gathered in. Thus:
1. Every stage of labor was sanctified by the recognition of God. At the Passover, when the sickle was thrust into the virgin grain; at Pentecost, when the cereal crops were harvested; and now, at the close of the agricultural year, when the season"s labors had yielded to the husbandman their full results.
2. The fruits of labor were sanctified by dedication to God. The usual feasts were held, and shared with the needy (ver. 14), and free-will offerings (vers. 16, 17) were presented to God. Bountiful giving is the appropriate return for bountiful receiving.
II A MEMORIAL OF PAST WANDERINGS. (Lev_23:43) During the seven days of the festival, the Israelites were to live in booths. This symbolized, and served to remind them of, the wandering, unsettled life of the desert. Booths were erections of simpler construction, and more in keeping with an agricultural festival, especially after the settlement in Canaan, than tents would have been. But there may have been an allusion also to actual circumstances of the journeyings, e.g. the first halt at Succoth, i.e. booths. (Exo_12:3; see Stanley) This memorial was instituted:
1. That in the midst of their prosperity they might not forget the days of their adversity. (Deu_8:12-18)
2. That they might be reminded of God"s gracious care of them. Booths or huts may, as Keil thinks, have been used instead of tents with reference to this idea. The booth was a shelter, a protection. So God promises to be to his Church, as he had been in the past, "a booth for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from the storm and rain". (Isa_4:6)
3. That their enjoyment of the goodness of the land might be enhanced by feelings of warm gratitude, awakened by the sense of contrast.
III AN IMAGE OF PRESENT PILGRIMAGE. Though settled in Canaan, the Israelites were not to regard themselves as in possession of the final rest. (Heb_4:7, Heb_4:8) The pilgrim state continued. (Psa_39:12) It does so still. We still inhabit tabernacles. (2Co_5:1) Spiritual rest, the inward side of the Canaan type, is attained in Christ; but the full realization of the rest of God lies in eternity. Till heaven is reached, our state is that of pilgrims wilderness wanderers. "The admission of this festival into Zechariah"s prophecy of Messianic times (Zec_14:18) is undoubtedly founded on the thought that the keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles is an expression on the part of the nations of their thankfulness for the termination of their wanderings by their reception into the peaceful kingdom of Messiah" (Oehler). J.O.
Vers. 13-17. The Feast of Tabernacles life a tented state.
This was the third great festival, and it was after all the harvest and vintage had been gathered home. It was celebrated in the seventh month, from the fifteenth day to the twenty-second. It is also noticeable that it began five days after the great Day of Atonement, which was on the tenth day of this same seventh month. Sin pardoned, and the harvest saved, these were surely twin blessings at which poor sinners might well rejoice.
I THE FESTIVAL WAS TO REMIND THE ISRAELITES OF THE PILGRIMAGE IN THE WILDERNESS. Their settling in Canaan was not to blot out the memory of their previous pilgrimage, and how they dwelt with God in tents. The same danger threatens God"s children still. This world gets so settled and home-like that we forget the pilgrimage which life is meant by God to be. We need the exhortation of Peter, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul". (1Pe_2:11)
II THE FESTIVAL WAS TO BE A JOYOUS ONE. It would be joyous on three accounts:
(1) because of the ingathered harvest;
(2) because of the complete atonement so recently past;
(3) because of the time of year, the glorious October of Palestine.
Hence the festival would be virtually a tenting out in the pleasantest time of the year, with minds delivered from all anxiety and fear.
And this is to indicate the high-water mark of Christian experience. We are living below our privileges if we are not rejoicing in God"s providential goodness, and in his atoning grace, and in his beautiful world. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice". (Php_4:4)
III THE FESTIVAL FOSTERED HOPE. For if life as it now is should be regarded as a pilgrimage, an unsettled state, then each time we are reminded of this we learn to look for a better condition and more permanent abode. If I am reminded that I dwell in a tent of flesh, easily taken down, I learn to hope for the building of God, the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens". (2Co_5:1)
A while on earth we roam In these frail houses which are not our home, Journeying towards a refuge that is sure, A rest secure.
For in our Father"s house A mansion fair he has prepared for us; And only till his voice shall call us hence We dwell in tents.
IV THE FESTIVAL FOSTERED FORETHOUGHT AND THRIFT. It had all the wholesome effect on them which an annual picnic has upon working people. They look forward to it and make preparation for it. Now, these festivals at the center of the national worship were to be joyful and liberal times. They were not to appear empty-handed before the Lord. They were to be able to give at his altar and be hospitable as they had opportunity. Hence the festival cultivated thrifty habits in order to be openhanded when the glad day came. So should religion make us all! R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,…
Deu_16:13-15
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.
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Harvest home
The Feast of Tabernacles was the harvest home of Israel. Where is the antitype of the festival of Tabernacles? The vision of the great multitude which no man could number is a vision throughout of a heavenly Feast of Tabernacles; the harvest home of the Church triumphant.
I. These festivals are occasions of hospitality and of reunion. A selfish life is an unchristian life. A man might possibly remember God in solitude, a monastery has ere now fostered devotion: but there is one virtue which cannot be practised in seclusion--charity; the Gospel virtue--without which we are nothing. The very exertion which it costs some men to come out is salutary. If some are made frivolous by the love of society, some are made selfish by isolation from their kind.
II. Two things were especially required of the Israelites when they assembled for their three annual feasts: first, that they should not appear before the lord empty; secondly, that children and servants, the Levite and the stranger, the fatherless and widow, should be allowed to rejoice with them. The feast only becomes a blessing when it remembers God, and remembers man.
III. The law of God was read over, once in seven years, to the assembled Israelites at their Feast of Tabernacles. If there be a time when we remember duty, surely it should be when our hands are full of gifts. A time of feasting, nay, a time of prosperity, nay, a time of unmarked, of average sufficiency, brings its own peculiar risk of practical ungodliness.
IV. Yet we recognise in this festival the comforting side of true religion. Gods voice never comes to make us miserable. If it condemns, it is that we may rise out of condemnation into a state altogether joyous. A harvest home is a glimpse of the love and of the peace and of the joy of the Gospel.
V. It is also a memento of the place of thankfulness in the Gospel. Is there any test so condemning as that which touches us on the point of gratitude? Who really gives God thanks for life, for health, for motion, for speech, for reason? Well may we have one day in the year set apart for the work of simple praise.
VI. Recognise in this celebration the identification of the God of nature and providence with the God of revelation and of the Gospel. The things that are seen become a very sign and sacrament of the things that are not seen. The harvest of the natural world indicates to us, by its marvellous yet now familiar phenomena, the working of the same power which alone can melt the heart of stone, and impress upon a trifling soul the realities of a life and a home in heaven. VII. Finally, let the service which gives thanks for an earthly harvest carry your thoughts to that great reaping after sowing, which is before every one of us, in the resurrection of the body and in the eternity which is yet beyond (Mat_13:39; Gal_6:7-8). God grant us all a place in that ingathering, the close of a worlds labour, the inauguration of a heavenly rest! (Dean Vaughan.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v13 Of the Feast of Tabernacle
Of the Feast of Tabernacle
v. 13. Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, Exo 23:16; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine, all the products of the threshing-floor and of the wine-press;
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v. 14. and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates, all of whom should be remembered upon such a happy occasion.
v. 15. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord, thy God, Lev 23:39, in the place which the Lord shall choose; because the Lord, thy God, shall bless thee in all thine increase and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
v. 16. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord, thy God, in the place which He shall choose, Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23, but this precept did not exclude the women, 1Sa 1:3-5; Luk 2:41: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty;
v. 17. every man shall give as he is able, as much as he finds that he can possibly afford to give, according to the blessing of the Lord, thy God, which He hath given thee, in the form of voluntary offerings. Three points deserve to be noted here, namely, that all men appeared at these great festivals, and that they did not leave their families at home if they could arrange to bring them along, that the rejoicing was over the wonderful deeds of the Lord, and that they brought voluntary gifts, as the Lord had prospered them. These three points deserve to be kept in mind by all Christians.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 Festival of Shelters
Festival of Shelters
Other names for this festival are "Feast of Tabernacles," "Festival of Booths," and "Feast of the Ingathering." During harvest time, farmers would set up temporary shelters in the field. This festival took place after the last harvest of the year.
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seven days
"7 days" (See: Numbers)
within your gates
Here the word "gates" represents cities or towns. AT: "within your towns" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
festival
day
harvest
thresh
winepress
joy
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 16:13-17 The Festival of Shelters is called this because…
16:13-17 The Festival of Shelters is called this because the people of Israel were instructed to camp out for a week in crude huts made of tree limbs as a memorial to their years of wilderness wandering (Lev 23:33-43). It was also a celebration of the fall harvests.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.